League clubs prepare to lose safety net of emergency loan deals

THE final day of the summer transfer window has long been considered the busiest of the football year, and tomorrow seems set to break all records.
Huddersfield Towns head coach David Wagner became used to a two-window transfer system while in his native Germany (Picture: Richard Sellers/PA Wire)..Huddersfield Towns head coach David Wagner became used to a two-window transfer system while in his native Germany (Picture: Richard Sellers/PA Wire)..
Huddersfield Towns head coach David Wagner became used to a two-window transfer system while in his native Germany (Picture: Richard Sellers/PA Wire)..

FIFA’s insistence that the emergency loan window for Football League clubs be scrapped to protect “the sporting integrity of competitions” means it will not just be the 20 top-flight managers scrambling to get deals done as the clock ticks down towards 11pm and Jim White’s decibel levels on Sky Sports rise ever higher.

The removal of the safety net that allowed clubs in the Championship, League One and League Two to continue to make signings, albeit on a temporary basis, means most, if not all, of the 72 League clubs will have their thoughts dominated by transfer matters.

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Do we have enough cover if injuries strike? What happens if our top scorer breaks his leg in October? And, can we afford to carry a 20-man squad on our income?

All these issues and more will be debated up and down the land by clubs who, since the transfer window system was introduced in 2002, have had the loan market to fall back on between mid-September and January 1.

For David Wagner, the head coach of surprise early Championship leaders Huddersfield Town, the new set-up in the Football League is one he is familiar with from his time in Germany.

This experience meant the Terriers’ chief quickly got down to transfer business this summer, making all but one of his 13 signings by the middle of July.

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“I grew up with this culture of only two windows in a season so it is not special,” said Wagner to The Yorkshire Post. “I think it makes you think more about what you do, and that is a good thing. You cannot react and change mistakes that were made in a window for several months.

“The emergency loan window allowed that to happen. So, you have to think very seriously in the window about what to do and what players can make the right steps in those months. You also need luck in the season as well. No problems with injuries is important. But I did believe (before the season started) that we were well prepared.”

Wagner, of course, spent six months at Town last season learning all about the areas of his squad that needed improving. Others are not so fortunate, with Garry Monk having only arrived at Leeds United a month after the 2015-16 campaign had ended.

Despite that, the 38-year-old has been busy with 10 new faces having arrived at Elland Road.

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Monk wants further reinforcements, though, amid suggestions that Luke Murphy, Charlie Taylor and Toumani Diagouraga could be on the way out.

“A manager’s view on the new rule will depend where his squad is at,” said Monk. “If you have a full squad, you want the window closed as quick as possible. But if you still have work to do then the opposite will be true.

“Personally, I wish the loan was shut before the first game of a season. It only favours clubs with money, the bigger boys in whatever league we are talking about. They are the ones who can go out last minute and spend what they want.

“Everyone should do their work in the summer and then it should close on that Friday before the season. That is the squad and what you have to go with. Maybe have a rule about real exceptional circumstances to cover injury or extreme illness. But, to me, the last Friday before the season makes sense.

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“To go a month into a season and still have the worry of someone coming in to take one of your best players, that just isn’t right.

“No one should have to worry about that. I just don’t understand the current set-up. It is a distraction, not just for the manager but the players themselves.”

Further down the League, the new rules can cause a financial headache with many clubs simply unable to afford a squad big enough to cope with unexpected injuries or suspensions.

Stuart McCall, who still wants to bring in a striker at Bradford City before tomorrow’s deadline, said: “I know the League fought to keep it as it was, but FIFA insisted. It definitely isn’t a good thing.

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“I like to work with a minimal squad, if I am honest. Quality over quantity, and that served me well for my first three and a half years at Motherwell. Then, in the last season we had a lot of injuries and we came a cropper due to not having a big enough squad. The new rules are more of a gamble, especially as having too many eats into your budget.”

Yorkshire’s smallest squad right now belongs to Hull City, one of the county’s two Premier League representatives.

The Tigers, in talks with seven or eight targets and confident of signing at least four, are hoping to finalise David Marshall’s move from Cardiff City today along with the loan capture of Manchester United striker Will Keane. Both are understood to have had medicals in the East Riding yesterday.

Tottenham’s Ryan Mason and Jeff Hendrick of Derby County are also on the radar along with AZ Alkmaar’s Norwegian international Markus Henriksen.