West Ham manager Sam Allardyce has blasted the way the transfer window works after a late, late bid for Carlton Cole.

West Ham boss Sam Allardyce has spoken about his frustration over the anomalies of the transfer window after he had to see off an audacious bid for striker Carlton Cole from Turkish club Galatasaray.

After negotiating the ups and downs of deadline day last Wednesday, Allardyce jetted off to Spain to recuperate over the international weekend, only to be confronted by a bid out of the blue.

The transfer deadline in Turkey did not close until Monday and with the Turks looking for a new striker they turned their attention to Cole with a bid of around �6million.

“Certainly when I finished the window and had signed Henri Lansbury, David Bentley and Guy Demel I was absolutely delighted,” revealed the West Ham manager.

“I was sitting in Spain, sipping a glass of sangria, thinking, ‘well, I might enjoy a paella’ then ping, ring, ring, ping, email, call, email, call and 48 hours of sheer hell really just fighting off the fact that the Galatasaray bid was not something that we should do.

“I don’t want to detract too much from the result we’ve had against Portsmouth because Carlton Cole’s played a major part in that, but this ridiculous opportunity for other countries to be allowed an extra few days is beyond belief for me.”

West Ham eventually rejected the bid and it is unclear whether Cole would have wanted to move anyway having turned down the chance to return to the Premier League with Stoke City earlier in the summer.

Allardyce, who is no fan of the transfer window anyway, admitted it had been a gruelling time trying to improve his squad while also letting other players go.

“I have done nothing but work and work in terms of players out to players in, finding the right players at the right price to come in and the right quality of player with the right mentality,” he explained.

“I think in my time here I’ve sold five, maybe six. I certainly sold Manuel Da Costa when I came here and then Radoslav Kovac. I allowed Jordan Spence to go on loan; Junior Stanislas, Zavon Hines and Scott Parker.

“I got money for all those players and then replaced them with, I think, quality players.

“The the window shuts and you think ‘thank God for that’.”

Roll on January!