Ewan MacKenna goes inside the murky world of football's transfer deadline day

The excruciating yet somehow smirk-inducing story from September 2009 went as follows. Jim White of Sky Sports News boarded a flight for Glasgow, his ego still gorging on the close of the summer transfer window just days before. Taking his place, he was pleased to see an attractive blonde in the next seat and, before long, he was trying to knock down walls into conversation with mention of the Scotland-Macedonia World Cup qualifier ...