United chairman Andrew Jenkins – a member of the Carlisle United board since joining as a 23-year old in 1959 – reflected this weekend on the busiest transfer window he can remember as the Blues saw nine players exit the building and seven come in the other way.
Adam Campbell, Ashley Nadesan, Jack Sowerby and Jerry Yates returned to their parent clubs following half-season loan deals, as Richie Bennett headed to Morecambe for the remainder of the campaign, and young professionals Sam Adewusi, Max Brown, Jack Egan and Kieron Olsen moved on to seek football elsewhere in what became a busy final few days.
Heading into the building are Mark Cullen, Arthur Gnahoua, Peter Grant, Callum O’Hare, Stefan Scougall, Nathan Thomas and Connor Simpson, with defender Anthony Gerrard also having committed to a second half-season spell after his initial contract had drawn to a close.
“I can’t remember a transfer window as exciting as this one has been, particularly over the last week or so,” the chairman said. “I think we have to say thank you to David [Holdsworth], Steven [Pressley], Tommy [Wright] and Paul [Murray] for the hard work they’ve put in to make sure that we ended up with a strong squad at what is such a crucial stage of the season."
“I was just like everybody else when we headed into January,” he admitted. “You see players who have done a good job leave the club at the end of their loan periods and all you really want is to see replacements who are as a good as, if not better, coming in the other way.
“It’s credit to those who have been involved in recruiting players that they’ve achieved that. I commend them for the hard work and long hours they have put in to keep us in a position where we feel we will be challenging for promotion, which is what we all want.”
“I’ve been kept up to date every step of the way by David and Steven and it has been fantastic to see the way this window has been approached,” he added. “They’ve had their disappointments, that’s always the case when it comes to trying to recruit new players, but they’ve kept going on the targets they’d identified as being priorities and I know those they secured were at the top of their target list.
“We’re in an excellent position now and we feel the squad is now strong enough to push us on. The blend of players will give the manager a headache in terms of selection and, again, that’s credit to the recruitment that has taken place.
“I’m sure we are all now looking forward to the next 16 games as we look to secure the points we need to see us hopefully end the season with the success we all want to achieve.”
