D-DAY for Jonatan

Chris Hanlon • Published 28 Jan 2010 14:00 0 Comments

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James Grady.

James Grady last night confirmed that he was waiting on a phone call from Finnish international striker Jonatan Johansson and had made it clear to him that if no answer was forthcoming by tonight then the deal is off.

Grady said last night: "He is currently in negotiations with a German club and has also had a good offer from a Finnish club.

"He has a few options, so it is a question of what they have offered him. I have told him that we need to know by the end of Thursday.

"Every manager is waiting on phone calls at this point and one player making a decision can set off a chain reaction.

"We obviously have other targets, which I would rather keep to myself, but everyone is looking for players just now and waiting to see who will move on and who will become available.

"But it is getting tight and we have to start putting the pressure on. We don't want to get caught short at the end of the window.

Johansson, 34, who has starred for Rangers and in the English Premier League with Charlton, as well as boasting an international goalscoring record of 22 in 100 games, is noted for his blistering pace and Grady confirmed that this is an area where we are lacking.

He said: "Jonatan has pace and that is what we have been looking for because we have no real threat of getting in behind teams.

"It is frustrating, but everyone is looking for strikers and it's not easy to get a hold of these sort of players.

"We have strikers with similar attributes and teams know if they play a high line against us that we lack that threat of pace in behind.

"Jonatan has proven that he is excellent at making those runs across the back four and in behind teams.

"People might say he has lost a yard of pace - but he was so fast he could lose 10 yards and still beat most players.

"If he comes it will be for all the right reasons and not because he lives close by, as some people have suggested.

"Jonatan is still an international player, the statistics are there to back up his pedigree. Fingers crossed, we have made him a good offer and his international manager has said he has no problem with him dropping down a division.

"We have met Jonatan and everything was positive - but now we need a timescale. We have made it clear that we need to see him out on the pitch.

"The deal is all in place and he is not hanging on for more money, he is just weighing up his options."

Although Grady would not be drawn on the names of potential targets or which players he might make available to other clubs, he did confirm that finding players is a '24/7' job for a manager during the transfer window.

However, he feels that this round-the-clock task is greatly benefited by the number of contacts he and Allan McManus have built up over their careers.

Grady said: "I am lucky to have built up a lot of contacts in the game, be they agents, managers, players or ex-players both here and down south.

"Add to that Allan's contacts and you have a good group of names there. Sometimes it's a case of knowing someone who knows someone else and following a kind of paper trail.

"For example, I know Owen Coyle and was in contact regarding taking some Burnley players on loan but then he moved to Bolton.

"Maybe we could get some players from Bolton but I think Owen is still assessing his squad there!

"We are also good friends with Malky Mackay at Watford. It could be a case of taking young, hungry players from bigger teams to get some competitive action. Rob Earnshaw came to Morton as a youngster to get some experience. Something could even happen outside of the window with players who don't have a club."

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This article appeared in Greenock Telegraph 28 Jan 10

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