SIX HOURS AND COUNTING
Film buffs often rate 1939 as the greatest year in the history of Hollywood. And with good reason - The Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind, Mr Smith Goes to Washington and, er, Tarzan Finds A Son! are all mortuary-stone-cold classics. In 1940, what with the second world war and everything, you might have expected the biggest comedown since Ron Jeremy gave up bongo. But no. Up popped, among others, The Great Dictator, The Grapes of Wrath and the Philadephia Story. Which brings us in a very roundabout way to January transfer window deadline day 2012, sorry - [Fiver channels Sky Sports New s] - JANUARY TRANSFER WINDOW DEADLINE DAY 2012!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now, JTWDD2011 had it all. Jim White almost having a coronary when Fernando Torres moved to Chelsea for £50m (or, if you prefer, approximately 17 bankers' bonuses). Jim White almost having a coronary when Andy Carroll became the eighth most expensive player in history, etc and so on. A whopping £225m was spent by Premier League clubs during January 2011, the largest ever total since the window was introduced in 2003. In truth, football didn't just stick two fingers at the recession, the three million unemployed in the UK, and all reasonable measures of prudence, it kamikazilly sped on to its lawns and did a defiant 360-degree smokin' wheelie.
But what of January transfer window deadline day 2012, you ask? Well, Bobby Zamora seems off to QPR for a fee of £5m and £90,000-a-week wages, where he will be joined by Djinkin' Djibril '23 goals in 84 Premier League games and one in 18 Serie A matches' Cisse - a striker, as Mark Hughes accurately put it, whose "record speaks for itself". Elsewhere, often-crocked Roma midfielder David Pizarro looks set to join Owen Hargreaves on the bench/treatment table at Manchester City, but the biggest shock of all is that Former Footballer Wayne Bridge might soon be Footballer Wayne Bridge after joining Sunderland on loan.
As things stand it's quiet. Too damn quiet. But there are still just over six hours left before the window jerks shut. Irons are still in fires, including Spurs' interest in jinky Werder Bremen midfielder Marko Marin and possible late plans to whisk Carlos Tevez away from Eastlands. And White, a man who could make Open University advance mathematics sound exciting, is due on our screens at 10.15pm to soundtrack it all. Let the action commence - or, failing that, the news that Bury have signed a Conference striker on loan.
Barry Glendenning and John Ashdown will be here to tell you about transfers that probably won't happen throughout the evening in our deadline day live blog. And you can discuss all today's deals in the Football League here.
