Greetings.

Welcome to the first edition of my Editor's Blog, in which, I, John Brewin will hold forth on football matters. As I'm new to this blogging lark I will promise little other than opinion and triviality, which seem to be an overriding function of much of the blogosphere. I hope you care to share in my journey into a discipline (or lack of) with which I'm unfamiliar.

Where better to start than a now closed transfer window? I say "now closed" because Arsenal have finally signed that Russian bloke. That threatened to go on all year. So, here's my A-Z view of each Premier League club's dealings. I've linked off to each club's Soccernet page so you can get all the facts and figures.

Arsenal:
Andrei Arshavin is finally in the Premier League after being linked with Chelsea, Manchester United and er, Spurs in the past. As a sole arrival this represents a rare Wenger gamble. Big money and big reputation is not often the Frenchman's choice of signing status. Most Arsenal fans who wrote into this site on deadline day moaned about a lack of both midfield ballast and central defensive strength. Yet Arshavin has the quality to be the best of the tricky playmaker/winger type player that the Gunners lost when Hleb departed and Pires' duck-walked off stage left.

Aston Villa:
The transformation in Emile Heskey over the past two years means many now see Martin O'Neill's purchase of his former Leicester charge as the signing of the window. At £3.5m he was cheap and scored on his debut while O'Neill's ability to get the best out of players whose star has faded has never been in doubt.

Blackburn Rovers:
Holding on to Roque Santa Cruz at the expense of City shows Rovers' determination to protect their jealously guarded place in the Premier League cartel. Goals keep teams up. Gael Givet has the look of a typical Allardyce signing/gamble and, talking of gambles, in taking on El-Hadji Diouf, you could say Big Sam has gone for the devil he knows.

Bolton Wanderers:
Linked with Miguel Veloso but eventually denied, Gary Megson did not seem happy to lose Kevin Nolan to Newcastle after a decade of sterling service. Mark Davies is filed under promising while Ariza Makukula had barely played for Benfica before his loan. Sebastien Puygrenier has swapped St Petersburg for Horwich and scored in the win against Spurs. All risks in a high-stakes game.

Chelsea:
Wayne Bridge leaves for, frankly, silly money and they only got a loan deal for Ricardo Quaresma in. Not enough to balance up a team who have looked poor in the face of quality opponents. The Portugese winger has plenty to prove but not as much as his new employers, who seem to be denying that their owner has gone skint rather too often.

Everton:
Very little doing until they finally cracked with a loan deal for Jo. Having survived with no strikers for a month it seems to these eyes as if they'll have to do much the same. Moyes magic needed if they're to get the best of this City reject. And is his best good enough?

Fulham:
Where's your Jimmy gone? An odd departure in disputed circumstances saw last season's saviour headed to Hull. Better news was the retention of Brede Hangeland amid heavy links with Arsenal. Giles Barnes needs to live up to early promise while Olivier Dacourt has stop-gap, if a decent one, written all over him.

Hull City:
How to arrest the slide? Bullard looked like the type of man to do it until fitness concerns kicked in. Kevin Kilbane is experienced in that field too. Manucho? Who knows? His cameos at Old Trafford possessed little to suggest he is as good as Marlon King. Tigers fans may well be worried.

Liverpool:
Curiouser and curiouser. Robbie Keane looks to be the victim of a power struggle between the warring factions at Anfield; though there are rumours of the striker's poor relationship with his club captain. At last, a Lawro prediction came true: Mark Lawrenson's indiscretion on a Steven Gerrard bar-room conversation proved to be prescient. No-one in to replace Keane means that Merseyside will wince every time Fernando Torres does. Holding on to Daniel Agger cheered some fans but stories of debt and football-leasing deals are starting to sneak out.

Manchester City:
Promised the earth. Delivered a meteor in the shape of Craig Bellamy. Wayne Bridge, Shay Given and Nigel De Jong all look solid signings for a club of modest ambitions. Which is exactly the opposite of Garry "Yes, I can" Cook's exhortations to the contrary. Kaka? That humanitarian mission collaped into comedy. Perhaps worse - if you read between the lines of Mark Hughes' recent words - is the failure to sign Santa Cruz. The evidence of the weekend suggests there may be trouble ahead.

Manchester United:
What do you give to the man who has everything? No, not Karim Benzema but a couple of Serbs. Zoran Tosic is diminutive but determined judging by his two sub appearances. Adem Ljajic has been called "the new Kaka", an irony perhaps not to be lost in the presence of City fans. Ritchie De Laet? Who he?

Middlesbrough: Just one signing in Marlon King will worry Boro fans. Though Mido may not be mourned. It is said that five points more would have seen Stewart Downing flogged to the highest bidder. Mixed feelings all round for followers of a troubled club.

Newcastle United:
Joe Kinnear: A cure for Insomnia. Yes, Charles N'Zogbia has gone. Not to Arsenal, Chelsea or Spurs, who he said wanted him. But to Wigan. In his stead comes Ryan Taylor, brought in because he always scores at St James' - for other teams. Though that is perhaps unfair to Taylor. Kevin Nolan has previous in a relegation fight. Peter Lovenkrands is a flier in two senses of the word. What happened to the two £5m players Joe said he was buying back in December remains a mystery. Not bad for a club whose owner, if you listen to Kinnear, has lost £2bn.

Portsmouth:
Lurching towards disaster, manager looking raddled and confused? Who better to sign than Theofanis Gekas? I saw him play for Greece at Euro 2008 and he was rotten. Angelos Basinas is an ancient Greek signing. Hayden Mullins, solid but not much else. Not even Pelé might be able to save them. Defoe and Diarra departing points towards relegation and Adams to follow Robson, Ince and Platt into the overspiling managerial dustbin of former England captains.

Stoke City:
The signing of recovering gambling addict Matthew Etherington by a club owned by Bet 365's proprietors has irony writ large. Yet the former Hammer, Henri Camara and James Beattie must fancy the odds of the Potters staying up. Pulis' purchases all have previous in a relegation fight.

Sunderland:
The Brewster's Millions days are over. As is Roy Keane. Ricky Sbragia has bolstered the defence with Tal Ben Haim and Calim Davenport. Some Keane katastrophes are gone. El-Hadji Diouf and Pascal Chimbonda's departures may lift the dressing room while Roy O'Donovan, Graham Kavanagh and Liam Miller were a triumvirate signed in the days when Ireland colonised Wearside. Best of all for Sbragia was the retention of Kenwyne Jones.

Tottenham Hotspur:
A month before the window opened, Daniel Levy was saying that Spurs would not be spending big. Then again, who listens to him? Harry Redknapp then went about reassembling Martin Jol's team of two years ago. Robbie Keane is back, after Levy slagged him off in September, Defoe too, though he will miss much of the run-in. Chimbonda: why? Wilson Palacios may be what Spurs wanted when they signed Didier Zokora. Carlo Cudicini has been hailed by some as a great signing but to these eyes he's not looked quite as good as he once was. Kevin-Prince Boateng's loan to Borussia Dortmund all but ends the affair of one of the worst signings in recent memory and there are plenty of contenders for that accolade at the Lane.

West Bromwich Albion:
Tony Mowbray has usually dealt in unsung foreign signings in recent windows and this was no exception. Marc-Antoine Fortune, Youssuf Mulumbu and Juan Menseguez can be filed under calculated risks to match the successes of the likes of Robert Koren and Gianni Zuiverloon. Loanee (from Arsenal) Jay Simpson has looked promising but unpolished. A fight on but a fighting chance nevertheless.

West Ham United:
From tales of doom and departure to flowing football and dreams of a place in Europe, Gianfranco Zola's squad now look stronger than any of the relegation candidates they were once grouped with. Craig Bellamy's sale for £14m was a hell of a deal and allowed them to keep Matthew Upson. Then £9m was splashed on Savio Nsereko; the type of cash few imagined when Iceland's economy began to melt. What's more, somehow Real Madrid chose to loan Julien Faubert...cue amazement in the Chicken Run.

Wigan Athletic:
The transfer window is rarely kind to Wigan. Especially when they've done as well as they have been doing this season. Emile Heskey, Wilson Palacios and Ryan Taylor were three stand-out performers who Steve Bruce must do without. He must hope that Mido adds his usual six months of quality before his typical fade. Hugo Rodallega is a wild card from the Palacios, Maynor Figueroa and Adolfo Valencia school. Completing the signing of Figueroa and holding on to Valencia means Bruce will have good assets to play with when he enters the market for his customary bargains.

Well, I hope that made some sense. I shall be back soon to rant and rave, cogitate and corrupt, opine and observe. Until the next time.