Surprise Swoop

Stop the press and hold the phone. Forget the end to the ongoing Gareth Bale saga, Marouane Fellaini pushing a move to Manchester United, and Mesut Özil's impending transfer to Arsenal, because the shock of the day in the footballing world has most certainly come in the form of Birmingham City paying a transfer fee for a footballer.

Paul Caddis has completed the switch from Swindon Town to Blues, after some sort of minor miracle on the money front, and for which Lee Clark deserves an almighty pat on the back.

After his successful loan spell at St. Andrew’s last season, Caddis was a summer target for Clark which ultimately fell on deaf ears, after Blues after not being able to stump up the £250,000 Swindon wanted for the defender.

But out-of-favour Caddis has finally completed the surprise deadline day move to the Midlands for a knock down fee of £150,000 – presumably with Swindon taking what they could get for a player who is surplus to requirements at the County Ground after being ‘frozen out.’

With Neal Eardley’s knee ligament damage at the weekend due to sideline him for some time, Clark has managed to get Caddis in as an astute replacement for the player, who will be expected to slot straight into the starting XI.

In terms of optimism the news has certainly galvanised the fans. Although many are calling for Clark to have spent the money on a decent striker, we also lack creativity; but if Caddis can reproduce the performances he put in his loan spell last season then it’s looking more promising than it did at the weekend.

The way I see it is with Eardley’s injury Clark was able to convince the board to free up the small sum to bring in a replacement, and one which we know will do a good job for us. Hopefully Clark can utilise the emergency loan window, which is set to open a week from now.

As stated by Colin Tattum in an article in today’s Birmingham Mail, this is only the forth player for which we have paid a fee for out of the last forty-three players brought in since relegation from the Premier League in 2011. A sign of the times, indeed, but a refreshing change to say the least.

Welcome back Paul Caddis. Image: BCFC.com