Oldham Athletic Manager Micky Mellon Talks On More Recruitment

Micky Mellon believes he has put a “good squad” together so far this summer, but says his transfer business is not done yet.

Latics made 10 signings ahead of their trip to Scotland for a repeat of last summer’s training camp at St Andrew’s, where they arrived yesterday (Sunday).

But having seen eight players from his promotion winning squad officially move on, including vice captain Charlie Raglan to Barrow and left back Mark Kitching to York at the end of their contracts, manager Mellon is looking to further bolster his troops for the League Two campaign.

“We believe we’ve got a good squad together of committed lads and buoyed on with a fantastic support it should make for an exciting time so I’m really looking forward to getting going now,” he said.

“With the squad situation we’ve got (so far) we’ve got to be delighted with that.

“I’m really pleased with the talent that we’ve brought in. We want to do a little bit more to get it to a place we’re really excited about but we’re working hard on trying to do that.”

Asked how much activity he was expecting, Mellon added: “We’ve got a bit to do and we have the ability to do that.

“We have identified the players that we want to bring in, so it might be more difficult than me going and making a phone call and bringing them in, there might be a waiting game. But I believe it will be worthwhile if we can get them over the line. It will be just about thinking ‘have we waited long enough?’ or there’s another come up that may be better.

“But we know where we want to try to bolster the squad and if we do get the players in that we do want it will only make us stronger for the upcoming season.”

Of the 10 players he has already recruited – with nine signings and one loan with the return of Kai Payne on a season-long deal from Wigan Athletic, Mellon added: “We are stepping up a level so we need as many players as we know possible that’s going to give us what we expect.

“I know what Keiron Morris is going to do, so I know right away what levels he’ll hit and how we’re going to play with him, (Donervon) Daniels the same.

“As many players like that that we can build into the group that we’ve already got and build around them means that we can seamlessly try to get the team playing in a way that gives us the opportunity to win games.”