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The final round of ins, outs and shaking it all abouts at Bolton Wanderers this January

Ins
With the three ins this year – Davies, Sebastien Puygrenier and Ariza Makukula – already in the bag, Bolton barely got a mention on Sky Sports News’ overly-dramatic transfer deadline day coverage (was the countdown of the last 10 seconds, accompanied by pictures from Big Ben, really necessary, especially as the Premier League had extended the deadline due to the bad weather?).

Gary Megson confirmed after the Spurs game that he was targetting two more signings before the window shut at 5pm yesterday, so the Wanderers failure to bring in any more new players has to be seen as leaving Megson short of what he feels he needs to keep us in the Premier League.

In particular, Kevin Nolan’s departure would now seem to leave a hole in the Wanderers’ midfield, in spite of Mark Davies’ impressive home debut against Spurs. The Bolton News said that Rangers’ Barry Ferguson was the man Megson had earmarked to fill Nolan’s boots, but in the end the Scottish club weren’t interested in selling either him or Pedro Mendes, another midfield target. The same was true of Portsmouth’s Sean Davis.

The Wanderers faced a different problem in their pursuit of Sporting Lisbon midfielder Miguel Veloso: a lack of cash, although many papers and websites continued to link Veloso with a move to Bolton even after Megson had said the deal was dead on Match of the Day.

Outs
Failing to field the full quota of subs at Arsenal in early January meant Bolton were never likely to offload too many players this January. Nolan’s departure to Newcastle came as a shock to many though, including some of the players. Heidar Helguson’s move to QPR caused less distress.

The key statistic here, though, is that for the second year running Bolton have made a profit in the January transfer window, despite Megson claiming he did have money to spend. And for the second year running we have sold – in the eyes of many – our most influential player (although Kevin Davies might have something to say about that).

Shaking it all abouts
A move for Henrik Larsson never materialised, and rumours of Fred’s imminent arrival at the Reebok Stadium also turned out to be pie in the sky. Ditto for striker Pavel Pogrebnyak and Marco Zorro.

The key questions that arise from all this are as follows:

1. If Megson had money to spend, why is it that he failed to bring in more players?

2. Is it Megson’s fault for not making Bolton an attractive enough proposition for players; is it Phil Gartside’s fault for not making even more money available for the likes of Veloso; or is it just unfortunate that other clubs weren’t willing to sell?

3. Given no-one else was brought in after his departure, was selling Nolan to Newcastle a bad move?

4. Does making a profit in the transfer window represent a lack of ambition or good business sense?

5. Is the January transfer window a welcome distraction or a farcical circus that should be abolished?

If you have the answers to any of these questions, please share your wisdom in the comment box below…