The Imps deadline day deal for a forward has collapsed, according to my sources.
The forward chain we were involved in has broken down, and despite our target being at the EPC and waiting to put pen to paper, we have been unable to secure his services. I have no official comment from the club, but the lights have been turned off, and people have gone home very disappointed. It’s not quite Simeon Akinola all over again, there’s no ambiguity here. The deal has collapsed and we know it all too well.
It brings what should have been a busy day to a rather disappointing close, and doubtless, people will be out on social media looking for answers, but they are simple – we were caught in a chain and we got let down. I’m sure some of you have had the same when buying a house. Yes, some will say we should have got our business done earlier, but we put forward a strategy that we thought would bring the players we needed, and it hasn’t happened.
There isn’t a desire to spend money on journeymen free agents, but one imagines that might be offset by a desire to beef up the squad. Coupled with the current injury crisis, it does leave us short, and certainly, we lack one wide player and backup for Tom Hopper. Maybe Dan Nlundulu fills the Hopper backup, but it means we are in the same position as last season, with just two strikers on the books. For me, it is the Brennan Johnson figure we lack (anyone banging on about Rogers too would do well to remember he signed in January, not the summer). Johnson was the marquee winger we needed and sadly, we haven’t got the one we wanted.
I’m going to bed and in the morning, with a pair of eyes that haven’t just spent two hours waiting for a deal that didn’t happen, I’ll look at the squad and give a more honest assessment of the window. I do think we’re in a decent place, we have better assets of our own than we had last season, but there’s no doubt we haven’t got as many loans. We needed a spark up top, a player who could grab the game by the scruff of the neck. Now, we’re hoping that will be someone likes Hakeeb, excellent this evening, or Chris Maguire when he is fit, because we won’t be able to call on a loan player until January.
Another deadline day passes, and once again, it will spark passionate debate from the happy clapper and the doom-mongers. I’ll stay here getting splinters in my bum until the morning.