Whatever the official opening of the transfer window, the reality is that thing's don't start to happen until July 1st and that for those that don't have a calendar is at the end of this week.

Supporters of all Premier League football clubs have been taking to Social Media since the end of the season and moaning that their club is not making any signings of note and it is fair to say Saints supporters have been as active as most in this department.

But experience should tell them, that up till the end of June it is very much a phoney transfer window, yes deals do get done, but little of any real significance.

Indeed with the final week of June now underway out of the 22 Premier league clubs for the coming season, there have only been 25 actual deals done this summer, although if you include one loan signing and Naby Keita whose transfer to Liverpool was done long ago but it was agreed he wouldn't join them till now it could be said to be 27.

Amazingly if your name starts with a W you seem to be quite active, West Ham, Watford and Wolves accounting for 10 of those transfers, with the only other team to make any real investment being Huddersfield with 4 signed so far, that means out of those 25 deals so far, 14 have been done by 4 clubs, meaning the other 16 clubs have signed only 11 players.

But a look at those transfers shows that most have been fairly insignificant, 7 have been free transfers, and a further 8 fairly insignificant amounts changing hands, with only 10 players costing over £10 million.

So why is this ? The answer is simple money, all player contracts run till July 1st, if you are still at a club on that date and you haven't asked for a transfer then you usually have a loyalty bonus built in to the deal.

This is now well exploited, although deals are negotiated and it is common knowledge a player is going to leave a club, he won't do so before he has got his July 1st loyalty bonus which is usually not an insignificant amount and designed to compensate players who remain loyal to their club and don't keep moving to rack up loads of signing on fee's.

Many football supporters don't realise that a club like Saints will spent multi millions just rewarding the loyalty of their current squad every summer.

Of course some deals are still done, but they are mainly ones where the player who is coming is getting a significant pay rise at his new club and the loss of what would have been a small loyalty bonus is more than compensated by his new income.

Likewise free transfers clubs have to pay those out of contract to the end of it, indeed if they are still without a club on July 1st they get another month's pay as well, most free transfers done before July 1st are not actually full ratified deals, players who are in the last six months of a contract are free to sign pre contract agreements from January onwards and that is what is usually done.

So far only 5 deals have been done with transfer fees over £20 million and 3 of them it was only slightly over, the only truly big deals done so far being Liverpool's signing of Fabhino from Monaco at £44 million and Manchester United's £55 million for Fred.

But that will all change at the end of this week, once the player has popped down to the ATM to check his loyalty bonus is in he will then suddenly start to be interested in what other clubs are about to offer, or at least his agent will.

So football fans who have spent the last six weeks whinging that their club's have not signed any players would do well to realise how the transfer market works and that up until July it is very much the Phoney Transfer market with a lot of bluster but little actually getting done.

But the real action is now about to start !

Photo: Action Images

helpineedsomebody added 12:04 - Jun 25 we need 2 real top notch centre backs watching bendy last night the columbians went through the middle with some fantastic forward passes catching the back four out of position. lets hope our mr average manager/ MR DOF learnt some thing from this THROUGH THE MIDDLE PLEASE LIKE THE TOP 6 SIDES PLAY.
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SanMarco added 13:15 - Jun 25 "But the real action is now about to start ! " I shall check in here twice daily and read all about said 'action'...
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IanRC added 17:55 - Jun 25 Sounds like the usual corrupt approach by clubs, players and the authorities. Surely it would be better for the supporters to pay a loyalty bonus when the transfer window closes.
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highfield49 added 18:05 - Jun 25 I would say it would be even better for the game if a loyalty bonus was payable only after the completion of three years of a contract.
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underweststand added 19:06 - Jun 25 The mention of July 1st was a good point well-made Nick. Contracts run from July !st. to June 30th and as you pointed out so eloquently, it is only then thta the real deals can begin. Whether playuers in , or out it's the date that matters. But be warned to keep a lookout for those fans who annually call for the Board's resignation if we haven't signed at least one new player by July 2nd. I wish they would re-show that excellent documentary from afew years agi that showed the myriad small issues that go into the negotiations before a pen ever gets set to paper. The extent of the issues involving " foreign imports" are even greater-not least the issue of work permits and approval of players who might not have made the required international apps. in order to be approved. Now we are also faced with the issue of foreign players joining English clubs after BREXIT, an dhow it might affect longer term contracts, etc. NO sorry - transfers are not an easy issue and the key date may not be July 1st, but the last day prior to the start of the season. ..so we must learn to be patient.

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skiptonsaint added 08:33 - Jun 26 I think a man in Who has run a site like this for all these years must have a few contacts at the club and has been given the nod it’s going to be a great window once July 1st hits hence this article. That’s what I am hoping anyway
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SaintBrock added 14:01 - Jun 26 Other clubs manage to overcome all the obstacles that seem to prevent SFC moving at more than a snail's pace. Fans get conned year after year by the SFC/Tabloid Cronies spin machine yet still come back for more. You'd have thought one or two of you would have learned by now.
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underweststand added 09:36 - Jun 27 I suppose the biggest "unforseen "problem is no matter how much we havce scouted a player, the "gossip factor " still exists and often a club may not want to sell a player , or more likely, the player may not want to move. No matter how much we try, there comes a point in time when any deal is not possible. Remember the aggrevation that surroundd the story when Pochettino wanted to buy Courtinho, but he wanted to go to Liverpool instead. (!) From time to time, we hear comments from various club managers who say (somethting along the lines of )..yes he maybe a good player, but I've never wanted him, or we've never seriously scouted him ..despite roaring headlines suggest we will sign the player next week. Let's not forget that behind every "media story" is a site that wants to sell its advertising space - and often the truth is a long way down any list of priorities.

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