Deadline day: Why is Scotland’s window shutting on Thursday?

Scotland generally likes to be different.

It is not unusual on transfer deadline day for the window to close an hour after their southern counterparts.

This is normally when fax machines get dusted down and cranked up while paperwork is frantically hurried to the registration department at Hampden.

But this time around there’s a full two days of a gap.

The decision of when the window shuts is ultimately down to the Scottish FA, but it is chosen with feedback directly from clubs and with plenty of notice.

There’s an working group through the SPFL which collates input from clubs, and this year the feeling was they wanted extra time after the main leagues closed.

Why? As mentioned before, so much of Scotland’s transfer business is done later in the window.

Given the budgets involved, quite often things need to move further up the chain before deals fall into place allowing a player to be freed up.

Remember, clubs are still allowed to sell and release players when their window is shut, meaning Scottish sides could take advantage of swollen squads looking to offload.

The call on when the deadline was going to be was made well before this summer’s World Cup.