Mark McGhee believes that a trip to Dingwall cost him the chance to sign Nadir Ciftci.
The notorious SPFL computer sent Motherwell to play Ross County on Tuesday night as the clock ticked down on the transfer window.
In Australia Western Sydney Wanderers wanted to sign Scott McDonald while Ciftci was returning from Holland on family business.
As he steered his side to a 2-1 win over Jim McIntyre’s side McGhee had transfer business in his mind.
With two and a half hours to between the final whistle and the closing of the transfer window time was at a premium with both McDonald and Ciftci missing out on the moves that they were hoping for.
“We were still trying to make a bid to sign the lad while we were up north but we just ran out of time and it was nothing to do with Celtic playing silly games or anything,” McGhee told The Sun.
“It was partly down to our side of things with Scott McDonald’s move to Sydney being on then off but I think if we had been sitting in the office instead of travelling up the road we could have saved a few hours and got the deal done.
“If the decks were cleared and there were no games then it would make it better for everyone.”
McGhee did manage to complete some business yesterday with Stephen Pearson signing on at Fir Park for the third time.
The one time Celtic midfielder played in the Indian Super League but will now be spending his time trying to earn Motherwell a place in the top six of the SPFL.