Transfer deadline thoughts

Today however, if you missed the deadline coverage, consider yourself fortunate indeed.
Today, especially with the deadline being 5pm, transfer deadline day was as damp a squib as the Twenty20 games at Old Trafford.
Devoid of any big name deals, footage of David James speeding off from Portsmouth's training ground or James Collins arriving at Aston Villa was on heavy rotation throughout the day. Bless them, Sky tried to ramp up the drama of deadline day but encountered far more dead ends than breaking news.
Even the 'breaking news' yellow bar was rarely seen.
As far as we are concerned, there was just two deals completed early on - Tal Ben-Haim to Portsmouth and Clayton McDonald on loan to Walsall. Sky tried their best to dress up the Ben-Haim move as key to a Portsmouth revival, whilst I don't recall McDonald garnering a mention.
David Bentley's proposed move was at one time the main story of the day, but this died down around lunchtime and then was completely quashed shortly after, with it later emerging that it was a no-go once Tottenham requested Martin Petrov as part of any deal.

Even the Richard Dunne 'has he, hasn't he' story lacked any enthusiasm about, certainly nowhere near the chase of Berbatov this time last year, and to no surprise, it was confirmed that Dunne will eventually sign for Aston Villa.
Hughes had said beforehand that he was likely done as far as new recruits went, and especially with keeping Petrov I'm certain he is more than happy with how his squad stands.
Depending on where we sit this time in January though, particularly if we are occupying a top four position it could be a different matter entirely and could, therefore, lead to a far more exciting deadline day than we have witnessed today.