It would be hard to find someone who was busier in the January transfer window than Bristol Rovers' Director Of Football, Ricky Martin.
With Head Coach Steve Evans looking to turn the squad around, the Pirates brought in nine new faces and saw 12 depart the Club either permanently or on loan.
The Gas have added a mix of experience, with 20-year-old winger Yusuf Akhamrich already netting three times since joining on loan from Premier League outfit Tottenham Hotspur, while deadline day additions Joe Quigley, Tommy Leigh and Richie Smallwood have played a host of fixtures in the English Football League.
Speaking to BRTV, Ricky Martin reflected on the January transfer window and the reasons for players coming in and going out.
Well, Ricky, thank you for taking the time to sit down. Now that we’ve had a chance to really decompress and get our heads around what was a very busy January, how do you reflect on the transfer window?
"Yeah, I look at the January window with some of the key headlines. Number one being 21 transactions in the window, 12 out and nine in. So that’s probably number one. Number two would be the investment from the chairman and the board to increase the squad, but also to increase the budget.
"Steve and I are so grateful for the chairman and the board to not only improve our budget, but to ensure that we’ve got funds to bring in players, not just on frees and loans, but also to make a transfer fee as well. Not many League Two clubs get that opportunity, so that’s certainly a key headline to talk about in this interview."
So as we move through the interview, we’ll get onto the incomings, but let's start right at the beginning of January, when you and Steve made the decision to send back five loan players. Those five players were: Kacper Łopata, Freddie Issaka, Alfie Chang, Joel Cotterill and Stephan Negru. What was the thinking about sending those five back?
"First of all, just to put a bit of context behind that, having discussions with the chairman and the board at the time, the squad was underperforming. Through the investment that we had in the summer, we had a very busy summer window, but we weren’t performing on the pitch, and the results weren’t good enough.
"Myself, the chairman and the board decided that we need to make a change and bring Steve in. So, we brought Steve in, and part of that plan was to enable Steve to shape the squad in January. So, he came in just prior to the January window, with a view of shaping the squad, and the chairman and the board were really keen for us to support Steve, and I know Steve’s really grateful for the support he’s had on bringing the nine players in.
"So, that led us to five players going back from their loans, and we needed to do that to enable us to free up some space for the playing squad, but also free up some budget as well. So, that decision was made, and they were recalled on the fifth of January."
And on top of those five going back, we created more space in the squad with another seven players, three leaving on permanents – Ruel, Bryant and Micah – then Ollie Dewsbury, Isaac, Kamil and Ryan Howley, all going out on loan as well, creating more space in that squad.
"That’s a moving part. The five going back on loan was probably a bit more straightforward; the ones going in and out, the seven that you’ve just mentioned, not all of them were planned, not all of them were 100 per cent guaranteed going to happen, going into the window.
"But that’s what the January transfer window brings you, and that’s what my role is. I have to be reactive, and I have to really be proactive. If one goes out that frees up a space, and every time a player leaves, either on a permanent or out on loan, it gives me an opportunity to speak with the chairman, the board and say, ‘right, how can we now reinvest in the squad? How can we strengthen the squad even further?’
"The support I’ve had from the club has been outstanding, and that’s given me an opportunity, by moving players out, to bring nine players in."
And when those moving parts come up during the transfer window, that’s a real opportunity, as you say, for yourself, the chairman, the board, Steve and as a club as a whole to then react and make use of the work that’salready been done. So if a player like Ruel moves on, you’re ready to bring someone else in.
"Yeah, exactly. We’ve got to be ready, we’ve got our targets, we’ve got players identified. That’s the hard work that goes on behind the scenes. But ultimately, we’ve got to be joined up, and that is joined up from the chairman to the board, to Steve, with me alongside that.
"I’m kind of the glue in the middle, that’s working with both sides, but the key message from the chairman and the board were, ‘we’ve got to allow Steve to shape the squad, but we’ve also got to bring in players with the profiles', and I think you can see the type of players that we’ve brought in and we can talk about that in a minute."
Well, as you say, we move to shape the squad in the way that you and Steve wanted to, and early in the window we brought in Ryan de Havilland, Kofi Balmer, Kane Thompson-Sommers and Riley Harbottle; they were the first four signings. Can you tell us a bit about those four lads?
"We did them early in the window because we had six games in January, a very busy month, and we wanted to ensure that we had new players. We’d already sent five out, so we’ve just spoken about that, and working with Steve, we identified the type of players we wanted to bring in, and we’re really pleased to get that bit of business done early to enable them to hit the ground running and to give them as much time as they can throughout January.
"They’ve done that, and now they’re established within the squad. Again, having an opportunity to bring in free agents or transfers from League One, but also from some loan players as well. It’s a testament to the club to give me the support because we had to go over and above our budget, to increase our budget to start to make these transactions."
You’ve talked about budgets, you’ve talked about transfer fees, something else you've talked about before with us in interviews is the two ESC spots we get as a League Two club, and I know how important it was to the board and yourself to fill those spots, and we filled that second spot in January.
"We did fill it, and I’m really pleased. I’m really proud that we’ve been able to secure Mees Rijks and bring him in as our second ESC spot, and he joins alongside Fabrizio Cavegn.
"When I joined the club back in the summer, the chairman was really keen to use them and explore this opportunity. There aren’t many League Two clubs that have two ESC spots, so I think we’re one of the proactive clubs in the market. The chairman was really keen to give me the license to go on and explore that, and we had lots of targets we were looking at, and we’re really pleased with Mees becoming our second ESC.
"So, that’s something that we should be really proud of, to have him onboard. We now need to have that transition period, like Fabrizio had, and we’ve seen the impact that he’s had already in the squad."
When you’re Director Of Football at a League Two club, when you’re scouting in these foreign countries, and doing that piece of work, how difficult can that be?
"It’s going to be challenging, but I think as long as you’ve got the processes in place, that’s really important. So, if you’rerecruiting a player from the southeast, or recruiting a player from the northeast, or you’re recruiting them from Holland, or you’re recruiting from Switzerland, you still need to have the processes in place.
"So, all of the background checks, all of the information, game availability, data, is all really, really important. Alongside scouting as well, live scouts and video reports. All then become part of the process. So, there’s a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes, regarding registering a player, and an ESC is more complicated because you have to go through Brexit now, and you have to get them a visa.
"So there are certainly some hurdles that you have to get across, but everyone working in a collaborative way ensures that we get a smooth process."
Now, a name that’s been on the fans’ lips since he joined was Yusuf Akhamrich, who has joined us on loan from Tottenham Hotspur. You’ve worked at Premier League clubs and Championship clubs, you’ve worked in academies and seen this from the other side, as well. How good was it to bring in a player of Yusuf’s ability from a Premier League club and give him that experience?
"Yeah. I think we’ve already seen Yusuf and what abilities he has. We had an insight into Yusuf already in the trophy game; he scored the third goal against us.
"So, we’ve already had an insight, and once I spoke to my colleague, once Steve had identified him as a potential target to come in, I spoke to my colleague, and we agreed that we should get him in on loan. I think we’re going to be a really good loan club for him, and already I can see him having an impact, and hopefully that can continue until the end of the season."
And that brings us nicely to the January transfer window deadline day. Always a chaotic day here at the training ground. How do you reflect on what was deadline day?
"Deadline day is always as manic as normal. When I woke up that day, I knew business would be done. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was going to get done or who was going to come in and who was going to go out, but as I drove away at the end of the day, I reflected with two players going out on loan, but three players coming in.
"So, I’m really pleased that we were able to continue to strengthen the squad, and again, testament to the club, the support from the chairman and the board, because this was a time where we needed the extra funds to be made available.
"We’ve already got a very competitive budget for League Two, but to have that support from the club to increase our budget is a massive appreciation from Steve and from me. We were able to bring in extra players, and one of those players was a significant transfer fee as well.
"So, there won’t be many League Two clubs paying transfer fees in January and to be one of those clubs, we’re very lucky to have that opportunity to use the funds available to strengthen the squad."
Those three names, Joe Quigley, Tommy Leigh and Richie Smallwood, you know, three players with real EFL experience and quality behind them.
"As I touched on that earlier, the type of player that Steve wanted to bring in. I think it’s really important that we spoke to him in great detail about the profile, what he’s looking for, what type – he’s got some younger talent that’s coming in the window – we also wanted some more experience and some more players that are hardened and used to EFL football and Ithink those three characters, certainly fit the profile.
"For Joe, who came in with a transfer fee, he was our number one target for that profile, and we identified him during the window. We would have liked to have got it done before deadline day, but you know what these transfers are like; they can get drawn out a little bit.
"But we were able to get him over the line in the end and like I say, to be able to have a fee to go and spend some money outside of the budget, was greatly appreciated but also giving Joe an opportunity to come in now, on a two and a half year contract gives us some chance to plan and prepare around him."
And you talk about planning there. January is gone, we’ve had a chance on January, but I know with the club, the work has already begun for the summer as well.
"Yeah. We’ve had a little period now just to reset, but now we are already talking behind the scenes about what the summer looks like. We’ve started to put some plans in place. There would have been some players that we’ve discussed in January that might not have happened, and we might revisit them in the summer window. So, plans are already in place, and the summer window will soon come around.
"But probably a message that we do want to get out is we’re in the middle of a season, and Saturday’s game is really important, so we can’t take our focus off of that.
"Our mind at the moment, our focus is about winning on Saturday, and then we’ve got a midweek game on Tuesday, so we have to focus on the here and now, and that’s where we go from here. Collect as many points as we can to get us up the table, as quickly as possible."
