SV and Rush to sit down down and discuss transfers

By Chris Thompson
March 14 2005

Steven Vaughan looks to sit down with Ian Rush this week and look at transfers before the transfer window closes on March 24th.

It’s been a difficult week for Ian Rush. When he started at the club, replacing the departed Mark Wright, his objective was to keep the club afloat, but in recent weeks, things have taken a turn for the worse, and as ever more constantly we’re looking over our shoulders, it becomes apparent that just 6 points separates us from a quick return to the conference.
City have recorded 3 defeats in 4 against Yeovil and Grimbsy, and at Shrewsbury, the latter being a humiliating 5-0 defeat, and the final straw for chairman Steve Vaughan, who sat down Ian Rush and Mark Aizlewood to discuss the premature termination of their two-and-a-half year contracts at the club.
However, against the odds, both are still here a whole week later, and were invited into the chairman’s office for completely different reasons yesterday. Steven Vaughan turned his back on earlier comments that he had no faith in Rush’s capability in the transfer market, and backed his high-profile employee to make the right decisions from now on.
To help achieve Ian Rush’s aim of 3 wins from the final 9 games, Steven Vaughan told the Daily Post,
"I will sit down with Ian and see where he considers we need to strengthen the squad.
"I would imagine we need two players to bolster us in our run-in and that's the sort of discussion we will have.
"Once we have decided where we need to strengthen, and who would fit the bill, we will see what we can do to obtain them before the transfer deadline,"
Two players already highlighted are Grimbsy’s Andy Parkinson and on-loan striker Robbie Foy, who has become an instant hit since his arrival from Liverpool.
Another name in the hat is Paul Harrison, a young goalkeeper, also from Liverpool, who was loaned out to Leeds earlier in the season as part of the deal which took Scott Carson to Merseyside. However, with both McKenzie and Brown fit, I wouldn’t expect this move to happen until the summer, if it happens atall.
The transfer deadline comes into force in the league on 24th March, so any deals would have to be concluded before then. With a near full squad now, and the return of Kevin Rapley, and possibly Andy Harris from Forest Green Rovers, Chester must enter the final stage of the season full on to avoid being dragged into an end-of-season dogfight at the wrong end of the table.