With every passing year, transfer windows seem to be an act of book-balancing as much as team strengthening which is why, according to Sheffield Wednesday sporting director, so much business is done so late.

To hear Simon Wilson describing an Excel spreadsheet as like his girlfriend paints a pretty sad picture of the man overseeing an on-field revolution at Hillsborough. But a man who has felt like an accountant this summer has also been able to indulge in a bit of gambling too.

With 18 new signings, the new-look Wednesday will at last take to the field at Peterborough United on Saturday.

Deadline day was a game of poker in itself. Whilst the Premier League saw a splurge of indecently expensive transfers capped by Enzo Fernandez's £125m move to Manchester City, the Owls were playing games of their own.

Sheffield Wednesday's sporting director Simon Wilson.

placeholder image — Sheffield Wednesday's sporting director Simon Wilson.

They had their eyes on Davis Keillor-Dunn at the start of the window, only to be told Wrexham were not interested in doing business. But when Callum O'Hare left Sheffield United for the Racecourse Ground on deadline day, the goalposts shifted and Wednesday could loan the former Barnsley striker after all.

A good job, then, that a club under greater financial restrictions than the rest of League One as a consequence of going into administration for most of last season, kept something back as they tried to completely overhaul their squad.

"The challenge of a transfer window – this is the same for January as well – is you want to get your team in before you start work," reasoned Wilson. "The manager can have all the players that he wants to work with, make every week and day count, because they actually don't get a lot of time to train them.

"When you get into the season, it's game, recover, prep, game, recover, prep – particularly in a League One season. The problem is that because it goes later and later and then the window creeps over to when you're playing, it's harder.

Davis Keillor-Dunn, playing for Barnsley, came available at the end of the window for the Owls. (Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe)

"It is disruptive because you get going, you've done some work with some players, you'd love to improve, the shops are still open, you can improve and it can be quite disruptive waiting – should we wait?

"This was our situation where having less money available to us, there was often a lot of value to be found at the back end of the window, but we couldn't wait because otherwise we wouldn't have had a team.

"We had to put players in spots and strategically leave a little bit of what we could leave for the back end of the window"

Fourteen players – some newer than others – joined before a ball was kicked in League One, Kieran Morrison quickly afterwards.

Louie Barry celebrates his second goal with Mason Burstow - two signings who have made an instant impact for Sheffield Wednesday.

"Ali Al-Hamadi, Jaden Heskey and Keillor-Dunn were all targets at the start but we got them a lot cheaper by waiting and coming later," said Wilson.

"Because we're playing games and the window is open it can be a really disruptive time but it's not going to change so I shouldn't cry about it."

And whilst he describes signing Keillor-Dunn and Louie Barry as "just buying goals", and Barry Bannan, Joe Lumley and Heskey were known quantities having played for the club last season, he has not played it entirely safe this window.

"I think there are ones like that that feel very straightforward, good additions and lower risk in that sense,” he says.

"We've taken Sil Swinkles, for example – he's a 22-year-old left-sided centre-back – and played him a lot. We've taken Jordi Liongola, who's come out from a different country (Belgium) to League One.

"I think we've taken educated gambles. It's been a mix.

"What would be different if we had a complete carte blanche? I don't know at this moment in time.

"We might have overpaid for more players. I don't know.

"Maybe we would have done a few more permanent transfers. I think that might have been one of the things we would have done.

"The loans we've got I'm really satisfied with. I think we've got a real exciting crop of (six) loan players that are going to help the team.

"I'm not sure we could afford Harry Gray and Kieran Morrison (loaned from Leeds United and Liverpool respectively).”

And all the while, Wilson has had to have a close eye on the bottom line. The dangers of breaking financial fair play rules are real for all clubs these days, but more so with the scrutiny on Wednesday.

"I felt more like an accountant than a sporting director," says Wilson. "Early on that Excel spreadsheet was my best friend, girlfriend, everything. I was spending more time with that than anything else.

"I'm really thankful for the support I've had from Lindsey (Hinton, the club secretary) and John Redgate (finance director) who have been with me every step working through that and making sure that we were staying inside the lines and being sensible. It's a full team effort that makes these things happen.

"Sometimes when transfers go wrong and there's mistakes made it's often because of the quality of the (backroom) team that you've got and we've got a really good one.

"I look back on a really successful window...we think."