Chris Hargreaves said he is focussing on the players at the club but that he has ‘the support’ to get the right player and the right deal for Yeovil Town should he need to enter the transfer market.
The Glovers are without a win in five matches, but have enjoyed good performances against Chesterfield and Boreham Wood at Huish Park over the last two weekends. As with previous weeks, Hargreaves reiterated that his players were getting through the socks in training this week ahead of our trip to Southend and that he was keeping his faith in them.
Speaking at his pre-match presser via a dial-up internet connection (who’s our main shirt sponsor?) Hargreaves said: “We have some very good players here and we want them to be the ones that say ‘I am your man’ and we have to be patient with some others. But, as the games are ticking on, we want wins and we want to score goals. Our play has warranted (wins) and the feedback I have had is positive.
“We will always face criticism because we are not where we want to be, we feel that more than anybody because we are working our socks off. We go back to the training ground and try and replicate situations we’ve had, so we are doing everything to try and help the players on Saturday.
“Every club at any level has to live within their means, but we can be very competitive with the players we have and I think we are. Every club in the country is always looking for new players and that won’t change, but there are enough players at the club to be successful and we are asking them to be the ones to go and do it,” he said.
Asked by Three Valleys Radio’s Adi Hopper whether he felt he needed “a good, old warhorse” of a player to add to his squad, the boss agreed insisting he had the financial backing – if he wanted it.
Hargreaves said: “There’s backing from everybody, the club are fully behind me but it has to be the right person at the right value. We have experience in our squad, we are going to need to draw from that at the moment. I’m not afraid for the young players, but I do lean on those experienced players and I need them to be leaders.”
As for the bit, players are champing at it ahead of the visit to the Shrimpers but there are a couple of injuries ahead of Friday. Hargreaves added that on loan Walsall midfielder Sam Perry is back in the reckoning after missing the previous three matches with concussion.
The Glovers welcomed back Owen Bevan from Wales Under-21s international duty and the manager said the Bournemouth loanee had “plenty of juice left in the tank.” The AFC Bournemouth youth team captain played just ten minutes of a friendly against Austria in the week.
Hargreaves gave a a bit insight into Jake Scrimshaw, too. The 22-year-old has only made a couple of substitute appearances since signing a two-year-deal from Bournemouth in August and the manager said: “It has been a tough position for him coming from Bournemouth to us, the National League has different elements to under-21s at Bournemouth. He’s fighting for his spot and there’s competition for places with Gime Toure who has scored and Malachi Linton, but Scrimmy certainly working hard to get that start.”