What’s Going On Back There?

Before we start, I’d just like to say that, generally speaking, I’m not really a fan of using too many statistics(other than the good ones, like goals and points and stuff) when it comes to evaluating how a particular football team may be getting on over a prolonged period of time because there are always avenues available for people with their own interpretations of them to stroll down with their argument. But for Boro fans there are statistics out there that make for truly awful reading. Truly awful as well. Like being woken up at 4am in the morning by Peter Mandelson prodding you in the ribs with a Parker pen whilst wearing nothing but a neckerchief. In a Travelodge. Imagine that! Awful, isn’t it. Anyway, that’s the level of awful we’re dealing with here.

Since January 1st, Boro have played thirty league games. In those games, we’ve won just four of them. One of those wins came at Charlton Athletic this season with the other three coming at home to Leeds United, Nottingham Forest and Cardiff City during the last campaign. We’ve drawn eight of those thirty games, with five of those coming this season and three of them last. That leaves us looking at eighteen defeats in thirty league games. Over the whole year, we’ve plummeted from first place in the league to eighteenth(we finished sixteenth last season and, in truth, there is a very strong case to be made for saying that if the season had gone on for another four or five games we’d have been relegated to the third-tier). Even if you include the cup competitions, well, things don’t really get much better. Last season we beat Hastings United and Aldershot Town in the FA Cup before succumbing to Chelsea in the fifth round. This season we contrived to lose at home to Accrington Stanley, a side struggling along at the bottom of the fourth-tier, in the first round of the League Cup. This is grim, very grim, but it gets worse for us. We’ve scored twenty-eight goals in those thirty league games whilst conceding fifty-three. We haven’t come from behind to win a game from a losing position since the 4-1 victory at Charlton Athletic last November. This season, we’ve played nine league games and won only one. Throw in the game against Accrington and that makes it one win from ten. We already carry a goal difference of minus four and we have eight points from nine games. We’re already ten points and ten goals off sixth place and, despite the season still being in it’s infancy, that’s quite a sizeable piece of ground we’ve got to make up if we are to mount any sort of challenge for a play-off place. It gets even worse; in the last three games, Boro have given away four penalties(one at Forest, two against Bournemouth and one at QPR), we’ve conceded two own goals(one against Bournemouth and one at QPR) and we’ve have had two men sent-off(Ledesma at Forest and Williams against Bournemouth).

Like I said, these are truly awful statistics and it’s almost impossible to interpret them in any other way. They are dreadful. Most clubs would have dismissed their manager long ago, in truth, and yet Tony Mowbray is still in the Boro dug-out, still beavering away for a solution as to how he can address one of the worst runs of form in the club’s long and proud history.

The work he did in the summer in terms of bringing new players in and allowing some of those involved in last season’s embarrassing capitulation to leave the club appears to have been, generally speaking, pretty good. Whitehead in for Bailey, Butterfield in for a combination of Dyer and Zemmama, Varga in for McEachran, Kamara in for McDonald, Adomah added to the squad to finally address the problematic right-hand side. We also added Richardson and Konstantopoulos for a bit of cover and competition. It all appears to be sound business and, despite this season’s results not being much better than those achieved in the second-half of the last one, there are definite improvements in the way we play the game at times. We look more of a threat going forward, we’ve got some genuine pace in the side, Butterfield can certainly pick a forward pass and we look like we’ve got some goals in us. But, for all of that good work, you still have the central issues that destroyed last season hanging around over this one, ruining what good stuff there is and costing us important points along the way.

At the end of last season, and over the course of the summer, there was a general consensus that the one thing the Boro side needed most was a captain. A genuine captain. Somebody who plays at the heart of the defence, who heads not only the ball out of his penalty-area but the opposition striker as well, somebody who organises the lads(especially at set-pieces), somebody who generally leads by example, does the basics right and plays like he cares about his job and his team-mates. The centre of defence, in particular, was our biggest worry and yet it remains unaddressed. In fact, it appears to have got worse.

One of my biggest worries at the moment is how on earth a manager such as Tony Mowbray, given the way he himself played the game and led his team out there on the pitch every week, the things he gave his team as a captain and the value of those things in terms of leadership, organisation and togetherness, can allow the issues that have been eating the heart of our side away for months on end to continue without putting them to bed. The Williams/Woodgate partnership doesn’t look like the answer, certainly not for the long-term, but Mogga persists in pairing them up whenever they’re available and we’re now at the point where that in itself seems somewhat baffling. George Friend’s positional sense, his defensive capabilities overall, are also something the manager needs to think about as it’s an area of our side that opposition managers have seemingly targeted as a potential ‘weak spot’.

With Woodgate picking up his first injury of the season at Loftus Road on Saturday and Rhys Williams suspended, and with only the injury-magnet Seb Hines and young Ben Gibson as back-up, we’re now scratching around in the loan-market for a central-defender to come in and attempt to correct a series of deep-rooted problems that stretch back months. It’s a far from ideal situation we find ourselves in and it’s very difficult, even for an eternal optimist such as myself, to see where the next good run of form is going to come from given the degree of vulnerability in our back-line.

We’ve got two home games coming up, starting against Huddersfield Town at the Riverside on Tuesday evening with Yeovil Town to follow on Saturday, and despite the season being at such an early stage it already feels like we’re in ‘must win’ territory. And, even if we do win these two games, the alarming form over the course of this calendar year means the growing pressure on the gaffer will subside on a temporary basis. As more people reach the conclusion that it’s time for a change of manager, two wins, three wins even, followed up by a defeat or a poor performance cranks the pressure right back up again. We need to go on a run of epic proportions, similar to the kinds of runs we’ve gone on in each of Mogga’s three years in the job, if we are to put this pressure to bed once and for all but, sadly, that feels a very long way off at the moment.

I’m right behind Tony Mowbray, I’ve got everything crossed that he can turn it around for us and lead us back into the top-half of the table and beyond, but he has to sort out the mess we’ve become at the back and he has to do it soon. If he doesn’t then the chairman will have little option but to change things and, taking those god-awful statistics into consideration, it’d be very hard to disagree with him.

Middlesbrough 3 AFC Bournemouth 3

The way both teams set themselves up yesterday, both adopting a 4-5-1-cum-4-3-3 formation, both looking to pass the ball wherever possible and both selecting two wingers to play off a central-striker, meant we were always in for an entertaining game of football with the possibility of plenty of goal-mouth action and expansive football. And that’s pretty much what happened, in truth, though both sides have serious deficiencies to address in their respective defensive games if they are to progress this season.

Boro started slowly, being somewhat sloppy in possession and seemingly happy for Bournemouth to stroke the ball around at their own leisure. We did manage to get a foot on it only for Grant Leadbitter to be bundled off the ball just inside his own half, presenting Bournemouth with an opportunity to thread something into the area for Tokelo Rantie to run onto. Rhys Williams came across to try and quell threat but ended up making what seemed to be a pretty rash tackle and giving a penalty away. At the time, it seemed harsh as the ball changed direction on the back of Williams making his tackle, and I wasn’t sure if the tackle was actually made in the area, but the referee had little hesitation in pointing to the spot. Brett Pitman stepped up and smashed the ball straight down the middle and firmly into the net. After that, we struggled for a while. Bournemouth continued to knock the ball around and frustrate the home crowd and Boro’s reluctance to put a tackle in grew stronger. Their players were strolling around, sauntering forwards with the ball unchallenged, with our midfield happy to let them get on with it. It was no real surprise when we went 2-0 down, not really, not if we’re being honest about it. We pulled everybody back for a corner, cleared two balls out of our area without much fuss but the fact we’d brought all eleven players back meant we had no ‘out ball’ and Bournemouth were happy to just knock it back in and keep us pinned back. On the third occasion, a header back across goal struck the hand of Frazer Richardson and the referee awarded the Cherries a second penalty-kick. It seemed harsh at the time, again, but if the Boro weren’t given a penalty for that sort of thing I’d have been annoyed. Jason Steele almost saved it but such was the pace with which it was struck it flew into the roof of the net and we were 2-0 down after twelve minutes purely because we’d started with such a lack of intensity.

From then on we started to get going. Kei Kamara remained fairly isolated for large parts of the first-half but, slowly but surely, we got players, namely Leadbitter and Butterfield, a little closer to him and we started to pose a threat. We got one or two balls in behind Bournemouth’s full-backs though struggled to put anything decent over, with Richardson wasting some good opportunities to pick a team-mate out. We managed to carve out an opening for Carayol to get a shot off but a rather ‘agricultural’ tackle on him meant the ball broke for Kamara, who stuck his chance away at the second time of asking. The ref decided that a seemingly two-footed lunge on Carayol wasn’t worthy of even a booking, which seems slightly odd(though probably in keeping with his referring generally). The mood within the stadium immediately lifted and Boro continued to try and force their way back into it, with Butterfield continually looking to get himself on the ball and play forward passes as opposed to the sideways stuff we’ve perhaps become accustomed to at certain times this season. The way we’d fought back and refused to give up on the game, after such a horrendous opening twenty or so minutes, would suggest it’s fair to say we’d earned the luck we got through Carayol’s ambitious shot from outside the area looping up off the defender, over the ‘keeper and into the net.

The second-half began like the first one had ended, with Grant Leadbitter’s drive and endeavour carrying the team forwards at times. He was careless in possession a lot of the time but he did drag some of the other lads on through sheer hard work and graft. Carayol was pretty lively down the right though he couldn’t quite get his final ball right for the most part, Kamara won the majority of his headers again but to real avail and Butterfield’s enthusiasm for wanting the ball and for always trying to make positive things happen never subsided despite not looking fully-fit. We went close with a Williams header from a set-piece into the area but the frustration was growing as Bournemouth, and their goalkeeper in particular, attempted to waste as much time as they possibly could in the hope they kept a hold of their point. We put a couple of things in for Kamara, we got more men into the box than we usually do and we pressed Bournemouth right back inside their own area but we couldn’t really create anything by way of clear-cut chances. Finally we got in behind them and Leadbitter tucked away his chance with his left-peg. It was no more than we deserved at that moment in time and the relief inside the stadium was tangible.
However, as well settled down back into our seats and got back into the game the expectancy that we would concede seemed to wash over everyone, players included. We stopped what we’d been doing, we dropped off, we sat deeper, we stopped defending on the front-foot and allowed the opposition to move further up the pitch and have the ball where they wanted it. They created an opportunity by getting in behind Williams and Friend, again, only for Williams to recover and put a very strong tackle in; they appealed for a penalty and you get the feeling that if they hadn’t have already been awarded two penalties in the first-half then the referee would’ve blown up for a foul that time as well.

We didn’t learn our lesson though and the inevitable equaliser followed soon after, with George Friend being caught the wrong side of their winger, again, and said winger putting something into our six-yard box. Woodgate tried to cut it out but only succeeded in nudging it beyond Steele and into the bottom corner of our own net. The frustration was compounded a couple of minutes later when Williams was sent-off for bringing his man down after he’d been caught the wrong side of his man for what felt like the umpteenth time.

Mowbray made some subs and shoved Gibson on for Carayol when Williams had been dismissed, and then decided to throw Jutkiewicz and Varga on at the death as a couple of the lads were knackered and the long-ball was the only way we ever likely to pinch a win at that stage. Jutkiewicz seemed to have a knack of knowing roughly where Kamara’s headers were going to drop, which was encouraging, and I’d like to have seen them given longer than a few minutes together. We did manage to whip one more cross in for Kamara, whose header was tipped over the bar by Bournemouth’s ‘keeper.

It feels like we’ve dropped another two points there, which is made worse by the fact we’d fought back from being 2-0 down so early on in the game. We played some good football at times and could’ve had a couple more than three, as well as a penalty for what looked like a push on Kamara when he was going up for a header, but said good football is always going to go to waste if you defend like we defended. They got in behind Friend too many times and it looked like they’d targeted him specifically as a possible weak link in our defence. We dominated large parts of the match, indeed Bournemouth didn’t muster a single shot on target in open play, and yet we failed to beat a side fresh out of the third-tier despite scoring three goals against them on our own patch.

We’ve got some serious work to do on the training ground over the next couple of weeks if we want to stop all of our good work from going to waste. The worry is that the lads being asked to play at the back at the moment are so brittle when it comes to defending leads, and holding onto points, that things aren’t really going to change for the better in the way we would hope. It’d be nice to concentrate on all the positive aspects to come out of the game but when you defend as we did, and it’s not the first time we’ve defended poorly this season, then it’s hard not to be worried about what might happen over the next few games.

Scratching Around in Division Two

It feels like ages ago really, already. The day when people were standing around in car-parks and outside training complexes, when the bloke off Sky Sports News was pretending to be on the phone to the Wigan chairman whilst live on air. It’s only when the dust settles and they start prattling on about something else that you remember just how daft it all is. But sometimes you get sucked in. You get sucked in by the prospect of an announcement concerning the Tunisian international centre-half who pitched up at your local airport prior to undergoing a hastily-arranged medical.

Anyway, for those of us whose clubs reside outside the top-flight and ply their trade in the second-tier there wasn’t, QPR aside, much to concern us at all. The odd deal or five went through but seeing as our season had started almost a full four weeks before the transfer window ‘slammed shut’, as the bloke off Sky Sports News who pretends to be on the phone to the Wigan chairman whilst live on air likes to say, most of the business concerning our clubs had been done a long time previous.
Looking around the list of completed transfers shows you just how messy a division the second-tier is, with the majority of clubs shuffling a load of free transfers and long-term loan-deals around between themselves. There is the odd ‘stand out’ deal, such as the enigmatic Royston Drenthe joining Reading from Anzi Makhachkala or Matt Phillips joining a club in the same division, swapping Blackpool for QPR, instead of stepping up to the Premier League. Then there are the deals that Watford struck courtesy of the Pozzo family; it’ll be interesting to see how many of the players they’ve signed on free transfers from Italian side Udinese head back to the Italian outfit on a similar arrangement should The Hornets fail to win promotion this season. And Wigan Athletic signing Grant Holt for £2m is proof, if proof were needed, that Owen Coyle plans to stay loyal to style of football as played under former manager Roberto Martinez.

There are one or two other deals that look interesting; Jacob Butterfield is looking to get his career back on track by swapping Norwich City for Middlesbrough, for example, whilst the much-trumpeted Nick Powell joined Wigan on loan from Manchester United for a season. But the bulk of the deals completed by second-tier clubs are, generally speaking, much of a muchness, serving only to highlight how desperately competitive a league it is, how hard it is to find any kind of continuity or consistency. Teams know they can perform poorly for long-spells of the season and fly into the play-off places, or climb out of the bottom-three positions, by way of winning five or six games or shuffling a couple of loan-signings around at the fag-end of February.

From the outside looking in, it appears to be an exciting league where anything can happen, where any number of teams could rally to win promotion or collapse and slip into the third-tier almost unnoticed. When you’ve been in this league for a while, though, as Middlesbrough have, it becomes a relatively frustrating place, full of collective and individual inconsistencies on and off the pitch with most games being generally tight affairs decided by a ricochet here and a big lump getting his bonce on the end of something there. It’s basically the Premier League in slow motion, or at least that’s how it feels most of the time, and the sooner you’re out of it the better. For the majority of clubs, though, well they’ll all be there next summer, swapping similar players on similar deals, again, probably with a new manager in place, whilst the teams just down from the top-flight gamble the TV money in an effort to escape the madness that is the modern-day Division Two.

Division Two: The Business Done

AFC BOURNEMOUTH
IN: Tokelo Rantie – Malmo(undisclosed), Elliott Ward – Norwich City(free), Ian Harte – Reading(free), Mohamed Coulibaly – Grasshoppers(free), Andrew Surman – Norwich City(loan)
OUT: Jonathan Meades – Oxford United(free), Charlie Sheringham – AFC Wimbledon(free), Frank Demouge – Roda JC(free), Matt Tubbs – Rotherham United(loan), Jayden Stockley – Leyton Orient(loan), Shwan Jalal – Oxford United(loan), Steve Fletcher(retired)

BARNSLEY
IN: Dale Jennings – Bayern Munich(£250,000), Chris O’Grady – Sheffield Wednesday(undisclosed), Christian Dibble – Bury(free), Lewin Nyatanga – Bristol City(free), Wade Joyce – Sunderland(free), John Cofie – Manchester United(free), Jean-Yves M’Voto – Oldham Athletic(free), Ben Alnwick – Charlton Athletic(free), Paddy McCourt – Celtic(free), Peter Ramage – Crystal Palace(loan), Mike Pollitt – Wigan Athletic(loan), Markus Pedersen – Vitesse Arnhem(loan)
OUT: Scott Golbourne – Wolverhampton Wanderers(undisclosed), Stephen Foster – Tranmere Rovers(free), Matt Done – Rochdale(free), John Rooney – Bury(free), Marlon Harewood – Bristol City(free), Jordan Clark – Scunthorpe United(loan), Andrai Jones – Tranmere Rovers(loan), Rob Edwards(released), Toni Silva(released), Lukas Lidakevicius(released)

BIRMINGHAM CITY
IN: Paul Caddis – Swindon Town(undisclosed), Andrew Shinnie – Inverness(free), Darren Randolph – Motherwell(free), Neil Eardley – Blackpool(free), Lee Novak – Huddersfield Town(free), Olly Lee – Barnet(free), Tom Adeyemi – Norwich City(free), Matt Green – Mansfield Town(free), Kyle Bartley – Swansea City(loan), Dan Burn – Fulham(loan), Scott Allan – West Bromwich Albion(loan), Shane Ferguson – Newcastle United(loan), Jesse Lingard – Manchester United(loan)
OUT: Nathan Redmond – Norwich City(£3.2m), Curtis Davies – Hull City(£2.25m), Fraser Kerr – Motherwell(free), Adam Rooney – Oldham Athletic(free), Marlon King – Sheffield United(loan), Akwasi Asante – Shrewsbury Town(loan), Amari’i Bell – Nuneaton Borough(loan), Graham Hutchison(released), Jack Deaman(released), Stephen Carr(retired)

BLACKBURN ROVERS
IN: Alex Marrow – Crystal Palace(undisclosed), Corry Evans – Hull City(undisclosed), Devarn Green – Burton Albion(undisclosed), Ben Marshall – Leicester City(undisclosed), Matt Kilgallon – Sunderland(free), DJ Campbell – Queens Park Rangers(free), Tommy Spurr – Doncaster Rovers(free), Chris Taylor – Millwall(free), Alan Judge – Notts County(free), Simon Eastwood – Portsmouth(free), Yann Songo’o – Sporting Kansas City(free), Aaron Tumwa – Watford(free), Todd Kane – Chelsea(loan), Tom Cairney – Hull City(loan)
OUT: Martin Olsson – Norwich City(undisclosed), Gael Givet – Arles-Avignon(undisclosed), Morten Gamst Pedersen – Kardemir Karabukspor(undisclosed), Mauro Formica – Cruz Azul(undisclosed), Chris Dilo – St Mirren(free), Reece Hands – Greenock Morton(free), Osayamen Osawe – Southport(free), Diego Rosado – Vitoria de Setubal(free), Sebastian Usai – AFC United(free), Jamie MacLaren – Perth Glory(free), David Goodwillie – Dundee United(loan), Nuno Henrique – Arouca(loan), Anton Forrester – Bury(loan), Jack O’Connell – Rochdale(loan), Ryan Edwards – Chesterfield(loan), Bradley Orr – Blackpool(loan), Edinho Junior – Whitehawk(loan), Matthew Urwin – Stalybridge Celtic(loan), Curtis Haley – Bamber Bridge(loan), Danny Murphy(released), Nuno Gomes(released), Micah Evans(released), Peter Wylie(released), Ryan Humphreys(released), Danny Laverty(released)

BLACKPOOL
IN: Steven Davies – Bristol City(£500,000), Gary MacKenzie – Milton Keynes Dons(undisclosed), Bobby Grant – Rochdale(undisclosed), Charles Dunne – Wycombe Wanderers(undisclosed), Michael Chopra – Ipswich Town(free), Neal Bishop – Notts County(free), Ricardo Fuller – Charlton Athletic(free), Nathan Tyson – Derby County(free), Jack Robinson – Liverpool(loan), Nathan Delfouneso – Aston Villa(loan), Bradley Orr – Blackburn Rovers(loan), Marvin Zeegelaar – Elazigspor(loan), Stephen Dobbie – Crystal Palace(loan)
OUT: Matt Phillips – Queens Park Rangers(undisclosed), Neil Eardley – Birmingham City(free), Alex Baptiste – Bolton Wanderers(free), Stephen Crainey – Wigan Athletic(free), Tiago Gomes – APOEL(free), Kevin Phillips – Crystal Palace(free), Ian Evatt – Chesterfield(free), Ashley Eastham – Rochdale(free), Paul Bignot – Grimsby Town(free), Elliot Grandin – Crystal Palace(free), Chris Kettings – York City(loan), Jake Caprice – St Mirren(loan), Charles Dunne – Wycombe Wanderers(loan), Louis Almond – Hyde(loan), Alex Addai(released), Gerardo Bruna(released), Jamie Menagh(relased), Matthew Challoner(released), Curtis Thompson(released), Adda Djeziri(released)

BOLTON WANDERERS
IN: Jermaine Beckford – Leicester City(undisclosed), Robert Hall – West Ham United(undisclosed), Jay Spearing – Liverpool(undisclosed), Erik Bukran – Budapest Honved(undisclosed), Marc Tierney – Norwich City(free), Alex Baptiste – Blackpool(free), Andre Moritz – Crystal Palace(free), Connor Wilkinson – Millwall(free), Hayden White – Sheffield Wednesday(free), Gary Fraser – Hamilton Academical(free)
OUT: Mikel Alonso – Fiorentina(free), Gregg Wylde – Aberdeen(free), Kevin Davies – Preston North End(free), Sam Ricketts – Wolverhampton Wanderers(free), Rob Lainton – Bury(free), Alex McQuade – Shrewsbury Town(free), Joe McKee – Greenock Morton(free), Jack Sampson – Morecambe(free), Adam Blakeman – Hyde(free), Ben Dennis – Hyde(free), Marvin Sordell – Charlton Athletic(loan), Gary Fraser – Partick Thistle(loan), Keith Andrews – Brighton & Hove Albion(loan), Lewis Fielding(released), Ben Hampson(released)

BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION
IN: Adam Chicksen – Milton Keynes Dons(undisclosed), Matthew Upson – Stoke City(free), Kemy Agustien – Swansea City(free), Keith Andrews – Bolton Wanderers(loan), Stephen Ward – Wolverhampton Wanderers(loan), Craig Conway – Cardiff City(loan)
OUT: Stephen Dobbie – Crystal Palace(undisclosed), Anton Rodgers – Oldham Athletic(free), Torbjorn Agdestein – Inverness(free), Ryan Harley – Swindon Town(free), Marcos Painter – Portsmouth(free), Gary Dicker – Rochdale(free), Vicente(released)

BURNLEY
IN: Scott Arfield – Huddersfield Town(free), Alex Cisak – Oldham Athletic(free), Tom Heaton – Bristol City(free), Joseph Mills – Reading(free), Ryan Noble – Sunderland(free), David Jones – Wigan Athletic(free), Nick Liversedge – Whitby Town(free), Kyle Brownhill – Stockport County(free), Daniel Nizic(free), Michael Kightly – Stoke City(loan)
OUT: Charlie Austin – Queens Park Rangers(undisclosed), Chris McCann – Wigan Athletic(free), Adam Evans – Inverness(free), Wes Fletcher – York City(free), Lee Grant – Derby County(free), Martin Paterson – Huddersfield Town(free), Shay McCartan – Accrington Stanley(free), Brian Jensen – Bury(free), George Porter – Milton Keynes Dons(loan), Marvin Bartley – Leyton Orient(loan), Joseph Mills – Oldham Athletic(loan), Aryn Williams(released), Joe Jackson(released)

CHARLTON ATHLETIC
IN: Mark Gower – Swansea City(free), Richard Wood – Coventry City(free), Simon Church – Reading(free), Marvin Sordell – Bolton Wanderers(loan), Cameron Stewart – Hull City(loan)
OUT: David Button – Brentford(undisclosed), Bradley Wright-Phillips – New York Red Bulls(free), John Sullivan – Portsmouth(free), Scott Wagstaff – Bristol City(free), Danny Haynes – Notts County(free), Ricardo Fuller – Blackpool(free), Ben Alnwick – Barnsley(free), Matt Taylor – Bradford City(free), Michael Smith – AFC Wimbledon(loan), Kevin Feely – Carlisle United(loan), Danny Green – Milton Keynes Dons(loan), Danny Hollands – Gillingham(loan), Salim Kerkar(released), Yado Mambo(released), Florent Rouamba(released), Semi Ajayi(released), Courtney Harris(released)

DERBY COUNTY
IN: Johnny Russell – Dundee United(£750,000), Craig Forsyth – Watford(£150,000), Lee Grant – Burnley(free), Chris Martin – Norwich City(free), John Eustace – Watford(free), Adam Smith – Tottenham Hotspur(loan)
OUT: John Brayford – Cardiff City(£1.5m), Frank Fielding – Bristol City(undisclosed), Theo Robinson – Doncaster Rovers(undisclosed), Gareth Roberts – Bury(free), Nathan Tyson – Blackpool(free), Luke Adams – Wellington Phoenix(free), Ross Atkins – Alfreton Town(loan), Conor Doyle – DC United(loan), Callum Ball – Torquay United(loan), Tom Naylor – Newport County(loan), Mats Morch – Burton Albion(loan), James O’Connor – Bristol City(loan)

DONCASTER ROVERS
IN: Harry Forrester – Brentford(undisclosed), Theo Robinson – Derby County(undisclosed), Marc De Val Fernàndez – Real Madrid(free), Mark Duffy – Scunthorpe United(free), Dean Furman – Oldham Athletic(free), Luke McCullough – Manchester United(free), Ross Turnbull – Chelsea(free), Richie Wellens – Leicester City(loan), Bongani Khumalo – Tottenham Hotspur(loan), Reece Wabara – Manchester City(loan), Federico Macheda – Manchester United(loan)
OUT: Tommy Spurr – Blackburn Rovers(free), Lee Fowler – Kidderminster Harriers(free), Gary Woods – Watford(free), Martin Woods(released), Jordan Ball(released), Patrick Mullen(released), Neil Sullivan(retired)

HUDDERSFIELD TOWN
IN: James Vaughan – Norwich City(undisclosed), Jake Carroll – St Patricks Athletic(undisclosed), Adam Hammill – Wolverhampton Wanderers(undisclosed), Jonathan Hogg – Watford(undisclosed), Jonathan Stead – Bristol City(free), Martin Paterson – Burnley(free), Daniel Carr – Dulwich Hamlet(free), Cristian Lopez – Atletico Baleares(free), Jazz Richards – Swansea City(loan)
OUT: Jack Hunt – Crystal Palace(undisclosed), Tom Clarke – Preston North End(free), Lee Novak – Birmingham City(free), Scott Arfield – Burnley(free), Kallum Higginbotham – Partick Thistle(free), Alan Lee – Ipswich Town(free), Josh Windass – Accrington Stanley(free), Chris Atkinson – Tranmere Rovers(loan), Jordan Sinnott – Bury(loan), James Spencer – Scunthorpe United(loan)

IPSWICH TOWN
IN: Jack Doherty – Waterford United(undisclosed), Cole Skuse – Bristol City(free), Darryl Murphy – Celtic(free), Jay Tabb – Reading(free), David McGoldrick – Nottingham Forest(free), Dean Gerken – Bristol City(free), Christophe Berra – Wolverhampton Wanderers(free), Frederic Veseli – Manchester United(free), Jordan Adekunle – Crawley Town(free), Alan Lee – Huddersfield Town(free), Paul Anderson – Bristol City(swap), Ryan Tunnicliffe – Manchester United(loan)
OUT: Andy Drury – Crawley Town(free), Lee Martin – Milwall(free), Michael Chopra – Blackpool(free), Callum Bennett – Notts County(free), Ronan Murray – Notts County(free), Josh Carson – York City(free), Jay Emmanuel-Thomas – Bristol City(swap)

LEEDS UNITED
IN: Luke Murphy – Crewe Alexandra(£1m), Matt Smith – Oldham Athletic(free), Noel Hunt – Reading(free), Scott Wootton – Manchester United(undisclosed)
OUT: Paul Rachubka – Oldham Athletic(free), Paul Connolly – Millwall)free), Steve Morison – Millwall(loan), Nathan Turner – Chester(loan), Lewis Turner – Chester(loan), Patrick Kisnorbo(released), Davide Somma(released), Sanchez Payne(released), Leigh Bromby(retired)

LEICESTER CITY
IN: Dean Hammond – Leicester City(undisclosed), Zoumana Bakayogo – Tranmere Rovers(free), Marcin Wasilewski – Anderlecht(free), Ignasi Miquel – Arsénal(loan)
OUT: Jermaine Beckford – Bolton Wanderers(undisclosed), Ben Marshall – Blackburn Rovers(undisclosed), Joe Jones – Yeovil Town(free), Connor Clifford – Southend United(free), Richie Wellens – Doncaster Rovers(free), Jacob Blyth – Northampton Town(loan), George Taft – York City(loan), Marko Futacs – Diosgyori(loan), Connor Brennan(released), Steven Smith(released), Karlton Walsh(released), Jide Maduako(released)

MIDDLESBROUGH
IN: Albert Adomah – Bristol City(£1m), Kei Kamara – Sporting Kansas City(undisclosed), Jacob Butterfield – Norwich City(undisclosed), Dean Whitehead – Stoke City(free), Frazer Richardson – Southampton(free), Dimitrios Konstantopoulos – AEK Athens(free), Joszef Varga – Debrecen(loan)
OUT: Stephen McManus – Motherwell(free), Nicky Bailey – Milwall(free), Scott McDonald – Millwall(free), Christian Burgess – Hartlepool United(loan), Connor Ripley – Bradford City(loan), Adam Reach – Shrewsbury Town(loan), Matthew Dolan – Hartlepool United(loan), Ryan Brobbel – York City(loan), Curtis Main – Shrewsbury Town(loan), Julio Arca(released), Andre Bikey(released), Merouane Zemmama(released), Paul Weldon(released), Kieron Dyer(retired)

MILLWALL
IN: Jermaine Easter – Crystal Palace(free), Stephen Bywater – Sheffield Wednesday(free), Lee Martin – Ipswich Town(free), Richard Chaplow – Southampton(free), Nicky Bailey – Middlesbrough(free), Scott McDonald – Middlesbrough(free), Paul Connolly – Leeds United(free), Steve Morison – Leeds United(loan), Shaun Derry – Queens Park Rangers(loan), Andy Marshall – Aston Villa(loan)
OUT: Steve Mildenhall – Bristol Rovers(free), Chris Taylor – Blackburn Rovers(free), Tamika Mkandawire – Shrewsbury Town(free), Shaun Batt – Leyton Orient(free), Dany N’Guessan – Swindon Town(free), John Marquis – Portsmouth(loan), Therry Racon(released), Maik Taylor(retired)

NOTTINGHAM FOREST
IN: Kelvin Wilson – Celtic(£2.5m), Djamel Abdoun – Olympiakos(£1.5m), Jamie Mackie – Queens Park Rangers(£1m), Jamie Paterson – Walsall(undisclosed), Gonzalo Jara – West Bromwich Albion(free), Eric Lichaj – Aston Villa(free), Dorus De Vries – Wolverhampton Wanderers(free), Jack Hobbs – Hull City(loan), Nathaniel Chalobah – Chelsea(loan)
OUT: Adlene Guedioura – Crystal Palace(undisclosed), Lewis McGugan – Watford(free), David McGoldrick – Ipswich Town(free), Stephen McLaughlin – Bristol City(loan)

QUEENS PARK RANGERS
IN: Charlie Austin – Burnley(undisclosed), Matt Phillips – Blackpool(undisclosed), Karl Henry – Wolverhampton Wanderers(undisclosed), Danny Simpson – Newcastle United(free), Richard Dunne – Aston Villa(free), Gary O’Neil – West Ham United(free), Tom Carroll – Tottenham Hotspur(loan), Benoit Assou-Ekotto – Tottenham Hotspur(loan), Niko Kranjcar – Dinamo Kiev(loan)
OUT: Christopher Samba – Anzi Makhachkala(£12m), Jamie Mackie – Nottingham Forest(£1m), DJ Campbell – Blackburn Rovers(free), Troy Hewitt – Walsall(free), Jose Bosingwa – Trabzonspor(free), Tal Ben Haim – Standard Liege(free), Djibril Cisse – FC Kuban Krasnodar(free), Anton Ferdinand – Antalyaspor(free), Adel Taarabt – Fulham(loan), Loic Remy – Newcastle United(loan), Park Ji-Sung – PSV Eindhoven(loan), Michael Harriman – Gillingham(loan), Shaun Derry – Millwall(loan), Michael Doughty – Stevenage Borough(loan), Esteban Granero – Real Sociedad(loan), Stephane Mbia – Sevilla(loan), Jay Bothroyd(released), Radek Cerny(released), Rob Hulse(released), Adam Francis(released)

READING
IN: Royston Drenthe – Alania Vladikavkaz(undisclosed), Danny Williams – Hoffenheim(undisclosed), Wayne Bridge – Manchester City(free)
OUT: Jimmy Kebe – Crystal Palace(undisclosed), Adrian Mariappa – Crystal Palace(undisclosed), Ian Harte – AFC Bournemouth(free), Noel Hunt – Leeds United(free), Uche Ikpeazu – Watford(free), Josh Shama – Oxford United(free), Joseph Mills – Burnley(free), Jay Tabb – Ipswich Town(free), Simon Church – Charlton Athletic(free), Nicky Shorey – Bristol City(free), Mikkel Andersen – Randers(loan), Nick Arnold – Wycombe Wanderers(loan), Ryan Edwards – Perth Glory(loan), Daniel Carriço – Sevilla(loan), Michael Hector – Aberdeen(loan), Daniel Lincoln – Metropolitan Police(loan), Brett Williams(released)

SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY
IN: Jeremy Helan – Manchester City(undisclosed), Jacques Maghoma – Burton Albion(free), Atdhe Nuhiu – Eskisehirspor(free), Kamil Zayatte – Istanbul BB(free), Rafael Floro – FC Porto(free), Khalil Lambin – Ergotelis(free), Jordan Spence – West Ham United(loan), Andelko Savic – Sampdoria(loan), George Swann – Manchester City(loan), Roger Johnson – Wolverhampton Wanderers(loan)
OUT: Chris O’Grady – Barnsley(undisclosed), Stephen Bywater – Millwall(free), Hayden White – Bolton Wanderers(free), Nicky Weaver – Aberdeen(free), Bastian Hery – Rochdale(free), Julian Bennett – Southend United(free), Necj Pečnik – Red Star Belgrade(free), Chris Lines – Port Vale(free), Danny Mayor – Bury(loan), Martin Taylor – Brentford(loan), Harry Grant(released), Matthew Fletcher(released)

WATFORD
IN: Daniel Pudil – Granada(undisclosed), Marco Cassetti – Udinese(undisclosed), Cristian Battocchio – Udinese(undisclosed), Ikechi Anya – Granada(undisclosed), Diego Fabbrini – Udinese(free), Gabriele Angella – Udinese(free), Almen Abdi – Udinese(free), Joel Ekstrand – Udinese(free), Iriney – Granada(free), Marco Faraoni – Udinese(free), Lewis McGugan – Nottingham Forest(free), Reece Brown – Manchester United(free), Uche Ikpeazu – Reading(free), Gary Woods – Doncaster Rovers(free), Javier Acuna – Udinese(loan), Essaid Belkalem – Granada(loan)
OUT: Craig Forsyth – Derby County(£150,000), Carl Dickinson – Port Vale(undisclosed), Jonathan Hogg – Huddersfield Town(undisclosed), Britt Assombalonga – Peterborough United(undisclosed), Chris Iwelumo – Scunthorpe United(free), Jack Bonham – Brentford(free), Stephen McGinn – Sheffield United(free), Mark Yeates – Bradford City(free), Lee Hodson – Milton Keynes Dons(free), John Eustace – Derby County(free), Piero Mingoia – Accrington Stanley(free), Aaron Tumwa – Blackburn Rovers(free), Adam Thompson – Southend United(loan), Prince Buaben(released), Stephan Hamilton-Forbes(released)

WIGAN ATHLETIC
IN: Grant Holt – Norwich City(£2m), James Perch – Newcastle United(undisclosed), Scott Carson – Bursaspor(undisclosed), Leon Barnett – Norwich City(undisclosed), James McClean – Sunderland(undisclosed), Chris McCann – Burnley(free), Stephen Crainey – Blackpool(free), Thomas Rogne – Celtic(free), Marc-Antoine Fortuné – West Bromwich Albion(free), Juan Carlos Garcia – Olimpia(free), Nick Powell – Manchester United(loan), Ryan Shotton – Stoke City(loan)
OUT: Arouna Koné – Everton(£6m), James McCarthy – Everton)undisclosed), Mauro Boselli – Club Leon(undisclosed), Maynor Figueroa – Hull City(free), Román Golobart – 1.FC Köln(free), Antolin Alcaraz – Everton(free), David Jones – Burnley(free), Franco Di Santo – Werder Bremen(free), Filip Oršula – MSV Duisburg(free), Adrian Lopez – Montreal Impact(free), Ronnie Stam – Standard Liege(free), Mike Pollitt – Barnsley(loan), Albert Crusat(released), Piscu(released), Peter Aylmer(released), Jonathan Lynch(released), Callum Morris(released), Ryan Watson(released), Joshua Sumner(released)

YEOVIL TOWN
IN: Kieffer Moore – Dorchester(undisclosed), Joe Jones – Leicester City(free), Joel Grant – Wycombe Wanderers(free), Seth Nana Ofori-Twumusi – Northampton Town(free), Sam Hoskins – Southampton(free), Dan Seaborne – Southampton(free), Liam Davis – Oxford United(free), Chris Dunn – Coventry City(free), Michael Ngoo – Liverpool(loan), Billy Clifford – Chelsea(loan), Alan Tate – Swansea City(loan), Joe Ralls – Cardiff City(loan), Sam Johnstone – Manchester United(loan), Wayne Hennessey – Wolverhampton Wanderers(loan), Andy Williams – Swindon Town(loan), Liam Fontaine – Bristol City(loan)
OUT: Dominic Blizzard – Plymouth Argyle(free), Richard Hinds – Bury(free), Reuben Reid – Oldham Athletic(loan), Matthew Cafer – Willand Rovers(loan), Gavin Williams(released), Lewis Young(released)