Tonight he will be at his desk next to the registrations department to oversee the final hours of business because anything, as he tells Matthew Dunn, can threaten to derail a transfer. Or anybody – as he found out when the Queen inadvertently held up Bradford City’s last-minute signing.
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FORGET Big Ben. Officially, as far as Football League clubs are concerned, the transfer window will close tonight when the clock in our office says it is closed. Even if it only cost £9.99 and has the old glowing LED numbers.
It may determine the fate of millions of pounds’ worth of business but there’s nothing hi-tech about it. Our IT guys will synchronise it manually this morning with our computer system and we will be able to see exactly when it is 11pm. Last window Jordan Rhodes only made it with seconds to spare.
Cheap doesn’t mean it isn’t valuable, though. Of all the things that were moved when we changed offices recently, it was the single thing the registrations team moved themselves to ensure it did not get lost. That is how important it is.
By contrast, the famous fax machine disappeared several years ago to be replaced by an electronic system. I remember once when I was managing director at Bradford City on the old-fashioned final day for transfers in March. We were working on a deal and the phone lines to Valley Parade went down.
Luckily, the local haulage contractor across the road was a season-ticket holder and so he let me use his fax machine to get the registration done in time.
Internal clocks on fax machines could also be adjusted to make it appear documents had been sent earlier than they were. Clubs would try desperately try to find any time they could. That can’t happen now.
Tonight my role will be refereeing any arguments. I try to act as a buffer to protect those actually doing the work and will often try to pick up the phone myself. When you are already speaking to the chief executive, you can’t exactly ask to speak to a manager!
Nobody is looking to cheat or gain an advantage – they are just under immense pressure to deliver what they need to for their club. Having been on the other side of the fence, understanding that helps.
In 1997, the Queen came to open the new stand at Bradford. We had six signings to do that day and my phone was still vibrating in my pocket as I shook hands with Her Majesty.
I did not have the nerve to say, ‘Excuse me, ma’am, we’re trying to sign Chris Wilder!’ Even though we were desperate…
These days, Sky Sports News is always on in the corner and we chuckle when Jim White tells us what we are doing during that particular half-hour. Occasionally I’ll text him to say, ‘Are we?!’
Mind you, sometimes they are ahead of the game. Clubs will announce deals that haven’t actually been completed to send us a message to look out for the paperwork.
Sadly, getting a transfer to appear on the yellow ticker at the bottom of the screen does not constitute full legal acceptance by us.
And clubs like to keep their fan base engaged in the process right through the day. Everybody wants to boast they have slipped one in just before the deadline. Sometimes we see ‘late breaking news’ just before 11pm when we have already had the registration for some time.
There is a sense of relief when 11:00pm finally clicks over but by that stage, even though we will have acknowledged receipt of them all, there might still be 30 or 40 transfers to process.
The team of six sits across an ordinary bank of desks and there is about half-an-hour of nervousness while everybody checks there is nothing unforeseen before we all head home.
People say transfer deadline day is a mess – you should the state of our office when we are back in the following day.