EXECUTIVE BRIEF: Players' concerns are at the forefront of transfer business (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

EXECUTIVE BRIEF: Players' concerns are at the forefront of transfer business

6:00pm Thursday 2nd February 2012 in Wiltshire Sport

IT’S been a busy week for the club but I think it’s been a very good one too.

I thought that we put in an excellent performance against Leicester in the FA Cup last weekend and it was like we were playing at home because of the 4,000 fans who made the trip.

Paolo and his team, the players themselves and the fans really do come together to make this club and it’s a joy to behold.

We also had a monumental result against Southend on Tuesday.

Maybe they thought that we’d be tired from playing on Saturday but they caught us in a vein of good form.

I remember driving back from Southend and listening to the radio, hearing about the transfer deals that were going through before the window shut. It was like listening to an election.

We did most of our business earlier on in the window and I think we made some great signings for good prices, like Wes Foderingham, Luke Rooney, Lee Cox and securing Ronan Murray for the season.

There was one player that we hoped to bring in that didn’t happen but I think that Paolo will be happy with the business we’ve done.

We knew to expect a few approaches for our players and we did have the bid for Matt Ritchie, which we turned down resolutely.

A lot of people aren’t aware of this side of transfers but we also like to think about what’s best for the player in terms of his own playing future, his family and things like that.

We felt that there would be bigger things for Matt in the future and he didn’t need to jump at the first chance that came his way.

He’s happy as a Swindon player and, of course, he scored a great goal against Southend on Tuesday.

Our focus now is on getting one or two players out on loan.