There were surprise late moves, optimism, frustration and despair up and down the Championship as the winter transfer window came to a close on Monday night after deals done by 24 clubs.
Those not bothering to sign anyone were leaders Leeds United - who are at Coventry City on Wednesday 7. Jefferson has been identified using this strategy, and he's a young lad who we're keen to develop. Sadly, whatever metric you use, it's a test they've failed miserably. One can only wonder what majority owners Brett Cravatt and Jason Cohen make of it all. Derby County had gone into the final hours of business looking for a creative midfielder and pace in attack, bringing in Harrison Armstrong on loan from Everton in hope he can tick the first box but there were no other incomings.
But when you are a run on seven straight league defeats and sitting in the bottom three, it was always going to be hard to lift the mood of a fanbase that is justifiably concerned over the direction of travel. Derby could have signed Lionel Messi this month but if the team keeps on losing, the outlook will never change regardless of who wears the shirt. Middlesbrough announced the signing of Kelechi Iheanacho as they kicked off for what would be a defeat to Sunderland.
Alex Neil has been very busy since joining Millwall, signing eight players, including seven on permanent deals. He has brought back Zak Lovelace, who made his debut for Millwall at the age of 15 in before moving to Rangers in Plymouth Argyle believe they have given themselves a fighting chance of staying up after Miron Muslic made five signings, including centre-backs Maksym Talovierov and Nikola Katic.
After all, the Pilgrims have the worst goals against record in all three divisions of the EFL with 63, which is 11 more than Portsmouth. Unless they addressed that glaring weakness there was simply no chance of them staying up. The answer to that will only become clear in time, and it will likely decide whether Argyle can avoid the drop into League One. Get the latest Coventry City headlines sent straight to your phone Get the latest Coventry City news sent straight to your phone by joining our Sky Blues WhatsApp group.
