Ahead of the Swindon Town game much of the press conference was taken up with talk surrounding the January transfer window.
Everton: Imps played one of the best possession-based sides in the country. Primarily the match taught so much about Lincoln’s ability regarding defensive organisation without the ball setting a new benchmark for the season. Additionally having watched Everton in possession there had been much learning as to how they moved the ball plus how their players ahead of the ball made their runs.
Swindon: It was suggested by the press that with a sickness bug reported in their camp and having lost some players, now is a good time to play them. DC swiftly refuted that by saying that although it hadn’t been reported he knew they had signed some more players themselves. Style-wise Swindon have a ‘keeper with excellent distribution so will look to play out from the back and try to get behind The Imps backline. When countering they have very pacey players to transition quickly aided by players behind them that have good passing ability to feed that tactic.
Transfer Window: Basically there is nothing to report on incoming players nor after Sam Slocombe are there any outgoing loanees. Ideally DC wants to bring people in before he releases anyone else but it doesn’t always pan out like that. Imps are now in the more difficult position of bringing in players at a successful club which means the targets are invariably sought after by other clubs who often are better off financially. DC was asked about Darragh MacAnthony tweeting about a Posh player coming to Lincoln. He paused, smiled ruefully and pointed out that whilst a lot of football tweets were very bland DM always keeps it interesting, before quietly adding that a player offer had been made with as yet nothing coming of it. Generally business for L2 clubs is later in the window after the clubs higher up the leagues have done theirs. DC explained that the January window is tougher than the summer one. It happens at a very busy period; not only that – decisions change quickly as a result of matches played. For example, somebody who is available one day might have a really good game and the club decide to make him unavailable the next.
DC went into some details about the process having explained that as a club we are in a far better position infrastructure wise than in Jan. 2018 as a result of having Mark Tracey, Jez George plus all the stats. and analysis boys to back them up. DC described how targets would be watched live and assessed via (video) clips. Scouting reports and statistical programs would be reviewed before moving onto references for potential targets. The research is so important because really it is all about minimizing the risk of a dodgy signing but also to be fair on the player (short careers) so they don’t end up at the wrong club for them. DC then expressed his frustration at the process involving agents saying ‘you would think there would only be three parties:- the buying club, the selling club and the player’. Unfortunately, football agents made it a difficult and complicated business and having done so then expected to be paid! In DC world ‘you’ should only pay people that help you. He did note that not all agents are bad but there were some very ‘average’ ones out there. DC commented that is the football world having earlier mentioned that football has gone crazy. Whilst football is a brilliant sport and game he is amazed how some clubs survive with their business decisions and the finances involved.
Writer: hulloutpost
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DC: "We feel that it was a really good experience for us.":https://t.co/a4DJqXRno6#STFC #Swindon #ImpsAsOne
— Vital Lincoln City (@VitalLincoln) January 11, 2019
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