What drama will we have in store when Mags finally get down to business?

NEWCASTLE concluded their first transfer window with a whimper which was hardly a surprise even if Eddie Howe had implored his paymasters to come flying out of the traps.

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He has only to look at the playing side of the business, which is what fans do, whereas those on high are greatly concerned about doing the sums and balancing the books with sanctions hanging over their heads like the sword of Damocles. Both might have the same long-term objective but they view the situation from different angles and therefore go about it in different ways.

The second, and bigger, transfer opportunity opens on Monday and runs to the finish of August. This is the business end of proceedings.

Why the short break I can hear many of you ask? Well it's because FIFA's rules stipulate the transfer windows in a calendar year when combined cannot be greater than 16 weeks.

The initial 10-day period applied only to the 20 national associations including England with teams playing in the ludicrous Club World Cup to allow them to register players for the group stages though others could also do business.

However it meant a first window had to close on June 10. The outcome: no Newcastle deals completed of a ready-made first-teamer and what's more I don't expect any during the rest of this month. Why? Because June 30 is the end of the club's financial year and United's hierarchy will ideally want business to fall into the next year's accounts.

The only way that is likely to change is if United can play vulture.

Clubs are allowed a maximum financial loss of only £105m over three years and consequently some will be forced to bring in much-needed funds before the end of the month to balance the books and avoid sanctions. United could take advantage of that just as Nottingham Forest and Brighton did over Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh.

Of course all the transfer groundwork is currently going on even though the shop is closed. It is just the formalities that may be held back until after the accountancy deadline.