What Sunderland need on deadline day

It's here again. With the mess over Big Sam and David Moyes taking some time to get going it has been a tough transfer window for Sunderland. They have bought a few for the future and plugged a couple of gaps so far but there is a lot of work to do this afternoon. Here is what Sunderland still need to do this deadline day-

Goalkeeper

Whichever way you look at it we need a goalie. Whether you want to keep Pickford as number one or as backup every Premier League team needs three keepers. Missing out on Joe Hart is a blessing as far as I'm concerned but to go in to the rest of the season with only 2 goalkeepers and both being young and untested is a real risk. This has to be a priority.

Centre Back 

Whether Lamine Koné stays or goes we need to get cover here. With an injury to O'Shea we are short here as well. Rodwell and McNair can do a job here but to stay in the league we need more cover. I like Koné and I think Djilobodji will turn into a good player but we ultimately need more.

Centre midfield

This is probably the least pressing of these needs with some quality and experience to come back from injury but this won't happen soon. The players we have been linked with seem to have turned is down in one way or another. Back to the drawing board on the last day of the window isn't a good place to be.

Striker

Although the formation we have will mean that we only play one striker we still need a quality backup in this position. Borini doesn't score enough goals to be relied on. There will be games where we want to throw on another striker or where Defoe is injured. Because of this we need a player who will step in and bag a few. This is another high priority today.

Who will be the big movers in the January transfer window?

We are edging towards the January transfer window and clubs will have already set budgets, discussed targets and made init enquiries about how they wish to recruit. With a few "big" clubs underachieving and untold riches available for staying in the Premier League, I expect a considerable amount of money to be spent. Here I take a look at the major recruiters in January and where I expect them to splash the cash.

Chelsea

The champions have has a dreadful start to the season, and Jose Mourinho is no stranger to spending his club owners money. They have looked weak in defence and long-term replacements for John Terry and Branislav Ivanovic are needed. With Diego Costa looking injury-prone and neither Loic Remy nor Radamel Falcao cutting the mustard I can see a move for a striker - especially of they can offload Falcao back to Monaco.

Newcastle

Although Steve McClaren has stated that he's happy with the current squad, the loss of Tim Krul is a massive blow. A quality keeper is worth 10 points per season, and this could be the difference between survival and relegation this year. I'd expect them to look for a short-term option, someone like Victor Valdes, as Krul will be number one choice again when he's fit.

Sunderland

After another terrible start to a season and another managerial change I would expect some Big Sam wheeling and dealing in the transfer window. There will undoubtedly by some players leaving and others coming in, but the true nature of who comes in is dependent on who leaves. Expect some of the older players such as Wes Brown and Jermain Defoe to leave and some defenders to come in.

Aston Villa

Another big club with a new manager and an awful season to date. Villa haven't spent much for a long time now and, like Sunderland, I can't see loads of players coming in unless loads of players leave. But they have to improve immediately if they are to have any hope of statyng up.

These won't be the only teams that need strengthening in January but are the ones that stand out to me as the most likely at the moment. But all it takes is an injury for a team to suddenly see a gaping hole where that they think needs filling with an expensive player.

Watch this space!

Deadline day approaches - what does it say about the fans?

I blogged much earlier in the Summer and said that it was the start of the silly season. As the last season closed and teams were deciding what players they would discard and where the holes were in their squad, it felt like the silly season. As 1st July came around and clubs could officially announce their new signings, it felt sillier. I have no word to describe the period that's about to arrive - transfer deadline day. The business that's done in the last day, as clubs engage in brinksmanship - whoever blinks first loses money - is amazing.

In a world where players have no concept of the type of salary that the fans live on, they and their agents fight over the extra few grand a week or a better goal bonus that eventually makes little difference to their existence. Clubs that squander millions of players that turn out to be flops, squabble with other clubs about the different valuations each carry for a player. The selling club overvalues heavily, the buying club undervalues heavily and the player can get left in the middle. Where else would you force someone who doesn't want to work for you to stay and "become part of out future" or "stay and fight for your place." Not that the players are slaves to the clubs - far from it.

So we head towards the final day and Sky Sports are already hyping it up, with talk of world record, British record and club record transfers. With some heavy spending by the two Manchester clubs, Chelsea and possibly a big deal to come from

Arsenal the spending this Summer may top £1 billion. Is this the way that the world wants to spend it's money?

But after all that we, the fans, love it. We love the drama of the transfer window, the speculation about who we are going to buy, who might be in for one of our players or who we might have just missed out on. The figures seem to pass over out heads. A player that we have booed relentlessly when they played for another team is suddenly one of our heroes and the short sales go through the roof. The word that is often attached to football fans is "fickle" but I see it as something different to that altogether.

At any club, the average time a player or a manager stays there is probably now down to under 3 years. A fan is there for life, and has to adapt to the changes in chairman, director of football, manager and players. The fans will often support the club that their father and grandfather and so on supported. The lineage often goes back as far as the club itself. This is the opposite of fickle - this is long-term dedication from people that work hard all week to put their hand in their pocket for a few goals, a pie and a pint.

As the silly season gets to it's silliest point, I ask the clubs to keep their fans dreams alive. It's often these dreams that get us through the rest of our lives.