‘WE CAN’T SPEND ARM AND A LEG’

GARY O’NEIL refused pointblank to gamble Wolves’ financial future on Armando Broja – and made no apologies for doing so.

The Molineux chief was in the running to sign the forward on loan from Chelsea but said the possibility of breaching the spending rules meant he could not take the punt.

The Premier League’s decision to hit Everton with a 10-point deduction has had the desired effect as the £5m fee required to take the striker on board was out of Wolves’ reach.

O’neil said: “There were a few strikers out there I liked – and we couldn’t afford any.

“We could afford some but those weren’t ones who I thought could help us.

“Finances are an issue. I was speaking to Chelsea about Broja for a lot of the day. We couldn’t afford to do it financially.

“We weren’t able to go to the places others were. I was hopeful that clearing some wages would enable me to act. It turns out that wages weren’t a problem, the fees were.

“We could have thrown our toys out of the pram, had a strop, demanded things – but all of that would have been jeopardising the good of the club.

“But we haven’t broken any rules or gone into any areas where we shouldn’t.”

Wolves’ boss did, however, lash out at the authorities after he found himself juggling the twin demands of deadline day and preparation for Thursday night’s game against Manchester United.

He said: “Playing matches on deadline day is a terrible idea. To be working all day in the office with the sporting director and then be prepping for a game against Manchester United, to have to leave at 5pm to do the game, it’s crazy.

“I need to be 100 percent focused on the game and I’m being asked questions from higher up the chain... ‘can we do this?’ Or ‘should we do that?’ It would be more sensible to have no games on deadline day.”