Forget ‘right now’ - Doncaster Rovers just need to get it right in the transfer window

The demand for business from a growing section of the club’s support is ferocious. Patience has worn so thin that it was already practically translucent by the time the new years fireworks had faded.

Frustration only grows for some at the sight of rivals in the division bringing players in, as games come and go for Rovers without new additions.

And with Darren Moore often less than emphatic when speaking in public about the chances of getting deals over the line, patience gives way to frustration gives way to near panic.

Appeasing the fanbase on this issue is not the priority of the club however. Nor should it be.

Signings could have been made over the last week to give Moore and the club something to point to as evidence they were doing business.

But would they have been the right ones? That is the real issue.

What is undisputed is that Rovers must act this month if they are to carry their recent upturn in results forward into the second half of the season.

A failure to get business done in August plus horrendous luck over injuries to loanees has left them short of attacking bodies since the beginning of the campaign.

But signing for signings sake would be foolish for a club of Rovers’ size and business philosophy.

True value in January is very, very difficult to find.

Clubs desperate to get players in are dealing with others keen to get players out while those not so eager to sell are in a much stronger bargaining position.

Those looking to loan out players have a wider pool of potential suitors they can play off against each other.

Rovers had a player lined up prior to the window opening.

But the brakes were put on Adam Idah’s move due to an injury crisis among the Norwich City strikers. And when he bagged a hat trick after the crisis afforded him an opportunity to start in the FA Cup, the handbrake was applied on his switch.

Idah would have been at the Keepmoat early in the window. But circumstances changed and Rovers are left counting the cost of severe misfortune or, at the very least, set to face a cattle market for the hotshot’s services.

In terms of a signing for Rovers, Idah provided pretty hard evidence that they were on the right lines with their identification of him.

But it certainly seems like his current unavailability has been disruptive to Rovers’ plans.

Pursuing targets at this stage of the campaign requires composure and resolve, especially when the priority is getting the right men for the right positions.

We have already heard plenty about Moore’s contentment in waiting for the right targets to become available.

If he believes that waiting until the summer will see him finally land the right men, so be it. A PR expert may well advise him to clue in his wider public if that is the case.

Waiting and doing nothing until it is far too late is not an option however, which makes hanging on to see what happens next for Idah a less attractive option as each day passes.

If Moore thinks overall that there is better business to be done in the summer, he needs to switch his focus to exactly what he can do now and get the best bang for his buck in the next three weeks.

Not doing so would again leave the club scrambling around for whatever can be found on the free agent market - and we have seen already the limitations of the resources available in that talent pool.

Ultimately Moore deserves the benefit of the doubt over the next couple of weeks and a chance to complete the much-needed recruitment.

He deserves the chance to get it right this month - whether that means for this season or beyond.

It need not be right now, but it does need to be right.