Is it time to do away with the January transfer window?

The January transfer window will slam shut at 11pm tomorrow evening and fans and managers around the country will know just which players they have to complete the rest of the season with.

A lot of work will no doubt be going behind the scenes at football clubs around the country and Sky Sports News will no doubt be preparing themselves for the 12-hour tug-a-thon that is transfer deadline day.

Harry Redknapp will be featuring heavily again I guess as Sky tease that slippery tongue from his slack jaw, but it's kind of pointless really as the transfer window doesn't really apply to him and he can sign players days after the window slams shut. Don't worry though, old 'Arry isn't a wheeler- dealer type you know :roll:

Newcastle are of course still looking to add to their squad and will be hopeful of pulling off 'one or two' deals on deadline day. Personally I prefer it when we get our business done early as it stops the club from being able to say 'well we tried for player x, y and z but nothing came of it,' which sounds familiar.

Hatem Ben Arfa remains our only signing in this window, but being honest I kind of expected that. Pardew will no doubt claim that he secured the services of the injured Frenchman, but I honestly believe that we would have signed him regardless of who was in charge. It looks to be a good deal, and we all know that Ashley loves a good deal.

The whole fuss around the transfer window and deadline day grates on me though, and I'm pretty sure I'm not alone on that. From day one of the window we have had to put up with many of our players being linked with moves away from the club, although fortunately none of those links have been true and the only loss we have incurred has been Wayne Routledge who ended up back at QPR.

Is it time to do away with the January transfer window though? I mean it's basically a month of uncertainty and disappointment mixed with overhyped transfer fees whilst being tinged with tiny little bits of excitement, so would it really be a miss? Would anyone miss it?

The European Union bang on about freedom of movement, yet it's fine to restrict the movement of players to two periods in a season. I understand the transfer window was introduced to stop the rich clubs from buying at will and to protect the smaller clubs, but it hasn't really worked out like that.

I wouldn't want a return to the old days of transfers being made at any point during the season, but why not just restrict transfer activity to the summer window? At least that way a team can plan ahead knowing which players they have for the season. It works in a lot of sports, so why couldn't it work in football?

What do you think?