Merry Go-Round!

'Here I go once again, with my suitcase in my hand and I'm making my way down river road', that's how the old song goes and in many ways it typifies the to'ing and fro'ing of footballers during the January transfer window. I sometimes wonder if managers sign players during this 'window' just for the sake of it. Admittedly there are those teams who are in dire need of a few new faces and sometimes new players can encourage existing players to raise their game, but there are other teams and I would include Ballymena in this group, who have little need of strengthening their respective panels. United manager Tommy Wright has released Paul Brown who has gone back to Limavady United and Aaron Callaghan, who has joined his home club, Derry City, while signing striker Michael Ward from Glentoran. Tommy would probably argue that he has been looking for a striker to partner Kevin, 'give em hell boy' Kelbie, since last season, when he realised Paul Brown was not going to deliver the goods and Fitzy wasn't up to scratch either. But surely that was the time to go get somebody, instead of having to shell out money at this time of the year and money we can ill afford. Glentoran have also purchased a couple of players, one of whom Aidy McCabe left Dungannon Swifts under somewhat of a cloud. What that reason was we may never know, but I can't help thinking it must have been for disciplinary reasons. Glentoran of course are no strangers to taking on players with behavioral problems and getting the best out of them, striker Gary Hamilton being a good example. But sometimes those complex personalities can have a disquieting effect on the other players at the club and once the team 'ethic' is damaged, it generally takes a long time to recover, if it ever does. Perhaps of course Michael Ward will come into our team and start knocking in the goals, while we shoot up the league table and our manager will be hailed as the best thing since 'sliced bread'. I of course being a long suffering 'dyed in the wool' Sky Blue supporter am a bit more pessimistic, so go on Tommy, prove me wrong, then I can laugh all the way to the cup final!