Since the transfer window flew open, one of the possible recipients of a move from Craven Cottage, Jimmy Bullard, has been unable to lace up his boots in anger.
Bullard, who has now missed three consecutive games with first a dead-leg, then an illness and now a groin strain, was widely expected to be the subject of a couple of bids from clubs eager to prise him away from Craven Cottage.
So far it hasn`t happened and Roy Hodgson, on th eve fo the fixture against Blackburn, has spoken out about his hopes of keeping Bullard at Fulham, remarking,
‘There is no change in our position. We want and expect Jimmy to stay!”
‘He has a year and a half left on his contract and 18 months is a long time in football.”
‘So until something happens to the contrary I will be counting on him as a Fulham player.”
‘It’s unsettling, of course it is. It’s a time where there is a lack of stability with the speculation but at least these days it’s restricted to one month in the year.”
‘It makes it a hectic month for chief executives and agents, but for managers and coaches if we can be relatively sensible about the whole thing and not get upset when you read something linking you with a player you have never heard of, I don’t think it’s too big a problem.”
‘January is a time for teams who are maybe not doing very well and need to do something, or teams who have done pretty well and need an extra touch to maybe go all the way.”
‘But for lots of teams the ideal time to do business is in the summer and that is what we tried to do this year.’
Let`s hope it remains just as quiet for the rest of the month as it has done so far.
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