Coventry City manager Tony Mowbray has said that the phone has not stopped ringing.
Mowbray, who agreed a two year deal with City on Monday, is like every other manager being contacted by agents from around the world trying to get clubs to take their players.
Speaking to the Coventry Telegraph's Alan Poole, Mowbray said: “The phone hasn’t stopped ringing since the end of the season. There are a lot of footballers out of contract all over the country and agents are trying to place their players.
“Everybody was under the assumption that I was the manager of Coventry City but it would have been unfair to those players if I’d started moving forward with them and then, for whatever reason, we didn’t get to this point. The job starts now really.
“Even when you’re on holiday the phone doesn’t stop ringing – you get little respect from agents whether it’s a normal ring-tone or a long drawn-out one – so I expect to work a period of every day because if the right players are available we can’t let them slip through our fingers.
“That’s OK, it’s part of the job. You talk to agents, give them an appreciation of the salary level and where their players might fit into the squad and see if this club is something they might consider. Sometimes the conversations stop there, sometimes they move forward.
“Because of the level I’ve been working at there’s a lot of foreign agents phoning me at the moment but I ask myself if it’s the right environment for foreign players, how would they react?
“I’m sure that talent wise they’d cope with the level but going to some of the smaller grounds in this league might not be conducive to the repetition of good performances
“Until you get them in the building you can’t gauge their personality and you don’t want to take too many gambles too early because once you’ve spent the pound it’s not there to spend again.
“You have a picture of the player you want but there might be three/four/five options and you’ve got to try to pick the right one.
“There are so many available there’s a temptation to rush in and sign a player right away but two weeks later there might be a much better player available for a similar price.
“You have to have clarity how you’re going to build the team, what sort of player you want, and when one becomes available who fits the position you try to do the deal. But you try to be mindful that if the agent gets a bit greedy there’s going to be another player coming along the next week or the week after that who can do a similar job.
“At this level players generally have things that they are good at and they’re not very good at and the reason they’re playing in League One and not in the Premier League is that they need to find consistency in all areas. My job is to educate them, create an environment where they want to work and improve.”
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