Ordinarily the holder of the purse strings, the chairman is responsible for giving moves for players the green light and allocating transfer funds accordingly, often based on their own valuation of a potential signing.

Chairmen are generally aware that selling clubs may ask for inflated fees in January, given the positioning of the month halfway through a season, and the desperation to recruit new players can be emphasised further with just hours to go until the deadline.

And while those who are ultimately in control may make plans well in advance, those plans can quickly change.

"We’ve got a good enough squad," QPR chairman Tony Fernandes said as January approached. "We’ve made a lot of changes and brought in a lot of players over the past three transfer windows.

"There may be one or two but it will be a little bit of business rather than a massive amount.”

The changes do not appear to be set to stop before deadline day, however. QPR have since completed moves for striker Loic Remy and Yun Suk-Young, while Tal Ben-Haim has been signed on a free transfer and the Hoops attempt to sign the likes of Christoper Samba and Peter Odemwingie.

Meanwhile, others are more than aware of both the dangers and the positives of dealing in January.

"I don't think you get value for money in the January window myself," Stoke City chairman Peter Coates said.

"But if we need a left-back and haven't managed that situation as well as we can, then we will have to do something about it in January.

"It's something we will have to assess at the time, but it's something we can look at if we have to, whether it be a loan or something more permanent."