Boss coy over McCourt link

DARREN KELLY . . . other priorities.

ATHLETIC manager Darren Kelly is preaching caution over talk that the club is interested in signing his friend, winger Pat McCourt.

Though the Brighton man, who was on loan at Notts County last season, is out of contract it is likely the 31 year old will be too much of a salary stretch for Athletic to afford. With a centre-back and a strong target man topping the list of priorities, Kelly indicated he would not be pushing for the former Rochdale and Celtic man to take up a large chunk of his available money.

“Pat McCourt is a very good friend of mine,” Kelly said. “I coached him and he knows what I am about.

“He is on a list of targets but I imagine that coming from the club he is, he will be at a certain level in terms of cost to a club. I haven’t got the biggest budget and there are specific areas that I want to look at.”

As far as strikers go, Kelly is keen to bring in a forward who can hold off opposition defenders and bring team-mates into the game.

“In the games that I watched last season, the team was crying out for a target man to hold up the ball,” Kelly added. “Without that, the midfield couldn’t get forward enough and I want to bring them into play to be more creative. I want the person that ticks all of the boxes and I believe I have identified a couple of really good targets. I’ll be talking to their agents this week.”



twitter: @Matt_Chambers_