The January transfer window has drawn to close and all connected to football can relax somewhat after a breathless month.

These windows have become such an event that fans of all teams are constantly refreshing Twitter and rushing to YouTube to watch clips of player they’ve never heard of, but who their club have been linked with.

For a football fan, transfers are all-encapsulating and many will be relieved that for the next few months they can focus purely on the football.

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Crystal Palace fans know more than most the frustration a transfer window can bring.

This January was the same. Constantly linked with players, and with manager Patrick Vieira using press conferences to advocate for new signings, Eagles fans were left to wait until deadline day to get a couple of new players in.

Those two players were Albert Sambi Lokonga from Arsenal on a loan deal until the end of the season and Naouirou Ahamada from Stuttgart on a permanent transfer. The midfielders will provide them with depth and bolster Palace’s push for a top-half finish this season.

To provide an insight into the experience of an Eagles fan on deadline day, Dan Cook who runs a well-known Twitter account and podcast called HLTCO, provided updates throughout the day.

Shortly before the announcement of their first signing in the 9.02pm update, he tweeted: “I’m sat here in a daze and I’ve lost the will to live.”

This represents anguish shared by fans from around the country and is a by-product of how deadline day is sold as such an event to fans. They are expectant even though all logic suggests that using the other 30 days of the window makes a lot more sense.

 

Palace’s rush for much-needed reinforcements was entirely self-inflicted as they were inactive before January 31.

But 15 hours into his Twitter thread and just a couple of minutes before the window shut, Dan gave his final assessment: “We’ve had worse deadline days.”

That is quite an apt summary, deadline day and the window will never be able to live up to the hype it receives. Even Chelsea fans, whose club sealed the signing of World Cup winner Enzo Fernandez for close to £105 million last night, will quickly look to the summer window if their poor form continues.

The Premier League especially becomes gripped by the transfer window - Everton were the only team that failed to make a signing in January. For some context, La Liga clubs only spent €20 million in January, while Premier League clubs spent around €763 million.

While Palace fans had some of their concerns eased by two deadline day moves, the wider concerns of transfers dominating football remains.

The fear is that we are heading to a future where fans care more about who they sign than how well their team performs.