“I just didn’t realise he was that good. I couldn’t get near him, every time I tried to get close he passed the ball on.”

West Brom reporter Steve Madeley, Wolves reporter Tim Nash and Chief Sports Reporter Martin Swain were online and answering questions ahead of the Black Country Derby on Sunday.

It’s comforting that football makes fools of the world’s wealthiest men, for it confirms even their fortune cannot unlock the ancient mysteries of building champions.

Wolves fans may have been hoping for a more eventful final day of business.

A new goalkeeper and a new goalscorer – Albion’s priorities for a second consecutive Premier League campaign focus on the sharp ends of the team.

Alex McLeish bore the look of a man still a little unsure of precisely what he has let himself in for when he took his bow as Aston Villa’s new manager.

John Gregory is continuing his tour of football’s European outposts – but he’s unable to prevent thoughts from drifting back to a club still in his blood.

It could be Alex McLeish quit as manager of Birmingham to pursue the prospect of a job vacancy not a million miles from St Andrew’s.

If there was any doubt about the scale and pace of Aston Villa’s alarming decline, it has been banished by Roberto Martinez’s rejection.

And now for something completely different? Or will it be more of the same?