B-O-L-L-O-C-K-S

Pathetic. That's our transfer business summed up: a bid for a 37-year old goalkeeper turned down. And we're left with Almunia. No contingency. No back-ups. The stuff of champions.

I'm not particularly pissed that we missed out on Schwarzer per se. The whole process basically stunk. First, were we serious in getting an Almunia replacement? Seems so, given how we so obviously went out of our way to signal the lack of confidence in our #1 man. Having so destabilised the ole sod, you'd think that Schwarzer would not be the be all and end all of our goalkeeping ambitions.

Let's be clear. Schwarzer wouldn't have done much to change things. He was never going to be a messiah, designed to be the final piece in the puzzle that is our quest for glory. But still, he would've been a statement of intent. A minor one. And a minor statement of intent would've been better than none. Or even worse, a negative statement, one that says: "Well, I suppose we could live with not only a mediocre keeper, but one who's now destablished and demoralised with how we've treated him."

I'm already looking forward to either the January window or next summer, where we will be on the lookout again for a 99p replacement. Que sera sera. Couldn't we at least have just said furgeddit and gotten on with proper pre-season preparations with the goalkeepers we've got?

There are those out there who've always trumpeted the dictum of In Arsene We Trust. Well, I trust him to deliver another Top 4, probably. But any more in the league or Champions League is a major question mark.

Maybe next season then. The most blindly optimistic of us will somehow think that this will give Almunia the fillip to suddenly become an Edwin van der Sar. And Fabianski will somehow disappear.

So. End of transfer window, and we have Chamakh, Koscielny and Squillaci to show for things. At the start of the summer, most would've thought that apart from in defence, the one major signing we would need would've been the obvious. But it hasn't happened. Let's move on. Fingers crossed there won't be too many Homer Simpson-esque "doh!" moments, interspersed with the "I told you so" moments as well.

Elsewhere, a bit more amusing news in the form of Alex Hleb. You know, there are really more straight-forward routes from the Arsenal to Birmingham. Routes that would not involve inflated self-perceptions, crashes down to earth, wage cuts, regret, humiliating loans and humble pie. But that's what happens these days. Quite often with folk who leave Arsenal too. May he bring to Birmingham years of wonderful short-socked runs into opponent penalty areas. Hopefully not ours. (Ooops. It is a loan deal, so maybe it's just one year, then who knows where he'll end up. Maybe back home, or in China with his brother).

Finally, we'll have to register our 25 for the season by 5pm tomorrow, looks like. Let's see which of our goalies Wenger leaves out. Oooooooh. Excitement.