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I'm never certain of anything Fletch!

I believe that a league club are bound by these rulings irrespective of where the player is coming from. As far as I'm aware we can't sign a non-league player from the Evo league until the July 1st window opens although we could put him on a pre-contract... But how binding that is, well that's another matter...

And isn't that 'free agent at the close of window' the window in January?

budleigh wrote:I'm never certain of anything Fletch!

I believe that a league club are bound by these rulings irrespective of where the player is coming from. As far as I'm aware we can't sign a non-league player from the Evo league until the July 1st window opens although we could put him on a pre-contract... But how binding that is, well that's another matter...

And isn't that 'free agent at the close of window' the window in January?

Presumably if a contract was mutually cancelled on the 9th October say, he would be permitted to sign for a team at any time (as the stipulation is must be without contract before 2359 on the 31st Jan)?

Im sure the FA/FL make the regulations vague on purpose

We are able to sign any player at any time (as far as I'm aware). However, we can only transfer the players registration to play during two periods of the year (Summer and January). Therefore most teams decide to purchase them during these breaks as its advantagous to leave the player enjoying regular football.

If I remember correctly, Man United are an example of a team who sign outside the window. Lindegaard was signed in December, and Hernandez last April.

And Chris Smalling was signed in after the January transfer window last year to begin in September.

The Chris Smalling transfer was exactly as we are talking about here and is a perfect example.

He signed a pre-contract on the 26th of January, and carried on playing for Fulham for the remainder of the season, before joining Man Utd under contract on the 1st of July.

The Hernandez deal was similar with the player signing a pre-contract at the end of May 2010, before joining Manchester United fully on the 1st of July; and the Lindegaard deal was the same, he signed a pre-contract in November 2010, signing fully on the 1st of January, 2011.

As can be seen, all these examples are of players who weren't actually able to play for their new club until signing a contract when the transfer window opened, although they had committed themselves with a 'pre-contract'...

Ignoring the whole point that we are talking about someone from below tier 5, where the transfer window is not applicable.

There is no clause that i could find, that says players from below tier 5 can not transfer to league teams. Just that the transfer window is not applicable below tier 5...

There is nothing stopping Ross Hannah signing a contract for anyone now as far as I am aware but like others have said the official transfer of registration (from Matlock) cannot take place until the next transfer window reopens on 1st July.

Much like Muzzy signed for Lincoln around this time last year (edit 20th May to be precise!) whilst we were still paying his wages and before we had agreed a fee - he was still able to sign for them without our agreement. Of course eventually we agreed to the transfer of his registration but only after a fee had been agreed ahead of a tribunal after they finally decided to pay us something for his services! In the case of Hannah there is no need to agree a fee with Matlock as he is over 24 and out of contract - he can sign for whoever he likes.

Back to Ross Hannah, it does sound as though reading between the lines, that Bradford City or more importantly perhaps Peter Jackson is interested in signing him. I believe Jackson has even been seen in attendance at a Matlock game(s) but of course it all depends on whether Jackson actually gets the job at Bradford, which is by no means certain. He (Jackson) should find out early next week on whether he has been successful or whether the BCFC board will decide to look elsewhere.

One thing Hannah would do well to consider before deciding to join Bradford would be how "stable" that club is at the moment - they were late paying some of their players last month which doesn't bode well for the summer and they (BCFC) are desperately trying to renegotiate the lease on their ground as they cannot afford the crippling rent costs and are even talking about moving ground (to Oddsal) and possibly taking a 10 point deduction in the process as it would mean the club having to go into administration - which would hardly be a bright start to any new career for the likes of Hannah. Not only that but even if Jackson is successful in his job application you can imagine that the pressure for success will be on him from the moment the first ball is kicked next season (as it always is for Managers of BCFC while they "languish in L2) and how long his tenure might be there if they don't get off to a good start is anyone's guess!

Would be a good signing I.M.O. Can't remember us ever having a palindromic striker before!

wodger of awabia wrote:Would be a good signing I.M.O. Can't remember us ever having a palindromic striker before!

I think so. Rodney Jack was from St Vincent and David Graham was scottish

Signing for Bradford judging by the comments on his Twitter - never mind. That said, I have serious doubts as to whether Peter Jackson will get the job after another disastrous home defeat today - really poor side they have got there at the moment.

I d pretty much guess it s the perfect move for him as it s quite local and in my opinion would have a good chance of becoming a regular but there managerial situation could be a stumbling block i think.

Sounds like a heart over head decision if true.

Of all the clubs that seem to have shown an interest, Bradford appear to be in by far the worst mess - most likely club to be in admin by Christmas IMO if reports are correct.

Bradford fans and management can be notoriously fickle as well - driven by their need and desperation to get out of the division - if you don't perform you get abuse and sidelined very quickly. Player development has very much taken a back seat in recent years because of this. Ironically, this desperation is the reason why they're in the situation they are IMO - one of, if not the most, unsettled squads in the division.

But let's not be too bitter. What are we losing out on, really?! Unproven striker who's middle aged in footballing terms.

I'm not meaning to sound bitter - I'm really not. I'm genuinely just pointing out as I see it.

I'm not saying he should have come to us instead - the argument applies equally well to choosing Bradford over Bristol Rovers and all other interested L2 clubs.

I wish him all the best and hope he's made the right decision for his future - but from what I can see, I'm doubtful.

monkeyboy wrote:But let's not be too bitter. What are we losing out on, really?! Unproven striker who's middle aged in footballing terms.

I'm guessing you haven't seen him play football then?!