Staunton planning yet more transfer business

05 February 2010 09:29
SOME of Darlington's fringe players are nearing the end of their time with the club as manager Steve Staunton intends to trim his sizeable squad.[LNB] He recruited eight players during January and intends to continue reshaping his 30- man squad with one aim to create room for the club's youth products to shine.[LNB] Although the transfer window closed on Monday, clubs can continue to loan players until mid-March.[LNB] Some players could be allowed to leave before the end of their contract while the manager is continuing to look at possible new additions.[LNB] Staunton views versatile players who can be used in more than one position as vital, with new defender Richie Byrne one such example.[LNB] The 28-year-old can play in the centre of defence and full-back and his arrival further undermines the position of Steve Foster.[LNB] The former skipper is no nearer to resolving his contract dispute with Quakers while the futures of Paul Arnison, Mark Convery and Lee Thorpe are in question.[LNB] Staunton, who says he has had one tentative enquiry[LNB] for Foster, said: Richie's a left-sided centre-back really, left-back would be his second position. I want competition and I think if we can get players in who are better than what we've got and can play in more positions then that's a big bonus.[LNB] Especially now as where we're looking to trim the squad, to get it down to a decent size so that we can allow our younger ones to be part of the squad rather than having a bigger squad and not letting the younger ones develop.[LNB] I think it's safe to say we'll be active between now and the end of the season to make sure that, no matter what happens, we're going to be in a healthy state going into next season.[LNB] Last year and the year before the club hasn't really been in a stable condition to go into the season. You can't go into a season with only three players, it's impossible.[LNB] We're going to be active, not just getting players out.[LNB] Short-term, yes we've got a decent squad at the moment but the long-term goals are for next season and we will be active in the coming weeks in trying to add to the squad.[LNB] Byrne hopes to make his debut at home tomorrow he will become the 49th player used this season to fourthplaced Rotherham who will be looking for swift revenge.[LNB] Quakers inflicted the Millers' first home defeat last month but on Tuesday, in front of Darlington assistant manager Kevin Richardson, suffered another defeat at the Don Valley Stadium when they lost to Bournemouth.[LNB] Manager Ronnie Moore was highly-critical of his players, conducting an almost hourlong post post-mortem in the changing rooms.[LNB] Tomorrow is Darlington's first Saturday home match for almost two months and Staunton said: Most of our games are going to be at home between now and the end of the season which is going to be crucial to our status.[LNB] All I ask is the same level of performance as we had in the game at Rotherham and at home to Northampton. If we do that, and cut out little errors, we'll win more than we lose.[LNB] We have to build confidence, that doesn't come overnight. It takes a few good results and if we can do that quickly with so many games coming up we've a chance.[LNB]

Source: Northern_Echo