Having been insistent that the club were not expecting any movement in the transfer market on international deadline day, Coventry City suddenly threw in a surprise departure at the 11th hour.
In fact it was bang on the 11pm cut-off point that the Sky Blues announced that Brandon Mason is to join Scottish Premier League St Mirren on a season-long loan.
It was all the more a surprise given that manager Mark Robins had revealed just four days earlier that the left-back/wing-back had suffered a training ground injury that could keep him out for up to two months.
But things can change quickly in football.
Here City’s chief executive Dave Boddy explains all.
“It didn’t happen until about 6pm and came completely out of the blue,” he said.
“We got a phone call just as I was about to leave to go home on Monday evening and we ended up working until late to get it done.”
Asked about the injury, he added: “It’s not as bad as first thought. When the gaffer did his press conference last Thursday morning we thought he would be out for six to eight weeks.
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“But later in the day they looked at the scans again and did some work with Brandon and it was nowhere near as bad as first feared.
“He’s been out running on it and is hoped to be back in full training next week, so he should be with them, certainly within the next fortnight.
“It’s good for the lad to get some football, and at a decent level as well in the SPL.”
Former Watford development player Mason has slipped down the pecking order at City, and the writing was on the wall when Sam McCallum rejoined the Sky Blues on loan last month.
McCallum, who was sold to Norwich City last January, returned to the club for a second loan spell, and will now compete with fellow loan man Ryan Giles for the left wing-back berth.
Mason first joined the Sky Blues in the summer of 2018, signing a two year deal.
After a promising first season he put pen to paper on a new and improved contract in September 2019 that runs until June 2022.
