COLCHESTER United head coach John McGreal admits his first transfer window as a senior manager was a real eye opener.

The U's made two late signings on transfer deadline day, drafting in Tarique Fosu and Glen Kamara on loan.

It is the first transfer window that Colchester have had with Head of Player Resources Iain Moody and Director of Football Tony Humes in place to help with any potential deals going through.

McGreal said they and chairman Robbie Cowling were a big help in helping him clinch his top targets.

But the U's boss admitted that the whole experience this week was a big learning curve for him and his assistant Steve Ball.

McGreal said: “We’re delighted with the business that we’ve done – we’ve got the two players that we wanted to bring in.

“It’s been hectic over the last three days and the (Crawley) game in the middle of it didn’t really help with me trying to get players over the line and making phone calls.

“It’s been a bit of an eye opener – the phone just didn’t stop ringing, especially on Monday and Tuesday.

“We also had all of the prep for the Crawley game and as soon as you’ve done that, the phone goes again.

“We were all in the office on Wednesday trying to get the two bodies over the line that we courted.

“The chairman (Robbie Cowling) and Tony Humes did really well for us to get them over the line and Iain Moody was on the phone for us, so that really did help me and Steve (Ball).

“It’s a learning curve for us and I’ll know next time when it comes along how to manage that.

“From the outside, I always wondered why teams always did things last minute but now I’m on the inside, you can understand why because there’s so many little bits and bobs that you have to tie down before you get the player over the line, so I can understand these little last-minute deals either going through or not going through.”