Ebbsfleet United manager Danny Searle not desperate to make a signing despite injuries to Rakish Bingham and Nathan Odokonyero in pre-season
05:00, 07 August 2024
Ebbsfleet manager Danny Searle is not going to panic in the transfer market despite pre-season injuries.
The Fleet have lost forwards Rakish Bingham and Nathan Odokonyero in the past month.
Both will miss this Saturday's National League opener at Gateshead but, with plenty of attacking options at his disposal, Searle is unlikely to bring in another new face.
"If the right one was available under the right circumstances and on the right terms, then maybe," responded Searle, when quizzed about a potential move.
"Are we desperate to do it? No, I don't think we need to. Within reason, I think we're pretty much done with what we needed to do.
"We've recruited well, we did what we wanted to do and brought the average age of the side down and also brought the size of the squad down. The club has been amazing in supporting what we wanted to do and hopefully, we can build on that.
"You don't have to be a certain age to have experience. You look at some of the players that are floating around at the minute coming into their mid-twenties and they've already 300 or 400 games. You can be 24 or 25 and be experienced.
"We've got players in their late twenties with experience. We've employed very good young talent that we can build and develop and also brought in some players that know the league and what success looks like."
Searle has also added to his backroom staff in pre-season with Grant Basey, a UEFA A-License holder, linking up with the Fleet as first-team coach to replace Chris Solly, who departed for Charlton in the summer.
James Town has joined as goalkeeping coach, analyst Mac Egan made the switch from Dartford and Brendan Ramage arrived as a strength and conditioning coach.
"We lost Chris Solly to Charlton and it was a fantastic opportunity for him," said Searle. "It was a sad day as we wanted him to stay and he's been a big part of the club for a long time.
"He understands the fabric of the club and I think people forget that sometimes. You need to understand what a club feels like and you only get that from being in the building for a sustained amount of time.
"Grant Basey brings great experience to the team, he's been at a team that has won promotion from League 1 to the Championship and again it goes back to bringing people in who understand what success looks like.
"We've got young keepers here as well and we've got Mark Cousins that needs to be worked. James works at Charlton and brings development experience to that. His sessions are good and Mark likes it, he's added to the team.
"Mac has come in as an analyst, added to the team. We've got the S&C lads, they've got good experience of working at Premier League level with West Ham.
"We're trying to upskill the current staff that stayed and upskill the staff that come in to keep developing. We want to raise the bar again at the club and if you walk around the building and what we're trying to do, we're stepping on to another level now.
"We've got to perform on the pitch but we've got to be consistent with how we perform daily as well."
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