Nolan: We have to know when to walk away
Kevin Nolan says Cobblers have to be ‘realistic’ and know when it’s the right time to ‘walk away’ in what has become an ‘overinflated’ market.
Cobblers were keen to strengthen before the window closed but, despite opportunities to sign players on deadline day, the only additions in the final couple of weeks of the window were Kyle Edwards and young goalkeeper Theo Avery on free transfers.
"You get thrown all sorts of players on the last day of the window but a lot of them you don't really know and you're guessing and you can be blinded by things, but with someone like Kyle, we knew exactly what we had in the building so it was a no-brainer,” said Nolan.
"We put some good bids in and offered good money for players and what we felt were fair prices but other clubs see it differently. We see it how we see it and if it goes too far, we say that's enough and move onto the next one.
“There are times when you have to be realistic and you've got to say 'no' and you walk away because you feel it's gone out of hand. But I'm very pleased and I'm delighted with the work we did in the summer. We got work done early and that was credit to Kelvin (Thomas) and the owners for backing me and supporting me and they helped us get these deals over the line.
"The early ones can be the most difficult ones but we sold the club to the players and told them what we want to create here and we had the backing from the board and I think everyone deserves a lot of credit.
"Now I want to be able to work with the squad and I think everyone can see they are a good group that are getting better game by game and they're demanding a lot from each other, which is fantastic for me. We’ll have some tough moments but there will be plenty of good times with this group as well."