Buy or sell, it’s a nightmare to get deals done!

THERE may have already been more than a billion pounds splashed out in this transfer window, but these final few hours are some of the most frantic in the football calendar. As managers try to secure the last-minute buy that might save their job — or propel them up the league — deadline day has become the stuff of legend. But for the men and women at the sharp end — the players, managers, agents and club admin staff — the hours running up to 5pm are anything but fun. Here, speaking anonymously for obvious reasons, they share a snapshot of those manic final hours... including how one club tried to sign 10 players in a day!

TOP-FLIGHT MANAGER

ONE really sticks out in my mind. We sold three players on the day and the place was absolute chaos. But we had a game that night, too. I’m in my office at the stadium minutes before kick-off, on the phone to the chief executive of another club trying to get one coming in over the line. My assistant manager is out on the pitch doing the warm-up with the players. I’m getting really frustrated — it’s just not happening — and end up missing out on this target. It was at the end of a dreadful window for me but my night went from bad to worse. We’re chasing the game, the opposition’s goalkeeping coach has hidden the ball in their dugout and I’ve lost my temper. I end up getting sent to the stands! You try to manage your emotions but it’s really difficult.

AGENT ONE

THERE was one club I was working with in League One and they hadn’t ever done an international transfer before. You need the Transfer Matching System (TMS) for that and nobody there had any training for it. I was there until midnight with the player, waiting and waiting, and it just didn’t get done. He was gutted. It’s an admin problem, what can you do? It was four or five hours and they couldn’t do it. Listen, these are often your only chances of getting a move away from certain situations. Then there is the extravagance. I’ve probably been in three private jets on deadline day alone and that all feels surreal. No check-in, no waiting, the jet doors shut and you’re off. One player had two clubs after him. One offered him a Ryanair flight, the other booked a jet. Which one do you think he went to in the end?

TOP-FLIGHT CLUB SECRETARY

EVERYTHING was done with one deal on deadline day a few years ago, back in the fax machine era. It was about to be completed, the fax was being sent. Then a member of our medical team runs in and screams that there is a problem with the player’s medical that needs ironing out. So we had this situation where you’re having to claw this piece of paper out of the fax machine to stop the deal being completed! These days you’re battling with the TMS. Everything has to marry up, so you can find yourself chained to a desk throughout the day just inputting the specific details. If both ends are not exactly the same, the transfer won’t go through. It can be incredibly stressful, especially when the deadline looms and there are a couple of transfers happening simultaneously.

AGENT TWO

ONE club wanted to sign more than 10 players in a day and, believe me, there was an incident every five minutes. Failed medical, timekeeping, paperwork not getting done. It is a proper 6am until midnight job. You need a charger at all times, answering one call when on another. It’s like buying a house. One has to go before you can move. We walked out of a club at 11.50pm not knowing whether a deal had got over the line. We’d been relying on two other transfers happening, that domino effect. You can sit there not knowing and things can be so frustrating. Something will happen to knock it off course. For the strangest of reasons, too. Life-changing transfers can hinge on someone being stuck in traffic or not! You can get there and he’ll fail a medical. You feel dreadful for the player. They go back to their club and it’s difficult because it’s known that a fee had been agreed. Sometimes the players don’t get accepted back by the fans.