English managers want transfer window 'scrapped'

• BBC, Monday, January 31, 2011 12:02 PM

As the European winter transfer window closes, several branches of the game in England are backing the belief that the FIFA-imposed structure should be eliminated.

"It doesn't do what it was looking to when it came in," said League Managers' Assocation chief Richard Bevan. "It doesn't create stability, it doesn't create a level playing field, and certainly in the Football League they are very keen the domestic window is removed." Bevan also says the window piles added pressure on managers to make moves and increases their risk of being dismissed. The European window closes tonight at 11 p.m. GMT.

"Key stakeholders in the game - the Premier League, Football Association, Football League, the FA, the LMA and the PFA [Professional Footballers'
Association] - would like to see it scrapped," Bevan said. Under FIFA rules, players under contract can be transferred to European teams during the periods Jan. 1-31, and June 1-Aug. 31. (Domestic loans and other intra-country moves are often exempt from this restriction.)

This January window has been especially rife with big-money moves involving English teams: Aston Villa bought Darren Bent from Sunderland for 24 million pounds ($38.3 million), Liverpool paid 23 million pounds ($36.7 million) for Luis Suarez to leave Ajax, and the transfer of Edin Dzeko from Wolfsburg to Manchester City is thought to be valued at 27 million ($43.1 million).

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