6 Of The Best For McGhee?

Rovers boss Mark McGhee has today make clear his thoughts on the loanees currently with the club and has revealed he'd sign all of them for next season if possible.

Cian Bolger

6 players are currently on loan with the Gas and have performed well since McGhee took over in January. Michael Poke, Aaron Downes, Cian Bolger and Andy Dorman were all signed prior to his appointment, whilst Matt Lund and Tom Parkes have been drafted in since to add to the squad. When questioned by the club's official Gas Player on his recruitment plans for the summer, the Scotsman said "All the players we have on loan I would sign today for next season. That is not possible at the moment of course, and in some cases it is probably not probable, but it is a standard we want to set". All the loanees have expressed nothing but positivity when interviewed on their time at the club so far, which would perhaps indicate a willingness on their part to listen to any offers they may receive from us in the summer. I've been impressed overall with all the players and if we were able to sign all of them for next season I'd feel particularly confident about our chances, but their parent clubs won't just allow us to sign them so plenty of negotiating will need to be done.

I think realistically only a few will sign on. Aaron Downes, Andy Dorman and Michael Poke are the one's I'd consider most likely to sign permanent deals with us, which I'd be pleased about, but that's not to say the others won't pen contracts with us too. I'm encouraged by the fact McGhee has made up his mind in regards to their futures - he's not hanging about. He made it clear that if we couldn't sign any of the loanees, we'd need to replace them with players of similar or better quality which can only be a good thing if we were to get rebuffed by parent clubs or agents.

Aaron Downes in action against Cheltenham Town

He also addressed the fact the club are currently talking to a few of the players who are out of contract in the summer, hoping to tie up new deals for them. You can only assume Danny Woodards and Eliot Richards are among them, as they have been superb this season. We'd do really well to keep them and McGhee will know that. It would be a real positive for the club if we could end the season knowing they were signed on for the next couple of years.

We're only in March and we're talking about plans for next season. It's early, but the more prepared you are the better you will fare so it's an attitude I'm enjoying the club adopt. Hopefully we'll get good news on contracts and signings over the coming weeks, along with some good results against the likes of AFC Wimbledon and Plymouth Argyle!