I admit it was exciting when it was flung open in the summer but by the end I couldn't take any more of the constant frustration and inevitable disappointment.

With Marcus Evans' millions in our pockets, we assumed it would be a breeze signing new players with a rich pedigree.

We waited…and we waited…and we waited. But despite the constant speculation, none of the glamour signings arrived.

Fans assumed that Jim Magilton had something up his sleeve on Monday's deadline day but the only arrival was Jon Stead who was fifth choice striker at one of our biggest promotion rivals, Sheffield United.

A year ago the beanpole striker would have been welcomed but we thought we were shopping in Waitrose now, rather than Morrisons.

Magilton has been criticised for failing to bring in a big name but surely there comes a point when he got so far down his shopping list, he had to draw a line and opt for a cheaper temporary solution.

It would have been easy to splash out £3m on an unknown frontman from abroad that would have appeased Jim's growing number of critics in the short term but if he the signing had proved a disaster, he would have been crucified for it.

At least at 6'3", Stead is the type of player we need to partner Kevin Lisbie, and will hopefully prove to be a more consistent performer than Alan Lee, who had started to look stale at Portman Road.

It is exasperating that we still haven't signed a left-winger but hopefully by the time we face Reading, Middlesbrough's Adam Johnson or Chelsea's Scott Sinclair will have arrived on a loan.

On a more positive note, we did manage to ward off the Premier League vultures circling around Jon Walters.

The most important thing is that Jim can now finally concentrate on the players he has got.

With so many new additions in the summer, it is hardly surprising that Town, like Derby, have not hit the ground running.

Three defeats in our opening four games is clearly not good enough and has inevitably led to a disgruntled minority on messageboards calling for Jim's head. This would be stupidity.

Evans has put his faith in Magilton, in signing a plethora of new players, and now he must be given time to blend them into a team.

Promotion-winning teams are not created overnight and the coming weeks will be a time for patience during the teething problems.