On August 31st the window will close yet again and all trading will cease until the next feeding frenzy starts after the Christmas wrapping paper has been re- cycled.

I have had doubts about these windows for quite some time now and in all honesty I believe that the only people who currently benefit may well be the agents.

Certainly clubs and players are at a disadvantage by this enforced period where agents try to move on their players to get their ten percent or whatever their cut is.

There is pressure on managers and clubs to buy new players in a short space of time that then gives them little time to gel over pre-season friendlies. The anxiety to acquire a previously identified target, means failure to get their man leaves little time for a back up plan.

Bidding wars are also heightened by the time span involved leading to sometimes, ridiculous prices paid for what can essentially be average players.

At the lower end of the scale poorer clubs could pace their transfers over the space of the season. Now all their buying has to be done in a matter of months, which is extra pressure on their already stretched budgets.

For a club like Derby which has had to carry a major renovation the pressure is immense. Paul Jewell has had to reconstruct in a matter of months and the fans may not have the patience to give his signings time to settle in.

In the days before this restrictive window managers had time to build a squad over the course of a season. This also meant that money was not quite so tight as wheeling and dealing and ‘tweaking’ a team could go on throughout the season until all but the last few weeks.

The sad thing now is that unless you have lots of money then any manager who buys a ‘donkey’ is stuck until the transfer window opens up again.

Every manager has and does buy ‘donkeys’, but this window highlights, those bought by the smaller clubs and those with lack of resources. With only a limited squad that donkey will have to play, not buried in the reserves as would and does happen at the so called ‘big 5’.

Summing up Paul Jewell’s summer transfer activity, I believe his policy has been absolutely correct. Provided of course that he will have some money to spend in January.

If the Rams are in the top eight of the Championship, then some very canny wheeling and dealing in January should secure a play off spot at the very least. As to whether the fans and the board will have the patience to back Jewell is a different question altogether.

Steve Eyre

Steve has been a Rams fan since 1966. He is also a qualified FA Coach and qualified Referee. He is also the author of the Rams Kit History Website.

Photo: Action Images

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