Archived News from October 2002
|
WATKISS ON REDDY & RUSSELL
|
 |
|
REDDY DEAL HOPE REVIVED
BY IAN WILKERSON, Evening Post, 10 October 2002 Mansfield manager Stuart Watkiss will be keeping a keen eye on the managerial situation at Sunderland as he tries to boost his squad with a loan signing. The Stags boss attempted to bring Black Cats striker Michael Reddy to Field Mill last week but was told by Peter Reid he would be looking to offload the 22-year-old permanently and that they wanted a fee. However, Watkiss believes the situation could change after Reid was sacked on Monday, after seven years in charge. He said: "No one knows what is going to happen at Sunderland. "A new man might come in and want to have a good look at all his players, or they might just go by what the coaches say. "But they might not like the look of him and decide he can go out on loan. "It is just a case of keeping an eye on the situation when the new man does arrive and take it from there." Reddy has already had loan spells at Swindon, Hull and Barnsley. He scored four goals in 18 games at the County Ground the season before last and then hit four in five games for Hull. However, Watkiss admitted he would not be in a position to sign anyone commanding a transfer fee after bringing in seven players since the end of last season. Stuart Reddington is currently out on loan at Burton Albion, but there is still not a lot of money to use on wages for new players. Watkiss said: "We made the enquiry about Michael but, to be honest, it was a bit of a long shot. "We are just not able to pay out transfer fees at the moment and there was a big doubt about the move even before Reid got sacked." Stags reserves won 4-3 at Wrexham last night. -------------- Meanwhile Watkiss has mansfieldtown.net: "We were interested in Craig (Russell) but after we took on Damien Delaney for another month and also the fact that we have Arjan here at the moment, means that the club's finances are tied. I believe that the Scottish F.A have given Craig the go ahead to play for an English team. It's a shame that we aren't going to be able to get him because it's not too often that you get chance to take on a £1 million player which Craig is. We will continue to monitor the situation but I'm sure that when other clubs realise that he is available, he will be snapped up. That is life at this level." -------------- Posted by Martin Shaw |
Latest | October 2002