FOR some, the transfer window slams shut. For others, Jack Ross including, it’s more of a soft closure with a bit of sunlight gleaming through to the other side.

The Sunderland boss, on the outside at least, had a manic time in January. Five signings arrived, two late on Thursday, including the Will Grigg deal that carried over until Friday morning.

He remained as focused and calm as he is on the touchline. There’s no ranting and raving, no posing for the Sky Sports cameras.

And he joked he lets his chairman be the one to get all excited as the deadline approaches and the Netflix cameras are both the Academy of Light and with Stewart Donald in Oxford.

“I’m probably the one who is a bit more balanced and pragmatic, measured in my approach. I’ve said a lot about my relationship with Stewart,’’ he said.

“He, as a person, genuinely gets excited about owning this football club and all that goes with it. He has been very supportive of everything I’ve tried to do at the club and he was wanting to make sure we left the window in a strong position and I feel he has managed to do that.’’

Ross landed Grant Leadbitter, Jimmy Dunne, Kaz Sterling, Lewis Morgan and Grigg last month. And those deals mean more work for the club’s office and admin staff to ensure it all goes smoothly.

“I’ve got to be honest and it’s not too bad for me as a manager, but speak to other people in the club and it’s a lot more hectic,’’ he mused. “Speak to the communications department, Brett (Baker, assistant club secretary) in his role, Leanne (Bennett, football admin manager), Karen (Casey, executive assistant), there’s people in the club it affects a lot more than me, but they don’t sit down in a press conference and explain what it’s all about!

“They do a lot of hard work that nobody sees and it probably does impact on them more.’’

Ross is happy with how his squad has come through the month in a stronger position.

While losing Josh Maja was protracted and expected, Grigg’s pedigree should mean his goals are replaced.

But even if those five deals weren’t done, he wouldn’t be too downbeat as he heads into the last 18 games of the season with promotion in sight.

“I probably have trained myself to be level and not get too up and not get too down in the whole job as a manager,’’ he reflected. “You can get up and down very quickly anyway so I have the same approach in January and to the recruitment of players. If I didn’t have that outlook then I would be all over the place in the last couple of weeks.

“I’ve been OK in the whole process because I’ve worked on the basis – and it might sound very different – that for me my job is always to get the best out of what I’ve got.

“If the window shut and we hadn’t got anyone in then I wouldn’t have sat here and moaned about it, I would have looked at how I can make each of those players better every week of the season.

“That’s how I’ve always felt in the window.’’

Plenty of managers feel the January and August windows are two different beasts. Last month’s is more about desperation for some, scrambling around for a quick fix to see them to May while the summer window is supposed to be more about planning for the whole season and the challenges ahead.

Ross said: “The January window is a peculiar one. Ask most managers and they will say it’s something that’s been created, well not created but it’s become something with showbiz and a hysteria surrounding it.

“It may have looked like that for us on Thursday but for me I’d prefer if it wasn’t like that.

“In amongst that I’m still doing my job which is preparing a team for Saturday and I can say there’s perception I’m sat in my office, with my feet up, TV on and a cup of tea and my mobile phone beside me. It’s not like that, I can tell you.

“I’m out there on the training pitch ready to do my job and on Thursday I was on the training pitch with my mobile phone away in the office.

“Probably, like a lot of things, if you are looking from the outside in then it seems to be more enjoyable than if you are on the inside.’’