Braintree Town manager Danny Cowley says he would like to have his Iron squad fully in place by the time they return for pre-season training on Thursday.

However, the Iron boss admits that is unlikely to happen as he is forced to play a waiting game to get the players he really wants for his first season in charge.

Danny and his brother and assistant manager Nicky Cowley are continuing to work hard to bring in new players – particularly a goalkeeper, a centre-half, a right-back and a right-sided midfielder – but they are having to be patient.

It is a quiet part of the summer for transfers, with plenty of Football League clubs not rushing to finalise their squads and that has a knock-down effect on clubs like Braintree about whether their own targets will be available or not.

Danny said: “We’ve been speaking to lots of players and have been working very hard, but things are pretty quiet to be honest.

“We are continually working on things, but it’s a time of the summer when a lot of Football League players are on holiday so it does go a bit quiet.

“It’s still a case of having to be patient while still keeping your finger on the pulse so that you’re aware of what is happening and ready to move when things do drop into place.

“There’s a chain running all the way up the league and when it starts to move at the top, we have to be ready.

“I think that may be the case all the way through pre-season as well.

“We have a clear recruitment strategy that we use and we’re looking to get the right balance in the squad.

“We know the areas we need and the characters and attributes that we need from those players.

“Yes, we’d like them in by the time we return on the 25th (of June) in an ideal world as every manager wants to work with their entire squad through the whole of pre-season.

“We’re no different as we believe in what we are doing, but it’s not an ideal world so we are having to be patient and we are trying to make sure we get what we want.”