Just one word describes Burnley’s abject failure to sign anybody on transfer deadline day in my opinion-PATHETIC!!!
I just hope this incompetence does not ultimately seal our fate and a return to the Championship. The indignity of seeing a Championship club, Norwich outbid Burnley for Graham Dorrans summed up this miserable day for Burnley fans. I will now just sit back and listen to all the pathetic excuses we will now hear from the club to explain their failure to sign anybody!
The Board better not hide behind the fact we managed to hold onto Ings who more than likely will be off to Liverpool or Real Sociedad in the summer nor the fact a lot of the other clubs also fighting to stay up struggled to make signings, most though managed to make at least one! These clubs in a lot of cases had already done some business earlier in the window whereas Burnley have only the permanent signing of Michael Keane to show for their effort. And they wonder why many fans this morning are up in arms, calling for protests and shouting ‘no ambition’. I would not advocate protesting that would just destabilise the club and ensure a nasty atmosphere around Turf Moor on match day but you can understand the anger.
The only bit of business carried out by the Clarets yesterday affected our third-string goalkeeper, Alex Cisak. League One strugglers Leyton Orient signed the 25-year-old Australian keeper on loan until 9 March. Cisak, a former Socceroos youth international, has made just two appearances for the Clarets since moving to Turf Moor from Oldham in 2013. He also made 10 appearances during a loan spell at York City earlier this season.
The big news yesterday was the continuing saga of Danny Ings. It always looked likely Ings would stay at the club at least until the summer. Co-chairman, Mike Garlick, Chief Executive Lee Hoos and even the gaffer and player alike had said so. News broke yesterday though that Ings had signed a pre-contract agreement with David Moyes’s Real Sociedad ahead of a possible summer move to La Liga in the summer. It would appear that no such deal actually happened and the speculation now is that Liverpool are favourites to sign him after his contract expires this summer. According to ‘The Independent`, Liverpool are now expected to agree terms in the next few weeks, in a deal which would see Ings arrive in June possibly for a fee of £5m. Although this is a highly unusual arrangement, apparently it is legal under Premier League rules unlike the loan back proposed a few days ago. The two clubs are allowed to progress a contract as long as the Premier League board agrees to the club`s request to do so having viewed the contract. Let`s just hope all this stuff doesn`t destabilise the player whilst he`s still playing for the Clarets!
So what did we actually try to do in terms of bringing new players in yesterday? There were plenty of links but all of them ended in disappointment. It all started badly when Sky Sports announced that Championship club, Norwich City had outbid Burnley for the services of West Brom midfielder, Graham Dorrans. It is somewhat annoying that Burnley could not even outbid a Championship club although there was a hint that West Brom gaffer, Tony Pulis was reluctant to sell a player to a fellow relegation-threatened rival club!
Nevertheless if reports are true Burnley only offered a bid in the region of just over £2m. It is thought they were first off the mark and put that bid in the night before. That was immediately rejected by the Baggies by all accounts and it is perhaps no surprise when West Brom later bit off the hand of Norwich City when they came in with a bid almost double the Clarets offer on transfer deadline day. The Canaries it is reported put in a bid of around £4 million and the two clubs agreed to a deal for the 27 year old Scotland international. It was later reported that the player was at Carrow Road for a medical and to discuss personal terms. Something though appears to have gone wrong and there has been no official announcement of a deal this morning so it looks like Dorrans could be staying at the Hawthorns.
Following the failure to sign Dorrans, Clarets fans hopes were once again raised when news broke that we had now changed tack and were now looking to sign Nottingham Forest midfielder, Henri Lansbury instead. Lansbury of course was a target in last summer`s transfer window and the club this time were probably hoping to take advantage of Forest`s predicament having just changed managers yet again. The 24-year-old although linked with a move to the Clarets in the summer finished up signing a three-year contract extension with Forest last August. Last Sunday of course Forest sacked manager Stuart Pearce and replaced him with new manager, Dougie Freedman so no doubt Burnley were hoping to take advantage of the uncertainty and instability at the club. Media reports suggested that a bid of £3 million was put in for Lansbury this time round with that bid being rejected by Forest! There is no indication that Burnley were willing to up the offer so once again Clarets fans had to endure disappointment. Even then on Sky Sports, there was a suggestion Burnley had another iron in the fire but whatever it was nothing came of it! It is thought late in the day they tried to bring in a defender instead with a hint this might have been Hull City`s Paul McShane;a player previously linked with a move to Turf Moor. There was also a suggestion they turned to McShane after failing to sign Scotland international and Norwich City captain Russell Martin. Martin , 29 would have been ideal since he can play both at right-back and centre-back but according to the ‘The Times` Burnley pulled out of a deal to sign him.
Another couple of links if true also failed to materialise! Burnley put in a reported £1.5 million bid for Dundee United midfielder, Stuart Armstrong last week but it was rejected. Celtic though finished up signing the player after coming in with improved offers all day yesterday. The SPL Champions in the end forked out it seems about £1.75 million for the 22 year old Scotland Under 21 international. It is not totally clear since they did a deal for two Dundee United players also bringing in winger Gary Mackay-Steven. The Glasgow club agreed a deal for both players of £2m plus add-ons according to the media with Mackay-Steven thought to have been worth £250,000.
Very late on towards the end of the deadline, Burnley also appear to have tried to sign West Ham winger Matt Jarvis according to the Burnley Express but that too ended in failure!
Share this article
