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| Representing a meat market or bullshit? Your choice |
Right me hearties, Nixon watch has reached its conclusion. We’ve tracked each of Alan ‘on my life mate’ Nixon’s transfer stories over the last seven weeks. It’s been a wild ride and we’ve seen some crazy things, but mostly I’ll remember the laughter.
This is a mixture of players Nixon has linked with other clubs in a fairly vague way and things he has said will happen. The language of football writing is such that the two tend to merge.
It's a long list so the headlines are: In the seven weeks covered I saw 88 Nixon-penned transfer (players or managers) stories on the Mirror or People websites (I didn't see any elsewhere so there may be a few I've missed). Of these, he got 25 right, 61 wrong and two are pending (apologies if the maths is messed up. I've got a hangover.)
These are only stories with Nixon's byline on - they don't include any uncredited ones, say the Mirror's Football Spy, so there could be tons I've missed. He got off to a stinking start with only one right in the first two weeks but got stronger towards the end of the window. This may reflect the more concrete nature of Nixon's information at a time when clubs are actually looking to do business. Rather than just making up shite.
A number of players pop up repeatedly – like Blackpool's Charlie Adam - as do a number of the same clubs. Blackburn Rovers are particularly well covered. It’s almost as if Nixon is willing these moves. But why? On an unconnected note does he still have shares in that player agency?
Taking each week’s predictions with a simple right or wrong, here are the results of the man with the 'inside scoop' - the man the Mirror call their 'transfer gossip specialist':
11/12/10-18/12/10
Blackpool's Charlie Adam to Blackburn Rovers for £3 million – WRONG (still at Blackpool)
Bolton to sign Swansea’s Darren Pratley (free in the summer) - PENDING
Diego Maradona to be next Blackburn Rovers manager – WRONG
Alan Shearer to manage Blackburn (joint byline with David Anderson) - WRONG
Everton's Leighton Baines to Bayern Munich for £10 million – WRONG
Everton's Leighton Baines to Bayern Munich for £10 million – WRONG
Martin Jol or Chris Hughton to West Ham (joint byline with Alan Oliver) - WRONG
19/12/10 - 24/12/10
Daniel Sturridge from Chelsea to Liverpool – WRONG (Bolton on loan)
Jay Bothroyd (Cardiff) to Chelsea – WRONG (still at Cardiff)
Zolton Gera from Fulham to Wolfsburg (joint byline with Dave Kidd) – WRONG (still at Fulham)
Ivan Rakitic (Schalke) to Fulham on a free in the summer – WRONG (signed for Sevilla in January)
Blackpool's Charlie Adam to Blackburn Rovers or Stoke City – STILL WRONG
Blackburn to name Steve Kean as manager - RIGHT
Steve Sidwell (Villa) to West Ham – WRONG (went to Fulham)
Steven Ireland leaving Villa for a loan spell at Celtic – WRONG (went to Newcastle on loan)
Dieumerci Mbokani from Monaco to West Ham – WRONG (on loan at Wolfsburg)
25/12/10 to 31/12/10
Sam Allardyce to be the next Burnley manager (joint byline with David Anderson) – WRONG (Eddie Howe is Clarets boss)
Owen Coyle (Bolton) 'to one of English football`s major powers'. Nixon mentions Liverpool – WRONG (still at Bolton)
Eidur Gudjohnsen (Stoke) wants out, to anywhere - RIGHT (sort of, on loan at Fulham)
Stephen Ireland and Richard Dunne (Aston Villa) to Celtic (probably loans) – WRONG (Ireland to Newcastle on loan, Dunne still at Villa)
Blackburn's Chris Samba to Aston Villa (WRONG – signed a new contract)
Wayne Bridge from Manchester City to West Ham (loan or full transfer) – RIGHT (loan)
Demba Ba (Hoffenheim) to West Ham - RIGHT
David Luiz (Benfica) to Chelsea or City for £35m – RIGHT (but for less than that)
Kevin Wilson (Forest) to Celtic (pre contract) – RIGHT
Barcelona's Oriol Romeu to Blackburn or Villa (WRONG – still at Barca)
Sergio Roberto to Chelsea (WRONG, still at Barca ‘B’
Emile Heskey (Villa) to Leicester on loan (WRONG – still at Villa)
Doncaster manager to Nottingham Forest (WRONG, still at Rovers, Billy Davies still at Forest.
Neil Sullivan to be the new Doncaster boss (WRONG – see above)
1/1/11 -7/1/11
Ronaldinho (AC MIlan) to Blackburn Rovers – WRONG (went to Flamengo)
Preston North End's Adam Barton to Liverpool – WRONG (still at Preston)
Malky Mackay (Watford) to boss Burnley if Sam Allardyce turns it down – WRONG (Mackay still at Hornets, Allardyce still eating pizza off his t-shirt while watching his box set of A Fine Romance)
Brad Guzan (Villa) to Hull City on loan - RIGHT
Carlos Vela (Arsenal) to Bolton on loan – WRONG (went to West Brom on loan)
Roque Santa Cruz (Manchester City) to Blackburn on loan - RIGHT
Chris Samba (Blackburn) to Villa for James Collins/cash – WRONG (Samba signed new deal, Collins still at Villa)
Charlie Adam (Blackpool) to Blackburn – WRONG (still at Blackpool)
Le Havre midfielder Gueida Fofana to Villa – WRONG (Still at Le Havre)
Spurs full back Kyle Walker to Villa on loan - RIGHT
Steve Sidwell from Villa to West Ham – WRONG (went to Fulham)
Victor Caceres (Libertad) to Sunderland – WRONG (still there)
Birmingham's Seb Larsson to Newcastle – WRONG (still there)
Brann Bergen’s Rodolph Austin to QPR – WRONG (still there)
Rodrigo Moreno (Benfica) to make current loan at Bolton permanent – WRONG (still on loan)
8/1/11 - 14/1/11
David Wheater (Middlesbrough) to Bolton Wanderers – RIGHT
Stephen Pienaar (Everton) to Spurs – RIGHT
Robbie Keane to Everton (part of Pienaar deal) – WRONG (Keane at West Ham on loan)
Avram Grant to become Chelsea's director of football if he gets the boot from West Ham United (PENDING)
Shane Lowry (Aston Villa) is off to Charlton on loan for the rest of the season – WRONG (at Sheff Utd on loan for season)
Sunderland midfielder Jordan Henderson and Newcastle full-back Jose Enrique to Manchester United (joint byline with Alan Oliver) – WRONG (neither have left)
Charlie Adam (Blackpool) to Birmingham, Sunderland or Blackburn – WRONG (still at Blackpool)
Stephen Warnock and James Collins (both Villa) swap for Chris Samba (Blackburn) – WRONG (all three at same clubs)
Nick Powell to Blackburn or Arsenal – WRONG (still at Crewe)
Southampton winger Jason Puncheon, currently on loan at Millwall, to Blackpool – RIGHT (although it’s a loan not permanent as Nixon said)
Jason Banton to Liverpool from Blackburn – RIGHT
Birmingham winger Sebastian Larsson to Blackburn – WRONG (still at Brum)
Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe to Burnley – RIGHT
15/1/11 - 21/1/11
Charles N’Zogbia (Wigan) off to Liverpool or Sunderland (joint byline with Darren 'kopite' Lewis) – WRONG (still at Wigan)
Ipswich midfielder Grant Leadbitter to Wigan, Wolves or West Brom – WRONG (still at Ipswich)
Michael Owen (Manchester United and Ladbrokes) is to Sunderland – WRONG (Still at Manchester United)
Manchester City's Shaun Wright-Phillips to Bolton – WRONG (still at City)
Benfica's Rodrigo Moreno to Bolton – RIGHT (loan)
El Hadji Diouf leaving Blackburn - doesn't say where - with Birmingham's Seb Larsson replacing him – RIGHT in that Diouf left (Rangers on loan), WRONG on Larsson (still at Brum)
Barnsley's Adam Hammill to Wolves – RIGHT
Everton's James Vaughan to Celtic on loan – WRONG (went to Palace on loan)
Stephen Ireland (Villa) on loan to Newcastle – RIGHT
Blackpool's Charlie Adam to Villa – WRONG (still at Blackpool)
Emmanuel Adebayor (Manchester City) to Monaco – WRONG (went to Real Madrid on loan)
David Healy on loan to Rangers from Sunderland – RIGHT (although it’s a permanent move)
Exeter's Ryan Harley to Swansea – RIGHT
22/1/11 to whatever day the transfer window shut
El Hadji Diouf (Blackburn) to West Ham – WRONG (went to Rangers on loan)
Charlie Adam (Blackpool) to Liverpool (joint byline with David Maddock) – WRONG (still at Blackpool)
Patrice Evra (Manchester United) to Real Madrid – WRONG (still at United)
Benfica full-back Fabio Coentrao, Jose Enrique (Newcastle) or Celtic’s Emilio Izaguirre to replace Evra (joint byline with Tom Hopkinson) – WRONG (none have moved clubs)
Manchester City’s Emmanuel Adebayor to Monaco for £9m – WRONG (at Real Madrid on loan)
Shaun Wright-Phillips (Manchester City) to Bolton – WRONG (still at City)
Carlos Vela (Arsenal) to Bolton on loan – WRONG (went to West Brom on loan)
Ruben Rochina (Barcelona), Sao Paolo's Ronieli dos Santos, and Mauro Formica (Newell's Old Boys) to Blackburn – RIGHT, WRONG, RIGHT (dos Santos went to Karşıyaka on loan)
West Ham’s Freddie Piquionne to Sunderland - WRONG (still at West Ham)
Obafemi Martins (Rubin Kazan) on loan to Birmingham on loan – RIGHT
Aston Villa's Stephen Ireland to Newcastle - RIGHT
Spurs' Niko Kranjcar to Werder Bremen – WRONG (still at Spurs)
Christian Poulsen (Liverpool) to Monaco – WRONG (still there)
Everton's James Vaughan to Crystal Palace – RIGHT (but on loan, not the £850k Nixon said)
Swindon striker Charlie Austin to Ipswich for £1.2m – WRONG (he went to Burnley)
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