I believe you can sign a free agent at any point, up until you submit your 25 man squad, the only problem being that I believe the 25 man squad needs to be submitted today, which is why even free agent transfers are normally completed within the window.
Hull City's summer transfer window was turbulent, but January matched it please log in to view this image Hull City have never known a January quite like the one that ended last night. Both for players signed and those allowed to leave, the turnover of personnel has been without precedent at the KCOM Stadium. The opening month of 2017 began promising only minor alterations yet ended up as an overhaul. Out went Mike Phelan, his backroom staff and five first-team players. In came Marco Silva and a whole host of new faces. Only when the Premier League season concludes on May 24 will it become clear if City's radical changes were worthwhile but Silva is already willing to stand by his own decisions in the transfer market. Ahead of the deadline at 11pm last night, City's head coach suggested he had no choice but to rip things up and start again with the first of 16 decisive games coming away to Manchester United this evening. "It is not normal for a club to have so many problems like Hull City since the beginning of the season," he said. "It's not normal when one squad does not have one winger. In 25 players we don't have one winger. We only had only one right-back (Ahmed Elmohamady) and he was playing in the African Nations. That's not normal. When we came we saw these things. "I understand it is better when you only do one or two signings, that's best for the coach, the players and the club, but in Hull City that was impossible in this moment. You have to understand that. We had a lot of problems with a lot of positions where we don't have players." So, has Silva encountered more problems than he anticipated when agreeing to become Phelan's successor on January 5? "At this moment it is not important to talk about this," added the City boss. "It is important that we keep our focus and look forward in this moment. "What is important is preparing for the next game. I don't want to find excuses to talk about all the situations. My focus and my players' focus is to stay in the Premier League." January ended up being as turbulent as the summer that preceded this season. The sacking of Phelan, replaced by Silva within 48 hours, sent the winds of change blowing through the KCOM Stadium before City's squad underwent much more than the fine-tuning vice chairman had suggested at the start of the month. Oumar Niasse arrived from Everton on loan to add firepower, with ex-Porto man Evandro offering creativity, before Omar Elabdellauoi became the solution to a long-standing right-back problem on a loan deal from Olympiakos. Liverpool's Lazar Markovic was another intriguing addition but in amongst it all were the sales to undermine positivity. Cashing in on Jake Livermore and Robert Snodgrass left two gaping holes in Silva's squad and the late business done last night, with Poland international winger Kamil Grosicki and Alfred N'Diaye on loan from Villarreal joining Italian defender Andrea Ranocchia in the City fold, brings no guarantees the club's most consistent players will not be missed. Silva insists City's squad is now more "complete" for the business done in January but he would not be drawn on whether City are now better equipped to survive the drop. "I prefer to talk about the 25 days we have here," he said. "Not only about transfers but also about our performance. "This is the most important thing for me, to see how our team improves. For me it's important that we've had six games and won three. Of course I want more but I've seen good things in our squad when we've not had a lot of time for training. There has been a lot of games in a row. After they recover they play again without a lot of time to pass on our ideas. "I am happy. When I came we tried not to lose any players but we lost two players (from the first team) and had a bad injury to Mason. That's a big problem for us. I hope we can still finish well but I believe we are more complete in this squad." City fans will debate the rights and wrongs of January. For all the Tigers appear weaker without Snodgrass and Livermore, they now have a head coach that every player suggests believes in survival. Life will not get any easier when facing Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal in the next week but Silva will remain bullish. "I am confident for the next four months," he said. "It's not easy when you see players leave the club because we tried to keep these players. But I am still confident in this moment of keeping our goal. We will fight until the last day of the season." http://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/hull...0102304-detail/story.html#T1HfqqsHTysGDCas.99
That was what I thought - that we wouldn't need to submit our squad until X time before our first game after the window closes. Which unfortunately for us is today. If this is the case then other clubs not playing until the weekend now have an advantage over us. Edit - just re-read your post. Do you think all squads have to be submitted today then and not just ours cos we're playing today?
Not likely at all, you don't go all the trouble of taking out a multi million pound bank loan if you're going to be in a position to pay it off within a week or two. That bank loan is almost certainly just about transferring the Allams personal debt to external debt.
He's not wrong is he? And none of it is hindsight, so many of us asked after the summer window closed 'why are signing more centre mids and no right backs or strikers?'
I think everyone's need to be submitted today, after the summer window, the Premier League published everyone's squad list on Sept 2nd.
The bank loans plus any surplus from the sale of Snodgrass & Livermore I guess will just reduce the exposure Allam house have to City.
Quite contradictory, says tried to keep players yet says squad wasn't good enough anyway. The Allam apologists as usual are out in force, but selling Snodgrass for around 10 million with at least 3 clubs after him was not good business. And I haven't heard anything to suggest Livermore insisted on being sold, he was versatile, consistent and resilient in a squad that frequently gets injured.
Later, I'm driving to Manchester and stopped for a few minutes. He kept saying he wanted RW and RB options so I'm guessing he will play a back four. Davies injury is just unfortunate, **** happens. Let's see what the manager does.
Fair post and totally agree. Not necessarily as strong a staring XI, but maybe it will be - the squad depth might also enable us to have a fresher, stronger finishing XI.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/premier-league-footballer-forced-transfer-9734032 One of ours?
We saw what he did, sent our only other fit centre half out on loan so he could accommodate a player he can't play every week.
Reminds me of another time we pulled together a band of misfits, trying to stave off relegation, propping up the table, with a less than trustworthy owner... Dare to dream.
My first thought was Mcgregor - obvs - but I'm not sure if he has a long-term partner or indeed kids and I doubt the club would not want him to leave. So we can categorically rule him out. In all seriousness I think we're all thinking of the same player but lets not create a rumour that none of us have heard off the back of a tab story. This is people's lives we're talking about here...
Dennis, I think it was personal re. Alex by the spiteful Rehab, Alex must have known his days were numbered when his dad left, saving grace for him is that he was injured. Even if Marco had wanted to keep him as back up, this was one battle Rehab wouldn't lose after the stand off with Marco earlier with Robertson that he had to concede.
From a longer term view of us not spunking a load of cash on a risky last roll of the dice, this was in the best interest of the stability of the club and was the right approach. If Silva can weave his magic and we stay up we're in a better position. If we are relegated we won't be saddled with unaffordable bills. Of course it's not pretty but it's sensible and I expect the football to be exciting.
For how good Bruce has been and he let nobody down, if we have to depend on him to stay up we are as good as down. The FA should allow teams four subs whoever he plays for.
Good arguments for and against having a number of loan signings, there is no correct view about whether it'll work in our favour, time will tell. What worries me, is if we do go down, we'll have a tiny squad, a lower wage bill yes, but owners who would have **** all intentions of spending any money to correct that, any players with any resale value would be gone, Robbo, Clucas, Maguire and i'd be surprised if those thundercunts would re invest that money. Basically, go down and I think we could be proper ****ed.
