Iain Moody's Jan transfer business at Palace compared with

Chris Wathan: How Iain Moody's January transfer business at Crystal Palace compares with Cardiff City's
Tuesday Apr 02, 2014
BY CHRIS WATHAN

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There is hope – or perhaps has to be hope – that Saturday’s visit of Crystal Palace gives opportunity for some of the new Bluebirds to play a greater part. But those still waiting to be convinced by Cardiff’s appointment of Solskjaer will not have ignored the fact that nine of Saturday’s side were Mackay signings – nor the January work done by Palace.

After leaving Cardiff City under a cloud last October, Iain Moody went to Crystal Palace and signed some big names in the January window.

' But how have they performed compared to the Bluebirds '

Joe Ledley signed for Crystal Palace in January

You didn’t need to be an expert in body language to work out what Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was feeling as Cardiff City grabbed their comeback point at West Brom.

In isolation, a 95th minute equaliser is enough to make any manager drop his mask of calmness to celebrate; in the context of the Bluebirds’ battle to beat the drop, there was certainly no danger of disguising delight.

Yet, in the few hours where the Norwegian could afford to reflect before attentions turned to this weekend’s latest make-or-break instalment of City’s survival effort, perhaps there was added reason for Solskjaer to feel pleased with himself.

After all, the scorer of that dramatic leveller was Mats Moller Daehli, a player Solskjaer had signed himself during his first few weeks in South Wales as the new man was given the January transfer window to prepare a squad good enough to stay up.

Solskjaer may well deny any added importance of just who got the goal at The Hawthorns, one that could yet be pivotal to Cardiff’s attempts to remain in the top-flight.

But no-one can deny there is truth in the old adage that managers live and die by their transfers – and Solskjaer’s January efforts have not convinced all.

Given his original team selection last Saturday included just one winter arrival, perhaps it can be claimed Solskjaer has not been convinced himself.

Seven players were unveiled during the winter window yet only Fabio da Silva started at West Brom, the beleaguered Brazilian left-back promptly hooked before even half-time – the fifth time he has made way in a game from nine starts.

One-goal striker Kenwyne Jones was kept on the bench, as was defender Juan Cala with right-back Kevin Theophile-Catherine preferred to the Spaniard even when starting with three centre-halves.

Wilfried Zaha – who has mostly failed to live up to the huge expectation on his talented shoulders after a loan move from Manchester United – was at least involved in the build-up to sub Daehli’s strike having come off the bench himself, but few would claim the England hopeful has proved the revelation Solskjaer and City fans would have hoped.

Magnus Wolff Eikrem and Jo Inge Berget, meanwhile, did not even make the squad, although given they have managed one Premier League start between them with the latter featuring for a meagre 11 minutes, that hardly came as a surprise.

So while the exciting Daehli’s contribution could yet prove priceless, there is a long way to go in the next six games to show that Solskjaer’s recruitment has equalled value for money.


There is hope – or perhaps has to be hope – that Saturday’s visit of Crystal Palace gives opportunity for some of the new Bluebirds to play a greater part. But those still waiting to be convinced by Cardiff’s appointment of Solskjaer will not have ignored the fact that nine of Saturday’s side were Mackay signings – nor the January work done by Palace.

Much talk has been of Joe Ledley’s return this weekend but there is also a return for Iain Moody, Mackay’s recruitment chief whose Cardiff exit was mired in controversy when revealed last October.

Subsequently appointed as sporting director at Selhurst Park, Moody first oversaw the arrival of Tony Pulis as Eagles boss before then aiding Pulis’ January business.

The outlay was greater than Cardiff’s (press reports suggested City’s spending was £7.45m but a club statement claimed it was actually £6m; Palace’s was £9.45m) but the impact has been arguably greater.

Scott Dann has played every available minute since making the move from Blackburn, helping the club to two clean sheets and bringing a greater steel to their defence. Former City favourite Ledley was snapped up from Celtic, grabbing a goal on his debut, adding to their attacking drive and forcing the John Terry own goal in the shock win over Chelsea.

Wayne Hennessey has not removed Julian Speroni from between the Palace posts but Tom Ince has played a part after a loan move from Blackpool, also boasting a goal and an assist although was not involved on Saturday. And while Jason Puncheon was already on loan at Palace, his contribution since signing permanently has been key with three goals.

So four of their five January signings have made individual contributions to winning points and helped them keep a five-point gap between themselves and City.

Cardiff’s new boys have not been without their own contributions, even before Daehli drama at the Albion. Zaha’s assist against Norwich was important as was Jones’ solitary City goal in that same game.

But it is clear more is needed to add ballast to the club’s post-transfer window statement that praised Solskjaer’s “instrumental” role in attracting players to make “an immediate impact in the club’s desire to maintain its Premier League status.”

They have hardly been a magnificent seven so far...and time is fast running out to repay Solskjaer’s faith.

The only player out of the Palace signings that I would have wanted here is Scott Dann, the rest are no better than what we have, I'm glad we never went back for Ince, as talented as he is.

One vital flaw in that article, its thanks to Moody terrible spending of Cardiffs summer budget that OGS had f**k all to spend in comparison in the January window.

Moody net spend of 35m+ in the summer.
OGS net spend of 3m in January.

Go figure.

On a side note, who the f*ck is paid to write this shit.

One vital flaw in that article, its thanks to Moody terrible spending of Cardiffs summer budget that OGS had f**k all to spend in comparison in the January window.

Moody net spend of 35m+ in the summer.
OGS net spend of 3m in January.

Go figure.

On a side note, who the f*ck is paid to write this shit.

Exactly. Moody should be stigmatised with the Cornelius shambles until he leaves this world.

One vital flaw in that article, its thanks to Moody terrible spending of Cardiffs summer budget that OGS had f**k all to spend in comparison in the January window.

Moody net spend of 35m+ in the summer.
OGS net spend of 3m in January.

Go figure.

On a side note, who the f*ck is paid to write this shit.

Exactly. Moody should be stigmatised with the Cornelius shambles until he leaves this world.

Bit harsh. There is more to life than one transfer of a 20 year old kid.

Suppose you could say, we had Medel, Caulker, KTC, Brayford, Moore, Odemwingie, that other defender for under the price of Eric Lamela

One vital flaw in that article, its thanks to Moody terrible spending of Cardiffs summer budget that OGS had f**k all to spend in comparison in the January window.

Moody net spend of 35m+ in the summer.
OGS net spend of 3m in January.

Go figure.

On a side note, who the f*ck is paid to write this shit.

Exactly. Moody should be stigmatised with the Cornelius shambles until he leaves this world.

Bit harsh. There is more to life than one transfer of a 20 year old kid.

Suppose you could say, we had Medel, Caulker, KTC, Brayford, Moore, Odemwingie, that other defender for under the price of Eric Lamela

How you can compare our signings to a rich top 5 club shows how clueless you are.

One vital flaw in that article, its thanks to Moody terrible spending of Cardiffs summer budget that OGS had f**k all to spend in comparison in the January window.

Moody net spend of 35m+ in the summer.
OGS net spend of 3m in January.

Go figure.

On a side note, who the f*ck is paid to write this shit.

Exactly. Moody should be stigmatised with the Cornelius shambles until he leaves this world.

Bit harsh. There is more to life than one transfer of a 20 year old kid.

Suppose you could say, we had Medel, Caulker, KTC, Brayford, Moore, Odemwingie, that other defender for under the price of Eric Lamela

And? Medel has flopped, Caulker has been okay, KTC has been poor bar a few games, Brayford was loaned out to a then struggling League one side after not playing a single minute for us in the Prem, Moore is for the future and Odemwingie has since been shipped out.

All of them have been worse than Lamela

Worse than Lamela HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHA

HAHAHAHAHABAHHA

HA!

This blogger does not take into consideration that OGS 7 signings costs less than 1 moody signing (cornelius).
Its worth keeping in mind that it looks as if there simply wasn't any money to spend on top players.
In a previous post on this board it was claimed that Norway media reported OGS only intended to bring in Daehli of the norwegians, but turned to his contacts at his old club and ManU in frustration. Agents were taking the piss because they thought the club had lots of money to spend.
Imo Mats Daehli looks like a very good signing.
Cala looks a decent signing. Will become better as he gets used to english football imo.
Fabio is still young and has lots of potential. I think he will be a good addition to the squad.
Zaha is exciting and frustrating in equal measures. Lacks maturity to bring the best out of his talent but obviously huge potential.
Unsure about the rest:
Eikrem,i think he is better than what he has showed so far but good enough?
Berget, has he even been in the squad yet? Does not look promising.
Jones swap in hindsight looks like a mistake. But its easy to be wise in hindsight Peter O did nothing to suggest he was gonna be prolific when he was here.