PNE's business is done says Grayson

Grayson says there will be no incoming or outgoing business done by the Lilywhites in the run-up to tonight's 11pm deadline.

Speaking at the Springfields training ground this morning, Grayson expressed himself happy with the deals done in January.

He admitted that adding a striker to the squad was an avenue but the players they wanted were not available or fell outside of the budget.

Grayson said: "There will be no business done at this football club today (Monday).

"People might be disappointed that we aren't getting involved on a day that it is a big pantomime as such on the television.

"But we won't be doing any ins or outs today.

"We did all our work in the early part of the window which we always said we wanted to get done.

"We got five deals done - Adam Reach's loan from Middlesbrough got extended, we had the goalkeeper situation and then we've brought in Ben Pearson, Callum Robinson and Liam Grimshaw.

"We have looked at the situation between myself, the owner and Peter Ridsdale, asking do we need to go the line of bringing other players in?

"Having five loan players in already means we aren't going to go into the loan market because that would mean leaving someone out of the 18 on a matchday.

"We have looked at the situation of signing players permanently for money and we have a certain valuation of the players we have looked at - other clubs have decided those valuations weren't acceptable.

"We are not going to spend money for the sake of it, we are not going to bring players in for the sake of it because I have a good group here already who have done exceptionally well.

"Yes, we could probably have done with another striker to give us some more depth to the squad but have Joe Garner, Eoin Doyle, Jordan Hugill, while Callum Robinson can play as a striker - Daniel Johnson can play as a No.10, Paul Gallagher can.

"We would love to have a few more goals in the locker and another striker but this group has done really well so far.

"But I don't want to be detrimental to the squad and bring someone in who we don't think is going to be good enough and also hinder the progress of some of our younger players who have waited patiently.

"Over the next few weeks, Jordan Hugill will get a chance, Robinson will get a lot more game time.

"Sometimes you have to stick with those players rather than bring in someone just for the sake of it, wasting money which you could otherwise use in the future."

Grayson said there had to be some kind of realism to how much money North End could spend in the transfer market.

"It is where we are as a football club, we knew where we were going to be in the summer with the budget and what we had to spend," he said.

"Whenever we have gone out and got players, the owner has been very helpful.

"This particular day and the last few days of the window are a pantomime, some of the names which you get linked with are ridiculous.

"In the last 24/48 hours, I saw some people say that David Nugent was coming back here.

"Not a chance were we going to get anywhere near bringing Nugent back on his wages and why would Middlesbrough, up at the top of the division, want to get rid of a body for the sake of three or four months?

"We have spent money wisely this season, brought in young players who are hungry to do well and develop.

"It will be interesting to see tonight how many deals are done rather than how many deals people think are going to be done."