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

The gruesome twosome have some work to do! 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 🙄

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?

About toonsy

A lifelong Newcastle fan and current webmaster of this very 'blog who has the sole aim of creating a place by Newcastle United fans, for Newcastle United fans.

121 thoughts on “Is it time to do away with the January transfer window?

  1. “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”…..”why not just restrict transfer activity to the summer window”……..surely then they would be restricting movement even further? 😉 😀
    Seriously tho I’d prefer it just to be just in the summer, then during the season only allow emergency loans for players(as they do with keepers) if it’s absolutely neccesary, i.e when there are no viable options left in the whole 25 man squad, this would also give alot more younger players proper first team game time imo.

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  2. ..aye or that 😆
    I just think alot more young un’s would be able to get game time which has to be good news all round.

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  3. Anyway, on a more serious note do any of you expats know a cheap way to get a cat out to Spain? first quote I had was £500 and odd 😯 😥 ..I’ve suggested a jiffy bag and 2nd class stamp to wor lass but she didn’t seem to keen………he plays with a football,and hates the transfer window(just to keep it on topic) 😆

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  4. Why do you want to get a cat out of Spain? Aren’t you moving there?

    Or is it that big that you won’t move there until that particular cat is out of the country? 😆

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  5. some hack on sunday supplement says his sauces are saying that the spuds havnt even put in a bid for big andy 🙄

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  6. 28craigcoozy // Jan 30, 2011 at 9:21 AM

    Guy its all happening now! Lee charney ??bringin 3 players in at 12 clock, hopefully al get sum names, plus shola havin chrisning he must jus had kid!

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  7. Good on the porn barons for making an effort to stay in the division, Unlike Ashley and Lambarse jumping out of his helicopter on deadline day like the obese A team in and slapped in bids that had no chance of succeeding for Johnson and Richardson but we did get Raylor for Zog so it wasnt all bad 🙄

    O’Neil, Ba and Keane are canny signings for a club in whams position…

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  8. transfers arriving at midday according to the ever reliable craigcoozy. 3 of em, too. Hope to good they’re decent.
    I know it won’t happen but fingers crossed for Krancjar! Hoping for a couplr carr specials as well! HWTL

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  9. I hate this window aswell but what if you lose 3 or 4 of your top players for the season? It would be bollox if you got relegated because of injuries and the lack of ability to bring in replacements. Maybe they should get rid of the January window and extend the summer one into november or even December. Maybe better than having all this speculation overload in one month.

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  10. Apparently the Smoggies are bidding for Yannick Djalo, remember we where after him in the summer. Available for 2.5m Euros, I believe in the summer it was reported we bidded 5.5m Euros. Should we not be looking at this kinda guy again.

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  11. NI I don’t think djalo is prem class. I’m no expert but I have seen a lot of him going back to when he played with nani in the Portugal u21. I liked him a lot back then but he seems to have fluttered. His game is a bit slow and deliberate. He’s not exactly a striker and he’s not exactly a winger but those are the areas he plays in. He does have a powerful shot and at 2.5 mil he may be worth the risk. But I don’t think he’ll cut it in the epl.

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  12. be interesting to see who they are! Ireland a good player he just an a******e , n not sure where we are meant o keep fitting in all these centre mids when we need a bit extra width , but we see what happens!

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  13. Better to have the problem of too much quality rather than too little. I guess in this window, you just have to the best players you can and worry about where they got later.

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  14. Bentner, taking the **** out of Huddersfields fans, He really thinks he summit he wouldnt even get in our team…

    kin w@nker

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  15. CC-what is he saying like? I remember him publicly saying he was the best player in the Arsenal team and he couldn’t understand why he didn’t start every week not long ago. He’s a plank and nowt particulary special.

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  16. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, if this lad was coming from Italy or even Portugal, the toon army would be beggin for him. But since we’ve listening to these journo reports these past years many don’t want him.

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  17. He showed flashes of brilliance at City like, but when they started to spend big, he wasn’t needed which I can understand. His attitude has always been questioned. Houllier has openly said he needs to show more of a desire to get into the Villa first team has he not? He might not want to be there but he’s a professional and for the money he’s on, he should play like one. He did also fake the death of his granny, lol

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  18. Ross aye he may be a total ****** but I’ve never met him personally and all I have to go by are journo reports. Barton gets slagged all the time in the media yet we know what we have in him. Also if Benny was coming from villa instead of France, would as many people be desperate for him with all the reports about his attitude?
    I just feel like there are a lot of people who hate Ireland already without giving him a chance, and I don’t think it’s fair on him. It annoys me as well that it would be different if he was coming from abroad and we knew nowt about him.

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  19. Anyone watchin Arsenal v Huddersfield?
    Lee Clark next Toon manager providing he gets rid of the side parton!

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  20. I wouldnt even want benzema… Think he’s terrible even he’s better than Shola, his wages would be ridiculous.
    Maybe jose rates him and he want him to get comfortable here before Jose becomes the toon boss next year and makes the deal permanent… 😉

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  21. It’s getting hairy in Egypt–they’ve moved tanks, not just troop transports–into the square.

    And they’re doing low fly-overs with fighter jets and helicopters to scare the demonstrators out of the square.

    I love me some football, but I’m hypnotized by the scenes in Egypt…

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  22. FSOTC …I know mate, things are getting a bit scary in Egypt, who knows where it’ll all end ?

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  23. Stuart

    Ireland will have to force his way in, but once/if he does he will almost certainly play the no.10 in a 4-5-1.

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  24. i agree stuart. but it will give us strength in depth, ireland just needs to realise he wont walk into the team when were at full strength.

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  25. Munich Mag
    Posted January 30, 2011 at 2:25 PM
    Maybe Ireland will occupy centre mid and we’ll push JB out on the wing ?

    Nolan and Tiote?

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  26. Stuart

    Well, if Pardew said that then I don’t have a clue. Surely 4-5-1 is the only option. We have one quality striker, but 5 quality midfielders. Surely it’s a no brainer.

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  27. FSOTC

    No, mate. He can’t even play CM let alone out on the wing. He can only play the free role behind the striker.

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  28. Barton and Ireland can become our right side partnership to compliment Jose and Jonas on the left with the 2 of them switching position on occasion

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  29. Stu….how about Ireland, Tiote and Nolan in the middle, with Nolan pushing onto the lone striker ?…getting a bit crowded there though !

    I’m sure Ireland’s aware he aint gonna walk into the first team, but it’s gonna get pretty competitive in midfield ! Where does this all leave Danny Guthrie and Gosling ?…..interesting times ahead, hope they know what they’re doing ?! I’m sure there’s a huge ulterior motive in here somewhere, or am I just being paraniod ?…

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  30. At a guess. I would imagine the midfield to look a bit more staggered, like this

    ——-Tiote————–
    Barton—–Nolan——-
    ——–Ireland—-Jonas

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  31. I think Ireland arriving is a good deal as I think we will be able to help him rediscover his form. If he’s seen how Barton has improved so much here, he will be inclined to get himself back to his best form. Also I don’t think that Ireland would want to be involved with Villa with regards to their position in the league.

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