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CHRIS KINNEAR has told any rival manager eyeing up a January move for Ricky Miller to forget the notion that Dover Athletic are a selling club and ordered Lincoln City counterpart Danny Cowley to keep his targets to himself.
Kinnear says they have no intention in cashing in on Miller in January with Forest Green Rovers heavily linked with another swoop five months after being knocked back.
Their title rivals Lincoln are another club known to be keen to prise the 15-goal forward from Crabble.
Boss Kinnear accepts the Whites aren’t flush and even revealed he is working without a contract. But the Dover manager says that doesn’t mean the Kent coast club will be selling the division’s top scorer, who has seven goals in his last three games, to anyone who wants him.
“I can’t say I’m worried about it,” said the former Margate manager. “What might happen is irrelevant really. We’re not looking to sell Ricky, that’s for sure. I think because they’ve seen probably our four best players leave over the summer we’re now seen as a selling club but we certainly aren’t that, not at all.
“He scored four against Braintree last Saturday and got another again last Tuesday and he’s done fantastically well.
“It hasn’t been like that all season, at the start we were leaving him out but we had a chat and told him he needed to do more for the team. He listened and he’s shown he is prepared to work.”
Kinnear had a dig at Lincoln boss Cowley who has a more open policy when discussing transfer targets than other National League bosses.
“I don’t see the need to say what he says about players he wants,” the Athletic manager said. “Why does he bother telling people? All of a sudden Lincoln want him, and him and him. I want Messi but you don’t hear me banging on about it!”
After bashing Burgess Hill, 5-0 in the FA Cup, and Braintree by six last weekend Kinnear says there is plenty more to come from his team.
“We’ve done well in the last few weeks, we’ve improved and it’s good to watch – but we’re not one of those clubs who gets too excited when we are winning or too down when we’re losing. You’ve got to remember Chester put five past us and Gateshead four in October too!” he said.
“We lost a lot of players, important players, in the summer and we’re perhaps now seeing signs that we’re making the best of what we’ve replaced them with.”
