Kristjaan Speakman has spoken about the Aiden O'Brien situation, the club's transfer policy and the importance of planning ahead.
O'BRIEN
“Aiden was presented with an opportunity for a loan, which he wanted to take, but unfortunately we couldn’t get that through administration-wise before the deadline. I don’t think Aiden was desperate to get away. He is someone who has played a lot of minutes for us since I’ve been here and Lee has been head coach, and he is a valuable member of the group.
MANAGE
“In fairness to Aiden, he is not someone who wants to sit around when he is not playing, and at the moment, he has not had as many minutes as he would have wanted. It’s up to him to work his way into the team – but it’s also on us to manage him.”
PHILOSOPHY
"We had a really clear idea about who we wanted to go for. We wanted to go for a smaller, streamlined, squad of quality over quantity. Therefore, when you do that, you have to be really precise with those signings because you have less room for error. We did let a group of players go, which was potentially risky, but we felt to change the philosophy, the dynamic of the squad, and the average age then that was something we would have to do."
AGE
“The average age this year in the league is 24.8, I think last year it was just over 28 - we had some games where it was just short of 29. So, there’s a huge difference in what the squad’s dynamic looks like.”
JANUARY
“We’ve already started the process of looking ahead to the January window. We’ve begun that this week. At the moment, everyone is comfortable (with the squad), but it doesn’t mean we will still be comfortable in December. There will be injuries, suspensions, and the natural things that happen within our industry, and we will do everything we can to get ready for next time."
