Cobblers already planning for January - before summer window has even closed
Chris Hogg says planning is already underway for January - even though the summer transfer window remains open for a few more hours.
Hogg has been a busy man since his appointment in May. He’s made tweaks to the training ground at Moulton and also driven changes to the way the club recruit players, opting for a more long-term, sustainable approach.
With just one day left of the window, Hogg’s work is far from done, although the situation is somewhat complicated by the fact Cobblers are due to host Crawley at Sixfields tonight, with full-time just an hour or so before the window closes.
"Things are going on in the background,” said Hogg. “It's not an ideal situation. We could have done with a bit of common sense because it brings some complications, but we can't control it.
“It's out of our hands and we can only control what we do and we'll focus on what we need to before then. If not, we have to make sure we have provisions in place so we can still move on the day if needed.”
Asked if he’ll be relieved to see the back of the transfer window, Hogg replied: "I think my wife will be quite pleased because I might put my phone down and get some sleep and speak to her and the kids a bit more, but it's part and parcel of the job.
“I’m a man of routine so I don’t pick up my phone after 9pm in the evening, but then I wake up at 5am and my phone is red hot from the night before. I get back to people early in the morning but I like my sleep!
"Talks are already happening for January. It's relentless the world we live in. I'm trying to bring some process to the club in terms of always looking at the next window before it arrives to make sure we're assessing what we've got and what we need so we can build things over the medium term.”
Cobblers host Crawley targeting a first win of the season.
"It was a solid point against Gillingham,” Hogg added. “You can never sniff at any point away from home and we have to use it as a platform for when we head back to Sixfields and I'm really looking forward to the week with two home games.
"I'm looking forward to attacking the games. Crawley will be a different challenge, they have a different style of play and play some good football, so we'll have to concentrate and fully focused on that.
"We have a group of players champing at the bit to play so I’ll have a few headaches when I pick the team.”