Deadline Day

When you think of how Sky has changed football, there are many positives to take. However, in recent years, one area of the game has been taken to the extreme - to the point where an event that was once fiarly irrelevant and hard to notice has suddenly become a highlight of the season - at least on Sky.

 

That would be Transfer Deadline Day.

 

In just over a week, it will be, er, the transfer deadline day, which means that after this date, no top-flight clubs will be able to sign players from other clubs until the next transfer window. (I think that's right; the actual definition of it still confuses me.)

 

That is noteworthy, no doubt; but in years gone by, the majority of teams had concluded their business long before the window ended. Mind you, this was in the days when clubs could sign players up until about April, so only the fledgling, smaller teams would sign a few new faces to try and help them survive or win promotion.

 

The rules changed, though, so that there were two windows: July-August and January. It has its pros and cons; teams can't just go and panic buy someone in November because of a dodgy result, but for a side riddled with injuries, having to wait a few months before adding to the squad can wreck a season.

 

This has meant that clubs have less time to complete major transfers - and, due to the complexities surrounding wages in the modern game, some of these deals - even huge ones - are left up until the very last moment. Sometimes, afterwards (which I genuinely cannot explain).

 

All this is fair enough - but what has heightened the "importance" of all this has been the way in which deadline day has been elevated into a cornerstone of the season by Sky. This, depending on your point of view, is either a good thing or a bad thing.

 

On deadline day, Sky Sports News seems to hold all the power. There are reporters in the studio, reporters at training grounds, reports at Timbuctoo - just about everywhere in the country is (roughly) covered by a roaming reporter.

 

Normally, if a major transfer (or, indeed, a not-so-major transfer) is about to go down, a reporter will often be present at a club's ground or training ground to provide the latest. Yet, on deadline day, reporters are basically waiting around for deals that may or may not go through in time - and, sometimes, are waiting for deals that aren't even in the pipeline.

 

When a deal comes through, the Breaking News flashes up as the hopes for supporters of all 92 sides are raised, only for at least 91 to be dashed (since not all signings are welcomed). As the day goes on, there are usually a few marquee stories that provide the base for the day's reporting. Often, they are left until the last minute - which means the reporters that would normally provide an update every few hours could be required to literally speak dozens of times on camera, with the final diagnosis of "He's signed" only coming through at about 3 minutes to midnight.

 

The best (or worst) part, though, is the rumours that are spread. This could be something plausible (e.g. Fernando Torres has just been seen arriving at Stamford Bridge), something a little less likely (e.g. Riquelme has been spotted at Everton) or just plain ludicrous (e.g.

 David Beckham has been spotted buying ciggies at an off licence in Kirkby). These "spots" are supposed to be designed to inform fans of the latest goings-on - yet the majority of them are linked to deals that won't happen, and would never happen, and some of them are likely to be, well, false.

 

To be fair, this isn't always by reporters; fans will occasionally email the studio with their sights, although some of them are clearly taking the mickey. This doesn't happen any other time of the year; it happens on deadline day because Sky have created an event, essentially, out of nothing, and people who recognise this make fun of it.

 

As a Liverpool fan, the vast majority of events on the day have no relevance to me. Not that I'm not interested; just that they don't affect Liverpool. The exception was last January, with the Suarez-Torres-Carroll saga, but otherwise the Reds usually leave it to the others to fill up Sky's air time. This leads me to the sides who seemingly build their transfer budget around deadline day (have you ever noticed that Tottenham ALWAYS try to sign someone on deadline day, and usually in the late hours?). This may be exciting to their fans, but if you think that they've had weeks to sign some players, they're either disorganised, greedy for attention or they've spotted someone else is up for sale and try to hijack the deal in an attempt to hurt their rivals, regardless of whether it benefits them (e.g. Spurs trying for Charlie Adam last January). I understand that some deals are forced to be settled in the closing minutes, but when it happens all the time, you start to question the club's policies.

 

Anyway, as the final moments tick down it feels like New Year's Eve. You want the seconds to tick down, but at the same time you wish it could go on longer. Only, when the clock strikes 12 on deadline day, you don't get balloons, party poppers, boats hooting or Auld Lang Syne; you just get some over-the-top graphic (e.g. SSN had new players wearing strips they'd never worn before on the side of Big Ben) and Sky Sports News telling you the deals have/haven't gone through - which makes following the big stories all day rather pointless, since you could just wait until midnight and get everything confirmed then.

 

And, as I said, some deals don't get completed for a day or two afterwards - which makes the whole point of deadline day seem a bit irrelevant.

 

However, the day itself has provided memorable moments over the years. Not necessarily from SSN's point of view, but in general, some major deals - amongst the biggest of the season - have gone through in the dying moments of deadline day. From Robinho shockingly signing for Man City, to Berbatov's transfer to Man Utd, to Torres going to Chelsea, nothing can be ruled out on deadline day. You'd think that the club chairmen could NEVER buy anyone ever again after deadline day for the ways in which deals that were nonexistant at 8 pm are suddenly all over the back pages by mdinight.

 

And, in fairness to Sky, they are the masters of hype - making anything sound exciting, From the Breaking News ticker to the messages that someone with an awful lot of contacts has just had on their phone to the quick cut-aways to your favourite team's training ground, Sky have managed to create an event out of something that once came and went without notice.

 

Deadline day is actually most enjoyable for the armchair fan, whose club isn't about to lose a major star, or who isn't in danger of missing out on a top deal due to time running out. If your club is essentially doing nothing, you can sit back and relax, and if a late deal does come through, it's a pleasant surprise and you only have to wait a few minutes for it to be confirmed/rejected, as opposed to the hours other fans anticipate a deal that eventually falls through. And if your club doesn't conduct any business at all - well, there's always next time.

 

So, whether your club is buying, selling or sitting back, deadline day should provide compelling viewing. Sky Sports News may have taken a basic rule and made it an over-the-top extravaganza, but it undoubtedly provides the channel with higher ratings than usual, and gets the fans of most clubs excited. As for whether I'll be watching - well, I may flick over to channel 405 on the Sky+ now and again, but I doubt I'll spend the entire day doing nothing more than sitting as close to the TV and possible and begging for a deal to go through in time.

 

Unless my team sign anyone, of course.