Sean Gregan’s EXCLUSIVE Preston North End column: Thoughts on the future of the transfer window

I’m not a massive fan of the transfer window system and if I had my way I would go back to how it used to be with just one deadline at the end of March.
Callum Robinson scoring in pre-season for Sheffield United  will Preston miss his goals this season?Callum Robinson scoring in pre-season for Sheffield United  will Preston miss his goals this season?
Callum Robinson scoring in pre-season for Sheffield United  will Preston miss his goals this season?

However, I’m realistic enough to know that is never going to happen but I would like to see a few changes to how the transfer window system works.

For starters, the summer window needs to close at the same time everywhere.

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It was Thursday for clubs in the Championship and Premier League.

In League One and League Two, the deadline is a couple of day into September, while I think it shuts in Italy next week.

I can see the reasoning behind clubs wanting the window to shut before the season starts – that way they know what they are working with and there aren’t players starting the season at one club and moving on after three or four games.

The trouble you have then is the season starts at a different time in different countries.

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So perhaps it is time the season starts at the same time in as many countries as possible and the windows can match.

With the window shut here, what happens if a club from Spain comes in an wants to sign a player from one of the English teams?

If they were in a situation where they couldn’t refuse an offer, they wouldn’t be able to go out and replace that player.

With the window system in place, clubs will always load their squad and tend to have too many players for what they actually need.

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As far as North End are concerned, they made four signings in the window and time will tell if that gets them through sufficiently.

They have lost the goals of Callum Robinson, which aren’t easy to replace.

Other than that, it is the same group of players from last season plus the new lads. We will see how things work out over the next few weeks and months.

On the playing side, it was obviously disappointing to see PNE beaten by Millwall on the opening day.

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Although it is only one game and one lot of three points, it is always a big build-up to the first match and the onus is always on it.

When you are training in pre-season, your focus and your goal is being ready for that first game.

So when things don’t go your way, it is easy to feel quite disappointed.

You just hope that North End can get the better of Wigan Athletic at Deepdale and get up and running. 
Seeing points against your name is a big boost and you can go from there.

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It always takes a few games for the season to get going and for the table to take some semblance of shape.

When that happens, you naturally want to be higher up than stuck down at the bottom struggling for points.

Can Preston beat Wigan? I’d like to think they can but they’ll have to improve on certain things from the loss at Millwall.

One shot at goal all game isn’t going to get your far, so they have to find a sharper edge going forward. The onus will be on them to go out and attack, being the home side.