On one of my recent visits to Sixfields I asked Stuart Gray if he thought the January transfer window should be abolished.
He unhesitatingly told me he thought it should. Managers don't want it, players don't want it, supporters don't want it and - believe me - the press definitely don't want it.
Reading manager Steve Coppell said recently: "I cannot see the logic in a transfer window. It brings on a fire-sale mentality, causes unrest via the media and means clubs buy too many players."
It's hard to disagree on any of those points, but just to give you the media side of it - we generate a lot more interest and sell more newspapers when transfer speculation is rife.
If that was extended to the old system of year-round transfer dealings, some of the balance could be restored and many of the stories would be stripped of that sense of urgency; the fire-sale mentality of which Coppell speaks.
As things stand, what would be bog-standard transfer speculation stories are blown out of all proportion by an over-expectant public who have been starved of any sort of gossip since the summer.
So what exactly are the arguments for keeping it?
Presumably FIFA's grand idea was that clubs would be reliant on their coaching structures and more willing to dip into their youth teams than simply drafting in expensive replacements from elsewhere.
What happens in reality is that the big clubs stockpile the best players and the smaller clubs are left to adopt a 'make do' mentality, circumnavigating the current system by simply bringing in people on 'emergency loans'.
Fortunately for the Cobblers they have a manager who is pretty adept at making the most of this system, although finding loopholes in transfer laws is nothing new at Sixfields.
I remember a few years ago, Colin Calderwood brought in a midfielder called Jamie Hand, who had been released by Watford a few days previously but arrived at Sixfields on loan from… Fisher Athletic!
After delving a little deeper it came to light that Fisher played at a level of non-league where loans could be sanctioned within the current set of rules, and that they were managed by Justin Edinburgh, a former team-mate of Calderwood's at Spurs. All above board, of course.

There has been some debate among the supporters this month after the departures of Andy Kirk and Bradley Johnson, although in fairness the debate in the Chron has been very reasoned, with some good arguments being put forward.
It's been a transfer window very similar to last year's, with a rising youngster (for Johnson read Luke Chambers) and the club's top-scorer (Kirk instead of Scott McGleish) both departing.
To anyone losing sleep over the dealings of the month so far, just look at what happened last year - Chambers was replaced by Mark Hughes and McGleish by a string of quality youngsters on loan from higher up.
Everything was all right in the end, and I'm sure that will be the case again this time around. In fact, the performance at Gillingham suggests it may well be better than all right, especially as nobody seems to want to go up from this division.

HAVE THE LATEST, EXCLUSIVE BREAKING NEWS SENT TO YOU VIA SMS FIRST. Text CLUB NMPTON GOLD to 88442. 25p per message.