Stags hunt target man after Rose capture

After landing a natural poacher in Bury's Danny Rose yesterday, Mansfield Town will today continue their hunt for a target man to complete their strikeforce for next season.

Boss Adam Murray fought off competition from clubs at the top end of League One to sign Rose yesterday and likened his new signing to former Stags legend Chris Greeenacre.

Now Murray will try to land a traditional centre forward, saying: “We’ve crossed one off our list today; the deal wasn’t right.

“We’ve got a handful now that we’re focussing on to get that final piece of the attacking threat that we need and then we go on to the next targets around the pitch.

“We do everything we can at this club on value. We make sure that every penny spent we get the value for, I think we’ve got that with Danny.

“He’s a poacher – I think the last proper, real poacher we had was, in my days, (Chris) Greenacre.

“He’s of that ilk in terms of the 18-yard box and I think when you look at people like Matt Green and Adi Yussuf, they’re very powerful, very quick and both finishers in their own category of a centre forward.

“Danny is a finisher as well, but he is a different category of striker. It gives us different weapons to use. But we’re still on the look-out for one more in that area which again will be a different weapon.

“When you are going into war you need as bigger choice of weapons that you can get to kill all kinds of opposition.

“Danny’s someone that we feel can play with the strikers we’ve got already, he can play in different formations, but we think that putting certain ingredients together will be very beneficial for us and we still want to add one more part to that jigsaw.”

Paying an undisclosed fee for as hot a League One property as Rose was a real statement of intention for Mansfield.

“First and foremost Danny is someone who has been on our list for a while,” said Murray.

“We enquired about him in January. At that time he was in and out of the Bury team but still felt he could get in their team and cement a place there.

“He obviously wanted to stay in League One and prove himself there. I know he had a few offers from the top end of League One to ply his trade.

“It took a long time and our chief executive did a lot of work to get it over the line. But we are chuffed to bits.

“I think Danny’s someone who the football club hasn’t had for a long time in the type of striker he is.

“He’s a ‘fox in the box’, he’s got tremendous movement – he’s not the biggest player but he’s got good pace, he’s got great intelligence and his link-up play is very good.

“He’s incredible in the air, which you wouldn’t imagine for someone of his stature, and he scores goals.

“Danny is a natural finisher and I think he’ll give us something extra and will hopefully take us to another level of progression.”

Murray continued: “He’s probably not had the consistent run of games last season that he would have hoped. We knew that and we knew he still had another year left at Bury. We also knew there was a lot of interest in him in January as well.

“So we’ve done very well to capture his signature.

“The chief exec (Carolyn Radford) and the chairman (John Radford) have been top drawer with this one – we’ve gone ‘over and above’ with this one.

“His all-round play is very good, his link-up play is very good. His intelligence in the 18-yard box is very good. He senses opportunities. He anticipates where the ball is going to land – you can’t coach that. It is a natural instinct.

“It will get the best out of the strikers we’ve already got. Matt Green was superb last season and this signing will help him.

“Adi we have seen glimpses of and he can and will get better. The standard of Danny’s finishing will bring these guys on.

“We’ve got a little bit of everything now. We’re looking for a specific type.

“We have promoted Zayn (Hakeem) to the first team squad next season and h now has strikers in front of him that are exceptional to learn from.

“With the striker coach we’ve got in Karl (Hawley) they won’t have a better mentor.”

Murray is convinced Rose can play at Championship level and that he could make a big name for himself at Mansfield.

“Dan is 22, so he’s still a baby, but he’s already had a great career in terms of what he’s done and the levels he’s gone through,” said Murray.

“He’s had a couple of transfers where he’s been bought, which speaks volumes for players, I think.

“I think at the age he’s at, he has the potential to ‘go again’. He’s someone who I believe could easily play in the Championship.

“I know there’s been a lot of interest in him over the last 12 months and I think that if we can put a structure around him and I think the players who he’ll be playing with, if we get the potential out of him, he could be a very big signing for the football club and one, possibly, that will make a big name for himself.”