Ross County transfer business ideally not done as Hibernian match complicates deadline dealings
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Ross County manager Malky Mackay has said there could still be more comings and goings before the transfer window shuts, but admits having a match on deadline day does complicate things.
Already this month Nohan Kenneh, Josh Stones and Eamonn Brophy have moved to Dingwall on loan deals, while Callum Johnson has left permanently and others have exited on loan.
Any further deals have to be completed before midnight on Tuesday, but with Hibernian making the journey to the Highlands for a Premiership match tomorrow evening time is even more limited for Mackay to get negotiations over the line.
"It has happened before, and it's not great," he reasoned.
"I've had plenty of years where that day and that evening becomes really hectic with incomings and the odd outgoing.
"I remember at Watford we had the possibility of our star striker Danny Graham going that night – eventually I just switched my phone off and went to bed, thinking I'd wake up in the morning to find out whether he had gone or not. He hadn't, which was good, because I kept my centre forward.
"We've been with people we're trying to sign, and trying to rush through paperwork.
"If the deadline falls on a Tuesday or a Wednesday night, there's always the chance you'll have a game, and we tried to move this one to no avail. We'll just deal with it and get on with it."
While some managers are not fans of the January transfer window, Mackay has no great objection to the potential disruption – believing it is a preferable system to the old way where transfers could be conducted at any time of the season.
There is, though, a different approach that needs to be taken in January compared to the summer, in particular with the temptation to spend extravagantly to turn a season around needing to be curtailed.
"I can see why there is a period, because the free for all that used to happen was suiting the rich clubs," Mackay explained.
"I don't mind there being a transfer window. It might be interesting if there was a window for managers as well, that was actually floated at one point.
"The January one is massively different from the summer one.
"There's a lot of knee-jerk things happening, especially at the end of the window and there are stories all over the place of owners getting carried away at 11.30pm who end up repenting at their leisure a month later.
"It's a dangerous time for clubs, and over a period of years you need to get a department in place where there is structure and stability, and succession planning.
"There are obvious gambles that take place because of league positions, but it's an interesting time.
"I try not to get too carried away, and I've long since stopped watching Sky Sports News on that night because there's a lot of sensationalism."
