Another batch of injuries over the course of the festive fixtures – with Taylor Charters, Jack Ellis and Jack Stretton the latest to enter the treatment room – is exactly the kind of situation that manager Paul Simpson warned us could affect his transfer window plans as he looks to both cover every eventuality and bolster the squad.
“I wanted to move quick anyway, so I can’t move any quicker than getting things done will allow,” he told us when asked if he’d be looking to shore up the positions that are currently creaking at the seams.
“We’re dictated to by other clubs, that’s the problem, so we’ll see. Hopefully over the next few weeks things will become a little bit clearer about whether players are allowed to stay with us, and then whether we can get players in.
“We feel as though we’re a long way down the line of getting a couple through the door, but as we all know that can change very quickly. We’re just going to wait and see.
“We’ll be back at it every day and let’s see if we can get more bodies into the group who will help us to move forward.
“I’m also really hopeful that we’ll have Omari Patrick available for the Newport game, and maybe Ben Barclay might be able to join training - if not next week then certainly the week after. It’s all a case of waiting to see.”
“I think we’ve made some real headway with a couple of signings,” he continued. “I’m a big believer that until they’re signed and in the building it’s not happening. We’re going to keep working.
“I would like to think that we will get some movement and we’ll get some bodies in, but it’s not sitting on the fence and I’m not telling lies, I just don’t know until they’re signed.
"Greg [Abbott] is working extremely hard. He’s pestering the life out of me and I’m pestering the life out of him with calls and meetings. We’re just going to keep going and we’ll try and do what we can.
“We know we can’t bring seven or eight in, we totally understand that, finances don’t allow it, but we’ll get as many as we can in that we think will improve what we’ve already got.
“I’m not set on numbers. I know what the finances are, so the numbers will be dictated to by what money we have available.
“If it means we get three, four, five, what I will say, I have no intentions of saving any money, my intention is to be using every single penny that I can and getting as much as we can to try and get us some help in here.
“Unfortunately we’ve lost Fin Back for the season, we’ve lost Ryan Edmondson likely for the majority of the season. We’ve lost Taylor Charters probably for the season.
“Jack Ellis will come back maybe middle to end of February. Brennan Dickenson we haven’t had for a single minute this season. We’ve lost far too many players on long-term injuries, and we need some reinforcements in there, it’s as simple as that.”
“I’m looking for both loans and permanent deals,” he concluded. “Ideally I’d like permanents that are going to be here for this season and at least one more.
“But if it has to be loans because we’re getting young players, or maybe loans with a potential for a permanent, that’s what we’re going to do.
“It’s whatever we can bring in to try and improve the squad, that’s the challenge for us.”
