The transfer window is normally a time for absurd price tags, inflated wages and chaotic bidding wars among the game's top clubs, all of whom are vying for the best players. But Bradford City may have found the ultimate bargain in Blackpool goalkeeper Colin Doyle:
BREAKING: @officialbantams activate £1 release clause in @BlackpoolFC goalkeeper Colin Doyle's contract. #SSNHQ
— Sky Sports News HQ (@SkySportsNewsHQ) July 9, 2016
You read that correctly: the Bantams successfully activated Doyle's release clause ... of one British pound. That's right: £1. (In U.S. currency, you're looking at a steep price of $1.29, which might not even buy a cup of coffee.) That's a deal so good, Arsenal could even make it.
The Bantams, fresh off a successful playoff run that sees them in League One for 2016-17, needed help between the posts and, as it turns out, Blackpool's recent turmoil on and off the pitch led to some interesting contracts and clauses for some of their higher-paid players. The Tangerines were relegated to League Two in 2015-16 after a dismal season, finishing 22nd of 24 teams to mark a second successive campaign ending in the drop.
The League Two demotion triggered a clause in Doyle's contract whereby he'd be available for just £1. Apparently, he's not the only one with such an arrangement, though other names weren't available at this time.
And so he'll shuffle along to the Bantams, where he'll hope to keep them above his former club, and all without much of a fuss. Just a pound.
Twitter naturally found the humour in such a thrifty bit of wheeling and dealing:
@SkySportsNewsHQ @officialbantams @BlackpoolFC https://t.co/Un0XljGM8C
— Stu. (@stu_89) July 9, 2016
@SkySportsNewsHQ @officialbantams @BlackpoolFC pic.twitter.com/Q3fvDPccHR
— Money Bags Mel £€$ (@no1ramsf4n) July 9, 2016
@SkySportsNewsHQ @officialbantams @BlackpoolFC I've upped the bid pic.twitter.com/pItm3LqNCR
— Joe (@Joe_cheetham5) July 9, 2016
We wish Colin all the best.