Manager Paul Simpson confirmed once again this week that there’s a very structured approach being employed for the January transfer window, with hopes that there’ll be some incoming activity after the Doncaster game and before the Newport home fixture.
“We can’t bring anybody in for the Doncaster game, but I do hope to have some done before the next game after that,” he told us. “We’ll have two weeks where the lads already here can get rest time as well as some decent work into them, and we’d also like a few new faces within that.
“Now, it changes. I had a day earlier this week where it looked really promising and we thought things were going to happen, then on Wednesday it was a different situation.
“Then, of course, Ryan Edmondson got injured and I’m thinking about a different priority for positions, and a different type of player, so until you’ve got everything clear and sorted you have to accept that it’ll continue to change on you.
“I’ve said this a lot, until a player is actually signed and in the building I don’t believe it’s going to happen. We’ll keep our fingers crossed as we bang on doors and we’ll keep hoping we find the right ones.”
Looking back to the hectic conclusion to last winter’s window, he said: “I’m sitting here now hoping it’ll be measured, but it doesn’t always work out that way.
“I’d like to think that it isn’t going to be a scramble on the last day like it was for this club last year, and I do think we’ve got a plan in place to mean that doesn’t happen.
“We’ve got names in mind, and we’ve had scouting done on them, so we’re not just plucking names out of the air or getting suggestions from agents who are plugging their players.
“We have got a plan in place so I’d like to think it’ll help us to have a good approach, but I don’t know. Until they’re signed and in the building you just can’t tell.
“The other factor is that I know what’s going to be available budget wise. It will improve as well if things get shifted around.
“We’ve still got the situation with Fin Back, we don’t know whether he’s going to be recalled, Duncan Idehen going back, and there may be movement on other loan players going out of the club.
“I’ve got a general idea of what we have to spend in terms of the salaries, and we’ve also got ideas of the players we want to bring in that we’re lining up.
“When you get a situation like Tuesday night where Ryan dislocates his shoulder, and suddenly a spanner gets thrown right into the works, you’ve got to change your plans.
“It’s one of those situations that evolves from game to game or week to week, but hopefully come 1 January we’ll have a really clear idea of what we’re going to bring in and we hope we’ll be able to start getting the ball rolling.”
As seen in the summer, a big part of the gaffer’s recruitment policy is looking to make sure that the right kind of person comes through the door.
“That’s what we have to look for, the players who will add ability, but who are also good for the group,” he agreed.
“We need players who will fit into this group. You can never know for definite until they get here, but you look for those you hope will fit in and help to lift everybody and affect games, which is where we all get judged.
“With each window what you want to do is everything you can to make it work. With the budget, we’ve got what we’ve got and that’s the end of it.
“There’s no point me wanting more, I don’t go away and sulk when I’ve been told what we’ve got, it’s a case of getting on with it.
“We will make it as good as we possibly can, we will do wheeling and dealing, like we did in the summer, and I’m pretty comfortable with where I am with it at the moment.
“I came to this club not because I knew I had a bottomless pit of a budget, but because I felt we could improve it. So far we have, but there’s still a long, long way to go to where I want it to be.”
Defender Duncan Idehen’s return to Bristol City means that there could be more movement in the loan market, should the right player come up.
“We’re constantly having conversations with the parent clubs to see what they want to do with the loan players who are currently with us,” he said. “It’s all still a little bit of a grey area, that’s not a criticism, just the way it is.
“They’ve got to protect themselves, I get that. There is a window in January where they can make a decision to call them back.
“We’ve just got to keep our fingers crossed that the ones we want to keep, we’re able to, and if we feel it’s beneficial for them to go back we’ll talk about that as well.
“The lads who have come on loan have all faced different circumstances. We brought Duncan in to give us cover on the left side, but Jon Mellish is one of our outstanding performers this season, so Duncan didn’t get in.
“I had seen some clips of him playing as a left back, I was hoping he might give us cover at left wing back as well, but I realised that role didn’t really suit him. That didn’t give him the opportunity to play.
“Sonny Hilton came in, started slowly but then started to pick up with his level of performance. At Newport he played really well when he came on as a sub, and I didn’t realise how bad his injury was.
“He would have played on the Tuesday night after that but I came in on the Monday and I was told by Ross that he’s probably not going to be fit with his ankle. He’s had a spell out and hasn’t been able to force his way into the side.
“Jack Stretton would have probably played more games, he got injured at a time when he was absolutely flying. At the moment we think he’s going to stay with us. They’ve got quite a few strikers who would be ahead of Jack.
“We’ve had conversations and are hopeful he’s going to stay with us, but we’ll continue to have conversations over the next week or two to see how that ends.
“When you take young players on loan there’s a gamble, how are they going to adapt to League Two football. I would have hoped they’d played more games for us, but I can’t do anything if Sonny Hilton’s out for a couple of months with an ankle injury, Ben Barclay, Jack Stretton get injured, it’s just part and parcel of football at the moment.”
As for the dreaded calls to take players out the other way, he told us: “I haven’t had any phone calls about taking any of our players away, but that could change. We’ll just wait and see.
“We’re in a good place and a good position. If the fact that we’re in seventh and we’ve done ok for the first half of the season attracts other clubs, we can’t do anything about that.
“I want more and more players being headhunted because it means we’re doing well, then it’s our job to keep them as much as we can.
“Ultimately that will come down to finances because this isn’t a football club that’s awash with money, we need to do everything we can to keep the group together and also make sure we’re in a financially good position.”
But on the way the current transfer window activity is structured, he told us: “I’m not a fan of it at all.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea because you end up running with a bigger squad than you probably need to just to make sure you’re safe, and that stretches clubs financially.
“I think there should be a bit more leeway, even just with the loan window. I know we’re dictated to by FIFA and UEFA, but you have to make a commitment to have a big group to start the season, and financially that’s a huge cost to us, which isn’t ideal, but it’s just what we have to deal with.”