The hype train that is Premier League transfer deadline day took a particularly forgettable route this summer.
In recent years we've grown accustomed to experiencing everything from amusement to bemusement while watching the last minute deals play out on our screens as the clock ticks towards midnight and Sky Sports presenters, football supporters, managers, players and chairmen collectively lose their minds.
This year the decision to shut the window on the eve of the opening fixtures led to an unusual 5pm deadline, a slightly surreal thing for the ordinary office-worker to find themselves considering whether or not to sneak home a bit early to try and catch Jim White.
While certain managers spent much of the last week publicly bemoaning the difficulty in trying to sign players in an inflated market with a shortened window, the lack of significant transfer activity had momentarily threatened to cause a deadline day eruption of irrational spending and last-minute panic buys. But Chelsea goalkeepers aside, this summer's deadline day was a bit of a damp squib.
With many clubs finding themselves dissatisfied with their business, it might be no harm for them to look for the positives and remember some of the near misses of deadline days past. Sometimes doing nothing at all is better than doing something you'll regret.
Carlton Cole to Liverpool (2010)
As Fernando Torres' Liverpool career was winding down to a slump, Roy Hodgson arrived at Anfield and began re-building the squad. Unfortunately his style of re-building involved the signings of a declining Joe Cole and.....em....Paul Konchesky. It could have been even worse had he been successful in landing Carlton Cole from West Ham in a cash plus players deal that reportedly included Ryan Babel and Lucas Leiva going the opposite way.
Saido Berahino to Tottenham (2015)
It has been well documented that Spurs chairman Daniel Leavy doesn't easily part with cash when it comes to transfer dealings, and the fees he has secured in exchange for the likes of Bale, Berbatov & Modric over the years has added to his reputation as the ultimate transfer negotiator. But his unwillingness to pay £25 million for Saido Berahino back in his West Brom days looks like a stroke of genius as the years go by and Saido's career fades into anonymity.
David Bentley to Man City (2009)
In the early days of the Sheikh Mansoor-led revolution at Manchester City, when Mark Hughes was the man trusted with transforming the club from comedy act to world-beaters, an approach for Spurs flop David Bentley narrowly avoided becoming one of the notable failings in their hit and miss early spending spree. Bentley and City's opposite trajectories since the summer of 2009 make the deal seem remarkable almost a decade later.
Charlie Adam to Tottenham (2011)
When deadline day favourite Harry Redknapp was in charge at Spurs, he was minutes away from a late signing of Charlie Adam who was impressing during Blackpool's only season in the premier league. In Redknapp's defence, Adam would later be shortlisted for the 2010/11 PFA Player's Player of the year. But the Spurs deal never materialized and the bullet that 'Arry dodged was duly received in the gut by Kenny Dalglish during his final stint as Liverpool manager the following summer.
