BUSINESS is far from finished at Victoria Park according to Blues boss Mark Fell .
After inheriting a minimal squad on his arrival at Lomeshaye Way’s Little Wembley, the former Whinney Hill manager worked tirelessly to polish his new empire by drafting in personnel of a specific pedigree.
Nathan Worrell and Ralf Welch were the latest acquisitions to bolster the ranks, though Fell has landed a major coup in the signing of Warren Beattie. But Fell insists that his new capture, formerly of Ashton Town, who will go straight into tomorrow’s starting XI against Cheadle Town due to the suspension of Chris Turner, will not be his last.
“We’ve got an excellent squad of players but the problem is we haven’t had that continuity to help them gel as a team,” said Fell. “They just haven’t played together. We’ve got some great footballers among us and I’m excited to see their potential.
“On the business front, we’re not done with signings yet. If we find a player with the correct pedigree, someone who will bolster what we already have, then we’ll be taking them. At this stage of the season we’re looking to strengthen because we need to meet the demands of playing a lot of games.
“We may lack a physical presence so that may be something I need to address.”
Fell added: “Warren’s move will initially be on a short term deal and he’ll be available for the odd game. We might be able to convince him to commit himself for a longer period, we’re hopeful anyway, but at the moment he’ll be playing tomorrow and then we’ll have to take things as they come. He’s a top class player who is capable of playing at a much higher level. Were delighted to have him on board. He’s an excellent player.”
The Blues have been subjected to seven postponements since the start of December and have only played on three occasions in that period. A 2-1 defeat at home to promotion-chasing Darwen was their last outing though Fell is confident he has the appropriate resources to deal with a hectic fixture backlog.
“The weather has been an issue,” he declared. “We didn’t even manage to play our friendly against Clitheroe at the weekend because of the snow. We are all desperate to play. We want to give a response from the Darwen game but we haven’t been able to do that. We’ve only played three games in two months now.
“The lads are desperate for football. We’re only left with about 13 Saturday’s and we’ve got 20 games to play but the games have been scheduled now so we know when they are. It’s going to be quite hectic, we’re having to get all these fixtures in before the cut off date on April 27th. We can’t afford to miss any more fixtures because we don’t want things to get ridiculous.”
He added: “We can make the players sharp in training but it’s hard to assess where we are in terms of match fitness because they are not playing games. In terms of resources though we are well prepared for this run. We’ve got a strong first team squad of 18, a good reserve squad and our youth team hasn’t lost a game in the Lancashire Floodlit League all season. That should help us through a sticky period.”