Transfer deadline is like a Brian Rix farce
WELL, it’s that time of year again. A week to go until deadline day and every manager in the country is trying to put the finishing touches to his squad.
You’re meeting with your assistant, your scout and your chief exec. You’ve already done the hard yards in terms of finding players – now, it’s just about that final push to get them on board.
And nowadays, there are so many hurdles. You’ve got to talk to the agent, to the directors, to the owner.You have to meet the player and even before you can talk terms you have to talk him into joining your club.
When I was younger, you just used to ring the manager, agree a fee, and before anyone knew it, you’d signed them.
There’s really no such thing as a straightforward transfer now and that’s why you see such crazy things happening in the Premier League.
I had an unbelievable time at QPR.We had four different players in four different boxes at 6pm on deadline day!
They all had to have medicals, they all had different agents. I had a new chief exec and we were running from box to box trying to sort things out.
We’ve had one where the fax was going through at the last minute and you don’t know until about ten minutes after the deadline that it’s actually been accepted. It was absolute chaos, like a Brian Rix farce.
Is it enjoyable? It depends who you’re working for. If you’ve got a good chief exec who knows the transfer market and can deal with agents, it doesn’t half help.
Some clubs I’ve been at, they CEO has been nothing but helpful, talking to everyone and showing real determination to get things done.
Frightening
Unfortunately, at others, that hasn’t been the case. They look after the money for their directors and trying to sign players is like extracting teeth.
Still, at least it’s not as do-ordie as the Premier League, because you can still loan players in the Football League. If you get an injury, you only have to wait a week.
It really is frightening in the Premier League when that window closes on September 2nd and then you get a couple of injuries.
For the clubs coming up, like Hull and Palace, it’s a nightmare because they can’t afford to have a big squad. I don’t envy them this week.