Giles wants change after Hogan saga

Brentford co-sporting director Phil Giles wants the transfer window system to be changed.

It comes after the club endured several weeks of speculation before top scorer Scott Hogan left for Aston Villa just before the window closed.

Giles told Brentford’s website that the current system “does not actually work for football” because it pushes the prices of players up.

Hogan barely played in January and manager Dean Smith suggested that was partly because of doubts over his future.

West Ham made an offer for Hogan and a number of other clubs expressed an interest before Villa came in for him. 

Giles said: “There was offers for Scott early in the window and that affected him and made it difficult for him to focus on playing for us. We as a club weren’t happy with that.

“It’s a product of the transfer window as a whole. Football has set up a transfer window that doesn’t actually work for football.

“Brentford can’t change anything, but I’d like to think that maybe we can start to look collectively at how we can do it differently.

“All clubs are being affected – big clubs and small clubs – and it’s putting too much pressure and stress on players and clubs, and everyone working in football, for a small part of the season.

“In my limited understanding of economics, if you restrict supply in the market, prices go up.

“We are restricting the supply of players into one month. Clubs need to do something, so they pay top dollar to force the move. I don’t see how it works.”