Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder has bemoaned business being done when the season started, just over a week after Celtic signed Auston Trusty from The Blades.
The Scottish Champions signed the USA Internationalist in a £6m deal on deadline day. Wilder, who returned to Bramall Lane but was helpless to stop their relegation to the Championship, believes that the transfer window creates uncertainty and should be changed.
Speaking to Sports Boom, Wilder fumed at the implication that deadline day transfers have on a club’s ability to prepare for the forthcoming season.
“Most of us in the game would rather see transfers having to be done before the season starts. The fact they can still happen tells me that the windows were set-up by people who clearly don’t understand football. Football people don’t want this. Not the ones I speak to. I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t rather get all of this sorted out beforehand.
“There’s no need for it at all. Either those responsible for setting things up as they are now aren’t interested in what we think, don’t get it and don’t want to listen or are allowing it to happen for other reasons. It’s daft.”
“When the matches start, you shouldn’t be able to do transfers. It’s as simple as that.
“All the current way of doing things does is create uncertainty. I don’t think that’s right or fair on anyone involved. If it was up to me, it would get changed right away. If it was up to a lot of other managers and coaches in fact.
“Surely, it’s much better for everyone, including the fans, to know that once the matches have started that’s how you are going to be set until at least January? With how things are now, you could play your first match really strong and then possibly see some of your best players leave after a couple of games. Then everything changes.
“Players, I’m sure, would rather be able to focus on games than possibly being distracted by a lot of uncertainty. There’s plenty of time to get everything done over the course of a summer. It’s better, and fairer, for everyone to be in the same boat.”
Celtic pursued a deal for Trusty in the final two weeks of the transfer window as they targeted a left sided central defender to compete with Liam Scales for the starting slot beside Cameron Carter-Vickers. The 26-year-old will be keen to make an impact with Celtic ahead of their UEFA Champions League campaign, which kicks off next Wednesday.
Wilder makes some reasonable points and certainly from a footballing perspective it makes sense. There are, however, financial constraints upon teams that require budgets to be set and revisited when other factors such as Europe or if their players are moved on are taken into account.
Meanwhile Celtic deadline day signing Luke McCowan spoke to The Celtic Star and other fan media sites at Celtic Park this afternoon. Here’s everything that was said…