SWINDON Town chairman Lee Power does not want to hang around in the transfer market this summer after conceding some of his ‘punts’ did not come off last season.

Power has proven himself a canny negotiator since taking over at the County Ground but he concedes some of the arrivals for the 2015-16 campaign were below-par.

Key players such as Massimo Luongo and Nathan Byrne were sold last summer, while the likes of Henrik Ojamaa and Momar Bangoura proved less than stellar signings.

Power admits he had to take a gamble on certain players late in the transfer window in an effort to bolster Town’s squad size and although he is keen to get deals done early this time, it is easier said than done.

“You start talking to people now and we have had various conversations before now, that’s the nature of football,” Power told BBC Wiltshire.

“Lads go on holiday and they sit and sometimes wait until the last minute because other offers come in.

“Of course we’d like to get everything done this week and all go away on holiday and be ready for the last week of June when the boys some back but it never works that way.

“I’m always optimistic. I was optimistic for the start of this season, it hasn’t worked out for a number of reasons.

“Anyone who sits and analyses it properly will see our first XI is as strong as anyone in this league and probably the mistakes which were made, the players that came in – no disrespect – it was probably a bit thin, a bit inexperienced and that’s the area that we need to improve on.

“There is a punt for every player that you bring in. You can only study what you see in front of you. You can’t get everything right, unfortunately. We try to but it doesn’t work like that.

“All we can try to do is get more right than wrong and I think we have done that since I have been at the club.

“You are working on deals all the time and you think you are going to get a deal done and you get let down at the last minute and you have still got a space to fill. It’s quite difficult, it’s a bit of a jungle, football, and it’s quite hard to navigate.”

Although Town were perceived as having a small squad last season, 39 different players made first-team appearances throughout the campaign.

Nine of those were loan players, a market on which Town have been heavily reliant on in recent years.

With rules over loanees changing for 2016-17, Power says the plan is to give Town head coach Luke Williams a bigger squad to work with.

“It’s well documented we’ve used the loan market to our advantage in the last couple of seasons but this year that’s all changed so there is a different focus on different areas and you have to run with a bigger squad this year,” said Power.

“It was a funny year with injuries. People were saying that the squad was thin, it can’t be too thin when you use 39 players.

“It just all fell at the wrong times, certain injuries, certain losses of players, and you have to bring these players in at the last minute when you haven’t planned for it.

“Luke’s view is that he wants to work with a tight squad but he realises that this year, because of the loan system, we are going to have to carry a bit of excess weight and a bit of baggage, and we just need to make sure that what we do have is of significant quality for next season to challenge.”