Published: Thursday, 4th September, 2008 15:00
Murty: `Scrap transfer window'
By Anthony Smith
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Wheeling and dealing: Reading club captain Graeme Murty is no fan of the transfer window.
READING captain Graeme Murty has called for the transfer window to be scrapped.
The 33-year-old right-back, currently in his testimonial year, believes it is only designed to feed a media frenzy.
And Murty, who made his injury comeback against Swansea reserves last night (Wednesday), would prefer a return to old-fashioned ways of doing business.
“I don’t agree with their transfer window, I think it’s a hindrance more than a help,” he told the Chronicle.
“It’s more geared towards the media than helping football and smaller clubs are struggling because of it. It would be better if it just went away quietly. If it wasn’t there things would be done a lot more discreetly.”
He added: “I’d rather no window at all. I came from a small club, York City. Say you have a centre-forward who is pulling up trees. You might want to cash in on him. But he could get injured in October so in January no-one will want him.
“I think it’s been designed by Fifa and Uefa to pander to the media. But it won’t change and you can’t beat them. It would be like trying to sue and lawyer, you just have to get on with it.”
Reading reportedly rejected a £3.5 million bid from Everton for Stephen Hunt hours before this summer’s deadline closed at midnight on Monday.
And Murty admitted: “Like everyone, I was glued to Sky Sports on Monday, I just couldn’t turn it off and the whole Berbatov and Robinho thing was crazy.
“Then I had a text from Reading to say no-one was coming in or going out so I thought `brilliant’, I can turn the phone off now.
“But it doesn’t surprise me that all the biggest deals happen in this country. It’s gratifying but also worrying because of the state of finances in English football.
“People come in and throw money around but it’s not a bottomless pit. There have to be repercussions some time.”
Royals chairman John Madejski is still searching for his `billionaire with deep pockets’ to buy him out.
Just this week Manchester City were taken over by Abu Dhabi United Group whose figurehead, Sulaiman Al-Fahim, has an estimated wealth of £500 billion, dwarfing that of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.
But Murty warned: “I really hope the billionaires who are having such a great time don’t decided to take their toys away. If they do they will leave football in a parlous state.
“If you build a castle out of sand it will come down at some point, no matter how much you reinforce it. As soon as those foundations, ie money, are taken away something bad will happen.
“If our chairman sells Reading I think it would have to be a billionaire. He won’t sell to anyone who does not have the club’s interest at heart, or are less able to invest money than he is.
“It would need to be a very special person and it’s just a shame we missed out on the guy who has taken over Manchester City.”
Madejski knows his chances of selling up will be greatly increased in the Premier League.
“I read the new Arab owner of Manchester City is meant to have more than a trillion dollars,” he stated. “The whole thing has gone off the Richter scale.
“How can we possibly compete with that? It’s plain silly and the figures we are talking about are out of this world.
“But if someone like him wanted to talk to me then of course I would. My aim is still to take us back to the Premier League and sell up.
“But it’s got to be a billionaire with very deep pockets. It’s a rich man’s game now.”
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