LOMAS ON STAGS: Relief to hear Rose is staying put

Here we are in the midst of the January transfer window with Rose top scorer and catching the eye of bigger clubs.

I was fully expecting Stags would be battling a bid from above and we know every player has his price and that League One clubs are sniffing around.

So, in my mind, briefly, I thought we might have seen Rose’s last game in a Stags shirt with Steve Evans then left to frantically try to spend the money on a replacement or two.

So what a relief to hear Rose is extending his stay here instead.

ROSE SIGNS NEW DEAL - FULL STORYHe is the first ‘signing’ in the window – and he is a crucial one.

Stags know his value and by persuading him to stay, it’s a real coup for them.

Rose fully deserves his new deal. Evans said pre-season he could score 20 goals and Rose is well on his way to doing that.

Supporters are desperate to see a new face or two through the door before the window slams shut at 11pm next Wednesday.

But, in the meantime, they can celebrate Rose’s decision to sign on the dotted line and stay in the trenches to try to help get Stags into League One.

However, as much as he publicly says he is happy with what he’s got if no one else can be signed, you can bet that in private Stags boss Steve Evans is desperate for two or three new faces.

Football can move very quickly and it would only take bad news from Jacob Mellis’ scan result this week, a change of heart from Oxford United over the loan of Kane Hemmings and/or a couple of knocks in what will be another physical encounter at Morecambe this Saturday for Stags’ season to start crashing down around them.

One defeat in 15 League Two games shows how well Evans has recruited and then knitted together his current side.

The way they twice came from behind to win at the death last weekend against Cheltenham speaks absolute volumes for their tenacity and belief

It is a very talented squad but one of the smaller ones up there in the mix.

I can still see us all sat round the radio/computers at 10.45 next Wednesday evening and Evans pulling a rabbit or two out the hat at the last minute!

Whoever he signs or whatever he does you can bet it won’t go down well with a small number of ‘fans’ sitting near the dug-outs.

I find it incredible that Stags have lost once in 15 League games, sit two points off the play-offs and on Saturday won an absolute thriller 3-2 against Cheltenham at the death – and yet Evans was too upset to come and speak to the press afterwards after nasty abuse aimed at his bench.

I have said this recently and I say it again – this is a highly experienced manager used to getting stick. So the way these ‘boo boys’ are behaving is well above the norm, unreasonable and downright upsetting.

It sounds like Paul Raynor is getting the worst of it, but Evans is upset that Raynor deserves none of it.

I would be gobsmacked if Evans and Raynor walked away from a project which is going so well – yes, it really is going well ‘boo boys’!

But you can only take so much in any walk of life and these guys are busting a gut to get Stags into League One as soon as possible.

This season looks set to be the best chance the club has had since that Millennium Stadium final heartbreak at Cardiff in 2004.

So it’s annoying to see a difficult task made harder by the behaviour of a tiny minority.

I am sure the rest of the stadium would happily have a whip-round to buy them something else to do on a Saturday afternoon.

Football fans – as always – pay their money and deserve an opinion.

But, when things are going well, those opinions really should be good ones.

In the meantime, let’s celebrate Rose’s decision to stay and look forward to seeing who clambers in through the window to join him before it closes.