WHEN we got into League 1, it was always going to be difficult to maintain that position.

We found ourselves on a downward path into League 2 and sometimes it is hard to stop.

Cheltenham and Crewe have both found it difficult and, to a lesser extent, so have Northampton.

All three of those clubs are bigger than us and so it was always going to be a challenging year.

In trying to recruit players, four criteria spring to mind immediately: money, facilities, potential and location.

As a club, we don’t really score that highly in any of them.

The higher a club is placed, the more difficult it is to recruit the calibre and quality of player that is required to compete at that level.

It is getting harder because a lot of clubs have stopped running reserve teams. So it is difficult to get to see reserve players as much as you used to be able to.

Even if a club runs a reserve team, young players often only play 12 or 14 games in a season which is no preparation for first-team football.

So the gambles when you do take on younger players become more exaggerated.

Over the past two or three weeks, I have tried to recruit quite a number of players and found the way blocked for many reasons.

Probably two or three of the above reasons are the main ones.

There are certain things you cannot change and I am well aware that I have to work within certain parameters.

I accept that but it does not alter the facts.

We automatically begin our search for players within a certain geographic area.

West Bromwich Albion, Birmingham, Aston Villa, Coventry, Bristol Rovers and City and Cardiff are obvious clubs where we would take a first look.

But I have brought in others – Jon Godsmark from Newcastle for example – but that adds its own difficulties with the geographical differences.

The geography is not insurmountable but does makes things difficult – you find that a player in the London area, for example, who is available for loan has lots of Blue Square Premier and League 2 clubs nearby who get first look.

You just have to keep plugging away and hope that something works out.

When you show a player around your ground, the first impression is bound to make a difference, too.

We had a player over recently from France.

He flew in and came straight to the Birmingham City training ground and played in a friendly against Birmingham there.

He played the whole game and I had a chat with him afterwards – everything seemed right.

On first impression, he seemed a decent player. That was on the Monday and he was due to come down here on the following day – he came to the ground and promptly disappeared.

He said it was not the type of place he wanted to be at.

We can only speculate as to why as he had seemed perfectly happy on the Monday.

Players sometimes have unreasonable expectations – someone going out from a Premiership club would expect to get a club in the Championship and so on down the order.

Of course, the reality is very different but it is difficult to persuade some young players to drop down several levels when they are comfortable where they are – and they don’t have to.

It becomes different, of course, when they are released but then often, changing the mentality to play at a different level with different facilities - and with their comfort zone being challenged - adds other problems for them.

Some rise to the challenge but a lot do not.

Attitude is a massive thing and, when players are wrapped up in cotton wool from an early age, the move from a big club to a smaller one is sometimes a culture shock.

There is a theory that you are better off getting players who have come up from non-league because they have been playing men’s, competitive football; they are used to the challenges and the knocks.

Who is to say that is wrong – if a player can play, he can play, whatever his level.

Moving up can be a chance and a challenge and if they have that competitive attitude and spirit then they will continue to strive to improve. But, you flip the coin over and ask why they are in non-league in the first place.

Anyway, in a week’s time the window for emergency loans opens and the search for players will go on.