Yeovil Town manager Mark Cooper has said he is always looking to strengthen his squad following the recent arrival of forward Sam Pearson.
The former Bristol City youngster arrived on a permanent deal last week following his release from Ashton Gate and the manager said the club would always look to take such opportunity.
But he added he would not do so at the expense of the club’s financial health.
Speaking ahead of the weekend’s trip to St Albans City, Cooper told BBC Somerset’s Jack Killah: “We are always looking to make this project, this squad, better. We want to try and sign players that can get us back to where we think we should be and every signing we make has that in mind.
“If something comes out of the woodwork that can help that, we will try and do something. But I am not daft enough to think we can have hundreds of players, we have to balance the books. If we have to get one out to get one in, that is what we will do.”
Picture courtesy of Gary Brown.
One player who the boss admitted he would like to add permanently to his ranks is on loan goalkeeper Joe Day who has been an ever-present since joining from League Two Newport County at the start of September.
Day is seemingly not in the plans of Newport boss Graham Coughlan who recently handed a new contract to number one Nick Townsend, and signed former Exeter City stopper Jonny Maxted as a back-up.
Asked directly about whether he would want to bring in Day, Cooper replied: “Of course we would. Since he’s come to the club, you see the difference, he calmed everyone down, he’s a really good character and he wants to learn which is a big thing for me at his age. Of course, we would love to be able to keep him long-term.
“That will come down to finances, but hopefully we will be able to do something at the end of the season. When he plays for us he doesn’t have much to do, but what he does he does very well.”
The manager said that the postponement of the Tuesday night’s trip to Truro City, due to a waterlogged pitch at its Bolitho Park home in Devon, had not impacted their plans.
Cooper instead took a trip to watch Saturday’s opponents St Albans City pick up a 4-1 home win against Havant & Waterlooville.
He said: “If you are playing Truro on a Tuesday night in January, you have an inkling it’s going to be called off. So we were not too disheartened. With the winds and on that pitch, it would have been a farce, so we just got in on our normal win.
“We can’t look at what ifs (about our lead at the top of the table or games in hand we have), the next game is all we look at. We have the right thought process and after the game people will tell us how far clear we are or whatever, but we just deal with what we can control.
“That is the game at St Albans, who are in a brilliant run of form, but so were Hemel Hempstead last weekend.”
In the reverse fixture against St Albans back in August, goals from Jake Hyde and Rhys Murphy secured a 2-1 win in an early three points before the Glovers’ free-flowing style began to kick in.
Talking about the start of the season, Cooper said: “Maybe the fact it was quite a new team with a lot of new players getting used to playing with each other, it took a little while to click.
“But we have a distinct style of playing and I think anybody that watches our games can see how we play and our shape as a team is clear to see, we don’t change too much. We work on those patterns of play every day to make sure it is like clockwork.”
However, if you thought the manager was considering experiment with his side, the boss added: “We have got no time to experiment, we want to respect every opponent but win every game. If we take our eye off the ball and think we are better than we are, we will get our backsides slapped. So we have to be right on it every game.”