Possible signings?

With the January transfer window open DH is looking to add 3 players to the squad. We have already signed Michael Brough and Jon Challinor after both players made good impacts whilst on loan to us. Andy Burgess is due to sign for us this week as well, Luton have already confirmed that he has left however there has been no news from our end about it.

Brough and Burgess are two excellent signings. Brough looked brilliant playing centre half against Cambridge whilst Burgess has impressed me playing on the left of the midfield. Although he has this FA hearing still to deal with so it will be interesting to see what comes out of it. I hope that he just gets a slap on the wrist and no ban because I think we will miss him!

Ollie Hotchkiss, another player who has been on loan to us has expressed an interested in extending his current loan deal. Maybe even a permanent deal can be worked out with his contract expiring at the end of the season at Leeds. Certainly a signing I would urge DH to tie up as quick as possible! Watch his superb free kick against Gateshead here. Gareth Holmes said he hoped to have some good news about that deal within the next 48 hours.

Another player who is rumoured to be signing within the next few days is Jon Shaw. The rumour has been posted on the Stagsnet messsage board by usually a very good source. From looking at his Wikipedia he could be a useful signing. The last full season he had in this league he scored a total of 20 goals for Halifax. Since then he has played a selection of games at both Crawley and Barrow scoring 10 goals. Whilst I would welcome the signing of him I would prefer it if DH gave Jake Speight a good run upfront. I am very confident that he would get to 15-20 goals if given a good run in the team.

The only official movement regarding players coming out of Field Mill this week so far is centre half Aaron Brown joining us on trial. It’s clear that DH is looking to sign another defender to help cover injuries and push Garner and Jones for a first team place since he lost out on signing Anthony Peters last week. Again, from looking at his Wikipedia he looks a bit of a giant. At 6ft 5′ he would be the tallest player in our squad and would certainly give us a presence at the back.

It seems that DH is also on the lookout for a new left back after admitting that he wanted Tonkin from Cambridge but said he couldn’t compete with Oxfords offer. Does this mean he has lost patience with Heckingbottom who has been nursed through a bad injury and Craig Armstrong who hasn’t really featured since Heckingbottom has gained full fitness? I think Heckingbottom has had a steady season so far. With his injury it was always going to take him a little time to get back into the swing of things. I hope that he is given a little more time before we think about signing a third left back as the budget must be reaching it’s limit.

Next up will be a preview for our very first game against the newly formed AFC Wimbledon. Happy reading!