Andy Pilley on Fleetwood Town transfer embargo: I acted in club's best interests and would make same decision again

After this limited the size of the Fleetwood's squad for 2021/22, the club's major injury problems have resulted in a battle at the wrong end of League One.

Chairman Pilley maintains he acted purely in the best interests of his club and would make the same decisions again.

Town are among eight EFL clubs hit by an embargo this season. In Town's case it prevents the club paying transfer fees for players and sets limits on player wages.

Explaining the situation on the club website, Pilley said: "The embargo is something which was offered to all Football League clubs and there are consequences in return for taking a reasonable amount of money up front.

“We were advanced two million pounds and given that we are operating in strange times - we have the energy price crisis, which affects my core business - it felt like the right thing to do to make sure there was enough working capital within the football club.

The consequence of that is that we’re only allowed 22 players. We still had a reasonable budget that I felt at the very least would get us halfway up the league.

Now we have been annihilated with injuries and that is the reason why we are where we are in the league table, but at the time it felt like the right thing to do. If I had my time again, I still would take that.

“It’s something that expires at the end of this season. We’re back to normal after April 2022 but again I make no apologies for making those big calls.

“It’s my job to do what I consider is best for this football club. What I must do is make sure that it’s always got enough money to pay its obligations and to put a decent team out.

It’s my belief it was the right thing to do.”

Pilley reckoned without the injuries which have beset this reduced squad but says that issue could not have been foreseen.

Describing this season's injury list as the worst he has known in his 18 years at the helm, the chairman added: “This is all new territory for me as a football club owner. I’ve never known the football club to be in the relegation zone, so I don’t like it one little bit. It feels like events conspired against us.

“We made the decision prior to the start of the season that we’d go with a limited squad. We felt it was within the best interest of the football club to do that and in any normal season we would have been fine but we've got eight or nine key players missing.

“We’ve got to roll our sleeves up, we’ve got to get stuck in and drag the club up the table. I’m confident we’ll be sitting halfway up the table before long.

“Of course I’m going to shuffle the pack in January, and we’re starting to see some young players coming through and really showing what they can do.”

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