Wow. I'm still recovering from the ridiculous spending on Monday, last time I checked we were heading for a double dip recession, it seems however, no one told the Premier League. In fact, looking at the endless list of transfers throughout January's silly season, it seems Bill Kenwright was the sole Chairman to receive that particular memo.

Manchester United and Arsenal were the only teams with real aspirations of glory come May not to excessively flex their financial muscle. Liverpool shrewdly reinvested funds gained from one fallen hero in 2 possible new ones, for less than £10m more than they received for an out of sorts Torres from Chelsea, some see it as a gamble but having seen Carroll at Goodison earlier this season, I can tell you he looks the real deal. Suarez on the other hand, excuse the pun, I will never forgive for his handball and celebration against Ghana in South Africa, it put a real dampener on what had been an excellent tournament for Uruguay.

For Everton, we were looking at the Matalan end of the transfer market, at a push the Armani section of TK Maxx, but the real story of the 1st month of the year for us, became more about who we could keep hold of rather than acquire. Out the Goodison Park revolving door went Steven Pienaar, Yakubu, James Vaughan, Keiran Agard and Joao Silva, to be bizarrely replaced on the reserve and academy roster by loanee Eric Dier and the nominal fee'd Apostolos Vellios. Neither are expected to break into the first team this season and it appears that, the reportedly sought after, Dier has been purely loaned to Ray Hall's youth ranks from Sporting Lisbon's, so one can only draw the conclusion, that this is an extended trial with the view to securing his services on a permanent basis in the Summer?

Moyes has bought a lot of young players to Everton in recent years, last Summer Magaye Gueye and the afore mentioned Silva, the previous year Luke Garbutt and Shodrokan Mustafi not to mention John Ruddy, Scott Spencer, Cody Arnoux and Anton Peterlin who have since found pastures new. At the start of the season David stated this was his strongest squad yet, I see no reason why we should not be bedding these young talents into the bosom of the seniors at the earliest opportunity, unless their recruitment was solely to boost numbers, which I would deem a pointless exercise.

The most important news from an Evertonians perspective, was the Club's defiance of Tottenham's financial bullying, as they tried to turn the head of our dependable, loyal and inspirational Captain. Attempting to take advantage of our well documented lack of funds, Redknapp's offer was both disrespectful and telling of how he perceived Neville could paper over the cracks of their less than weak defence, until June where Phil would inevitably join Woodgate, Naughton, Walker et al on the White Hart Lane scrapheap. His retention will prove to be imperative to how our season finishes, it should also be used to allay any real fears of the Club's immediate financial security, could a business aiming to fend off administration afford to dismiss half a million Pounds for a player well into the twilight of his career? When it comes to Football, people seem to forget the true value of this nation's currency, especially when the cost of 3 players this week is more than double what Comic Relief will raise next month.

With 14 games and 42 points left to play for this campaign, as well as a place in the FA Cup 5th round, if we can overcome Chelsea in the replay. The season isn't over by any means but we seriously need to start winning regularly and soon, we are currently 3 points off the relegation zone but also 3 points from 10th, so don't write this season off just yet.

Thanks for reading

Jacko

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