THE CONCRETE ROUNDABOUT (TCR)

He was only in Germany, he wasn't in an underground bunker.

Clearly there is movement behind the scenes as he expected some movement this week, but it's like buying houses - contracted players are part of a chain and for a club to sell they often need to have a replacement lined up in principle - and for a club like us to buy, we need to have wages and funds available which will rely on us shifting a few bodies on.

Moving on the right players will be part of the puzzle.

Sorry guys can't train you or do what I am supposed to be doing at great expense in Germany cause I have to speak to Sweeting about a transfer. He can't be in two places at once. I rather wait till he was back in the country giving it his full attention before making his mind up on who else we are going to sign. People (not you Paul) love to wet the bed about anything. We have budget I am sure of it and as someone said we made rash decisions last season instead of being patient have we not learnt anything from 12 months ago. We have zero loans at the moment so I expect some to come in on loan we also have another 5 weeks of transfer window left. If this time next month we are in the same position then shit yourselves cause I will be, but I am not expecting a top 3 finish so maybe that is why I am calmer than most.

It's not about getting players in as quickly as possible for the sake of it, it's about having sufficient quality in certain positions ready for the first competitive game. I won't say they're making the same mistake in terms of finding a decent striker before the first competitive game as there's still a week and a half to go, but they're close.

There's a flip side to waiting - plans can change, injuries happen etc. We lost out on Rak-Sakyi because of Watson's injury, and after the long wait for a striker we ended up with Kayode on loan

By the way, in a normal season we very rarely make a signing in the summer window between the first game and the end of August/deadline day. Last time we did that was in 2018.

Just get the business done before the first game, anything after that is just a bonus.

Like you I am relatively relaxed at the moment, but if the week goes by and we still don't have a forward/winger, I will start to worry. I am predicting us to finish in the playoffs.

The other thing is that we are not quite sure of the budget. I am sure what we have is more than acceptable but there is also the O'Riley thing bubbling away in the background with rumours of various sizes of sell on fee.

It would be nice to have someone who can put-in a reliable cross occasionally.

I think we need more than a quality striker.

So 10 days to go and we need..at a minimum

x1 striker
x1 winger
x1 attacking mid?

Definitely the first two, unsure about the third. Would love Devoy to step up this season but if he can't do it we need to replace him in January.

Strangely in the Wealdstone game Leko actually looked OK being played down the centre. He had less time on the ball and less inclination to just dribble into trouble and even set up a sitter for Mo. Maybe he can play at AM, but I don't know if his lower workrate would suit that.

I just don't think we have enough right now to create chances - hence an AM as a winger and striker won't be enough. Devoy doesn't fill me with confidence and clearly a lot of players we still have from last season don't have a good enough mentality/aren't going to come good.

I am worrying about this season

Definitely aren't creating enough and aren't playing to our best forward's strengths. Even a number 9 knockdown/flick on specialist would be good for us, the way we are playing.

Still not sure GA will go for an AM though, he got rid of Kemp because he doesn't play with a number 10 in his sides. GA's teams have all historically scored plenty of goals so we really must break the bank for good forward players.

Why worry? What's to worry about. We will still have a football club to follow even if we are National League. I still to this day do not know why people's expectations are so high. We are 14/1 for winning the league and 7/1 for promotion for a reason. We are a top 7 at best side at worst maybe 24th, but I don't think we would be that bad. I just really don't get the stressing unless you genuinely believe we are capable for promotion. Which we are not.