A bit of a lower-league merry-go-round at Crawley

Peterborough United could have sparked a late transfer frenzy as they have lodged a double bid at the final hour for a pair of Crawley Town’s promotion chasing squad. Boss Darren Ferguson has swash-buckled in with a £1.9 million bid for striker Tyrone Barnett and central defender Kyle Mcfadzean, who have both been central to the Crawley team’s admirable FA Cup run and successful League Two campaign to date.

It is understood that this has been lodged to test the resolve of the Sussex club who have aimed to meet Football League rules on wages by selling their prized striker Matt Tubbs to Bournemouth for £800,000, but this double bid has been rejected.

Peterborough lie stranded in 17^th position in the championship and Barnett, scorer of 13 goals so far in league two, and rock-solid Macfadzean are seen as the ointment to the troubles at London Road.

Steve Evans, the ever-so-likeable manager of Crawley, has insisted that no more of his players will have to be sold following the departure of Tubbs but with his own club being active in the transfer market today, there could be some room in the departure lounge for these two players to pack their suitcases.

In the arrival section of Broadfield Road today however, in has come 24 year-old Blackpool striker Billy Clarke and Notts County’s 30 year old winger Karl Hawley who is an impressive force at this level. Pushing for promotion in third place, Crawley now look armed for the final assault on League One, provided of course they can keep Barnett and Macfadzean.

If Barnett does go, there could be a possibility of Evans reviving his interest in Frank Nouble after he rejected the chance of moving to the Red Devils, not Manchester United, earlier in the day. Nouble has seen his prospects limited himself as West Ham seem to be intent on signing every striker on the planet, and the moon, under Sam Allardyce.

However, according to a typically bullish Evans, there is no chance of either of them leaving, “We have also made it very clear to those clubs that no further players will be leaving us in this transfer window” he said, “the great news is that despite £1million-plus deals being offered to us our directors have stood strong and said no.”

Darren Ferguson is currently thinking different however and another bid is expected later. It could get very tasty between the Devils and the Posh

@AdamGray1250