What a busy past four days it has been for Latics, and most annoying thing for me, is that i have been away in wales an missed it all. So getting in today and sitting down to see Ali Al Habsi has signed for the club put a huge smile on my face to add to my nice tan.
The 29-year old keeper how last season was voted player of the year, was by far our prize possession and having come in on loan he was the club's main priority to sign in this transfer market.
There appeared to be stumbling blocks straight from the start and a deal that, club, player and more importantly the fans wanted looked like it could well be on the rocks.
Whelan said that Bolton had quoted a price of £3 million last summer for the keeper and that is what Whelan returned with only to have the offer rejected. We all know our chairman and he won't throw money at something he doesn't feel we have to.
But Ali is more than worth the £4 million we have paid for him, after a season which saw him make some exceptional saves to keep the club in the top flight of english football. There are some many important saves he made that we could be here all day.
So it is just better to say that even though we have paid £ 1 million than we would have done this time last year. I think that Ali's season performances saved the club about 40 times that in revenue.