Institute boss Brian Donaghey aiming for players that will bring the X Factor

Donaghey has his budget in place for next season and he’s already holding talks with possible new arrivals and is also speaking to players from the current ’Stute squad about re-signing for the 2021/22 campaign. However, he also concedes that a few players are likely to leave the club in the coming weeks.

“I have my budget and because of that unfortunately we’ll have a few casualties as well, no matter how good they have been and how much they have done to get us over the line, but I’m definitely not celebrating finishing fourth bottom, as it’s not an achievement for a club like Institute,” he insisted. “Yes in the interim period I’m proud to have done that but going forward I don’t know if I could put another year in like I did last year.

“I definitely want us challenging, winning a lot more games, being a lot more competitive, having a good steely determination and a big strong squad that can cope with the problems and the games that the Championship brings.”

The ex-Cliftonville number two admits he doesn’t want to put a number on how many new faces will be at the Brandywell next season, but he was quick to point out that whoever joins the club they will be quality additions.

“It depends who we get in and I don’t want to put a number on how many players we sign,” he explained. “I would probably like five or six players but that’s me being brutally honest, but five or six may not be obtainable. I’ll definitely go for quality over quantity.

“We’ll definitely target those types of players that we know that have the X-Factor and take us to a different level.

“It is a rebuilding process, I knew that once I came in. We have had maybe one transfer window and it has worked, so I’m hoping that the next one we improve again, but look it may take two or three transfer windows before you are happy, so because of that I’m definitely looking forward to the next transfer window.

“Look, the transfer window is really tough and it’s part of the job that I probably found the hardest. You’ll cast your net really wide and you might have 20 targets but you may only get three or four of them, but that’s just the nature of the game and something I have to get used to.”