THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK
Football moves in mysterious ways but why did quite so much January transfer speculation centre on Jermaine Beckford and not his Leeds team-mate Robert Snodgrass? Similarly, why did Middlesbrough's – now Manchester City's – Adam Johnson and Crystal Palace's – now Wigan's – Victor Moses attract Premier League scouts like moths to flames whereas more experienced, often more productive, Football League players attracted barely a flicker of interest?
Partly it comes down to an aversion to risk-taking but it also reflects the trend that frequently sees leading clubs deploying key scouts overseas, dictating that some leading managers' knowledge of the lower divisions can be surprisingly sketchy. This means it is consequently harder for many players, especially if they are unshowy, to move upwards. Moreover, the trend for Premier League clubs to appoint foreign managers has naturally led to many of our leading teams concentrating on global rather than more parochial recruitment searches.
Watching Crystal Palace unluckily lose at Newcastle last week, it struck me that there is little between Palace's impressive Darren Ambrose and Neil Danns and many Premier League counterparts. Indeed they are probably slightly better than several.
In truth lots of players in England's top two divisions are of a similar standard, in the same ballpark when it comes to pure ability. The increasing suspicion is that sheer luck – ie being in the right place at the right time – separates the Championship toiler from the £30,000-a-week Premier League household name.
Some excellent individuals never get the chance they deserve – look how long it took for Phil Jagielka to be plucked from Sheffield United by Everton and, earlier, Tim Cahill, from Millwall by the same club. Both have proved excellent Premier League players – indeed were Jagielka not injured he would be a strong England contender – and it is no coincidence that they were both signed by David Moyes. As a former Preston manager Moyes knows the lower divisions and duly bought well at times when peers were proving ridiculously sniffy about Cahill and, later, Jagielka who had, after all, spent his final season at Bramall Lane playing in the Premier League.
Moyes may have bought him anyway but there remains an uncomfortable feeling that, had Sheffield United missed out on promotion and that brief interlude in the big time, Jagielka might still be strutting his stuff in the Championship today.
Clearly, players with the potential to be a bit different, while boasting special skills such as Johnson and Moses or, like Beckford, the ability to score goals, will always be in demand but sometimes their presence on the back pages is down to slick marketing – agents' or managers' spin.
Many moons ago John Beck, then managing Cambridge United, confidently told me that he would be transferring Dion Dublin to Manchester United because "I know how to sell, how to market", and sure enough the striker ended up at Old Trafford. Dublin was decent, very decent, but probably no better than certain equivalents around at the time – it was just Beck knew how to get Sir Alex Ferguson hooked.
As a fan of "old-fashioned" tricky wingers, I have enjoyed watching Johnson play for Middlesbrough but, all too often, his appearances have ended in anti-climax. There is not always an end-product. You really hope Johnson makes it to the very top and he might but, right now, he is nowhere near as effective as Stewart Downing was at a similar stage. Strangely though, unlike Johnson, Downing was never linked with moves to Real Madrid or Chelsea before provoking a bidding war involving, among others, Manchester City and Sunderland.
City proved his destination but only because they could afford a £7m gamble on an unfinished winger who will, realistically, have to spend long hours warming the bench. After all Johnson is hardly likely to pinch Craig Bellamy's gig.
Driving home from reporting on Manchester City v Portsmouth on Sunday, several Arsenal fans rang Radio 5 Live's 606 phone-in bewailing the fact that Arsène Wenger had not signed Beckford for Arsenal. Granted the Leeds striker possesses plenty of pace but had they ever seen Beckford play? Witnessed his first touch? Seen him snatch at excellent chances? Many at Newcastle think Chris Hughton enjoyed a lucky escape when the striker opted to remain at Leeds until the summer. And, in any case, why did managers not connect Beckford's frequent goals for League One Leeds with the amount of accurate crosses he receives from Snodgrass? Maybe the winger's agent does not know sufficient journalists.
It sounds ridiculous but, once a name is repeatedly linked to clubs at a certain level they acquire an aura of mystique; managers duly panic and think "X are looking at him, we'd better make a bid". It is also frightening how many players are still bought unseen by managers. Or how many simply sign those they know – see Gordon Strachan recruiting half his old Celtic side for Middlesbrough.
At least the £2.5m sale of Victor Moses helped ease Palace's financial crisis. I've never seen the prodigy live so I can't judge but it was amusing to note a blizzard of headlines linking Moses to Manchester United in a "£10m Fergie swoop" and then watch him wind up at Wigan for a quarter of the price. No matter it enabled Wigan's website to claim Moses had reached "The Promised Land".
Which of Moses's erstwhile Football League peers do you believe are hugely unsung and do not deserve to be overlooked? Has Matthew Killgallon, late of Sheffield United, belatedly earned a long- deserved move to the Premier League with Sunderland or is he about to be found out?
GOALS OF THE WEEKEND
One: Rob Hulse's header beyond Lee Camp from Kris Commons's free-kick which gave Derby County a 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest at Pride Park. Quite apart from ending Forest's 19-game unbeaten Championship run that winner was spiced by Commons being a former Forest favourite – female fans at the City Ground used to delight in wearing replica shirts with "Mrs Commons" emblazoned on the back – and Camp an ex-Derby goalkeeper. Oh, and the goal arguably sparked an alleged managerial altercation which has seen the Forest manager, Billy Davies, accuse his usually ultra mild-mannered, uber-polite Derby counterpart, Nigel Clough, of "physically attacking me" by "kneeing me in the back of the leg" – a claim Clough denies. Talk about handbags. Davies, remember, is a former Derby manager...
Two: Luke Varney's second for Sheffield Wednesday in the 2-1 home win over Plymouth Argyle. Varney is on loan from Derby and Paul Mariner, the Plymouth manager, had nothing but praise for his team's nemesis. "His second goal, from a tight angle, was an unbelievable finish," said the former England striker. "He fizzed it with his left peg into the far corner. It went in like a bullet."
ONES TO WATCH
One: Danny Welbeck (Manchester United on loan to Preston North End).
Several Championship managers have tried and failed to persaude Sir Alex Ferguson to lend them the young striker – a player whose potential Manchester United's manager has raved about – but a call from his son Darren did the trick. Welbeck was duly dispatched to Deepdale where Ferguson junior is the new manager and scored during Saturday's 2-0 win over Roy Keane's Ipswich Town. Welbeck, just 19, is following in some illustrious footsteps – David Beckham also had a stint on loan at Preston.
Two: Peterborough United. With Mark Cooper, Ferguson's successor at Peterborough, having lasted a mere two months in the London Road post, it's now Jim Gannon's turn to bring his "philosophy of good passing football" to bear on the club, who lie six points adrift at the bottom of the table.
GAMES TO LOOK FORWARD TO
FA Cup fourth-round replays
Tonight: Wigan v Notts County. Which Wigan will turn up? Roberto Martínez manages a truly chameleon side so what price County, Sven et al in the fifth round?
Tomorrow: Leeds v Tottenham. Having done for Manchester United can Leeds also eliminate Spurs? Much will depend on whether Jermaine Beckford of Leeds and Jermain Defoe of Spurs are wearing their shooting boots.
Championship, Friday: Newcastle v Cardiff. Cardiff fans are so fed up of Peter Ridsdale's stewardship of their club they might even swap him for Newcastle's owner Mike Ashley, and that really is saying something. Could striker Michael Chopra score for cash-strapped Cardiff against his former club?
