OPINION: More questions than answers over January deals

The farcical and almost slapstick nature of deadline day meant that we had to wait until half an hour after the 11pm cut-off point for Blackpool to complete their business.

There wasn’t a great deal the club could have done about that though, with Port Vale waiting until the very last minute to conclude a deal for Blackpool’s club captain Danny Pugh.

It was a surprising bit of business that caught many off guard. I have to admit the Neil Danns deal caught me by surprise, but losing your skipper – who only signed during the summer – was fairly baffling too.

For me, it seemed to sum up Pool’s transfer policy. For those asking: “what policy?”, there lies my point.

Pool’s window seemed a bit haphazard, last minute and if I’m being brutally honest, a bit all over the place.

At one point in January, the Seasiders had six senior players out through injury, which seemed to force Gary Bowyer into action.

Deals for Nathan Delfouneso and Sanmi Odelusi were sharply wrapped up but it wasn’t until the last two days when the majority of business was done.

Raul Correia looks like an interesting one for the future but it leaves Pool with eight forwards – counting Danny Philliskirk and Odelusi. Isn’t that a bit top heavy?

Not only that, Pool were already crying out for defensive reinforcements before Andy Taylor and Eddie Nolan received injuries and Kelvin Mellor was handed a suspension for his red card at Blackburn.

Taylor and Nolan are now back in contention, but if the Seasiders are to persist with the 3-5-2 formation they’ve adopted in the last few weeks, extra defenders were a must. Yet, curiously, no defenders were brought in.

The main worry was that Kyle Vassell, Brad Potts and Bright Osayi-Samuel could be sold but they’re still here, which is a major boost.

One accusation aimed at the club before the window opened was that they – and when I mean “they” I refer to the owners – may look to cash in on their brightest talents to recoup some money.

That didn’t happen, but many are still accusing the club of letting senior players go to cut down the wage bill.

The real truth of that may never be known but I’d be surprised if Bowyer was entirely satisfied with Pool’s January shopping.