A pivotal change in the loan system, with ramifications for every club in the country, is looming large.

Yet so little has been said or written about it you would hardly notice.

The early season emergency loan transfer window, closing on Thursday, will be the last of its kind.

FIFA are scrapping the loan windows - the other one runs from February until the end of March - to protect the "sporting integrity of competitions".

Forgive the chuckling over the use of the word 'integrity' by an organisation spearheaded for so long by Sepp Blatter but that's another story.

This one is serious for clubs, regardless of whether they are at the top or bottom of the food chain.

I hate transfer windows. They breed panic and desperation. The old system, free of condensed periods of buying, selling and borrowing, was far more sensible and stable.

We are stuck, for the foreseeable future with the permanent transfer windows - in the summer until August 31, in the winter throughout January - and the accompanying final day mania as the clock ticks down.

From season 2016-17, however, there will be voids in-between, no more loans spanning from 28 to 93 days.

Phew, you might think, welcome breathing space, but it is going to cause problems, big problems.

Feeling the pain the most will be those least able to cope, in the lower leagues.

A dependency on loans is unhealthy. It exacerbates squad instability but in the lower divisions, where crowds and squads are generally a lot smaller and most struggle to make ends meet, it is a case of needs must.

It can make a crucial difference to the team's fortunes, as Albion know only too well.

Two-thirds of the way through the 2008-09 campaign at Withdean, they were staring relegation from League One in the face after Micky Adams' second spell in charge backfired.

Russell Slade rescued them with a flurry of loan signings, chiefly the goals of Lloyd Owusu. Without them the club might not be where it is now.

Why should Albion, a relatively rich Championship club, worry now? It still affects them.

Their interest in prospects such as Dagenham and Redbridge teenager Jodi Jones is not just coincidence.

Manager Chris Hughton remains keen to bolster his squad to cover all bases before the loan window shuts in 48 hours, with Gaetan Bong out until the New Year and Sam Baldock currently sidelined as well.

He would not have that option this time next year, so emergencies have to be catered for from within. That is why Albion are so keen to keep on improving the development squad.

The change also has implications for the fats cats of the Premier League - who can only loan players out, not in - and the next generation of England players.

The likes of David Beckham (Preston) and John Terry (Nottingham Forest) had their early development hardened by spells out on loan.

Try telling Jake Forster-Caskey, England's under-21 midfielder, the emergency loan window should be scrapped. Championship rivals MK Dons provided his only meaningful football so far this season.

What about all the promising kids in bloated Premier League squads? The under-21s league is no preparation for the real thing.

They will not have the opportunity to continue their education in a more competitive environment unless clubs take them on season-long or half-season loans during the permanent windows.

That entails less flexibility and greater cost, especially with a move by Premier League clubs towards demanding exorbitant loan fees as part of the package. That is what scuppered Albion's interest in Watford's Matij Vydra.

Why is there no noise, no concerted campaign, the FA, Premier League and Football League joining forces to fight FIFA's plan?

The invasive Premier League clubs, in particular, owe that to those much lower down. After all, they are the ones filling their academies by cherry-picking local young talent, denying smaller clubs the chance to nurture them from an early age and then sell them to survive.