I'm jumping out of a plane, skiing and bungee jumping as soon as I retire from football, says Ben Herd

English Football League / Ben Herd / 04 February 2009 / Leave a Comment

Shrewsbury's no-nonsense defender on the January transfer window, Kevin Nolan's move to Newcastle, going crazy on the radical sports on retirement and peppering the physio's house with snowballs.

Finally the transfer window has slammed its ugly door!

Watching Sky Sports News as most were due to the snow on Monday, I didn't see one interview - be it player, manager, agent or fan - that actually supported having a transfer window.

An interview that in my opinion summed it all up was with agent Barry Silkman. He basically said that the window was a restriction of trade for a footballer, as with what other profession do you only have two times of the year to move jobs?

On the flip side, some players a bit more high profile than League Two residents, could see deadline day as a chance to engineer a move for themselves. Take Charles 'Insomnia' N'Zogbia, clearly a player that forced Newcastle to sell him to Wigan. Trust me, I have had managers in the past that have said far worse to me than mispronouncing my surname!

One aspect of football clubs I must question is: why leave transfers to the very last day? Four months pass between windows, so surely any deals could be wrapped up before deadline day. Here at Shrewsbury, we spent money only on Terry Dunfield from Macclesfield for, I believe, 65k - a far cry from the money washing about at Premiership Level.

The sort of money we spent during January is probably half a week's wages for someone like Frank Lampard...scary if you think about it. Probably not as scary as Mike Riley's decision to send Lamps off at the weekend, which could have a massive outcome on the run in for the title this year.

It goes back to the old argument of refs having never played the game. If Riley thought that was a bad challenge, then he ought to come and ref some League Two games - it would probably end up 5 vs 5! Joking apart, it is refreshing to see an official actually hold their hands up and admit they made a mistake, like Riley did in this case.

Far too often refs shirk giving interviews after games to explain some of their decisions. I know as a player I would appreciate a ref's honesty and humility to admit when they made a mistake. Rant over, but I bet Chelski are over the moon to not lose Super Frank for three games! I think the appeal procedure is a good idea, as I have mentioned in the past, it saved me from a suspension, and, more recently, my team mate Marc Pugh.

I don't believe that it makes a referee look stupid nor is it designed to humiliate them, I believe that we are the only country in Europe to have this procedure - just as well for Frank...and myself!

Writing this column I am surrounded by snow outside, I suppose that I am a big kid at heart but I love the snow. I was a bit jealous of my brother down south, as they had twice as much of the white stuff. There wasn't really enough snow at training to have a snowball fight with the lads but when I got home I peppered the physio's house, who lives around the corner, with plenty of snowballs.

Then it was the kid across the road who I had a Stalingrad battle with. Obviously being a footballer means that you can not participate in loads of other sports and skiing is one of them. It is on my to do list like so many other activities after I hang my boots up, along with bunjee jumping and throwing myself out of a plane - don't think the Gaffer would be too happy if I did those now!

People often comment that as a footballer you do sacrifice doing such things, but my reply to them is that it is a wonderful life (even in the lower echelons of the football leagues) and that it is a very short career.

One player that moved during the transfer window was Kevin Nolan. In my last column, I went through the possible reasons which motivated Jimmy Bullard to move from Fulham to Hull. Nolan had been at Bolton along time and although he was captain he probably needed a new challenge to reignite the form that saw him on the cusp of an England call-up.

Also, there is no doubting that Newcastle is a much bigger club than Bolton. One thing is for sure, Nolan will play a big part in the Toon army's quest to beat the drop. If they are to do this, then their game against WBA at the weekend is a "must not lose". I see this game as a cagey affair so I would Lay West Brom at [2.34].