Buying Brits for Millwall means I won’t be fooled by dodgy imports

All three new players — Jason Puncheon, Calvin Andrew and Josh McQuoid — come from English clubs and I make no apology for admitting the foreign market is not for me. We don't have the infrastructure yet to look at the continental scene.

You get all sorts of foreign agents coming on, recommending players you have no way of checking out thoroughly unless you have the staff to do it. After all, these agents are trying to get players out of their clubs because they aren't doing so well.

With our limited infrastructure, having just come up from League One, I prefer to let my own eyes and ears be the judge of a player. And, of course, my valued staff who help. But we can't cover the continent thoroughly so I don't want to risk taking an unsuitable player.

I've backed my own judgement with Puncheon, Andrew and McQuoid, all forward players who can help us bump up our scoring record.

Perhaps the most interesting signing is young McQuoid, who wasn't even a striker at the start of the season, that is until Bournemouth sold Brett Pitman to Bristol City. They tried out Josh and he clicked. I saw him and decided to get in early. It was something of a gamble but I'm pretty sure we have a naturally talented striker on our hands now.

It was a question of going down and looking at him in the flesh, not having to go by some streaky video sent in by an agent from a foreign country.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not some little Britisher who doesn't trust Johnny Foreigner. When we develop as a club and are able to take on more scouting staff I would be interested in the market overseas. But for now I'll go by what I can see and what my trusted staff can tell me.

I am also keen on picking off young players who may have been unlucky not to have made it at bigger clubs. It's interesting that fewer and fewer top-flight sides go searching in the lower divisions or non‑League for talent, preferring to go abroad.

From Under-12s upwards we have examples of boys who have been let go by so‑called bigger clubs and, if they have the hunger and desire, we will give them a chance to develop.

We are particularly pleased with the signing of our central midfielder Liam Trotter. He didn't quite make it at Ipswich but came here in the summer with a hunger to prove himself and has been successful.

As for the players we already have who are maybe being looked at by others for a January bid, I can tell them not to waste their time. I didn't know our winger James Henry was being linked to several clubs and I'm not surprised after his fine goal in our 3-0 win over Scunthorpe.

We are looking to establish ourselves at this level and James is one we are looking to progress with. I've not had any offers and, anyway, he signed a three-year deal when he joined in the summer after being here on loan.

Once again, he's one we looked at with our own eyes when he was at Reading. We were able to make our own judgement and learn all we needed to know about his background. Much safer than a dodgy video any day.

So we'll stay British for now and see how we go.