bobblyp3535: Peter Odemwingie and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad transfer deadline day

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Peter Odemwingie and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad transfer deadline day

Drawn like a moth to the giant neon pound sign that floats above Loftus Road, smiling West Brom striker Peter Odemwingie turned up at QPR's door three and a half hours before the January transfer window shut. The problem here was that Odemwingie had not been sold to QPR nor had West Brom given him permission to speak to other clubs, let alone go for a visit.

Odemwingie had already upset his club the weekend before by going on a Twitter diatribe in which he made it excruciatingly clear that he wanted a move to QPR. He ended up deleting some of the tweets, yet one message that survived proved to foreshadow what was to come...

I am crazy haha adviser text saying don't tweet, it weakens our position. Doesn't weaken nothing ! When I want to do something, I Do it.

? Peter Odemwingie (@OdemwingieP) January 26, 2013

With that in mind, optimistic Peter drove down to London to try and force through the move, presumably with the front end of his car. When he pulled up in the parking lot, the TV cameras were there to receive him. Though he did say that a deal to make him a QPR player had yet to be finalized, he still refered to the club as "we" and patronizingly said that "West Brom is my home, but it's a new chapter to start in my life."

[Also: David Beckham signs with PSG, will donate salary to charity]

Then things unraveled rather quick. QPR refused to let him into the building since he didn't have permission to be there, so Odemwingie had to turn around and leave. As you might imagine, West Brom chairman Jeremy Peace was not pleased with him and released a statement making that clear. From Sky Sports:

"This evening's developments have brought a conclusion to what has been an unsavoury affair," he said.

"As our Sporting & Technical Director (designate) Richard Garlick has repeatedly said in recent days, we had no need or desire to sell our core players.

"The only way we would have considered letting Peter leave was if an acceptable offer was forthcoming and if we had found a suitable replacement at relatively short notice.

"Neither materialised and, in the end, the matter became a point of principle as much as anything.

"Peter has acted wholly unprofessionally. He must now accept the fact he remains under contract for a further 18 months and has to focus on his Albion commitments."

As someone who has had his share of terrible ideas, QPR manager Harry Redknapp, however, felt for Odemwingie. From the Telegraph:

?I think he probably felt the deal would be agreed between the clubs,? said Redknapp. ?It hadn?t and it was all a bit of a mix-up really. I felt sorry for the lad. It?s difficult ? it wasn?t any of our doing. I think maybe he was advised he should turn up here, that the club had made an offer and the offer had been accepted. The wires got crossed somewhere. It?s too late now.?

That was about the only sympathy Odemwingie got, though. Even from his fellow footballers. Arsenal's Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain asked his Twitter followers, "Does Peter Odemwingie need a place to stay tonight?" While Everton's Darron Gibson shared a modified version of Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" that goes, "Hey, I just drove here. And this is crazy. I'm in your car park. So sign me maybe."

So after doing whatever he wanted, Odemwingie now has a few options. He can start his own club in the Loftus Road parking lot and call it OPR. He can tunnel his way into QPR's ground like someone trying to escape into a prison where the inmates get paid really, really well...