Iron's deadline day timeline

Last updated : 01 February 2011 By Iron-Bru.net

9.00am No sign of much movement at the Iron. Manager Ian Baraclough was hopeful of signing one player. Sky Sports had suggested late on Sunday night that Bristol City would make a bid for Martyn Woolford, the Iron's top scorer this season.

10.24 First suggestions that Liverpool have accepted Chelsea's bid for Fernando Torres. £50million the fee - would smash the British record, previously the £30m Manchester United paid for Rio Ferdinand.

10.34 Middlesbrough, who host the Iron on Tuesday night, sign defender Maximilian Haas from Bayern Munich. He captained their second team.

10.38 A story in the Scunthorpe Telegraph that gets overlooked in the madness that followed: winger Garry Thompson needs surgery on his groin problem. "The procedure will put the ligament back to where it used to be and reinforce it to make it stronger. My aim then is to be back in action by the end of February or beginning of March-ish," he says.

10.45 SUFC use Twitter and Facebook to tell supporters there is a player about to be signed. Chris Sumpter, deputy sports editor at the Scunthorpe Telegraph, tweets that it is a striker.

11.11 Joe Garner completes loan move from Nottingham Forest. Only scored nine goal for Forest and loan at Huddersfield earlier this season was unproductive, but he was a big hit at Carlisle United.

1pm Keith Millen, Bristol City manager, uses a press conference to say he expects loan signing of former Iron Andy Keogh to be completed shortly. 

1.18 Millen is still speaking in press conference. Complains that Preston North End have made the Robins' bid for defender Billy Jones public. "I like to do my business behind closed doors," he says.

1.20 Millen says the Iron have accepted bid for Woolford. So much for closed doors. "We've agreed fee with Scunthorpe but it is a deal that is a bit of a comedy to be honest. I understand that they don't want to lose their best player as they are fighting relegation, but I think Scunthorpe know it's a good deal and the lad is desperate to come to us," Millen says, presumably only heard in a mumble from behind those closed doors he likes to work behind.

2.28 Another signing for Boro, with Merouane Zemmama joining from Hibernian. He can't play against the Iron on Tuesday night though as he needs to get a visa to work in the UK. 

2.48 News that caught us all by surprise: the Iron announce Jonathan Forte is discussing terms with Southampton over a move. He would, of course, be reunited with former Iron manager Nigel Adkins and assistant Andy Crosby, who swopped North Lincolnshire for Hampshire in September.

3.45 Keogh completes his move to Ashton Gate. "I wanted to move on and progress my career again because it's been at a standstill for the past few months," he says, referring to a loan spell at Cardiff City.

4.08 Baraclough has been talking to the press about the signing of Garner. "He's a player who the club have looked at for the last couple of years and represents a decent signing. We've always looked from afar though, we never really thought we'd be able to bring in someone like him," he says.

5.26 Newcastle accept Liverpool's third bid for Carroll, believed to be around £35m. Will be a British record, possibly one of the shortest-lived in football, so long as it goes through before Torres joins Chelsea.

5.54 One of the more unlikely suggestions of the day, as Sky Sports say Sheffield United are preparing a bid for Rob Jones. Seems outlandish, but how many Iron fans saw the Forte/Southampton link coming?

6.22 We're just about holding it together, and in a news story our editor Luke Thornhill writes: "As dusk fell in North Lincolnshire, Martyn Woolford and Jonathan Forte were expected to leave the club with one player joining." At the same time, Sky Sports say Wigan Athletic have made an approach for the former Iron target Conor Sammon. Derby had a £425,000 bid rejected earlier in the day. The Irishman had previously turned down a move to Glanford Park. 

7.16 Forte completes move to Southampton. "We're looking at the culture here and I know what his capabilities are. At times that he can be a little inconsistent as all young players can be, but I believe that bringing him into the environment that we've got down here he can only get better and better," says Adkins.

8.10 Wooly completes move to Ashton Gate, even though there is still no sign of a replacement at Glanford Park. "I've had a good rise through the divisions in the last few years. I've got some great memories from my time at Scunthorpe United but it's the right time in my career to move on," he says. That's all well and good, but who is going to play left-wing at Middlesbrough on Tuesday night?

9.32 Sumpter pops up again on Twitter with a teaser for fans, suggesting an Iron signing is "very close". 

10.12 The Iron announce capture of defender Michael Nelson from Norwich City, saying it is the final player to move to North Lincolnshire in this transfer window. It is the ninth news story added to Iron-Bru.net of the day, more than we get through in some weeks. The British transfer record has still not been broken, despite more than £100m being spent by clubs in the country in the past month.

10.49 Newcastle say Carroll's move to Liverpool has gone through, signing a five-and-a-half year deal at Anfield, setting a new British transfer record.

10.57 "Hopefully I can have a big influence on the people around me, in addition to doing well myself. There is a lot of competition for central defensive places but that brings out the best in everybody," says Nelson.

10.59 The man on Sky Sports News says Torres has completed his move to Chelsea, that is the British transfer record broken twice in around 10 minutes.

11.10 Wigan say they have completed the signing of Sammon. He is probably quite glad he turned down the Iron now.