Transfer Centre

Nottingham Forest summer signings were 'long term targets'

By Joe Fish, Reporter
Published: 10 September 2012 9:59 PM

Nottingham Forest's director of recruitment and scouting insists that their summer signings were long-term targets, not panic buys.

Nottingham Forest's director of recruitment and scouting Kevin Burt has insisted that there was structure to their summer transfer activity.

The Reds waited until the final few weeks of the window to add to their squad due to uncertainty over the ownership and management.

The arrival of the Al-Hasawi family as benefactors and appointment of Sean O'Driscoll as boss led to a string of late signings, but Burt has stressed that their 11 recruits were all well considered, rather than panic buys.

"The players that we brought in weren't just picked out at random, we'd been scouting them for years," he told the club's official website.

"We tried to sign Simon Cox when I worked with Colin Calderwood. The Al-Hasawi family put their hands in their pockets and bought him because he was the one we wanted.

"Billy Sharp had been mooted at this club for two or three years and the family made it happen for us. Although we had to make 11 signings, we had good knowledge of the players we were going to sign."

Danny Collins, Greg Halford and Adeline Guedioura were among the other arrivals at the City Ground this summer.