Spirits are still just as high now as they were two months ago, but the hysteria is wearing off slightly. Perhaps Dean Windass isn't the man Fabio Capello needs to get the England team winning again. Just stick to the club football, Deano. Just stick to football in fact - we might have been a bit carried away when making you our religious leader. We shouldn't write the old man off though as some of you now seem to be doing. That Wembley goal ought to be a reminder that Deano's technical and goal-scoring abilities will never go, even if his legs some day will. He never had any pace anyway.
So things are getting serious again now. Hull City are putting together a team capable of playing in the Premier League (really, I'm being serious now). How does one approach that? You can spend big and hope the gamble pays off, as West Brom are doing. They've paid well over £10m on transfers already, but what have they got to show for it? For starters, they're two players short having lost star men, Zoltan Gera and Kevin Phillips. With the exception of Scott Carson, their new signings aren't proven Premier League players. As for Stoke, it looked like they weren't going to sign anyone, accept relegation and keep the TV money in the bank. But now they've bought Dave Kitson for something like £5m... well, who knows what they're doing!
The trick is to find players good enough without breaking the bank. Bernard Mendy on a free transfer looks like one of the deals of the summer. Bolton were pleased with his spell there, and he's been good enough to play regularly for Paris Saint-Germain and get called up for France in the past. Can't be bad, can he? Geovanni - Benfica, Barcelona and Brazil - sounds even more impressive. Previously we've been lucky enough to sign internationals like Nick Barmby and Jay-Jay Okocha, but their very best was behind them. At 28 years old, Geovanni should now be reaching his peak - playing for Hull City. George Boateng, besides having the experience we need, is also a good midfielder, don't forget. £1m for these three players is astonishingly good business and if Phil Brown can pull off any more deals like that we stand a chance this season without breaking the bank.
There's less reason to have confidence in the three other signings made so far. Craig Fagan and Tony Warner aren't bad players, but if they are Premier League quality why have they been allowed to go? You could say the same of Geovanni, but in his case it seems his manager didn't value him for he certainly has the pedigree. Péter Halmosi is unproven, and just because he's a top Championship player doesn't necessarily mean he's good enough for the division above. Look at Gary McSheffrey. He scored with ease in the Championship but just wasn't good enough to do the same in the Premier League. We've experienced similar with another left winger who struggled at a higher level. I'm not predicting Fagan, Warner and Halmosi to fail, but we have no evidence to expect they won't.
An experienced centre back and a proven goal-scorer must be on the way soon. Let's hope Browny can work his magic yet again.
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