First Division Focus SOUND INVESTMENTS - OR A year, in which we saw the first £500,000 transfer quickly superceded by the first £1-million footballer, culminated in what some cynics might describe as summer madness with one club investing £1-million in two players who have never kicked a ball in the First Division and two youngsters, as yet to make their League debuts, being signed for £250,000 each! It's difficult to recall that at this time last year the highest fee recorded by a British club was the £495,000 paid by Manchester United to Leeds for Scottish international defender Gordon McQueen. West Bromwich last season hit the £500,000 mark when signing striker David Mills from Middlesbrough but scarcely had the ink -dried on those transfer documents when the ebulient Brian Clough made Trevor Francis our first £1-million player. The most curious transfer events of the close-season took place at Manchester City who disposed of internationals Peter Barnes (England), Dave Watson (England) and Asa Hartford (Scotland), plus England under-21 cap Gary Owen, for a reputed £1,800,000 and then proceded to re-invest most of that amount in in experienced players who may, or may not, make it in the First Division. City boss Malcolm Allison has never been one for the conventional, of course, and he staunchly defended his purchase of Steve Mackenzie from Crystal Palace for £250,000 by proclaiming: "Either a player can play or he can't. It doesn't matter whether he has played in the League or not". Mackenzie, a midfield player, had only just established himself in the Palace reserve team and he has not yet made his debut in the Football League. Mr. Allison also spent £750,000 on striker Mick Robinson whose only claim to fame is 14 goals fot Second Division Preston in his first full season in the team last term. The City boss also invested another hefty fee in forward Bobby Shinton, who has a good goalscoring record in the Second, Third and Fourth Divisions for Walsall, Cambridge and Wrexham but who has yet to sample the real stuff in the top section. Mr. Allison did opt for experience. SUMMER MADNESS? though, when he signed Yugoslav inter national defender Dragoslav Stepanovic from Eintracht Frankfurt for £140,000. Stepanovic will, presumably, be the replacement for Dave Watson in the middle of the City back four. Mackenzie wasn't the only player without League experience to command a £250,000 fee during the close-season, however. But the situation was a little different in the case of former Forest goalkeeper Chris Woods. He became the star of Forest's League Cup run two seasons ago, when Peter Shilton was cup-tied, and he appeared in every round including the final. He was kept out of the League eleven by Shilton but now Woods hopes to establish himself as a top 'keeper with Q.P.R. Peter Taylor, Forest's assistant- manager, described his squad as the "perfect team" following the summer signings of two Scottish internationals midfielder Asa Hartford, from Manchester City, for £500,000, and defender Frankie Gray, from Leeds for £400,000. With N. Ireland international midfield star Martin O'Neill clearing up his differences with the club, and signing a new contract. Forest are going to have an abundance of talent available to them as they aim to retain the European Cup. Champions Liverpool favourites to finish top again this season kept their squad up to strength when manager Bob Paisley signed two internationals. The Anfield chief paid St. Mirren £300,000 for winger Frank McGarvey and then completed a £200,000 deal with Macabi for Avi Cohen who made a big impression in the Israel side in last year's World Cup series in Argentina. Going into the transfer market is always something of a gamble, of course. Some clubs, like Liverpool, can absorb big money stars into their set-up without in any way disturbing the balance of the team or upsetting the morale of existing staff. Others - and Derby County provide a recent example have purchased an abundance of new players and then struggled to avoid relegation. It's a case of paying your money and taking your chance. 19

AJAX ARCHIEF

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