match pics: ontd_football

Why the January transfer window should be abolished

If you believe in pseudoscientific nonsense, you might think that Blue Monday - the third Monday in January – is the most depressing day of the year. If you are a football fan, you might want to push that date back a fortnight. Surely there is nothing more annoying than the January transfer deadline day, that gaudy, jaundiced 24-hour stretch of ticker-taped twaddle.

Beyond the sheer awfulness of it all, there are some genuine reasons to scrap the January window: it stretches the gap between the rich and poor clubs, it disassociates fans from footballers, it holds back the development of young players and it has little to do with the sport. summary: it makes football less competitive, young players lose out on their development, ruins integrity of European competitions, has little to do with football

Chatter from the sidelines

Rafa Benitez has steadied the ship at Napoli after a rough start
good, I still have a soft spot for him

Mancini doesn't seem to be doing well in Serie A what say you, Serie A watchers

Napoli Transfer Window Roundup: Quiet, but effective nice to hear

Thuram Blames Serie A For Juventus’ European Failures lack of quality at home, is the takeaway

Giovinco joins Toronto from Juventus early might be good for him. Beef up his English, get accustomed to the weather, etc

Who Is More Important to Juventus: Paul Pogba or Arturo Vidal? what kind of Sophie's choice...?

Tim Cahill joins Shanghai Shenhua in China after turning down La Liga one last payday

La Liga: Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti says Gareth Bale is having a 'fantastic season' Bale is becoming a distraction, tbh. Listening to Marca yesterday, that's all they kept quizzing Ancelotti about

It's not Bayern Munich if they're not throwing shade: Bayern Munich need to learn from Dortmund's downfall, says Guardiola that will be enough, Pep

David Moyes attends funeral of Real Sociedad fan killed in a traffic accident good on you Moyes

Sami Khedira reaches agreement to join Bayern Munich Figures

Emmanuel Adebayor's loan to West Ham collapsed as Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy wanted them to match QPR's offer drama, and Levy being Levy. Spurs and West Ham have some serious beef, and with Adebayor not wanting to go to struggling clubs, and Spurs and West Ham only having four points separate them- it just wasn't going to work out.

Social Media

Fletch (not Felch) has left the building, in the days of social media, it's marked by tweets

Fletch and Herrera

Fletch and de Gea

Good luck, Fletch, although fans at his new club aren't impressed, they consider him over the hill

Transfer photos

Aaron Lennon, after ten years with Spurs, decided to go to Everton on loan (Hull wanted him, he didn't want them)

He looks really happy to be at Everton, right?

To be fair, that's just Lennon's resting face. He says that he's happy, and the club has made him welcome. To be fair, I think Martinez will be glad for Lennon's pace, and on his day, he can be unplayable - it's just been longer between those days

Schurrle back in Germany. The move was almost scuppered because Chelsea and Wolfsburg were bickering about who had to play the development deal to Schurrle's starter club. It got worked out, thank goodness