Should the January transfer window be ditched?
The January transfer window has become somewhat of a tradition for many football fans, but is it a tradition football could do without?
There is no doubt that January is not a popular month among the managers. I cannot remember ever hearing a single Premier League manager speak with any praise of a one month window in which managers are able to reinforce their squads, with Harry Redknapp and Sam Allardyce being particularly critical. ‘’The January transfer window means a load of earache from hours spent on the phone’’ explained Redknapp who is once again set to be one of the busier managers as we approach this year’s January deadline.
Although Redknapp hints that the stresses and strains of the window are necessary depending on your clubs league position, ‘’Then there’s the stress while desperately trying to get in some players in the hope of transforming your season and possibly saving your job’’.
Undoubtedly, the biggest change for Redknapp in the event of the window being scrapped, would be that no longer would he have to spend the last day of January almost relentlessly talking to television reporters while hanging out of his car window.
In the search of alternative solutions, English football has two that they could call upon. Firstly, we could revert to the way things were before the introduction of a window and adopt an ‘open season’ policy where transfers were in no way restricted. However, this could not work unless the Premier League relaxed its policy of its clubs having to submit a squad of 25 players.
The other option, is to close the summer transfer window at the end of August and to not re-open it until 1st July. This though would only benefit the big clubs who have bigger squads and are by definition able to deal far easily with injuries and suspensions through the season.
Looking at the transfer window through the eyes of a fan, I enjoy the window and would like to see it stay. I would like to think I speak for most fans when I talk of my enjoyment of the window and ‘Deadline Day’ in particular. It is something people follow throughout their working day, be it on the radio or over the internet at their desk. The second that you clock off, you rush home to the sofa and follow the coverage on the television up to and beyond the deadline, in the hope your clubs manager had pulled a Lionel Messi-shaped rabbit out of the hat in the window’s closing minutes.
I can understand the animosity that managers have towards the transfer window, but it does provide drama and entertainment for just about everyone else, so I say keep it.
By Aaron SharpFollow @ajs26061988
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