The club coffers have been swelled to the tune of almost £1m from the last three player sales, with Brad Johnson, Gabor Gyepes and Mark Bunn all leaving Sixfields for big amounts.

Gray had hoped to reinvest some of that in a striker, with Chesterfield pace ace Jamie Ward understood to be the subject of a six-figure bid from Town on Monday.

But the Spireites want to keep Ward for their Coca-Cola League Two promotion push, although the deal could be re-ignited in the January window if the 22-year-old has not signed a contract extension at Saltergate by then.

As well as missing out on a permanent deal, all bids for loan signings – one of which was rumoured to be Charlton Athletic striker Stuart Fleetwood – also fell through.

Gray is hoping for better luck when the window to bring in loan players re-opens on Monday.

"I think we need some fresh faces just to freshen things up really," he said.

"We're desperate to get a striker in and while I've been offered players I don't think they're better than the ones we've got.

"I've got no problem spending someone else's money though, and the money was there. It was a very frustrating day."