As you were?

The transfer window closes tonight and after that you have to cope with what you've got. There may well have been plenty of calls and enquiries behind the scenes, there have certainly been loads of rumours, but it's looking increasingly unlikely that we will strengthen our squad.

Our rumoured targets have all moved on and the last hope of a new face may lie in whether or not we can offload BWP on loan to Swindon. That might free up some wages to bring someone in but on the basis that Di Canio is already paying some players wages and that Swindon are on the brink of Administration, it would seem unlikely. Bradders hasn't done much wrong in my eyes and I would rather he stayed than we gambled on another average striker.

The disappointment of the window is undoubtedly the loss of Antony Wordsworth to Ipswich Town. Midfield has been our biggest single problem and has dictated our formation and shortened our attacking options, especially at home. The loan move of Rob Hulse to the New Den was also a minor disappointment given his work rate and contribution whilst here, although we aren't short of similar quality strikers and he's hardly one for the future.

Our league form over the last two months probably hasn't helped matters. Winning and losing in fits and starts has had us kangarooing back and forth in the table and threatening to do something that has always looked unlikely i.e. mount a real play-off challenge. If Jiminez and Co were dithering about whether or not to spend any more money on this side, last Saturday's relative disaster probably made their minds up to soldier on.

All of this begs the bigger question about just how Jiminez gets out of his current predicament. It seems pretty clear he wants out but that he needs to recoup his investment (and presumably that of his backers) and the only way they look likely to be able to pull that trick off, is to get us promoted or at least seriously challenging. 

He looks increasingly like a gambler playing Brag and chasing his money. It's an uncomfortable position to be in and the empty feeling in the pit of your stomach hardly fuels you for the long-haul. The longer this goes on, the greater the chances that the current owners decide to cut their losses and bail out which would, inevitably, involve Administration and all it's attendant dangers.

I got into conversation with someone before Christmas who professed to know Tony Jiminez and his sister pretty well and he spoke very convincingly about his upbringing and personal wealth. If what I was told was largely true, and I was inclined to believe what I heard, Spanish Tone may have his own revenue stream that would be big enough to manage our current level of losses for longer than we might think. He is going to have to fund them for another year at least and is going to have to spend more if he is to make us PL contenders. That spending is obviously going to wait now until the Summer.