There are now just ten days left of the transfer window, and boss Keith Millen admitted that he was relaxed about adopting a more relaxed approach over the course of the last week or so.
“It’s gone a little bit quiet this week,” he said. “I think everyone is waiting for it to all kick off again as we get towards the end of the window.
“We’ve been talking about lots more names and doing homework on names that have been given to us, but there’s nothing imminent. We’re just concentrating on Saturday’s game now.
“With some of the targets, we’ve found that clubs are waiting to see where they are with Covid,” he continued. “I keep ringing them up to say that we are still interested. There’s one or two that I’ve said I’m willing to wait on.
“You have other targets in those positions but there’s been one or two that I’ve said yeah, if we’ve got a chance I can be patient. At the moment they’re saying the same answers, they want to stick around.
“Next week, at least, I want to know one way or the other, either yes or no, then you can move on. At the moment it’s a maybe, we’re in the running, and we’ll see next week. I’ll be asking if it’s still possible and if it’s a no then we move on.”
But with the squad picking up points and clean sheets this month, it leaves a solid foundation as we step into the second half of the campaign.
“You’d have to accept it, and I’d be ok with what we’ve got going forward, one hundred percent I would,” he confirmed. “But I don’t want us to stand still, and because of the way the transfer window is at the moment you’ve got to do the best you can when it’s open.
“If it closes with what we’ve got it leaves us with enough competition for places. If Kelvin is out for a long period, that’s a slight concern that we’ve lost another defender.
“That highlights that we might be a little bit short in that area. We’ll have to wait and see what the result is from the doctor’s report.
“A lot will happen in the next 10 days or so, no doubt, and that means it’s about picking the right one and getting the deal done.”
But he admitted that it’ll be good to get through the next few weeks so that the remaining games can become the sole focus.
“It’ll be nice when we get to February and we can just concentrate on the football,” he said. “This is part of why I’m not sure if I really agree with the transfer windows, if I’m honest.
“Everybody tries to cram the business in which you usually try to do within a year. I don’t really understand why you’d do that in a month, people tend to panic and a lot of money gets wasted.
“You go into it knowing it’s going to be a mad period. It can be quite unsettling for players at the club because of all the speculation, and me being asked if I’m bringing anyone in.
“The lads here don’t want to hear that, so it’s not a great period. Fortunately here we’ve concentrated on our match days, and we’ve got our biggest test coming on Saturday. We definitely have to make sure we’re focused on that.”
As for players going the other way, he told us: “We’re looking at a few with loans possibly, certainly the younger lads.
“If they’re not on the bench for us they need to play men’s football, like I’ve said before. We are trying hard to get some of the younger lads out.
“Taylor has gone to Gateshead and done really well for them in the last two games, they’re really pleased with him – that’s great, that’s what you want, you want to go somewhere and be the best player, and we all benefit.
“I’m very conscious of getting the younger lads out playing first-team football, but make sure we monitor it as well, not so it’s out of sight out of mind.
“It’s very much part of their development that they play first-team stuff and we keep an eye on them.
“When it comes to clubs asking, that’s not particularly me. David [Holdsworth] takes a lot of calls for ins and outs.
“He filters it down to me, so I’m not constantly on the phone, which is a blessing, I can assure you, this time of year. I don’t have to deal with all the calls he takes.
“He’s working hard behind the scenes, taking a lot of calls, a lot of conversations. It filters down to me, what I need to know, which is a good way of working from my point of view.”
