Since the introduction of the transfer window system, January has become one of the most important months in the year for most clubs. That will certainly be true for the Rams this season.
I've never been a fan of the transfer window system. All it does is encourage brinksmanship and give the richer clubs even more power and additionally, the Rams have until recently been unable to make it work to their advantage, all to often selling our best player with 5 minutes of the window left and no replacement in place.
Well, we've seen Nigel Clough's efforts bear some fruit this season as the Rams lie 7th just outside the playoff positions but we all know there's a huge amount of work still to be done.
In many people's opinions we still have too many loanees but unlike previous seasons, those loanees have been making a positive difference. Work will be going on right now to come to some arrangement for keeping some, if not all of those loanees at the club a while longer.
In some cases that might be by offering them permanent contracts and in others by trying to secure a loan to the end of the season. Of course, League rules and regulations come into play here and I confess I have no idea of what's involved.
Similarly, there are players out on loan and there'll be work going on to find some of them a permanent move elsewhere - Luke Varney being a case in point.
The club's not going to be awash with money to be spent on transfers so outgoings as always, will have to help finance any incomings - and both are going to be vital because there's still a huge amount of squad rebuilding to be done and it would be a tragedy if we lose the momentum gained this season.
Personally, I don't expect to see too many new faces at PPS in February. I think it's more likely that we'll secure some of the current loanees on permanent contracts. I'd especially like to see us sign Frank Fielding as he's no doubt a huge talent and Saul Deeney seems to have disappeared off the map (anyone know if his family problems are now sorted?).
It's arguably even more important though that we secure the likes of Shefki Kuqi and Luke Moore until at least the end of the season. You're not going to win games unless you can score goals and with them we now seem to have a successful blend of strikers at the club.
Well, it remains to be seen what happens when the transfer window reopens but make no mistake, January will be a crucial month for the Rams.