Plymouth Parkway manager Lee Hobbs says he is likely to sign a permanent goalkeeper this summer after feeling both the benefits and dangers of bringing in loanees.
After seeing Kyle Moore depart Bolitho Park in October, Hobbs swooped for Plymouth Argyle glovesman Adam Parkes, who was third-choice glovesman at Home Park, but when the Pilgrims lost their regular number one, Mike Cooper, to injury for the remainder of the season, Parkes was recalled by the Pilgrims at the start of February.
Hobbs then took Exeter City’s highly-rated youngster Harry Lee on loan and he performed superbly between the sticks for the Yellows. But when the Grecians lost one of their two goalkeepers, Gary Woodes, to injury, they too invoked a recall clause, leaving Hobbs without a recognised shot-stopper.
There was no doubting the quality of both Parkes, who has since been released by Argyle, and Lee, but their departures left Hobbs with a headache for the run-in as he had no recognised number one. Jack Arthur, Sam Borthwick, Jordan Duffey and Shaun Semmens were all dual-registered, though, and were able to see out Parkway’s season, but Hobbs knows it was a situation far from ideal.
Hobbs has made no secret of the fact he would love to take Lee back for the whole of the 2023/24 season at Bolitho Park, but it is not something he will consider – if the Grecians insist on a recall clause.
“It is always a bit of a risk, as you saw this season,” he said. “We had two goalkeepers recalled on us last year. We were lucky to have the quality of goalkeeper that we had in Adam Parkes and Harry Lee – and we know we got lucky with that calibre of goalkeeper – but there is an element of risk to it as well.
“Where it’s such a specialist position, I don’t know whether a permanent placement between the sticks is better than a loan and it is difficult with goalkeepers. Would I take Harry Lee back on loan? I would love to, but could he get recalled permanently two weeks later – and I am left looking for another goalkeeper? Yes.
“I need to know that my phone is not going to go off and I have that conversation and if I can’t get that clarity, then it causes me a problem. We got very lucky last season, but we also got bitten because Parkesy got recalled and then Harry got recalled and I was scrambling around in the last ten games where I had four or five different goalkeepers and that’s not right.”
Hobbs certainly used the loan market well last season with the likes of Parkes and Lee as well as Exeter’s 17-year-olds Harrison King, Pedro Borges (who went on to make five appearances for their first team) and Gabe Billington all getting game time at Bolitho Park.
That is a route he is likely to go down again, but after suffering with a ridiculous fixture backlog from the turn of the New Year, one thing Hobbs is insistent on is having more squad depth.
“Contact has been made (regarding loanees), but one thing that we came up short on last season was depth,” he said. “We put a lot of our eggs into certain baskets which meant that, financially, we weren’t able to have as big a squad as we would have liked, so this year, we are looking to have quantity over quality.
“When I say that, that doesn’t mean that we are signing players that aren’t of the level – that’s not what we are saying. We are signing players that are currently playing at the level, but are arguably costing us a little bit less than we were paying for certain individuals.
“We are looking to get a 17 man squad of permanents and we will look to exploit the loan market as and when we see fit for what we don’t manage to get during this period of recruitment.
“Obviously, they (pro clubs) have to get their own house on order before they start to let the young pros go out. Don’t get me wrong, I will monitor each football club carefully and will see what signings are being made etc etc, and when their house is in order and when they feel they are able to let players out, then hopefully we will be considered for the players that we have enquired about.”
Hobbs also confirmed that the club’s pre-season fixture programme has been finalised and they are due to announce full details soon.