Wellens reflects on Doyle's Bradford recall

RICHIE WELLENS was understandably disappointed with Bradford City recalling League Two's top goalscorer Eoin Doyle but backed Jerry Yates to shine in the Irishman's absence. Total Sport Swindon's Rajan Hothi got the reaction of the STFC manager following the announcement of Doyle's move.

After notching 23 goals in 22 games, and sitting comfortably at the top as the division's top goalscorer, it was unfortunately inevitable that Bradford would recall the Swindon branded 'Ginger Pele'. 

Despite knowing he would be recalled at the start of the week, the news is still disappointing to Wellens who was hoping his side would have the services of Doyle until the end of the season. 

"I knew at the start of the week that it was happening. He's Bradford's player," said Wellens. 

"Eoin will go back and we'll see what they get from that.

"It's frustrating because when clubs give you under-23 players, your job is to develop them, but when you're taking experienced players like Anthony Grant, it's because their parent club doesn't want them," he stated. 

"You then take them, improve them and then they get called back, after the initial thought process is to get him out the door and off the wage bill, it's frustrating," he said. 

Jerry Yates will lead the line for Town in the absence of Doyle, and after scoring 12 goals in all competitions this season, despite often being played out wide, Wellens believes the 23-year-old can do the job that's required up-front. 

"I spoke to Jerry last Friday and I said 'if we had moved Doyle out left and had you down the middle, how many goals would you be sitting on?" said Wellens. 

"We've lost the top goalscorer in the league, but we have the second top goalscorer moving in from the left to his favoured position. 

An injury crisis has plagued Swindon's squad in recent weeks, and Wellens confirmed that there will be no more outgoings as it stands but is expected to bring in new bodies during the active transfer market. 

"There will definitely no outs. As you can imagine our squad at the moment is very depleted so there will be no outs," Wellens revealed.

"In terms of ins, a lot of agents have us where they want us because they know we are desperate for players in certain positions, therefore the price inflates.

"In terms of any in before the weekend, I'd imagine there would be no new signings," concluded Wellens.