Any new signings must be right fit

11/01/23: JM -“I don’t want to ruin everybody’s transfer window by saying that we are not going to bring anybody in but I am hopeful.

This week manager James McPake underlined his policy when it comes to potential signings during the January transfer window. He stressed that it is only quality players that he wants to bring to the club but he fully understands the fans desire to hear news of new signings:-

“Having been a fan as well, I get all the frustrations - you want to see the wee emoji. You want to see new signings when the window is open. I don’t know if reluctant is the right word but we were very cautious with our approach in the last window.”

Since his appointment in June James has made three permanent signings - Kyle Benedictus, Chris Hamilton and keeper Max Little. In addition four players have so far been brought in on loan - Sam Fisher, Kane Ritchie-Hosler, Chris Mochrie and Robbie Mahon. The manager was wanting his signings to help the squad ability-wise, to be able to train well and when playing do a job:-

“I think that they have all proved they can, certainly behind closed doors in training they have been excellent, every player that we have brought in so far and in games they have all shown that. Robbie will be the one who will be a bit disappointed but he will get minutes. The rest have been excellent.

“It needs to be that kind of impact. You take a wee bit of that away from the football club, if I didn’t feel that I was getting a fair deal, I would be the first to come out and say that we need more players, we need this, we need to be backed. It is probably myself, Dave and the recruitment staff being really picky in what we are trying to do.

“We could have easily have signed ten players and that is not saying that we couldn’t have gone out and got ten good players. You could, but again it is hard and we were cautious not to get in the situation where it was just chop and change all the time.

“There is a way that we are trying to do it. Now if the right player pops up and that player fits the bill like Chris Mochrie has, like Sam Fisher when they have come in they have been almost ever present, then we will do it. If we are on the fence then myself, Dave and the staff are agreed that it has to be right for everybody.

“Obviously we will get a wee hunch at some point and say ‘yes I like him, we will bring him in, we will bring him in’ and you go with that. Dave could come to me and say that we need to bring this player in and you trust your staff and recruitment team with (Gary) Montignani.

“So I don’t want to ruin everybody’s transfer window by saying that we are not going to bring anybody in but I am hopeful. They need to be right and a good fit for us, the way we work and in what we are trying to build here. It has gone okay so far. Coming in the summer and the six full months that we have had, we have gone from new ideas from us, working with a new group of players in a different environment.

“The only club that I had worked at as a manager and as a coach was Dundee, so you think that’s the only way. We are here and we can look back at what did we do right, what did we do wrong? We feel that we have a process at the minute and it is easy to say because we are winning games, we are top of the league and things have gone okay.

“Now it would have been different if we had stuttered and struggled all season, I would maybe be saying ‘right, we want loads in’. We are in the position that we are in, so I’m quite comfortable with where we are in terms of recruitment.”

Dunfermline were reported in the media to have an interest in Kelty Hearts forward Alfredo Ageyman. The manager’s only comment on the 22 year old who was born in Ghana and previously played with Motherwell was:-

“He is a good player, I like him, he has done well against us but he is Kelty’s player and I have a really good squad here and I’d rather focus on them.

“If we think a player or a couple of players could come in and help us for the remaining games then we would say ‘yeah, that’s fine’ but what does it do for the football club going forward? Is it another loan, is it a permanent move that we can work with and progress, progress with us as a football club?

“At the minute that’s what that group is doing and that’s what we want but we are under no illusions that there are players out there that can help. If we identify them, we have identified a few, and if that can work and it works for everybody then we might get that wee emoji yet.”

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