Yahoo News Every word Paul Warne said on transfers, deadline day, Derby County injuries and Max Bird texts
Paul Warne held his press conference ahead of Derby County's clash against Bristol City on Saturday (3pm) and there was much to discuss in what is set to be a frenetic 48 hours.
While Derby's head coach is planning for the visit of Liam Manning's side, he also has the transfer window deadline to contend with as the deadline for signings is tomorrow.
With that in mind, here's what Warne had to say about injuries, transfers and City midfielder Max Bird who returns to Pride Park on Saturday for the first time since he left the Rams in the summer, ending what was a long association with the club that developed him through the academy to become a first-team star.
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On injuries: "Eiran Cashin is training. He trained with the under-21s on Tuesday. He's back, Corey Blackett-Taylor is back which is good. I think we we're getting close to getting them all back so I've got a feeling that, after the international break, I'll have 25 first-team players fit which will be a joy of a Friday when I name a squad."
On Max Bird relationship: "If he sets up a goal, I'll send him a text saying you didn't do that for me. I am joking, obviously. But I reach out to him every now and again to see how he is. I would notice if he wasn't in the team, I would text him straight away and make sure he's OK. The usual sort of controlling from afar weirdly. I miss Birdie as a player and as a man. I liked his family, his brother worked here for a bit as well.
"I met his mum and they were just a really nice family. They loved watching him play for Derby. I understand that his time was up here, so to speak. Back in January, he wanted to guarantee himself Championship football, and he's gone to a very good club. That doesn't mean I don't miss not seeing him, because football is ships in the night all the time, but there are certain people you meet that you really like. He was one of them.
"You could tell him when he hadn't played well. He could take criticism. He wouldn't let praise go to his head. It wouldn't change him. He wouldn't suddenly come in a Ferrari or anything crazy. If you could mould a player psychologically and physically, he would be up there. The downside with Birdie, bless him, is that he is probably too hard on himself at times. It's a thin line between not caring enough and caring too much. You've seen me after defeats and it's an absolute weekend wrecker. If any fan ever said to me you don't care about the club as much as me, I'd fight to the death. That would be an absolute lie.
"Birdie was one of them in that if the team didn't win or if he didn't play well, he felt like he let the team down. It would hurt him beyond belief and would punish himself all weekend. That's the only fault he's got. But then I can't critique that, because I am like that and that's probably what makes him who he is really."
On transfer deadline day surprises: "In an ideal world you sign all your players on May 10, everything's done, everyone comes in, everyone's happy. Everyone gets the tracksuit on the same day, but it's never like that. The realism is you might get one early doors. Obviously I was on Kayden Jackson for the last seven years so it was no surprise that I got him straight away.
"But then what happens is there's ones you haven't even discussed and it sounds like this is Cowboy Alley, but it isn't, this is what happens. Let's just say, for example, there's a striker at Tottenham. The second-choice striker at Tottenham suddenly became available because they're signing another one. He wants to play football. His wife's a Derby fan. He's got a Derby tattoo that no one knows about.
"Would you consider signing him? Yes, yes, I would. Has it ever been mentioned in a meeting in a recruitment meeting in the last three months No. Has he been highlighted? No. We never thought he'd be available. We never thought he'd want to come. And it's not the fact that you don't shoot for the best players, you just have to have a realism. The chance of a Richarlison coming here is quite slim.
"So there are things that happen in the last 48 hours that have are not conversations over the previous five months, and that is always the case and you always have to be prepared for that."
On transfers: "I want something along the top line. If I can't get a nine that's better than the nines that we've got, then I'm not going to get one. I'm not going to get a nine to come in and be fifth choice. If we can get a nine, great. We've always wanted a physical presence.
"If we can't get the nine and a better seven or 11 or 10 comes in, we'll have to look at it. We want another defender because while Eiran Cashin's injury was innocuous if something had happened to Sonny Bradley against Barrow, we could go between September and January with with one centre-back. I know people can fill in, but this isn't a league where you can have people who can just 'fill in'. You can get away with it in League One in certain games and a lot of games because you have a lot of the ball.
"But in the Championship, you can't just have a left-back or a right winger playing centre-back for six games because there is a very good chance you're going to get tucked up. We are trying to strengthen in those positions and we're trying to get the right people for the club."
