EASTLEIGH boss Chris Todd is not in favour of the scrapping of the National League transfer window – even if it might do him a favour in the short term.

Knowing the window won’t slam shut at the end of August and not re-open until January means he needn’t rush into replacing centre-back Richard Duffy, who did a swift about-turn back to the Football League with Notts County this week.

But, overall, Todd doesn’t welcome the fact that, from now on, clubs will be free to strengthen right through until the end of March.

“From a manager’s perspective, I don’t think it’s a good thing for clubs to be able to sign players willy-nilly,” he said.

“Week in, week out you’re trying to plan for games but now a team could have three or four changes for any one game.

“I suppose it’s a free market and potentially it will be of benefit to us if we have injuries, but overall it’s not ideal.

“It’ll be interesting to see how much change there is at clubs throughout the season."

Todd added: “We had no transfer window in the Conference South, but it’s a strange scenario for a professional team and it will mean a bit more added pressure for players.

“They’ll know that if they’re not performing, clubs will be able top bring in players left, right and centre.”

One man delighted with the news was Jay Saunders, manager of newly-promoted Maidstone United.

He told local press: “The transfer window going is a massive bonus.

"With the window in place, it makes life that little bit harder, especially in your first year up. We’ve got untried players and we need to see whether they can do it at that level.

“When you’ve only got until the end of August to bring people in, you end up running with a bigger squad in case there are lads who can’t make the step up."