Ricky so glad transfer talk is finally over

Feb 4 2009 by Stuart Rayner, The Journal

RICKY Sbragia was glad to see the transfer window finally close – because he felt it was having a damaging effect on his players.

The men who represent Sunderland at Blackburn in tonight’s FA Cup fourth round replay will be at the club for the rest of the season, as will the big-name colleagues who are left behind.

Sbragia (pictured left) fought off Newcastle’s deadline-day interest in Kieran Richardson, and according to the Scot his hardest task was persuading players there was no chance of him selling them.

“The players will be pleased the window’s shut,” said Sbragia, who trimmed his squad before Monday’s 5pm deadline. “Their minds get twisted by their agents when there’s just a slight interest.

“The people upstairs have always backed me. I wanted to bring two players in (he signed defenders Tal Ben Haim and Calum Davenport on loan). I knew I had to get rid of a couple to balance the books. But the majority I’ve wanted to keep and I’ve been able to. Some of the players wanted to have a chat to say, ‘I’ve heard this, I’ve heard that, I know this is going on and I’ve read this in the paper’.

“It’s probably the agent who’s told them. But when they came in, I told them, ‘I want you to stay at the club, there’s no way you’ll be leaving’. They’re under contract and at the end of the day it’s my decision. It’s not the player’s job to force the issue.”

Newcastle’s late bid for Richardson, believed to be around £6m, represented a £500,000 profit on a midfielder signed from Manchester United in the summer of 2007, but his value to the Wearsiders is greater still.

It is why Sbragia refused to entertain the notion of selling the 24-year-old – at any price. “There was an inquiry but we obviously rejected that right away,” he commented. “He’s an important member of the team.

“They came in with a fee. Even if it’d been a high one I still wouldn’t have accepted it because I’ve always wanted to keep him. It wouldn’t have been ideal to sell him to Newcastle, would it?”

Michael Chopra, however, joined Cardiff in a loan which will become permanent for around £4m this summer.

“I still would like to have had him but we’ve had a really good bid,” Sbragia explained. “He maybe couldn’t see an inroad into the team without anyone getting severely injured.”

Saturday’s Premier League game against Stoke will loom large on tonight’s proceedings. Sbragia intends to keep the back four which faced Newcastle on Sunday, but there will be changes. “I don’t want to risk my bigger match players but there’s enough in the squad, I would hope, to get us through,” said Sbragia.

“I want to pick a team that will do well for us on Wednesday but the big thought in my mind is the Stoke game.

“We took right-back Michael Kay with us on Sunday so we might start him or bring him on. The back four may be near enough the same but from the midfield to the forwards we’ll change it.”

A paltry crowd is expected for the fifth meeting between the sides this season, but Sbragia defended himself against the accusation he’s undermined the FA Cup.

“The FA Cup is a respect thing,” he said. “We will try to win the game, we’re not going there to lay down and lose, there’s no ifs or buts about that.”