Eddy Delivers His Take On Closing The Transfer Window Early Debate

On numerous occasions, Gary Rowett has been very vocal in his support that the transfer window should shut before the start of the new season.

He isn’t on his own in this debate and today, it was announced that the first moves have been taken by Premier League clubs to make this happen.

Like Gary, I now hope that we see this filter down into the EFL.

For me, the business conducted in the transfer window should be done throughout the summer and shut before the first game of the season across the board.

There is enough opportunity between the end of a season and a new one to get business done. It doesn’t need to drag on and become the soap opera that it so often does.

Managers know, at that point, what they have got to work with right from the very first game. There are no distractions, everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet and everyone, players and managers alike, ultimately know where they stand.

With the transfer window open, it is very easy for a player’s head to get side-tracked with their 100 per cent focus not on what is meant to be happening on the pitch.

Take me for example. When I was at Crystal Palace I had a purple-patch at the beginning of the season and I had six or seven clubs show interest in me in 1998.

I was young, I was even naïve at the time and I ended up going to Coventry City and back into the Premiership, as it was known then, for over £1 million. It seemed a lot for a full-back at that time.

I also remember speaking to Kevin Keegan at that time. He was Fulham manager and in hindsight, maybe that would have been a better move for me. I enjoyed my time at Crystal Palace, I enjoyed living in London and Fulham ended up going on a fantastic run and were crowned champions and did extremely well in the FA Cup.

I was side-tracked by an agent. My head was filled with certain things and numbers and so I can only imagine what it is like in the current market and the modern-game.

I feel for Gary in this transfer window and I feel for all the players involved.

From a Derby perspective, it was made clear early doors that the number of his squad needed to be trimmed and that is far easier said than done. Far easier.

Sacrifices, at points, needed to be made, but what Gary did manage to do was bring in five quality players. In my last column, I spoke about Curtis Davies, Andre Wisdom and Tom Huddlestone and they have since being backed up with the arrivals of Tom Lawrence and Sam Winnall.

The former, it has been revealed, is going to make his first start on Friday night and I am looking forward to seeing what he has got offer from the start. He is clearly talented – as shown during his time at Ipswich – and from what I have seen already, he definitely brings something different to the table.

Winnall came in on a season-long loan deal from Sheffield Wednesday with Jacob Butterfield going the other way and what Gary has certainly got is a clinical goalscorer.

Derby’s manager knows all about him from their time together at Burton and over the last four years he has been a regular scorer and, again, there’s no doubt in my mind that he will bring a different option to the club’s attacking options.

So, what are they joining? The first month of the season has been and gone and there has been plenty to digest.

From a points tally perspective, it is easy to see why people are saying that Derby have had an indifferent start to the season.

Really, though, the only game they have struggled in was the home game against a big-spending Wolves team, who really looked a strong force on that day with the slick possession-based style of football on the day.

I’m not throwing the Sheffield United game into the mix, because in all honesty, everything that could have gone wrong on the day did.

The first two goals are freaks and the third can be forgiven with Derby throwing every man and the kitchen sink into United’s penalty box to try and nick a point.

Taking everything into account, Gary’s side have not given much a way from a defensive point of view, they have created plenty of chances in most of their games and had they won at Bramall Lane then Derby would have had their best start for a number of years.

What that loss to Sheffield United shouldn’t do is cloud perspective here.

Yes, Derby will need to be better in possession and there’s no doubt at all that Gary and his team will be determined to bounce back – just as they did do from the Wolves set-back when they faced Preston North End.

Hull pose an intriguing test in the sense that we don’t actually know what we are going to get from them.

As well as a late splurge in the transfer market, they appear to have a number of players coming back from injury too and off the back of a 4-0 win over Bolton Wanderers – thanks largely to fine displays from Jarrod Bowen and Kamil Grosicki – they will travel with a bit of confidence.

A meeting with the Tigers is the first match of another busy four weeks.

There could be a total of seven matches to play between now and the end of September, a potential trip to Wembley to throw into the mix should Derby beat Barnsley in the next round of the Carabao Cup, and after finishing August smack bang in the middle of the pack, I am intrigued to see how Gary and his side develop over the forthcoming weeks.