Some Dunfermline fans vented their anger when it became clear January was going to end with no new signings in the door.
Last weekend’s results saw Falkirk close the gap at the top of League One to five points.
The Bairns have also been active in the transfer market in the last week, adding two new strikers as well as promising Dundee United midfielder Archie Meekison.
The only piece of January business at East End Park saw Sam Fisher return to parent club Dundee after a successful loan spell.
The Pars were working hard on a couple of signings on Tuesday but were left frustrated.
However, lower-league clubs in Scotland can still bring in domestic loans until the end of February – and more top-flight players will be available now their clubs know where they stand.
Just one day
The lack of deadline-day signings can result in lower-league fans reading too much into just one day of the year.
Granted, there are only a set number of days to complete transfers but January is a notoriously difficult month in which to sign players on permanent deals.
James McPake has said a few times that he doesn’t want a huge amount of turnover of players every year – he wants to build something sustainable.
That means signing smart and not rushing moves for the sake of it.
He has stuck to the former so far. Kyle Benedictus has been one of the signings of the season in the lower leagues while Chris Hamilton, Chris Mochrie and Fisher have all been excellent.
The latter’s recall illustrates the risk that comes with any loan arrangement, but any such deals done now stand a decent chance of running through until the summer.
There is also scope to eye players whose deals will be expiring at the end of the season.
If Dunfermline are in this position at the end of February then there would be a worry over a lack of cover in defence, especially if continuing with a back three.
The squad is pretty well-covered otherwise, save any sort of injury crisis.
Not standing still
You always want to strengthen, even when on top.
Making no new signings COULD be perceived as a weakness, with John McGlynn’s side strengthening and closing the gap.
But last weekend was the first match in which Dunfermline had dropped points since the start of December.
It left them on a run of six wins and three draws from their last nine league matches.
There are 14 matches remaining for the Pars, all in the league. Two of those are against Falkirk.
With scope to still bring in a few players, the League One title is still very much in Dunfermline’s hands – even without any new January signings.
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