IT has been another very positive week for the club with a decent performance against Barnsley and then a couple of new faces arriving.

From a manager’s perspective, deadline day is both exciting and infuriating!

The transfer window is a month, not a few hours, and we had already strengthened what we had with Jordan Graham, Ahmed Kashi and Mark Sykes all coming in.

Fans have taken to Jordan again, and rightly so because he has been excellent.

Mark and Kashi – I know it’s his surname, he’s just ‘Kashi’ to everyone – will get their chance at some stage. Even them just being here has added competition- John Mousinho was man of the match on Tuesday.

Cameron Brannagan and James Henry have also been playing really well, knowing there are players pushing them for their places, while Samir Carruthers is now fully fit too and desperate to make up for lost time.

Jerome Sinclair and Jonte Smith will provide similar competition for Jamie Mackie up front, and I think we look in good shape right now.

Tiger has backed us, which I thank him for, and now it is up to us to build on good results against Portsmouth and Barnsley and start climbing the table.

Hopefully that starts at Burton today, but the weather will come into play.

Burton have done all they can to get the game on and in Nigel Clough have a manager with fantastic experience and integrity.

We have trained well this week, although there’s always going to be a bit of flexibility in these conditions where we can use a 3G pitch or get into a dome to train indoors.

That’s part and parcel of a long winter season and we will prepare properly.

By three o’clock we’ll be ready to give it our all and hopefully give our fans something to cheer about.

I hate to think how many hours I have spent on the phone this week because of deadline day.

I was wondering how to explain it in simple terms and I guess it’s like being in a chain to buy a house.

Only there are about twenty other links in the chain and other people trying to join it all the time!

In a way it is good to have it all settled but don’t be fooled – the minute the window closed we were in contact with players and planning ahead for the summer.

You never stop doing that – never stop planning, watching games, and working to improve what you have.

It is very hard to get it right first time, you need two or three windows before you feel that the team is yours.

But I believe we are on the right track and, as I said right at the start, it has been a positive week for Oxford United.