Keith Curle on player movement in and out
Manager Keith Curle revealed today that talks with a central defender about a potential loan spell at Brunton Park broke down when the player expressed reservations about the distance he would have to travel.
“I spoke to a player on Monday and within 5 minutes of the conversation starting he asked how long it would take to get up here,” he said. “That told me he wasn’t ready to join us.
“The conversation turned very quickly from me telling him what I thought I could do to help his career to me wanting to get off the phone as quickly as I could. He wasn’t for me.”
“We went and watched two centre backs play on Monday, at different fixtures, and we made the approach for that one yesterday,” he continued. “That one got nullified, as I said, because it isn’t always about football ability. It’s about trying to create a blend on and off the field. People who come into the mix have got to add something.
“The lads we’re looking at right now – one is from the Premier League and the other is from the Championship. The one I didn’t pursue was a League One player.”
“I’m hoping to get somebody in for Saturday’s game but if I can’t get the type of person I want I’m certainly not going to panic,” he told us. “I’m still very happy with the back four we had in place at the weekend.
“One of the things I learned from Neil Warnock was not to panic. That’s because as soon as you start to do it you find that it spreads. It’s something I just won’t do. Within a week of being here I bought John Nixon a mug which says exactly that – Don’t Panic! He uses it on a daily basis now.”
On the speculation that some of his younger players are coming under the spotlight, he said: “As I said on Saturday, it does feel like you’re managing a boy band at times. Colin West is a little but upset because I’ve told him I’m Simon Cowell and he’s Louis Walsh. He’s absolutely gutted about that.
“Managers do stick together in this business and I’ve had calls telling me that agents are trying to sell players. I don’t mind that because the more interest we get the more the price goes up.
“We had Lee Dykes talking to clubs about loan players and, while he was doing that, he got tipped off that an agent was trying to sell Brad Potts.
“Lee told me about it and he asked if I was concerned. I’m not at all. His agent is entitled to go and sell his product to wherever he wants. Likewise, we don’t actually have to sell him until the price and move is right for us and for the player.
“I had a conversation with Brad the other day and I told him we weren’t trying to hide him away. We want him to go out there and express himself and we want people to be interested in taking him. He’ll get his reward and the club will get their reward but, in the mean time, I want him to enjoy playing football.”
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