48 hours to save our season

Just over two days now till the transfer window shuts till January. The dealings before the closure of the window at midnight on Friday are crucial to our promotion hopes, without adequate reinforcements another year of mid table obscurity awaits.

Bad planning or dam unlucky? Varney`s departure was expected, Maynard`s injury was a cruel blow but yet again we paid the price for failing to be pro-active in the transfer market.

The old chestnut of "only being as good as your strikers" is rather apt at Crewe. From the striking department being our strongest area last season it is now our weakest area. With Maynard and Varney we would have been amongst the League One front-runners.

Good acquisitions were made over the summer to bolster an ailing defence and midfield but the only addition to the striking options so far has been the one month loan deal for Chris Dickson who has to say the least looked way off the pace and wouldn`t surprise me if he didn`t stay any longer than his scheduled one month deal.

Lee Barnard has been due to arrive all summer, and should finally arrive shortly. The delay in the deal for "Barney" has been due to a niggling injury complaint which he has struggled to shake off. The management team are confident it is nothing serious, worst case scenario he may need a hernia operation!

He has a pedigree and should be better than what we have got. His injury is a concern for me, hopefully it`s just a storm in a teacup. Barnard was due as a temporary fix for Varney, so we are still one short up top.

A mixture of Dickson, Miller and Pope are in my opinion not going to score enough goals to keep us nearer the top than bottom. We have apparently made a bid for an un-named lower league striker who would cost money.

Money isn`t exactly in short supply at Gresty Towers, £2,500,000 for Varney (pictured) £300,000 for Vaughan and another £500,000 at Least for BJ mark 1. Of course we are aware of our financial limitations but we should have a little spare to bolster a wafer thin attack.

With this new managerial structure which gives DG more time to watch potential targets, we have no excuses for missing on players like David Nugent. I`d love to know who our Chief Scout Glyn Chamberlain has recommended, I think it is time they backed their main scout and took the bull by the horns and take a calculated risk.

The next 48 hours will reveal a lot about just where we are heading, we struck lucky last season with Maynard and Varney hitting it off. Standing still will cost us, so come on Crewe give the fans some real hope and splash a bit of that cash.

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