Alex Morris says it was always his intention ‘to set his targets high’ during the summer transfer window.

The Alex boss is delighted to have achieved some early business already with the signings of midfielder Conor Thomas and our former defender, Kelvin Mellor, and he admits that he is ‘further down the road with some than others’ as he continues to look to reshape his team after succeeding David Artell on a permanent basis.

Morris told the club’s official website: “We set our targets high in regards to who we want to bring in and you have to keep a positive mindset because you do get setbacks and frustrations along the way.

“May is renowned for being a slow month in regards to actually signing players, so we are pleased to have signed the two we have so early on.

“It is still very early on in the process and we continue to speak to agents, representatives and players. You are still allowed to speak to them believe it or not!

“We are further down the road with some than others and we have an extensive list to work on, so if we do receive a negative set-back for whatever reason we can quickly move on to a new one.”