Cotterill Under No Pressure To Sell….Really?

Steve Cotterill told the Evening Post yesterday that he does not have to sell players to bolster his squad, despite the fact that no funds are available. He also faces a battle to hold onto those players who find themselves out of contract in the summer. Unfortunately for Steve Cotterill, he may think he doesn’t have to sell anyone, but you can bet your life the club will.

Cotterill said. ‘I am not desperate to sell players. It is an unfortunate situation, in that we may have to do something, if we want to balance the squad. But we have not got to sell anyone, that needs to be made blatantly clear.’

Following Nigel Doughty’s statement that no further finance will be available for player acquisitions, it’s hard to see how Cotterill can bring anyone in before he raises funds himself. Cotterill may want to hold onto his prize assets and may want to hold out for the best price he can get, but the sad reality is he will have to take what he gets, if he wants to bolster his squad. There is the loan market of course, but even these players will need their wages paying and there’s no guarantee that Doughty will even fund that, if it is over and above what he has already agreed.

No less than 5 first team regulars are out of contract this summer and will be free to talk to clubs in January about possible moves. If Forest don’t secure new deals with those players in January, they will walk away for free at the end of the season, in exactly the same way as Kelvin Wilson did last year when he went to Celtic.