At the end of it all, the summer transfer window proved to be a pretty busy one for Huddersfield Town, with the appointment of Chris Powell as manager yesterday only serving to boost the increased wave of optimism swirling around the club after a tough start to the season.
Seven first-team signings in total, coupled with the addition of youngster Liam Coogans, has led to a different make-up to the 2014/2015 squad from the 2013/2014, with 12 departures overall contributing to the overhaul.
Town have been clever in their spending during the window, paying out sums for just two players while securing a swap deal for Adam Clayton which saw the Terriers pocket an undisclosed fee and a player in return in Jacob Butterfield from Middlesbrough.
Here are the five main talking points from the business conducted by the club during the summer.
The first-team squad looks stronger
If Town fans had been told at the start of the transfer window that they would lose Adam Clayton and Oliver Norwood to fellow Championship clubs, they would be forgiven for approaching the trading period with a sense of trepidation.
But if you flip the narrative of the window on its side, to emerge with Conor Coady and Jacob Butterfield as true Championship-class upgrades would have had them excited, if not quite salivating at what was to come.
Indeed, Town would go on to strengthen further with the addition of Jack Robinson and then Mark Hudson on a busy deadline day for Town and when you consider the club were happy to let the likes of Calum Woods, Peter Clarke and Keith Southern, each close-season purchase must be regarded as genuine upgrades on their respective predecessors.
To bring in seven players, each who will expect first-team football as a minimum, is a credit to Town's negotiating team as they got deals across the line without any hiccups.
New manager Powell now has a squad stacked with promising young players, experienced pros who know the division well and a battling spirit in the camp to put right the wrongs of the damaging opening day of the campaign.
Competition across the board
What has been notable about Town's summer business is the coherent strategy that has been put in place to identify targets, target them and ultimately get their man, with increased competition seemingly the prominent theme.
All of a sudden, whichever position you focus on, Town are blessed with at least two options in each area. The signing of Joe Murphy is the clearest example of this, arriving on the basis he would be offered the opportunity to challenge and possibly displace Alex Smithies in goal.
Jack Robinson's loan addition at left-back should put Paul Dixon - who has suffered an indifferent start to the season - back on his toes and ready to prove why he should nail down that spot in the starting XI.
Central midfield all of a sudden looks very strong and varied in what each player in there brings to the table - Coady the destructive defensive shield, Butterfield the driving force from midfield, Jonathan Hogg to sit and steady his side and Radoslaw Majewski to pull the strings.
No player will be allowed to rest on their laurels this season, that much is for sure. It extends to each area of the side and was clearly a deliberate ploy on the club's part when the summer recruitment got underway.
Refusal to back down is admirable
Deadine day looked set to be dominated by potential outgoings rather than incomings, with Sean Scannell heavily tipped to return to more habitual surroundings of the capital with Millwall, while Danny Ward emerged as a target for Wolves and, latterly, Blackpool.
But as the day progressed, it became clear that Town were not going to be taken for a ride in their bid to keep hold of two widemen who would have had to have been replaced in a late trolley dash.
Scannell was informed he would stay put and offers were seemingly not entertained for Ward, with the club fully aware it would leave them in a vulnerable position with regards to bringing in signings at such a late stage.
It has been a feature of Town's summer, in that they have only been willing to do business on their terms and it has been reflected in just about every outgoing transfer in the close season.
Clayton's exit ought to have hit the club hard given his impact last year but the arrival of Butterfield, plus a fee, has nullified any fears and proves Town can be tough, resilient negotiators in the choppy waters of the transfer market.
The Scouse contingent continues to grow
With the additions of Lee Peltier, Coady and Robinson, Huddersfield Town's posse of Liverpool-born or based players now stands at six when you include Adam Hammill and former Everton academy graduates Anthony Gerrard and James Vaughan.
It appears to be a conscious decision backed up by the success of the latter three since their arrivals at the club and it appears no coincidence that the "combative" qualities attributed to Coady upon his arrival also proved the choice word for what Robinson has to offer.
Coady has already proven in the infant stages of his Town career that he can provide a solidity at the base of the midfield that was lacking in the Terriers' play last season when the midfield trio of Clayton, Norwood and Hogg proved too flimsy on occasion.
The defence has been a concern after conceding 13 goals in the opening five league games, but it must be factored in that neither of Peltier and Gerrard have been able to play a huge role so far this season, particularly in the latter's case while Hudson should also give the side a steelier edge.
Here's hoping the aforementioned combative qualities spill through to each and every one of Town's burgeoning Liverpool-themed cast.
A striker is still needed
There can be no taking away from the positives this transfer window has produced, but if there remains any slight doubt with fans after the deadline passed, it is that a back-up frontman was not recruited.
The feeling is that relying on Vaughan's far from clean bill of health may place an unwanted pressure on the returning striker and the burden may have been eased with the presence of an additional striker signing.
It remains to be seen whether or not new manager Powell will dip into the loan market to identify an alternative to the first-choice duo of Nahki Wells and Vaughan, but the fact the Terriers have only had Jonathan Stead to call on in reserve underlines that a reinforcement could go a long way towards strengthening the forward ranks.
If Powell goes for a 4-4-2, which he experimented with at Charlton as one of several different formations, with Wells and Vaughan as a twin spearhead in attack, he would rest a lot easier in being able to turn to the bench and find a different option capable of breaching the most obdurate of Championship defences.
Stead has not proven to be that so far this season and Martin Paterson appears to have been consigned to the wilderness, indicating that a move for an extra striker could be on the cards.
It has been a brilliant window for Town, but extra attacking reinforcements can make it into a perfect one.
