The Ballbag

It's not been a tremendously exciting end to the transfer window. Driving home last night from work, tuned into TalkSport Radio, it was obvious that the program was struggling to make the final hour of the transfer window sound anything other than what it was - boring.

Continuously switching from one correspondent to another dotted about the country, all relating their non-events, the only real excitement was to be had from the various rumours being peddled about by listeners. Earlier on in the day, these rumours seemed somewhat credible, but towards the end, as the final minutes ticked away they started to get more ridiculous such as Fernando Torres moving to Manchester United and - my favourite - a rumour from a listener who texted in to say he saw Lionel Messi at Leeds bus station.

Being an English radio station, the coverage of the Scottish transfer window was limited to put it mildly. A sad reflection, if one was needed, that as far as TalkSport is concerned, Scottish football ranks just below sightings of Edwin van der Sar at the HMV in Hull.

So, what of the Scottish transfer window? Well, in short summary:

Mickael Antoine-Curier moved from Dundee to Hamilton, Mark Brown joins Kilmarnock from Celtic, Yassin Moutaouakil goes from Charlton to Motherwell, Celtic's Darren O'Dea leaves for Reading. Kris Renton swaps one provincial backwater for another as he joins Brechin from Norwich. Arguably the biggest transfer of the day sees Paris St Germain winger Jerome Rothen move to Rangers.

Note that given the times we found ourselves in, all these transfers are loan deals.

We're just too lazy to do the research, so there's nothing we can tell you about these players that you couldn't possibly find out for yourself with a bit of google-ing. Do feel free to leave us your opinions.

As with all transfer windows, for most clubs with saleable assets the biggest fear for any supporter at this time of year is not who comes, but who gets left behind. For example, Middlesboro fans will be stuck with Alfonso Alves for another season at least, and the Liverpool faithful will no doubt be saddened that another great dud, Lucas, will be at Anfield next Saturday.

As an Aberdeen supporter, the loss of our saleable assets is not something that keeps us awake at night. After all, the club has no saleable assets (or at least none that couldn't be replaced by a visit to our local sports shop). There's been stories circulating that Zander Diamond would move to Celtic, or Lee Miller would leave for a variety of clubs down south, but the squad will remain intact until January at least.

The frustration at the lack of any transfer activity at Pittodrie is a cause of concern amongst large sections of the Red Army. Dundee United, Hamilton, Hibs, Falkirk and Hearts - with the exception of Hearts all smaller clubs - all strengthened their squads, while Aberdeen managed to sign a few journeymen defenders and a reserve goalkeeper. Mark McGhee's frustration at not being able to bring in new talent in the transfer window did nothing to lighten his mood after the Motherwell game at the weekend, which saw his new side draw 0-0 with his old side in a game where Aberdeen had not one single shot on goal.

The parallel with Motherwell is interesting. Like Aberdeen, Motherwell lost three first team players during the off-season (Hughes, Clarkson and Smith for Motherwell, Severin, Mair and Smith for the Dons) but in return they've brought in players as well as bringing in a new manager and rebuilt a squad that has  Motherwell playing better than the squad it had this time last year.

Much of that money came from the £200,000 Aberdeen had to pay Motherwell for McGhee's services. In contrast, Aberdeen paid out £400,000 to outgoing manager Jimmy Calderwood and his management team - funds which might well have been used to strengthen the squad. Director of Football Willie Miller was quick to point out that while the club has not brought in any new players (of note), the club does have a pool of young talent such as Peter Pawlett, Michael Paton, Fraser Fyvie and Jonathan Crawford and Chris Maguire. As Miller says, these players will form the backbone of Aberdeen squads into the future.

Which is management speak for "we've no money now and we'll probably have no money next year either. Or the year after that, so get it right up ye".

While I applaud the club's stance on youth development, it's a move made more out of desperation than any valiant sporting principles. For even a small outlay, possibly less than £500,000, small change to a man like Milne, Aberdeen could have moved for pretty much any of the players signed by our nearest rivals United, Hibs or Hearts.

Someone once said that you don't win anything with youngsters and quite honestly, Aberdeen wont win anything with these youngsters either. The club is blessed with a comparatively rich owner (Stewart Milne is reputed to be worth over £400m) but he seems reluctant to spend. We'll see how this season works out, but the omens don't look good.

One squad that will be one player lighter is Deveronvale. The Highland League outfit who finished second last year, have sold midfielder Sam MacKay to fellow Highland League side Wick Academy.

Now, what makes this transfer interesting is that a) it is the only transfer we can find in Scotland that actually involved the exchange of cash and b) Sam MacKay is the first player that Wick Academy have actually paid for in 12 years.

The fee itself is not mentioned, but it's unlikely to go into four figures. MacKay was a former Young Player of the Year at Deveronvale but decided to move as the distance he needed to travel (it's 138 miles to Banff from his home town of Golspie, as opposed to 45 miles north to Wick) was causing problems. With a bit of luck he should be in Wick's lineup for Saturday's game against Brora Rangers.