Good morning all. Scott will have rolled out of bed and be sitting by his computer by about 11.00am or so. In the mean time, here's our very own Secret Footballer (no, we haven't a clue either) on why you need a sharp agent on deadline day. Enjoy.If there was a Guide to Management in a Transfer Window it would surely be based on Sun Tzu's The Art of War. This week alone the message of the book seems particularly apt after Samir Nasri joined Manchester City amid suggestions that a bit of tapping up might have taken place. Yet as everybody knows, when two clubs are pushing and pulling over a player the battle has been won before it was ever fought.With sarcasm lacing their voices, a few football acquaintances contacted me this week to express their surprise at Arsène Wenger's brazen admission that Nasri was well aware of how many zeros were awaiting him at Manchester City when he was still an Arsenal player. Quite naturally this led the media to conclude that the player must have been tapped up. "I am a realist," said Wenger, "so I have no illusions about that, I think it is part of the modern life of a professional football player."The reason Wenger is so candid is because, if Nasri has been tapped up, then so have I and almost every other player that has been transferred in the last 10 years. The phrase "tapping up" has become a dirty one over the last few seasons; it is in the public consciousness as something that is dishonest and underhand. Yet ask any board of directors in the FTSE 100 as to how they go about choosing a new CEO and they do exactly the same thing as football clubs. They just call it headhunting.
Saturday, August 27
Aston Villa v Wolverhampton Wanderers
Villa Park
Kick-off: 12.05 BST
TV: Sky Sport 2, highlights BBC1 MOTD.
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