Scunthorpe assistant manager Ned Kelly is pleased with the signing of Luke Daniels from West Brom.
The goalkeeper joins the Iron from the Baggies on a permanent deal, with the 27-year-old having already gained Football League experience during loan spells with Shrewsbury, Tranmere and Charlton amongst others.Daniels, who has played on a few occasions for the West Brom first team, was exactly the sort of ‘keeper the Iron were looking for.
Speaking to the press prior to the announcement, Kelly spoke about the opportunity to use the mini-break the team has got having a weekend with no fixture, to look for some quality replacements for the injured Sam Slocombe and James Severn.
Kelly said: “It gave us a bit of time to look for a new goalkeeper, and the time to go through the options. With the injuries, we needed somebody who can handle being the no.1 goalkeeper."
Kelly also spoke of the potential of bringing in a second player to battle for the ‘keepers jersey.
Kelly stated: “We might have to go down the route of getting two in.
"It’s very possible we might bring in two in if we can, but it’s very difficult because you know as well as I do that everyone is looking for the same things.
"We are all looking for the absolute best we can get, but as I say the gaffer is trying to get something sorted out at the moment, whether that is one or two, it remains to be seen.”
Kelly has also stressed that the coaching staff aren’t just looking in the Football League, and that their parameters are much wider than the English divisions.
Kelly told us: “You look throughout all of the leagues; it’s not as if we are only looking at home here in the UK.
"We are looking elsewhere; we are looking abroad as well, because we wouldn’t be doing the job right if we weren’t exploring all the options."
With the priority obviously filling the void in goal, Kelly also wanted to make it clear that all the focus wasn’t just on bringing in goalkeepers, and the club's signing policy had not been altered.
Kelly added: “No our policy hasn’t changed at all.
"The chairman has been brilliant, and the gaffer has had plenty of conversations with him and spoken about where we are trying to get to as a club in the short term, the medium and the long term.
"We’re always looking and we’re always on the phone, we’ve got lots of contacts throughout the game, all of the staff members, and you’re getting players thrown at you by agents and outside members all of the time, so we will always look.”
In the past 48 hours, winger Jennison Myrie-Williams has joined League Two side Tranmere Rovers on loan until the end of the season, joining up with former boss Micky Adams, who he played under at Port Vale last season.
Kelly added: “Jenno’s gone back with Micky over at Tranmere, so we wish him well and hope he gets some football time over there, and we’ll see what happens with that one.”
Finally, when asked about the contract situations regarding some of the squad whose deals expire at the end of the season, Kelly clarified the clubs position on the situation.
See much more from Ned Kelly on The Iron Player.