MARK Cooper is more than comfortable with the managerial structure in place at the County Ground, as it allows him to put all his energy into preparing his Swindon Town side on the training pitch.

With owner Lee Power wheeling and dealing behind the scenes in an effort to strengthen the Robins’ squad during the January transfer window, Cooper does not have to spend time negotiating with other managers and juggling figures on a balance sheet.

The Town boss is perfectly happy with that situation, saying at a recent press conference: “With our structure we’ve got Lee, who more or less signs the players. We’ll have discussions - myself and Lee - and we’ll decide between us ABC, which one we go for.

“Lee will be the one that will ring round, Lee’s got an awful lot of contacts and he’ll say ‘do we fancy this one?’ “It’s great because I don’t have to get involved with agents, I don’t have to get involved with the money, I just concentrate on getting out on the training pitch. We’ve got a list and Lee will try his best to get some in.”

Power and Cooper are still searching for a striker to challenge Nile Ranger for his place in the Swindon starting line-up, but the Town manager highlighted the problems associated with drafting in players during the January window.

“If you’re getting players in from a Premier League club sometimes there has to be a guarantee they’re going to play,” he said. “For me it’s the ones that want to come and play and start or improve their careers - they’re the ones you want to sign not people who are forced to come.

“We’re looking for players who are desperate to come and play for us because of the way we play and they want to get out of a reserve team and play first-team football.

“I think everyone knows we probably need another number nine because of the nature of the one we’ve got. Apart from that I don’t think we’re too needy of anything else.”