Kevin Wilkin to rely on 'project' players after change of transfer strategy for AFC Telford United
Kevin Wilkin has admitted AFC Telford United have signed 'project' players this summer in a bid to raise the ceiling of his squad.
So far this summer Telford have signed Jamie Meddows, 22, from Bromsgrove Sporting, Charlie Williams, 21, from Stratford Town, and Manny Ilesanmi, 20, from Derby County, as well as 28-year-old Alex Fletcher from Tamworth.
And after favouring more experienced players in previous seasons, the Bucks boss admitted lessons learned from last season have made the Bucks rethink their transfer strategy this summer.
"I've done this for a number of seasons now and there will always be mistakes, there will always be players that you take on and it doesn't quite happen for them," Wilkin said. "Players form is temporary so it'll never all drop into place, certainly not when you have to work within a budget and you can't always attract the exact player you want.
"There may be one or two this season that end up being more project oriented than at previous clubs I've worked at, and you've got to accept that not everything will pan out exactly how you want it to.
"There are lots of players there that we'll need to develop over a period of time and it will take a bit of time, but hopefully once you've got the raw product into the building they'll progress.
"We've got a younger squad at the moment, and if there was a mistake last season it was maybe that we had one or two more senior players that weren't quite as able as they were previously in their careers.
"Last season we had two or three players who were moving away from the levels they'd shown earlier in their careers and we made the call to replace them with other players at a different stage of their careers, and I think it unfolded in a good way in the end.
"I have to make our budget work as hard as it possibly can and that's why things don't always happen as quickly as people might like.
"There are a lot of boxes that we tick and some boxes that still need ticking when it comes to trying to sell the club to new players.
"If money were no object all our business would have been tied up weeks ago, but we're not in that position and we have to understand that."
