Neill Collins has revealed he has been given the green light to strengthen his Raith Rovers squad in the January transfer window.
The Stark’s Park boss was appointed after the signing deadline in August, something he admits was ‘unfortunate’.
However, he has still been able to shake up his options with the short-term recruitment of Fankaty Dabo and Cody David.
Both are out of contract in January and discussions over possible extensions to those agreements are ongoing.
As with all loan arrangements, there will be conversations with both Hearts and St Mirren over the deals for Finlay Pollock, who Collins also signed, and Lewis Jamieson.
But, with Callum Smith ruled out until next season following knee surgery and Lewis Vaughan currently not available as he returns from a hamstring operation, there are obvious gaps in the Rovers squad.
Irish defender Jordan Doherty has already penned an 18-month deal that will kick in on January 1. But further fresh faces could follow.
“The board have been nothing but supportive since I’ve been in,” Collins told Courier Sport when asked about his January plans. “They’ve been fantastic.
“It’s unfortunate to come in after the end of the window, especially when you consider some of the situations we’ve had with injuries like Smithy and Lewis – two really important players in that area of the pitch to be out.
“But they’ve always tried to support us.
‘Within certain parameters’
“And, coming into January, within certain parameters, we’ve got scope to go and try and add in areas that we think we need.
“So I couldn’t ask for much more than that.”
All managers want to put their own stamp on any squad they inherit.
Ian Murray’s favoured players and tactics will differ from those of Collins, whose side face Queen’s Park at Hampden on Friday.
That does not mean to say there is likely to be anything major in the transfer market at Raith next month.
And Collins insists some fringe players could still convince him they deserve to play a greater part in the second half of the campaign.
“I still think it’s going to be fluid between now and then,” he added. “Because I think there’s still players in our squad that may really show that we don’t need to strengthen.
“Some maybe haven’t shown yet just what they can do and they may get the opportunity between now and then.
“There’s other areas that we’ll definitely need because we just don’t have the attributes that I’d like.
“And that’s where the board have been really supportive.”
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