The morning after the day before

ANY Villa fans out there feeling as flat as a Dutch landscape?

And Villa supporters feeling like a can of cola left open overnight?

It wasn't the best January sales was it?

But in an age where Craig Bellamy costs £14 million, prices were quite simply as ridiculous as Jose Boswinga's singlehanded attempt to cut out time-wasting in corner flags (regular readers will know that he gets my vote for Player of the Season on the back of his rake down Yossi Benayoun's back)

No wonder every Premier League manager from Sam Allardyce to Gary Megson, Arsene Wenger to Mick McCarthy (yes I know they are not there yet, but they soon will be.... there that'll put the kiss of death on 'em) were spending the days leading down to the countdown bemoaning the whole sorry "restraint of trade" system.

Wenger took it a stage further and merely extended the deadline himself. Can anyone tell me how the weather played a hand in Andrei Arshavin not signing before 5pm when he had hired a place to get him into London overnight and was at that Hertfordshire hotel in the morning?

Credit crunch? Don't be ridiculous! When it takes £25million to get you Roque Santa Cruz then you know you're in trouble. Hospitals can be built for less.

The prices of players now appear to be set as if you were spending one night at a Travelodge in Heathrow and yet paying for a suite at the Langham Hotel on Portland Place - (apprently it has two bedrooms and its own butlers (Oliver and Ricardo) and costs £6,169 for one night)

As for Villa, at least they managed to beat last year's paltry arrival of Wayne Routledge.

They had confirmed earlier in the month that they had completed the signing of Dutch starlet Arsenio Halfhuid from Excelsior.

And in Emile Heskey they managed to nab a striker whom Rafa Benitez believed would offer Liverpool a significantly better chance of pipping Manchester United and Chelsea to the league title than Robbie Keane.

But was one senior player in enough? It was nothing like the frenzied activity the year before that saw John Carew, Ashley Young, Phil Bardsley and Shaun Maloney all sign up in January.

There was a hope leading into that final day that a Michael Johnson, Daniel Sturridge, or more unlikely, a Micah Richards might be coming in.

You just hope that it won't leave Martin O'Neill - still chasing glory on three fronts - short of quality if injuries or suspensions bite.

Top flight clubs have reportedly splashed a record £178 million in the January transfer window.

Manchester City laid out £51m, with Spurs boss Harry Redknapp paying £44m.

Arsenal- Villa's main rivals this season - look to have spent £15m on Arshavin.

On the other hand Chelsea, of all people, handed over just £500,000 for Gokhan Tore from Bayer Leverkusen and took a loan player- albeit for a princely sum from Inter Milan.

One piece of potential bad news for Villa was the £12 million spent by Tottenham on Robbie Keane.

Why? When Spurs are so far behind in the table?

I have my eyes already on a potential last 16 UEFA Cup clash in just five weeks when Tottenham, already without Jermain Defoe should both sides see off the huge challenges of CSKA Moscow and Shahktar, will be a different side with their former skipper on board.

It promises to be an eventful summer once again when prices should be slightly more sensible. Don't rule out the Man City trio, nor Peter Crouch, whilst a Champions League place could tempt Santa Cruz away from Eastlands if Villa really decide to spend big.