The main eye-catching deal on transfer deadline day was that unsettled Robinho made his long awaited move away from Manchester City to AC Milan.

Sunderland captured Ghanaian striker Asamoah Gyan, who impressed in last summers World Cup, giving £13m to Rennes for his services.

Arsenal defender Armand Traore made a loan move to Italian giants Juventus, and Spurs now appear to have completed their £9m move for Rafael Van der Vaart.

In terms of quantity, struggling Stoke City have made big changes bringing in experienced striker Eidur Gudjonsen from Monaco on loan, they also brought back Jermaine Pennant to English football from Real Zaragoza and Salif Diao returned to the Brittania with Liam Lawrence and Dave Kitson moving to Portsmouth with Marc Wilson going in the opposite direction.

Jermaine Pennant is back in the Premier League with Stoke City

Stoke have been looking into the transfer market for some time following their capture of Kenwyne Jones and their fruitless pursuit of Loic Remy, whether or not the new signings improve their chances this season will remain to be seen.

Birmingham City brought in three players, former Arsenal midfielder Alexander Hleb, Czech defender Martin Jiranek and Chile winger Jean Beausejour in a busy day at St Andrews with Marcus Bent going to local rivals Wolves.

As well as his pursuit of Rafel Van Der Vaart, Spurs manager Harry Redknapp also brought in a new goalkeeper, the highly rated Croatian stopper  Stipe Pletikosa much to the chagrin of Arsenal fans who are crying out for a keeper to replace Manuel Almunia.

As expected Roy Hodgson brought in Paul Konchesky in a player exchange with Fulham for fringe players Alex Kacaniklic and Lauri Dalla Valle and Anfield fringe players Nabil El Zhar  and Emiliano Insua were loaned out El Zhar to Greek side PAOK and Insua to Turkish side Galatasaray.

Everton saw defender Joseph Yobo loaned out to Fenerbahce and Blackpool finally brought in DJ Campbell from Leicester rewarding him for last season when his fine form helped them on their way to promotion to the Premiership.

It was a quiet day for Manchester United who seemed to have done the majority of their trading, with only the highly rated youngster Tom Cleverley leaving to Wigan on loan joining Chelsea’s Franco Di Santo at the DW Stadium.

In the Championship, Gylfi Sigurdsson was one of the first moves of the day, going to German side Hoffenheim from Reading in a £6m deal, with Zurab Khizanishvili coming in on loan from Reading and veteran left-back Ian Harte coming in from Carlisle

Neil Warnock strengthened his already promising QPR side with the capture of two experienced Championship players, Tommy Smith from Portsmouth and Rob Hulse from Derby.

Derby let Hulse leave as he was approaching the end of his contract, bringing in Spanish winger Alberto Bueno from Real Valladolid.

Leicester City also made a capture bringing in Martyn Waghorn from Sunderland on a permanent basis for £3m and Japanese international midfielder Yuki Abe from Uruwa Red Diamonds.

Once again, apart from a few headline signings it was a quiet transfer deadline day, with the majority of the deals being loan deals, with clubs that signed players funding them from previous sales or through player exchanges.

Saturday 28th August 2010
Ossett Town v Matlock Town

It’s nice to see you all again as another season gets underway.

With England flopping at the World Cup I hope people will vote with their feet and watch more non-league football rather than paying through the nose to watch overpaid “stars” perform.

I doubt it though, but I’ve had my say.

It was off up to Ossett last Saturday, a town situated just south of Leeds, for my first away game of the season.

We arrived at the non-inspiring town at 2.15pm, wonderfully chauffeured by John “Bezz” Berrisford and Gary “Slowhands” Mason, who sat in the back supplying numerous chocolate Éclairs en route, not to mention stomach-aching banter.

The first thing we noticed as we got out of the car was the strong and cold wind blowing, of which I said: “Well, this ain’t going to provide entertaining football whatsoever”. How right I was. More on this later…

After the £8 admission fee we made our way to the social club and yes, I bought a round of drinks (no snide comments please! [as if I would - Ed]). Three pints of Amstel lager cost me £9! Oh, but wait, Gary had his 1970’s lager and lime, which must have put the price up.

We sat down and had a sip of the over-priced pints (are you serious? Were you expecting 1970s prices? – Piss Ed) and I waited for the looks on the faces of Bezz and Gary – yes, it was s**t that we were drinking. It was terrible! Bezz took the glasses back even though Gary had only drunk half of it. “New barrel put on Thursday night”, the barman said. “Canna be nowt wrong with it”. We ended up with a Fosters refill, just to be safe.

The game kicked off uphill, with the wind howling across the pitch. If you read my blog from last season’s visit to this ground, in which I told of the mobile masts, well I’m sure they’ve now installed even MORE masts to the floodlight stanchions! No wonder the Amstel was off, it had been micro waved since Thursday with the electromagnetic radiation!

It won’t take long to describe the first half. Matlock never seemed to start playing the game in the way that they can, and Ossett relied on the long ball tactics.

Matlock ‘keeper Sollitt produced an excellent save in the 16th minute, and Mark Haran headed in from a corner on the 32nd minute only for the poor referee Mr .Greenwood to rule it out for alleged “climbing” by the Matlock defender (More like Mr. Deadwood methinks!).

The second half was much like the first. As the wind got stronger it didn’t make good viewing.

Ross Hannah chipped the ball over the ‘keeper on the 53rd minute but it agonisingly cleared the bar.

In the 61st minute Ossett had defender Cyrus sent off for attacking Hannah. I thought it was a little harsh, but others tell me he stamped on Rossy.

Well that was about it as the action was concerned. Matlock never took advantage of the extra man, and Ossett ‘keeper Sutcliffe got his picnic hamper out on the goal line for the rest of the game.

So it ended 0-0 with an attendance of a mere 166 (there must have been 120 from Matlock).

On the M1, I drifted off into slumberland and someone overtaking us would have seen my mouth wide open and thought it was the Mersey Tunnel!

See you on our next adventure everyone, Ciao.

There’s a familiar pattern emerging on our FA Cup Quest.

Like last year, it seems that each team we follow gets beaten.

First it was our locally-chosen side, Heanor Town, who were beaten by fellow Derbyshire side Borrowash Victoria. Then, when The Vics became ‘our’ team by virtue of that victory, they were beaten by Notts outfit Carlton Town in the Preliminary Round.

This means that already on our Quest we’re onto our 3rd team, Carlton.

The game, played on Saturday 28th August, was a stormy affair.

It was interrupted for over 10 minutes in the first half when Borrowash ‘keeper Damien Clark collided with Carlton’s ex-League striker Neil Grayson. After three attempts to carry on playing the goalkeeper had to be substituted.

In the second half another serious injury again held up the game, this time for eight minutes, when Carlton’s Joe Naylor was carried off with concussion.

With 6 minutes remaining, Ricky Gardener became the hero for Carlton Town with a cool finish to give the home side a hard fought 2-1 win.

They will now meet fellow Nottinghamshire side Dunkirk in a First Round Qualifying match on September 11.

'Undoubtedly the best midfielder of his generation', says Zidane. High praise indeed.

In a week in which Zinedine Zidane regarded Paul Scholes as “undoubtedly the best midfielder of his generation”, I take a look at the old guard of the Premier League and Football League; players well into their thirties, and sometimes even their forties, rolling back the years for their clubs.

Manchester United, despite their huge status and excellent squad, show that there is no substitute for experience.

Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs are outshining all their equals at the top level, scoring goals and dictating games against players sometimes half their age.

You could be forgiven for thinking that you’d gone back in time if you were at Old Trafford during the 3-0 defeat of Newcastle United, or again this weekend at Craven Cottage.

The ageless Ryan Giggs

Scholes put in a vintage performance and Giggs was excellent as always, which is a testament to them both.

Never to jump into the limelight, both players have looked after themselves during their careers and have only ever done their very best for Manchester United. They are the perfect professionals.

I’m sure every club would like their own version of Scholes or Giggs, and who wouldn’t? But it’s surprising the amount of clubs who have an experienced player at the centre of their side.

Across the Premier League, sides can be found with an experienced head forming the focal point of their team.

Fulham's 'old' lynchpin Danny Murphy

Birmingham have Stephen Carr, an experienced leader at this level. Man City last year looked to Patrick Viera to command their midfield when performances dropped, and Fulham look to Danny Murphy to give their side a solid playmaker who knows the game well. Every club uses players of experience, as their know-how often proves invaluable.

If you look in the leagues below, players like this become increasingly frequent, in a variety of positions.

Many goalkeepers in the Football League are former top goalkeepers now passing on their traits and advice to their side when they need it.

Doncaster Rovers goalkeeper Neil Sullivan has seen and done it all at the highest level, and now passes on his expertise to younger players and keeps the team going when they need his encouragement.

At 46, Burton Albion's Kevin Poole is the oldest registered player in English professional football

The current oldest player in the Football League is Kevin Poole who, at 46, appeared for Burton Albion last season in several games, and gave a particularly impressive performance against the eventual champions Rochdale.

He coaches the youth goalkeepers and his knowledge of the game off and on the pitch has been acknowledged as vital by various coaches and managers that he’s worked under.

They are often announced club captains as the youth players can look up to them and aspire to be like them, and their advice to teammates can prove vital.

Any manager worth his salt has players around his side who know the score, and can help to guide players who may be struggling, or who can generally keep the team together and maintain a team spirit, which is vital when the results are going against you.

All players need an older head to look up to when bad runs appear or their form goes missing, and sometimes their manager can’t help with that. Step in the elder statesman of the club, who’s seen it all and done it all, to try and get the best out of a particular individual or the team as a whole.

And so a tribute to Scholes and co for the invaluable work they do for their clubs. Long may it continue.

Mikel Arteta: England international?

The rumour has been buzzing around sometime now, and Mikel Arteta confirmed this weekend that he would like to play for England if Fabio Capello decided to call him up.

Everton’s Spanish midfielder has now earned British citizenship because he has been resident in the country since 2005.

The attraction is obvious, England’s squad needs a fresh injection of blood and Arteta has consistently proved in an Everton shirt that he is a quality Premiership player.

Many will have seen the Germany side in this years World Cup and would have come to the conclusion that England could emulate Germany’s ‘cosmopolitan’ mix of players.

In their World Cup squad Germany featured players like Cacau, Klose, Poldolski, Trochoski, Marin, Tasci, Ozil, Gomez, Boateng , Aogo and Kheidira all with a strong relationship from another country.

It has also been suggested that Manuel Almunia could play for England as well, although currently Arsenal fans might dispute whether he is good enough!

The French team of the 1990s was also highly multicultural, with players from Armenia, Algeria, Guadeloupe, New Caledonia, Argentina, Ghana, Senegal, Italy, French Guyana, Portugal, Spain, Martinique and the Basque Country.

There are some compelling arguments for including foreign-born but naturalised players in the England Squad, a good article on sport.co.uk lists the following.

1. It works in others sports (for example the England cricket team)
2. Other countries have been doing it for years
3. Foreign players wouldn’t have the baggage of playing for England that weighs down our team.

A foreign player like Arteta breaking into the England side could be a breakthrough. Admittedly we’ve had players in the past like John Barnes (Jamaican born) and Owen Hargreaves (born in Canada) who have made the squad, so it isn’t too far a jump, although they of course also fitted the requirements to play via their family links rather than naturalisation.

Would it be much different to have a naturalised player? The pickings from the Premiership could be rich.

However, the national side is the one area of football where we can be sure the players are in some way representative of the team they are playing for. Not many Premiership line-ups feature many Englishman, never mind players from the area they are from.

The Premiership long lost the ‘local’ element that football clubs had in the past, the only thing local about the teams now is where most of them play.

Englands next No.1:? Manuel Almunia

The danger could be that if all national teams selected their squads according to their best naturalised players in their leagues, then the next World Cup could feature a whole host of teams who start to have more of a resemblance to premiership teams.

When that happens the World Cup is in danger of becoming ‘just another competition’.

An arms race of players could develop where the biggest countries cherry pick the talents say for example of poorer African nations. That could make football poorer.

We could also see players who aren’t good enough for their own country (Arteta and Almunia) displace young and upcoming players from the countries they go on to represent, would that be fair? Would it be fair if the current crop of English  goalkeepers like Joe Hart and Ben Foster were displaced by Almunia? Or may it simply raise the standards of competition.

On the other hand if the England management don’t start seriously thinking about the naturalised players that could play for the country, they could soon find themselves left behind by countries who do adopt the approach.

A few players in the Arteta mold could be just what we need to kick-start the English born players who performed so woefully in South Africa but we can’t allow an ‘arms race’ of naturalised players to start that could damage the game.

Once again it seems our FA Cup Quest is cursed.

Last season, it appeared that every team we followed were beaten, leading us to believe that we were in fact installing an ominous hex upon our followed team.

And now, with Heanor Town’s 2-1 defeat at Borrowash Vics in an Extra Preliminary Round replay on Tuesday, we have once again jinxed our Quest team.

Borrowash now become the team we follow, by virtue of their victory. They will play Notts-based outfit Carlton Town in the Preliminary Round on August 28.

Stoke's record signing Kenwyne Jones was injured 14 minutes into the game.

Out of all the Midlands clubs, there are two that I admire for keeping themselves afloat in the Premiership.

Aston Villa, who have for a long time steadily occupied the sixth slot, and Stoke, who, having earned promotion in 2008-2009, are now in their third season in the Premiership and have finished comfortably mid-table in the previous two seasons.

Tony Pulis deserves credit for keeping a side that many tipped to go straight back down in the division.

He has built a team who can mix it with the best. Arsenal, for one, have had their trouble playing them at the Brittania when Stoke are in full rough and tumble mode and the crowd act as their twelfth man.

With Rory Delap’s long throws the secret hard-to-counter weapon in their locker, they have surprised many teams en-route, while in Ryan Shawcross they have one of the best young center-backs around.

It seems, though, that the stakes are being raised this season at the Britannia. Out goes James Beattie to Rangers and in comes a new record signing Kenwyne Jones for £8m. Probably a good move by Pulis, who had a fractious relationship with Beattie. But to be fair to Beattie he gave Stoke the early spark they needed to stay afloat in the League.

Jones played for only 14 minutes in the Potters first Premiership game with Wolves before he came off, leaving many Stoke fans with their hearts in their mouths. They’ll be glad that their new signing has come out alright.

Today, Stoke are being linked with Hugo Rodallega in a £9m bid, and previously in the season they were linked with a bid for French star Loic Remy in competition with Spurs and West Ham.

Loic Remy wasn't tempted to the Britannia Stadium

The Potters are obviously thinking big, especially when it comes to strikers, and they have more money to spend. Fair play to them, it could be money that they have earnt in their seasons in the Premiership and they are thinking of bigger and brighter things.

For Pulis, though, this is a danger. Raising the sights on their transfer targets is going to lead to an increased wage bill and increased expectation that he can take Stoke further this year. Maybe even challenging the top-six.

Can they do it, or is Pulis in danger of destroying the close-knit spirit that Stoke have forged?

Like many clubs before him – Portsmouth and Hull come to mind – it would be all too easy for Stoke to fall into the trap that they have ‘arrived’ in the Premiership and need to push on.

Saturday’s defeat to Wolves can’t bode well, although it is far too early to jump to conclusions.

But it might be a difficult year for Stoke to press on. Even bringing in two record club signings won’t bring them remotely close to the spending power of the big guns, and they might not be able to pull themselves significantly away from the trouble zone.

The Stoke fans may be expecting a better season, but they have already had two fantastic results in the Premier League. I would say it would still be unrealistic for them to expect better than mid-table.

Saying that, in August 2009, Pulis pulled off the double swoop of Robert Huth and Tuncay from Middlesbrough for £5 million. They further improved Pulis’ squad, and fans will be hoping that, in his dealings in the transfer market, he will be equally as good this time.

It is a dangerous balancing act for Stoke; they don’t want to stay still, but they must be wary of the trap of over-spending. Time will tell if Pulis is once again pulling a blinder in the transfer market, or if Stoke’s position in mid-table could turn into a descent of Hull and Pompey-like proportions.

Heanor, who had to switch the tie to Borrowash because of cricket commitments at their own Town Ground, had a torrid day, losing their leading scorer, Lee Naughton, with a broken shin bone only eight minutes into a feisty contest.

It was a game of few chances, with Borrowash having the best efforts on goal.

But the goals wouldn’t come, so they’ll have to do it again in tomorrow night’s replay at Borrowash.