Jack Ross has been looking ahead to the January window and sharing his thoughts. Ross said: "We had a huge period of work in the summer, a really big transitional period with a high turnover of players, we won’t need to do a huge amount. I don't envisage anywhere near that, I think I am blessed with a reasonably balanced squad and the numbers are okay, they fit with how I work. There is maybe one to two areas we would look at but we are still six weeks away from it and you can't predict what might happen in terms of the health of your squad between now and January. Although the planning process is under way there is no anxiety about it and I am more than pleased with what the players have given me to date."
Players such as Josh Maja, George Honeyman and Lynden Gooch may also attract attention from other clubs. Ross added: "There’s a reality to that. It’s not something I worry about, I have had it before. Lewis Morgan went to Celtic though we managed to keep him for the season. Naturally, if our players do well then they attract offers. I never worry about the problem, just about fixing the problem. If I get to January and - for example - I lost my three star players for financial reasons then I just have to find a way to replace them. I don’t lose sleep over that, it is about continuing to get the best from them. If that is the knock on affect then I take it all day long. In football you don't get that many opportunities to win promotion or win titles, when those opportunities potentially present themselves, and it is only potentially at the moment, then you want to achieve it and look back at them in future. Young players can sometimes be in a rush, there is a patience that can be involved. Not only the fact that we might be able to challenge for success this season, but it is very obvious the size of the club and support, there are a lot of plus points that I would feel make people not in a rush to leave it."
In terms of injuries and availability, Jack Ross gave an update on Duncan Watmore and Charlie Wyke, Lee Cattermole, Ethan Robson and Denver Hume. “Charlie Wyke is back on the pitch now,” he said. “He is making progress, but he is still three or four weeks away. That’s still ahead of schedule but it will be sooner than we first predicted. Lee Cattermole has not recovered as well as we’d have hoped. He won’t be available this weekend so we’re hoping another period of rest will help him. He’s really frustrated because he’d really like to be playing as he’s had such a good season to date. Ethan Robson remains out for the next few weeks. Other than that, Denver Hume would’ve played in midweek but had a slight reoccurrence but should be back in training next week. Duncan Watmore had a little bit of a niggle. It wasn’t anything related to his knee, but he missed a couple of days training. He joined back in today (Thursday) and hopefully after another full week he should be ready for some under-23 matches.”
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