MAGPIES OWNERS GET THUMBS UP FOR SUPPORT IN TRANSFER MARKET
ARDLEY IS THRILLED TO ADD MORE FLEXIBILITY TO SQUAD
NEAL Ardley has praised Notts County’s “proactive and positive” owners for backing him in the transfer market and says he is “delighted” with the business he has done this week.
The Magpies boss has signed striker Inih Effiong on loan from Stevenage until the end of the season, while Harrogate Town attacker Calvin Miller has also arrived on the same deal.
Notts have needed to move quickly to bolster their squad given they are a striker light as Wes Thomas has been ruled out of action for the foreseeable future due to his concerns over Covid-19.
And with Tom Walker having returned to Harrogate at the end of his month’s loan, Notts were also short on wide players, which has led Miller’s arrival.
Ardley singled out the owners for supporting him in his efforts to reinforce the squad, having held a board meeting with chairman Christoffer Reedtz and his brother and director Alexander last week.
“I am absolutely delighted,” he said.
“But I am not so much surprised that we’ve done this business because I had a board meeting with the owners last week and we disto cussed targets.
“Our owners are so good that everything is about how can we go to the end of the season, how can we do it and how can we get where we want to go.
“We talked about the games that are coming up and they’re so proactive, such positive thinking people they were like ‘right let’s bolster this squad and let’s make sure we go into these games with quality players’. “We’ve talked through what, why and they’re so positive. “Myself and Greg Abbott (assistant manager) then went to go and strike the deals as hard as we could to make sure that we spent the money like it’s our own and get good deals for the club. We feel we have.” Ardley said his moves for Effiong and Miller was designed to add further tactical flexibility to the squad and feels they have players who can cover a variety of different formations. “We just feel like that, with only having a 19/20-man squad, that as far as signing outfield players went, we wanted that flexibility.
“If you look at the wide areas, Eli (Sam) can play there, Jim O’brien can as well, same as Cal Roberts and Enzio (Boldewijn). “You add Calvin into the mix and you’ve got all that flexibility. “It gives us the chance to play three behind the striker or 4-4-2 or 4-3-3. We’ve got that flexibility.”