We’ve had a slow start to the transfer window, but there’s no need to worry. We’ve seen, across five transfer windows, that Phil Parkinson is willing to wait in order to get the right calibre of players in.
He’s quite right to adopt a long-term approach. Everyone seems to be in a panic as they point out that Rotherham have already drafted seven new players in this Summer, but instant gratification isn’t always the best way to build a squad.
Don’t get me wrong: Rotherham might have signed the spine of an excellent team. However, acting early in the transfer window doesn’t guarantee quality. Players who are in demand will weigh up their options and sign for a new club later in the window.
Personally, I’d rather be excited at the end of the season than at the beginning of the summer.
Arthur Okonkwo illustrates my point perfectly. He has plenty of suitors vying for his attention, and will be able to take his pick of the offers that have been made for him. There’s no way he’ll rush into a decision, so we are left with no option but to be patient. If we do land him permanently, though, it’d be worth the wait, don’t you think?
Obviously, we can’t wait forever, especially in a key position like goalkeeper. We’ll have an idea of when we’d need to move on if a decision isn’t made. However, we know how meticulous the club is in terms of its scouting now. If we miss out on Okonkwo, we’ll have good alternatives lined up.
Okonkwo’s arrival proved that. Ben Foster surprised everyone when he announced his retirement with the transfer deadline looming. It was because we have an ever-evolving list of potential targets in each position that we were able to act so swiftly in bringing in a high quality replacement like Okonkwo.
Obviously, it would be preferable if we could assemble our squad swiftly and enjoy a full pre-season bringing them together as a group. I have a great deal of respect for Parkinson’s work on the training ground: it is clear that his work on the structure of the team has played a massive role in our success.
However, if the trade-off for bringing in high quality players who will raise the standard of the squad is having to assimilate some of them in the early stages of the season, then so be it. It’s a price Parkinson is willing to pay, and he has been emphatically proven to be right over the last three years.
Everything comes to he who waits.
This isn’t a new idea. In the Summer of 2013, Andy Morrell was keen to sign Mark Carrington, who was a free agent. The problem was that Carrington had spent all his career in either the Football League or the top level of Scottish football, and he didn’t want to drop down to the National League.
Morrell is no fool though. He told Carrington that he accepted his decision but, as he had no club, he invited him to train with Wrexham through the pre-season, playing in friendlies, to ensure he was match fit when he found a club.
Carrington accepted the offer and stayed with us, while pursuing a move to a Football League club. By the end of September the season was six weeks old and most Football League clubs had completed their squads. Carrington hadn’t managed to stir up much interest, and obviously needed to sign for someone, so he committed to us.
His reluctant temporary spell at Wrexham ended 8 years later, by which time he’d served us wonderfully, worn the captain’s armband, and won both the player of the season and goal of the season trophies.
Again, the quality players can become available late in the window because their options become limited.
It’ll be a shame if we haven’t got a full squad by the time we jet off to the States, but it certainly won’t be a disaster. We took a while to settle into our rhythm last season, and that turned out rather well, don’t you think?
We’ll be looking to add 5 or 6 players to the squad, and the focus will be on attracting players to take a step down or sideways in order to be part of an exciting project. Parkinson will want to continue his strategy of bringing in players who will make the previous season’s key men fight for their place. If that upgrade takes time, so be it.
After all, you know what they say. Sign a centre back from Preston North End reserves in haste, repent at leisure.
DragonHeart 