Anyone who glibly states "Get your deals done early" is taking a very naive and simplistic view of the world. Unless you are a Man City, who are willing to offer significantly higher wages than just about anyone else in the world right now (apart from maybe Real), then for certain players you are going to face competition. As soon as that happens and you add into the mix agents, advisors, sponsors, lawyers, accountants, medics etc etc etc you end up with a very complicated process.
I enjoy the transfer window it's entertaining and we have done better this window than we have ever done before.
We are feeding at a very big table these days and some people need to remember a few things.
Firstly, that it was only 10 years ago.....Blah, blah, blah! So be thankful for the position we are in rather than always wanting MORE.
Secondly, we are incredibly in debt to the owners of the football club. Not only have they spent a vast fortune on simply ensuring we survived, they have also funded our return to the Premier League. Thoughtlessly demanding we throw millions and millions more at the process of trying to stay up is incredibly disrespectful to them.
Finally, we have already won the National Lottery. It would be nice to continue winning lotteries but not at the expense of pissing what we have won up a wall. The club needs to evolve and that might occasionally necessitate taking a step back in order to take two forward.