Don't expect any signings yet!

With the 2010/2011 Premier League season fading rapidly into the distance it's perhaps only natural that the attention will turn to incoming, and outgoing, transfers.

By rights we should have a rather exciting summer ahead of us. The club has a season of Premier League football behind it, and it has another one to look forward. We have the money from the sale of Andy Carroll to spend and we constantly keep hearing noises about how the club have been acting already in the transfer market with reports of scouting and preliminary talks with players popping up left, right and centre.

The club may well have been doing their homework on players, and there may well be irons in the fire as we speak, but before anyone gets their hopes up just remember that it is unlikely that any player movement will happen so early in the transfer window.

Playing the transfer market is like a game of cat and mouse. At the moment I would imagine that the first bids for players are going in, and to be fair they may well get accepted by a club. However that doesn't mean that any player in question is going to jump at the first offer that comes along. Would you go to buy a car without at least having a look to see what else was on offer first?

Probably not, so why should a player agree to the first thing that comes along, especially when there is a chance that that something better may come along with a little bit of patience.

I'm fairly upbeat about our chances in this transfer window, which is strange considering we don't exactly have a great recent history when it comes to signing players. This time round though I believe it is going to be different. Call it blind faith if you like, but I actually think that the club will get the right players in to make us a much better, much stronger, proposition next time around.

It won't be easy to do though. The club will no doubt want to ensure that they are getting the biggest bang for their buck whilst clubs that we are dealing with will no doubt want to ensure that they are getting the biggest buck for their bang, if that makes sense.

I believe that this could lead to problems and could see frustration mount amongst fans. Understandable to a degree, but it's also worth bearing in mind that the transfer market is a lot more complicated than Football Manager depicts it to be.

There will be high points and low points. We'll see deals mooted and then fade away, but as long as we get there in the end does it really matter?

People will call Alan Pardew a liar, a puppet, and many other things, but they must be really dense if they think that the bloke doesn't want to do what will be best for him. It just so happens that what is best for him is also best for the club as it will include improving the team on the pitch. Managers are judged by results, and Pardew will want the best possible squad he can assemble to get him the best results possible.

This is where his alleged chumminess with the board could come in handy. A stooge, a crony, blah blah blah. Hopefully it's true as you tend to back your own up that bit more. Hopefully Ashley and Co will back their man.

After all, they brought him to the club!