U's manager Ward is not looking to bring in loanees

12:17pm Friday 6th July 2012 in Sport

JOHN Ward has no plans to be a loan arranger this summer.

The Colchester United manager has looked to make use of the loan market to bring in players since taking over the U’s helm, but he insists he has only been looking for permanent deals this summer.

He has already signed midfielder Marcus Bean and striker Freddie Sears on three-year-deals.

Ward admitted that he has been looking for an experienced central defender after Magnus Okuonghae turned down a fresh contract offer.

Ward said: “I’ve been talking to more than one and we’ll be looking to see how it develops.

“Having seen Magnus and Ben (Williams) go does help with room in the budget, but we have to replace Magnus, we are also looking at strikers and you never quite know what will come up in pre-season."

Loanees are not in Ward’s sights, though.

He added: “I’m keeping my options very open at the moment.

“If someone said we could have a player come in then we’d look at it, but I haven’t ventured down that way yet.

“I am very much aware, though, that the situation may change change as August approaches.

“Championship and Premier League clubs may look at their own situations again and there could be things we’ll follow up then, but not at the moment.”

Comments(13)

Lodgie__ says...
12:59pm Fri 6 Jul 12

Slowly, slowyly catchie monkey. At the risk of getting flamed I think Ward is doing a pretty good job.

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Boris says...
1:04pm Fri 6 Jul 12

Lodgie__ wrote:
Slowly, slowyly catchie monkey. At the risk of getting flamed I think Ward is doing a pretty good job.
Given his limited budget, you are right.

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Noah4x4 says...
1:36pm Fri 6 Jul 12

I agree, and it's good to see some positive comments in here for once.

Will be interesting to see where our departees end up. I wouldn't be surprised to still see them in Division One (or Two).

Similarly, others (from various clubs) out of contract with no offer yet will soon be scrambling for a deal. There are still plenty of unattached players out there, and (IMHO) JW is playing a prudent waiting game. Don't buy them until their aspirational greed has waned and they need a job.

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RB, Lexden says...
3:09pm Fri 6 Jul 12

U's fans keen to see which central defenders are currently available can visit the Professional Footballers' Association website - www.thepfa.com - and then click on 'transfers' and then insert ' central defenders' in the 'all positions' box.Names (with images)will then appear and they include :
l.Nathan Clarke,ex Huddersfield,who had a loan spell with the U's
2.Zak Whitbread,ex Norwich
3.Tamas Kadar,ex Newcastle
4.Peter Ramage,ex QPR
5.Karleigh Osborne,ex Brentford
6.Alex Bruce,ex Ipswich
7.Danny Gabbidon,ex West Ham

Some of these might have found clubs since the list appeared.

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angryman!!! says...
3:39pm Fri 6 Jul 12

Talking of players greed, thats why we shouldn't have renewed izzets contract, obviously waited to see if anybody else would come in and suprise suprise they don't.
Agree that there's still some good players out there, like the sound whitbread and gabbidon

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crazy comments says...
7:56pm Fri 6 Jul 12

angryman!!! wrote:
Talking of players greed, thats why we shouldn't have renewed izzets contract, obviously waited to see if anybody else would come in and suprise suprise they don't. Agree that there's still some good players out there, like the sound whitbread and gabbidon
Wishfull thinking but I think Zat Whitbread would want premiership wages having just left Norwich, but somehow I think he will finish up in the championship.

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RB, Lexden says...
8:22am Sat 7 Jul 12

Correction : if you visit the PFA website to see which players are or were available,click on 'transfer list' - not 'transfers' - and then in the box marked 'all positions'
insert the position you are looking for,eg : 'centre back' not 'central defenders'
Apologies for these errors.

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Eddy D says...
12:45pm Sat 7 Jul 12

It's good to see a largely positive thread here and I agree that Ward is doing a decent job given his restrictions. This is really his first real squad, free of the bloated signings of previous managers and largely a squad left that is commited and genuinely interested in playing for this club. The writings been on the wall for some time regarding the "bigger" players who have now left us. I'm nit suggesting we'll compete at the top but I think mid table plus consolidation for a couple of years beckons with a chance to push on once the youth operations bear fruits in the future. At the very least I'm interested to see how this new squad will take shape. I for one think that an attacking three of Sears, Henderson and Wordsworth with Bean and O'toole doing the running in the middle and Izzett breaking up the opposition is an interesting proposition. We'll see.

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Scoobee96 says...
2:26pm Sat 7 Jul 12

Just seen a report that Richard Wright is looking to leave Preston NE after just one week, due to home sickness. He can not see himself settling so far away from his family in East Anglia.......

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crazy comments says...
3:33pm Sat 7 Jul 12

Scoobee96 wrote:
Just seen a report that Richard Wright is looking to leave Preston NE after just one week, due to home sickness. He can not see himself settling so far away from his family in East Anglia.......
Richard is going to find it very hard now to find a local club. Way past his best. I am sure he was homesick and I am pretty sure also he was not used to the hard training regime now installed at Preston. We know a goalie looking for a new club.

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crazy comments says...
4:56pm Sat 7 Jul 12

RB, Lexden wrote:
U's fans keen to see which central defenders are currently available can visit the Professional Footballers' Association website - www.thepfa.com - and then click on 'transfers' and then insert ' central defenders' in the 'all positions' box.Names (with images)will then appear and they include : l.Nathan Clarke,ex Huddersfield,who had a loan spell with the U's 2.Zak Whitbread,ex Norwich 3.Tamas Kadar,ex Newcastle 4.Peter Ramage,ex QPR 5.Karleigh Osborne,ex Brentford 6.Alex Bruce,ex Ipswich 7.Danny Gabbidon,ex West Ham Some of these might have found clubs since the list appeared.
Glad to hear that Pat Baldwin has now signed a full contract with Exeter for the coming new season, so thats another one that can be taken of the list He has just completed a mountain climb raising funds for his charity for which i admire him for.To me was still a better player than Heath, but thats football we all have our own ideas.

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angryman!!! says...
11:08pm Sat 7 Jul 12

Yes agree would much rather have pat here than Heath, hasn't been in the same form as when he first joined but alway seemed to care about the team and fans

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crazy comments says...
1:35pm Sun 8 Jul 12

angryman!!! wrote:
Yes agree would much rather have pat here than Heath, hasn't been in the same form as when he first joined but alway seemed to care about the team and fans
I am going to a function being held at Exeter football club in September so will give me a chance to have a catch up with Pat. One off the nicest and caring persons I know.

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