Forward planning

Amid Sky Sports' frenzied and hysterical coverage of Manchester City's signing of some Brazilian, you might have noticed that Albion didn't really do an awful lot last night.

I had a call at about 11.20pm telling me that there was little else going to happen.

So why did Tony Mowbray not sign the striker Albion needed?

Actually there wasn't much out there. That may seem like a daft comment but look around the transfer market on a deadline day...not much captures the imagination. Sure, you'll get Berbatovs and such like moving for big money but there was little within Albion's capabilities.

Voronin, a serious target last week, might have happened. Albion spoke to Liverpool, were given positive vibes and then the agent started to circulate his availability. That's life, the agent was merely doing his job.

The other obvious target was Nugent. This is the same Nugent no other club, apart from Ipswich, wished to pursue throughout the summer. Is he better than Miller, Moore or Bednar? Perhaps, perhaps not. Mowbray obviously thought not.

Oscar Trejo was an option, yet Albion couldn't agree a fee with Mallorca. De Sutter from Brugges? Again, obviously he wasn't deemed worth the price than his club valued him at. Frazier Campbell? Would have been nice and he was asked about but once Tottenham came into view, Albion's best hope of signing a Campbell was bringing Kevin out of retirement. Let's not even go there. Ameobi? Next.

And that is the crux of the matter. Tony Mowbray had the funds available. He simply couldn't find the suitable player within his price range in the time he needed.

You could argue that Albion should have thought about that in June, when it became obvious that Phillips would be leaving. I would agree - that's one cause of complaint you could certainly level at Albion. They left it far too long to fix the problem.

And you could ask why there were no contingency plans. Signing any player on the final day of the pre-season is a risky process. If anything goes wrong during negotiations then you're stuffed.

It was becoming increasingly obvious by 6pm last night that it was going to be a fruitless evening. Apart from a last ditch attempt to sign midfielder Kevin Thomson, Albion were already into borrowed time - bringing in a striker from overseas (assuming there is no one good enough in this country) would have been nigh on impossible.Then there's a medical and having to wait for the scan results. Paperwork takes time to go through (ask Real Mallorca). It's not a five minute job. Even the 'beat-the-dealine' signings are initiated long before the final cut-off time.

In a strange kind of way the Berbatov saga didn't help. There is a natural chain of transfer activity which often prevails. Quite often a player joining a club allows another to leave (in this case Saha). He joins a new club (Everton), potentially allowing another player to leave that club (Anichebe? Vaughan? AN Other?) There wasn't enough time for that potential line of activity due to Berbatov's late deal. Who knows if that would have opened up opportunities.

Manchester City signed Robinho. Could Albion have picked anything from City's peripheral squad? Possibly. But not with less than one hour to spare they couldn't.

I'm not trying to make excuses for Albion's lack of activity on the striker front. I don't need to - if Albion are relegated because of a lack of goals then it won't be my job on the line. I certainly don't think the club helped themselves by leaving it until the last day but then that's an accusation you can level at most clubs.

It's easy to point the finger and say 'why didn't they do this?' when sometimes it's not as easy as it looks. Some deadline day signings work, such as Curtis Davies, Roman Bednar and Rob Earnshaw - with a somewhat diminishing degree of success in Earnie's case - while others are a disaster. Kozak, Martinez and Quashie spring to mind.
All three failures had pedigree - more so than Davies and Bednar, you could argue - yet the trio were a disaster.

Tony Mowbray said after Saturday's match at Bolton: "I have no fears. Goals won't be a problem for us.

"We are confident we will create enough chances and score enough goals."

So there you have it. Mowbray has spelled it out. The Albion manager feels his options are more than adequate.

They certainly created enough at the Reebok to give some cause for optimism, although I still feel Roman Bednar would be a better option as a lone striker. I'd even think about playing two up front in certain games where flooding the midfield is less necessary.

My only other major concern is what would happen if Miller, Bednar or Moore were to pick up serious injuries before January? Craig Beattie and Bartosz Slusarski struggled for form and first-team opportunities last year - would you fancy them in the Premier League? That would be a major worry.

Time will tell whether Albion come to regret not signing a striker or two.

In the meantime, it's over to you Ish, Roman and Luke.