By Steerforth
January 16 2007

The window may be open, but is the boardroom door shut? To the fan, save for Shepherd's periodic blustering forays onto the back pages of the Newcastle Emergency Toilet Paper, it always is of course.

But you wonder, watching Glen Roeder's daily fielding of questions about transfers, whether the manager himself has a much clearer idea than any of us about his prospects of signing players.

Back in November, in the aftermath of the traumatic home defeat to Sheffield, Freddie did the talk:


"Stock Exchange rules mean we cannot say exactly what we are going to do in the January transfer window - but look at our past record..And I know a forward and a defender are a priority."


With a couple of weeks to go this may be premature, but where's the walk then, Freddie?

As for what Roeder has said, about preferring loanees if the right players can't be signed, about the need to avoid lumbering the club with potential deadwood by making compromise signings, it all makes perfectly good sense. But to my ears, much of what he's saying amounts to little more than fielding. Left to handle the constant speculation with no visible support from the board, there's not much more he can do than utter generalities and hope for the backing of his chairman where it counts.

It is a cast iron certainty that Roeder is desperate to sign players. Going into the second half of the season, we have one fit specialist striker. We also have a left side so depleted by injuries and the lack of a reliable left-back that all teams now routinely target us in this area. Squad deficiencies, compounded by a horrendous injury situation, mean that not signing good players now threatens to wholly undermine our chances of progress across the remainder of the season.

Inaction now would amount to making the same mistake twice in half a year. Whether or not you agree with his choices, Roeder's pursuit of Viduka, Huth/Woodgate, and Bridge demonstrates he was after an experienced targetman to play with Martins, a replacement for Boumsong, and a quality left-back. The Ramage/Taylor partnership means the need for a centre back is less pressing, but we need players for those other two positions now more than ever. It is, as things stand, exasperating to reflect on how much better the season might have gone had Roeder been fully backed in the summer - that string of dropped points (Fulham, Bolton, Charlton, Everton at SJP, Boro away) in games we largely controlled could have all easily gone our way, for example. A second failure to address these problems would be unforgivable - a couple of further injuries (imagine losing Martins and Taylor), and our season might hit a downward spiral which no amount of enthusiastic kids could reverse.

So where are you Freddie? A rag, tag and bobtail bunch of kids, reserves and big-hearted stalwarts stood up to be counted on Sunday. Your manager does every week. It's your turn.