Halifax Town story: Season 1 Part 3

As the January window flew open, I was sitting proudly at the top of the league, 1 point ahead of nearest rivals York. I knew that I had to hold onto my better players, and hopefully get 1 or 2 in. The board recieved £100k for being in the 3rd round of the FA Cup, and they put £75k in my transfer budget. With a little budget adjustment, had now £175k to spend in January, and a £4k wage budget. Plenty!

I released 2 more reserve players, to free up my wage budget to £5k, but I remained pretty quiet for a while. On the 14th of January, I decided to make Antony Griffith's loan from Doncaster permenant, which meant shelling out £18k. Just a day after, disaster struck as 3 of my first teamers became hot property. Our board accepted all bids over £30k for captain fantastic Steve Bushell, bids over £15k for back up defender Cortez Belle, and offers over £20k for supersub Jon Shaw. I was devestated as I had already sent Craig Mahn back to Wigan, and on the 20th of January, all 3 went their seperate ways, Bushell to Doncaster, Belle to Dagenham and Redbridge, and Shaw to the MK Dons. I now needed 5 players to take my squad size to 20, and I needed to act fast, as the deadline loomed.

Kevin Kyle (ST) was the first to arrive from Coventry (reserves). He demanded wages of £2k per week, but I had no time to lose so I had to give him whatever he wanted. He was very unhappy at Coventry and I was very happy at bringing in a (scout report) decent League 1 striker. Next to come was fan favourite Geoff Horsefield. He was released by Sheffield United back in December, and when I found out he was available I snapped him up on a £800 a week contract, despite his growing years (34). I knew that I needed a decent goalkeeper, a central midfielder, and a left back. So I set to work, making enquiries for every player I thought looked decent in those positions. I bought Nathan Ashton (DL) from Fulham for a cool £26k, then a day later brought in Robert Bayly (MC) from Leeds for £10k. I had almost finished my work, but on the 30th of January, I still needed a good goalkeeper.

I settled on Chris Day from Millwall, and focused all my energies into getting him. After some negotiating, I settled on a fee of £20k, but with personal terms still having to be thrashed out. With exactly 1 day to go, I offered him a £600 a week contract, which he refused, but wanted £1k a week instead. My budget would not allow it, so with the clock at 19.30, I offered him the highest I could give; £780 a week. He accepted the offer and he was signed with the clock at 22.45. I breathed a huge sigh of relief as I knew that my squad was not only adequate, it was better than before January.

Although my wage budget now rests at £1k a week, and a transfer budget of £70k. I did some budget adjustment so I had £4k a week, but with £10k transfer money. I figured that I wouldn't need transfer money for the loan window, so it was the logical decision. Below is my full January signings and offloads:

IN:
Antony Griffith - £18k - £490 p/w (but was already on wage bill)
Kevin Kyle (ST) - Free - £2k p/w
Geoff Horsefield (ST) - Free - £800 p/w
Nathan Ashton (DL) - £26k - £720 p/w
Robery Bayly (MC) - £10k - £500 p/w
Chris Day (GK) - £20k - £780 p/w

OUT:
Craig Mahon - loan terminated
John Allen - released
Nigel West - released
Jon Shaw - £20k
Steve Bushell - £30k
Cortez Belle - £15k

All in all, a good transfer month. Part 4 will be about the the matches, and the rest of the season. Thanks for reading!