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Speed won't be rushed
GARY Speed, the Sheffield United manager, last night moved to ease concerns among Bramall Lane's support following the club's lack of activity on transfer deadline day.
United failed to make any purchases before the 6pm cut-off point despite Speed's admission that he wants to increase the number of options at his disposal.
But having only been appointed less than three weeks ago, the former Wales international told The Star that he is not prepared to spend United's money simply for the sake of it.
"I'm not going to bring someone in here if I'm not completely sure that they're the right man for the job," said Speed.
"The time between me taking over and the closure of the window has been very short.
"It's meant that, in most cases, there's not been enough opportunity to do the homework that I'd like.
"There are going to be other opportunities to bring people in so I'm not in a panic about things.
"Far from it.
"All I want to do is be as thorough as I possibly can.
"What I'm definitely not going to be doing is bringing someone in here having not looked at them properly and then realise that things aren't quite going to work out how we thought.
"That would be a complete waste of money and I'm not going to gamble with ours like that."
United will now switch their attention to the loan market which re-opens shortly.
Speed has made no attempt to disguise the fact that he believes new rules governing the size and composition of Premier League squads could open-up a wealth of exciting avenues for teams in the npower Championship to explore.
"I've got one or two people in mind," he added. "There's a couple that I'm looking at.
"When you bring someone in on loan then there are often different things to consider than when you are doing a permanent deal. I'm hopeful we'll be able to get something sorted-out then."
However, Speed has awarded contract extensions to academy graduates Jordan Chapell, Conor Brown and Kingsley James.
The trio have had their short-term deals extended until the end of the season.
Speed said: "They have done really well and coped with the increased demand of stepping up to training on a regular basis with the first team.
"They have impressed in getting where they are at the moment, but they have also got a lot of work ahead of them to continue that progress."
Meanwhile, striker Anthony Stokes, who made 12 appearances during a loan spell at United in the 2008/09 season, completed a reported 1.2m switch to Scottish giants Celtic from Hibernian yesterday.
The Republic of Ireland international becomes Neil Lennon's eleventh summer signing having bagged 23 goals for Hibs last season.
"Hopefully I can do well and settle here," said Stokes, who is now away on Republic of Ireland Under-21 duty.
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Weather for Sheffield
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
Light sleet
Temperature: -1 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 6 mph
Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Light snow
Temperature: -6 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: South east
