The Championship is where clubs and owners go to lose money. A chief executive who now works abroad once summed it up like this: “You’re going to make losses whether you want to or not. You just have to decide how much you’re going to lose.”



From time to time there are exceptions to the rule, like the nominal profit of £976,000 Leeds United turned in 2017. That would pay their current wage bill for less than a fortnight. And less again after tax.



England’s second division has long been a diverse field in which certain clubs overspend because they feel they have no choice and others overspend because they have the cash and the mood takes them.



What CEOs across the league noticed in this transfer window was a developing trend: that of a high proportion of teams heading for negative net spends, some by a very comfortable margin. Incoming fees have been vast: £15 million to Birmingham City for Che Adams, £20 million...