Daryl McMahon insists Ebbsfleet will not be held to ransom in the transfer market.

Fleet agreed to sign James Alabi from Tranmere but that deal is now off and McMahon is looking elsewhere for striking options.

Misconceptions about the club’s playing budget are making the manager’s life difficult and McMahon has spoken out to set the record straight.

He said: “One of our players, who played on Saturday – I’m not going to name him because I’ll embarrass him – and who’s been at the club as long as I’ve been manager, has taken a 60% pay cut to stay at the club this season.

“We’ve not said that publicly but I’ll say it now.

“The perception around the club is wrong and me and (vice-chairman) Dean Pooley will try to change it and bring the right people in.

“We’re not getting held to ransom because we’re not signing Ronaldo and Messi.

“People are talking about ridiculous figures, ‘we hear he earns this and he earns that’ and they don’t. Sometimes they don’t believe you for whatever reason and there’s nothing we can do about that.

“All we can do is try to sign the right people for the right reasons.

“If that means we don’t get certain people in for certain reasons, so
be it.

“I’ve got some terrific players at the club, people coming back, people getting fitter and we’ll go with what we’ve got.

“Darren McQueen won’t be a million miles away, probably six weeks to two months. It will be great to get him back on the pitch before the season finishes. We’ve missed him, his pace, he’s an out ball and we’ll get Bradley Bubb a little bit fitter.”

McMahon confirmed he was keen to sign one or two forward players to freshen up the squad with Fleet five points off the National League play-offs – but he won’t pay over the odds.

He said: “A lot’s said about us, that we’ve got extortionate amounts of money which we don’t actually have.

“People are asking for silly money but I’m not going to do it. If it costs us a couple of games along the way, so be it.

“I want to build a club. I signed a five-year contract in the summer and I’m looking long-term for the right people at this club.

“We’ve had to move people out to free some money up to bring fresh blood in and we’ll keep looking.

“But the goalposts move hourly. You think you’ve got someone done and it doesn’t happen. We’ll keep on the phone and see what we can get.”