THE January transfer window can often be a difficult time to try to do business so I’m just glad that there won’t be too much wheeling and dealing needing done at Ross County this month. It was a different story this time last year as we went into January bottom of the Premiership and knowing we really had to do something drastic if we were to keep our top-flight status. That wasn’t a pleasant time as we tried to overhaul our squad to give ourselves a chance but we got the players in that we wanted. In the end that fresh blood helped keep us in the division, even if some of them were a bit of a gamble at the time. This month we might still move for one or two but there isn’t the same need for action as there was last year. It is where we wanted to get to as a club, reaching a point where we have a settled squad that we are happy with without the need for another month of chopping and changing. This will be heaven compared to the hell we put ourselves through last January.
I know, then, just how Mixu Paatelainen must be feeling as he looks to save Dundee United from the drop. It’s hard to get exactly what you want in the January window but sometimes needs must. It isn’t looking great for my old club and Mixu might feel that he needs to make wholesale changes to try to change the dynamics and alter their fortunes. They’ve brought in the Japanese goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima and I’m sure, if they could, they would add another handful. I’m just not sure whether they have the same resources we had, though, to do that. We were very lucky that our chairman Roy McGregor backed us all the way and had the financial clout to do that. I’m sure Stephen Thompson at United has similar good intentions but I’m not sure whether as a club they can afford to bring in as many as they would ideally like. They’ve lost a lot of big players in the past year and that has proved difficult to deal with. Replacing them won’t be easy.
Sometimes, though, clubs just decide to take a financial gamble in January. They might push the boat out to sign one or two that they think can make a difference, even if it isn’t really in their budget to do so. It can sometimes be about weighing up the risks if they don’t bring in fresh blood. Clubs are desperate to stay in the Premiership these days and so, if they think signing one or two players can help deliver that, then they might think it’s worth spending the money even if they can’t really afford it.
But I don’t see too many Scottish clubs doing huge amounts of business this month. I’m sure Ronny Deila would love to add one or two new faces at Celtic but if he ends up going with what he’s got I’m sure he will back those players to deliver the title for him. He will feel he’s got enough there although if someone was available that he felt would improve his team then I’m sure there will be scope to do something. Rangers have already added Harry Forrester on loan and Mark Warburton would probably like one or two others if he could, especially with Hibs still breathing down their necks. A couple of big signings at this point could really make all the difference.
Hibs would probably also like to freshen it up a bit if they could, anything that could give them an advantage in the run-in. I don’t see them losing any of their big players like Jason Cummings this month. They’re a well-run club and they’ll know that they need to hold on to their key figures if they are to have any chance of challenging Rangers for the title. They’re also in a relatively strong position financially so I don’t think they are vulnerable that way. I’d be surprised if they didn’t end the month with a squad that is as good, if not better, than what they have just now. And that would set us up for a very interesting end to the Championship season.
THE Scottish game comes in for stick at times but you only have to look at some of the results over Christmas to see that it can be really exciting, too. We beat Dundee 5-2, Rangers beat Hibs 4-2, it was 3-2 between Hearts and Dundee United, Inverness pipped Hamilton 4-3 and there was a cracking 2-2 draw between Hearts and Celtic as well. Some of the goals scored have been of a really good quality, too. So it is not all doom and gloom as we head into 2016. Happy New Year!
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