MANAGING director Andrew Casson has promised transfer activity at Barrow AFC in January – though how much is still to be determined.

The Bluebirds MD expects both loan moves and permanent transfers to be completed in the new year, when the transfer window opens for Football League clubs.

Loan deals for Chris Clements, Jimmy Dunne, Lewis Walters and Calum Macdonald will all expire during the month, with talks having already taken place with Premier League Burnley over an extension to Dunne’s stay.

The possibility that one or more of the quartet will not remain at Holker Street means AFC will look at other loan signings to fill those gaps, and Casson said: “There is definitely going to be some activity. As everyone knows, come the first weekend in January, as of now the loans will be up on Chris Clements, Jimmy Dunne, Lewis and Calum Macdonald. They will be four guys, if you don’t get to keep all of them for whatever reason, that you would be looking to replace them at the very least.

“There will definitely be some activity. Whether or not it is significant, will depend on everyone’s definition of significant.

“The management, myself and the chairman are in agreement that this team have enough talent to not be relegated, to finish somewhere in that 16th to eighth window depending on a bit of luck and things like that.

“It’s about making smart recruitment decisions, and not necessarily spending money because you want someone in for the next four or five months.”

While loans are are all-but certain, Casson also acknowledged the need to make permanent moves, especially to avoid a repeat of last season, when AFC had more loan players than the five they were allowed to field in any one game.

Such moves would also help the club begin to build for next season, and prevent the need for a complete squad overhaul come the summer, as happened following the last campaign.

“There’s going to have to be some recruitment of our own players, so we are going to have to keep looking for those like – and it is a cliché to keep using his example – Jordan Williams,” added Casson. “He is the perfect example; find a guy who you think can make the jump, give them a bit of a shot, and see if he turns into something. If he does, then you have locked down the position for next season, and if he doesn’t you haven’t lost anything in giving him a shot.

“As we are all aware, a lot of the problems from this season are from going into July with a 90 per cent new squad. Using the 22-man model, we’d like to get to the point where 30 or 40 per cent of the squad you would like to retain – whether they want to sign new deals is up to them, but you would like to have eight, nine, 10 guys who are either front-line starters or squad players for a promotion-contending squad at this level.”

Asked if the club wanted to avoid following the route of other teams who have unexpectedly found themselves in the lower reaches of the table and went out to buy in player after player to attempt to secure safety, he added: “You can never say never.

“If we go and have two or three injuries and lose all of the next four or five games, things may change if we think that a bunch of the team are not performing.

“But with the way they’ve been performing in the last five or six weeks, the change in mentality, the change in energy levels, I’m more than confident that the 22 we have on board right now are certainly good enough.

“Depending on how the loans go, we would be looking to make replacements and upgrades on those.

“That works out, because that’s two defenders and two midfielders, which were always the two positions we really needed to strengthen – that’s why you have loan players.”