So the long-running saga regarding Nicky Maynard was finally brought to a close following his move to West Ham on Tuesday night. It is a shame that Nicky has left the club under a bit of a cloud, but once the dust has settled, I'm sure that almost everybody associated with Bristol City will wish him well for the future.

It was important that the situation was cleared up because, now at least, everyone can fully focus on what is happening on the pitch and get behind the players that remain at the club.

Going to West Ham is a good move for Nicky. I played there for four or five years and they are a club with massive ambition and potential.

The supporters are so passionate and players enjoy being involved in games at Upton Park because you can really feel the excitement and intensity around you when you play for a club like West Ham.

I didn't think a move to Wigan was the right one for Nicky simply because it is uncertain whether they will be in the Premier League next season. While there are also no guarantees that West Ham will be playing in the top-flight either, you'd have to say that right now their chances are looking better than those of Wigan.

The only thing is will Nicky play? West Ham have got huge resources in the context of the Championship and they have a big squad with a lot of attacking players.

While Nicky will probably be dreaming about playing in the Premier League, his first focus will have to be nailing down a regular spot in the starting line-up.

At one point, though, it didn't look like the move was going to materialise as official confirmation that Nicky was leaving came only a few minutes before the deadline.

It is one of my bugbears regarding the transfer window. The deadline puts unnecessary pressure to buy or sell and often the deals are done because either the buying club or the selling club has had their hand forced.

City are understood to have almost recouped what they paid for Nicky, but just six months ago the player was attracting bids of £6.5 million. Had the West Ham deal fallen through, then City would have had a player on their hands on Wednesday morning worth absolutely nothing.

I'd like to see something done about the transfer window simply because it doesn't help a club make financial decisions based on sound reasoning. Maybe it should be scrapped, I'm pretty sure the majority of clubs wouldn't be too disappointed to see it go.

At the very least, I'd certainly like to see some sort of rule where players coming to the end of their contracts are exempt from the deadline restrictions of the window and are able to be sold anytime between January and the end of the season in which their contract runs out. I certainly think this would allow the selling clubs a better chance to recoup a fairer more realistic fee for players who are generally their most saleable assets. Nicky's move to West Ham was obviously the headline grabber, but I think the other departures on Tuesday were just as significant.

Nicky Hunt and Lee Johnson had their contracts paid up and were released and it shows that Derek McInnes is really starting to shape the squad in the way he wants it.

The whole Nicky Hunt situation really mystifies me. A few years ago this lad was being touted as a potential England right-back and here we are now looking at a player who hasn't featured in a first-team game in over a year.

He was a high-earner so inevitably came in for a bit of stick from supporters, but I'm pretty certain that Nicky would have preferred to have been playing games. Having players around the place not happy because they know they have got no chance of forcing themselves into the team can disaffect the rest of the group. It was imperative that Derek resolved those situations as quickly as possible so as to focus on the main job of staying in the Championship.

That job continues when managerless Leeds come to Ashton Gate tomorrow – and I have to say that I thought the sacking of Simon Grayson this week was an absolutely ridiculous decision.

Simon got Leeds out of League One and back into the Championship and has since had his best players sold from under him – and yet he still managed to keep the club in the shake-up for the play-offs. What more could he do? You have got to give a manager a chance.

I really hope City beat Leeds this weekend – not only to boost their continuing battle to move away from the relegation zone, but also because I think the people who have decided to dispense with Simon have made a nonsensical decision and deserve nothing more.

Rovers, meanwhile, continue to make progress under Mark McGhee on the back of another victory at home to Bradford last weekend. I saw Mark made a couple of additions before the deadline – nothing fancy, but quite measured.

Jim Paterson is obviously somebody Mark knows well and will do a job for him. Not too much is known about midfielder Matthew Lund, but he has obviously got something about him to have earned a professional contract at Stoke.

Mark probably hasn't got the means to do that much in terms of adding to the squad, but the injury to Aaron Downes has come at a bad time and I'm sure the manager may well be back in the loan market for a central defender when business resumes again next week.

Another three points last Saturday saw Rovers make further progress up the table and they're now midway between the last play-off place and the relegation zone. I feel February will be a really season-defining month for Mark's side – another few wins and talk of a late surge for the play-offs will be on people's lips again. A couple of defeats and Rovers will go into March trying to calculate the number of points they need to retain their place in the division – that's how finely balanced it is for them right now.