Transfer Window Details for 2008/9

Below are a few details about this season's transfer window:

The currently open Transfer Window will close at midnight on Sunday 31st August 2008. In practice this is likely to mean the deadline for signings is Friday 29th August as no account seems to have been taken of the Window closing on a weekend, as it has been for the January version (see below).

The Transfer Window will reopen again on Thursday 1st January 2009 (in theory, but in practice on Friday 2nd January as New Year's Day is not a working day), and will close on Monday 2nd February 2009, since Saturday 31st January is not deemed a working day.

As regular followers of the Football League will know the loan rules are a minefield of complexity. Our best guess scenario for Loan Windows is that the following will apply :

1) Standard (that's half or full season, what used to be called 'long-term') Loans are only available to be set up during the periods the Transfer Window is open, so before August 31st 2008 and 2nd February 2009.

2) Emergency - all loans other than Standard Loans (above) are these days termed 'emergency' - Loans to be set up at any time between Monday 8th September 2008 and Thursday 27th November 2008, and Monday 8th February 2009 to Thursday 26th March 2009. Emergency Loans may last from a minimum of 28 days up to a maximum of 93 days.

3) Short-term Emergency Loans (goalkeepers only for up to seven days at a time, renewable) are available to cover the gaps. So, Monday 1st September 2008 to Sunday 7th September 2008; Friday 28th November 2008 to Wednesday 31st December 2008; Friday 26th March 2009 to the end of the season.

Note that players designated as 'Free Agents' can be signed by a club at any time, providing they were not under a contract at the time of the last Transfer Window closing.

As for the additional rules and provisions and exclusions occasioned when players cross International boundaries, that affect all of the above - life is just too short to go there.

These details were originally published on Ciderspace and are subject to any unannounced decisions that might impact from the Football League AGM which took place in Portugal last week.

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