Snow Wreaks Havoc on Transfer Deadline, and FA Cup

Don’t you just love the weather?

Thanks to snow that has been unkind to transport within the UK, the five  pm transfer deadline got extended. Now obviously the catch to that was deals had to already been agreed and loose ends tied up, but just the fact the transfer window had to be extended makes me question the 5 pm ending to begin with. Yes I understand having the window end on a Sunday wouldn’t have been so friendly, however who in their right minds decided that a 5 pm deadline was the right choice?

Deadlines are always going to be arbitraily set, but setting it at 5 pm wasn’t wise. Historically the deadline is midnight, and it would have been wise to have kept it that way. Just because Sunday wasn’t smart for a transfer deadline, having to ask permission to extend the deadline was equally not wise. Had the deadline been set at midnight, like every other transfer deadline, everything would have been just fine. Yes the weather was bad, but setting a bad deadline only made matters worse. I just hope the reason 5 pm was set as the deadline was because the Premier League would be spending Tuesday going over bids for the UK TV rights.

Now obviously the big story of the day was the will it/won’t it happen between Arsenal and Zenit St. Petersburg over Andrei Arshavin. From headlines of “Arsenal ‘fail’ in bid to sign Andrei Arshavin” to “Arshavin deal collapses as Arsenal target heads back to Russia” back to “Confusion over Arshavin move”. It continues with headlines of “Arshavin’s a Gunner! Arsenal get their man on the cheap after day of tense negotiations” and it finally ends up with this one “Arshavin conclusion on hold“. Now I’ll admit, I didn’t think this deal would end up happening. If we want to get into technicalities, the deal still isn’t finalized. Fact remains that all the FA are going to do tomorrow is green light the deal. And for Arsenal, it could be just what the doctor ordered.

Here is this January by the numbers, and here is a list of players who went on deadline day (until 8 pm)

Now the other story of the night is also snow related, and it’s something I happen to agree with. Due to the weather and the uncertainty of it, the FA and Football League have already called off games for Tuesday night, including Arsenal’s FA Cup replay with Cardiff City. If the weather continues, Wednesday’s games aren’t entirely safe either.

This is a good idea. With the number of fans that would be on the roads traveling, and public transport operating at limited capacity (or not at all in some spots), it’s best to give as far in advance notice about postponements as possible. Let’s hope Wednesday’s games aren’t affected as the games Tuesday night have been.

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