Deadline days don't typically involve the signing of a new manager but it's been a chaotic couple of weeks at Everton.
In fact, it's been a tumultuous month.
It has been the busiest January, in terms of senior signings, the Blues have ever experienced with five new arrivals, while the sale of Lucas Digne and the hiring and firing of managers, only added to the frenzy.
Let's repeat that again: five new signings, the sale of the squad's first-choice left back after a falling out with the boss, the sacking of Rafa Benitez and, then, the appointment of Frank Lampard as the Spaniard's replacement.
All inside the space of 31 days. Add in an extra-time FA Cup win, and three league defeats that leave Everton looking nervously at the horrors behind them, as well as fan protests, and a managerial candidate going on Sky Sports to talk about his interview, and it's safe to say there has not been a January like it, in the modern era.
Maybe, ever.
Everton were experiencing turbulence as they headed into the month and there was little let-up until the window shut.
Indeed, the Blues ended up trying to cram too much into 31 days and gave themselves into the first hour of February to complete the Dele Alli signing, via a deal sheet.
A hugely important game with Newcastle United is on the horizon but, for the next few days at least, the Blues can enjoy some calm. Well, hopefully.
Deadline day went to pretty much to plan because, having officially confirmed the appointment of Lampard on a two-and-a-half-year deal, Everton then sealed the loan signing of Donny van de Beek from Manchester United.
The Blues were set on bolstering their midfield options with Van de Beek and one more. The one more turned out to be Alli, who joined permanently from Tottenham Hotspur, in a deal that won't see Everton pay a transfer fee (expected to be £10m) until at least next season, once he has reached 20 games for the club.
Several names were attached to Everton throughout the day but while they had considered a loan move for Real Madrid's Luka Jovic, the priority was always the midfield.
One source had even suggested on deadline day morning that the Blues had held talks about a loan move for Barcelona outcast Ousmane Dembele, but the suggestion was played down by those at the top at Goodison. The focus was on midfielders.
And Jean-Philippe Gbamin, who had been told he could leave the club, would remain following the change in manager.
Alli's arrival would be the last piece of first-team business done, on the final day of the window.
Thirty days earlier, Everton were banging at the door to be able to confirm the £17m signing of Dynamo Kiev's Mykolenko.
The left-back was brought in as the replacement for Digne on January 1, who was certain to leave after a clash of opinions with Benitez.
Newcastle, Chelsea and a host of others registered their interest in the France defender but it was Aston Villa, on January 13 who paid £25m for his services.
There was no love lost between Benitez and Digne and the jeers, from some inside of Goodison nine days later when Villa came to town, suggested the same.
The throwing of an object by one supporter, later arrested and charged with assault, towards Digne and other Villa players, was a disgraceful escalation of the simmering wider mood around the club, however.
Lampard's arrival, and the need for a fresh start to revive Everton's season, will hopefully lift the atmosphere, starting with the visit of Brentford on Saturday.
All eyes will be on the 43-year-old's team selection with Mykolenko and Nathan Patterson, the second player through the door from Glasgow Rangers, both left out of the squad for that Villa game by caretaker Duncan Ferguson.
Twenty eight million pounds worth of new recruits, left out of the matchday squad, just weeks after arriving.
Defeat that afternoon, quickly changed the club's intention to give Big Dunc the "upcoming games" to just the one.
Ferguson was interviewed for the job but lost out and remains as part of the backroom staff under Lampard.
Anwar El Ghazi would head in the opposite direction to Digne, on loan for the rest of the season.
The Dutch international was not part of the Digne deal but he would, ultimately, act as a kind of makeweight.
Villa were in need of offloading his wages for the remainder of the campaign, Everton were looking to add a winger and so an agreement was reached.
Benitez insisted he had the final say on his signing but, it is understood, El Ghazi had not been a player on the manager's radar.
Given Mykolenko and Patterson were both players identified by former director of football Marcel Brands, and El Ghazi was presented as an option to Benitez, it left the under pressure Spaniard without the protection of having been backed with his signings, to that point.
Sean Longstaff, the Newcastle midfielder, would certainly have been that, but Benitez would not last long enough in the job to try and get that deal over the line.
Benitez was sacked the day after the sorry loss to Norwich City and with that, the club's interest in Van de Beek was revived.
Benitez had cast doubts on his signing and pushed back when Brands tabled the 24-year-old as a viable January addition, but the club provided Lampard with a list of realistic additions, in what time that remained, and the Manchester United man was one of them.
So too was Alli.
It has been suggested that Jesse Lingard was discussed as a potential target too, but even before United put the brakes on him leaving, sources close to the player said he had little interest in joining Everton this month.
The irony that three of the five players Everton signed this month, were targets drummed up by Brands and his recruitment team, will not be lost on anyone connected with the Blues.
Brands, remember, left the club on December 6, citing a "clear difference in the vision and direction" of the club.
Three players he was advocating moves for are now part of a squad managed not by Benitez, who was in charge when he departed, but Lampard, Everton's sixth new permanent manager in as many years.
The hunt for Benitez's replacement, after the catastrophe at Carrow Road, immediately took Everton's power-brokers towards an old friend, as they tried to prise Roberto Martinez from his job with Belgium.
Martinez was in the frame to fill the void left by Carlo Ancelotti last summer, but Farhad Moshiri decided that Benitez was a better fit and, ultimately, ignored the support the Catalan had from others in the Everton hierarchy.
But Belgium dug their heels in and, in a World Cup year, refused to let Martinez out to return to manage the Blues. The pursuit of the former boss left many fans confused and concerned.
The other names on the early shortlist, though far more palatable to most Evertonians, spoke of a club who did not know what direction they wanted to go in and that there was no clear strategy.
Ferguson, who was installed as caretaker boss three days after Benitez was axed, would be under consideration, as would Lampard and Wayne Rooney.
Rooney, as he confirmed last week, would never be interviewed, declining the opportunity when it was suggested to him, via intermediaries, that Everton would prefer to revisit their interest in the Derby County boss at the end of the season.
Rooney felt ready for the job now. Not in June.
But the idea of an interim manager gathered momentum when another name joined the race: Vitor Pereira.
Interviewed in 2013 and considered again six years later, before withdrawing from the race to remain in China, the Portuguese suddenly had serious momentum behind him and flew into England for talks.
But many supporters, who were against Martinez's return, were even more opposed to Pereira's appointment. The information was that Everton were looking at a contract which gave him the job until the end of the season but included the option to extend further.
Yet many Blues made it clear that Pereira, who has won trophies in Portugal but also been sacked at Fenerbahce and took 1860 Munich down, was not the man they wanted.
Even before protesters organised a gathering of fans outside of Goodison, Moshiri knew of the strength of feeling towards the former Porto boss.
It appeared Everton rowed back on handing him the job.
Cue the re-emergence of Lampard and the bizarre decision by Pereira to discuss his interview with Sky Sports News.
Everton's managerial search had, officially, become a farce.
But it, at least, brought some clarity to proceedings. Lampard was spoken to again and was, now, growing increasingly confident of landing the role. Moshiri, however, insisted on one final round of interviews in London, last Friday.
Lampard started the day in the lead and would not give it up, with Everton's decision-makers deciding that evening he was the one they wanted.
On Saturday, discussions began about the look and make-up of his backroom staff and, crucially, what business he wanted the club to do before the 11pm deadline on Monday.
And while there was some late talk of trying to add a defender to the squad, the Blues' focus was in the middle of the park, with Van de Beek and Alli joining Lampard's ranks.
Moshiri, who has been advised by Tim Cahill throughout the managerial search, released a statement earlier in the day and, among other things, accepted that he may have been too "impatient" in the past.
Patience among the fan-base has, with good reason, been thin on the ground for years and they have been stretched to breaking point throughout an incredible month in the club's history.
But Blues supporters will hope a positive end to the month, with the signings of two players and a manager on deadline day, is a signal of less chaotic times.
