Barely six weeks into the season and fewer than a handful of games - and already we have two Premier League managerial casualties.

Alan Curbishley and Kevin Keegan have left the hot seats at West Ham and Newcastle United, and it is probably fair to say that both have a case for constructive dismissal as neither were given the chance to do the job that they were employed to do – and that is manage the club.

Both quit in disgust at the interference of others in the business of buying and selling players. Early candidates for the West Ham job include Slaven Bilic, Gerard Houllier, Gianfranco Zola and Roberto Mancini.

And there was certainly plenty of that activity as the transfer window drew to a close. With their coffers filled by a takeover by an Arab investment group, Manchester City were at the centre of a spectacular deadline day. An attempt to hijack Manchester United’s bid to sign Dimitar Berbatov failed, but they attempted - and succeeded - in hijacking Brazilian Robinho from Real  Madrid for a record £32.5m from under the noses of Chelsea.

Dr Sulaiman Al-Fahim, of City’s new owners the Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment, said: "We don't just want Manchester City to be challenging for trophies in England, but also in the Champions League. We want them to be in for every trophy available."

City’s next game - against Chelsea - will certainly come close to revealing if indeed they will be a force to be reckoned with this season.

Despite City’s late interference, Manchester United finally landed Berbatov from Tottenham for a fee of £30.75m almost on the stroke of the transfer deadline, Also, as part of the deal, Fraizer Campbell was loaned out to Tottenham for this season. United also lost striker Louis Saha, who completed a free transfer to Everton.

Liverpool were also actively involved on transfer D-day, signing Spaniard Albert Riera for an undisclosed fee in a deal which also involved Steve Finnan moving in the opposite direction. They also signed 18-year-old Brazilian striker Vitor Flora from Botafogo and goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi, from MTK Hungaria.

Using the funds from the Berbatov deal, Spurs signed Vedran Corluka from Manchester City on a six-year deal and also captured Roman Pavlyuchenko for £15m from Spartak Moscow on a five-year deal. In addition to Saha, Everton also signed Belgian midfielder Marouane Fellaini for an initial club-record fee of £15m from Standard Liege.

Despite the managerial controversy, Newcastle completed the signing of Deportivo La Coruna striker Xisco, who joined his former Deportivo team-mate Fabricio Coloccini at St James’ Park.

Another major signing on D-day, away from the Premier League, was the capture of Ricardo Quaresma by Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan from Portuguese side Porto. The 24-year-old Portuguse winger signed a five-year deal at the club.

Joey Barton’s proposed move from Newcastle to Portsmouth fell through, which is not too surprising as he’s probably going to be banned for half the season.