Hardy said “We do need to trim the squad in January, but we’ve also got to trim it so we can bring in some new players.
“Neal has not told me he wants to strengthen the squad, but he needs to get to know the players here first.
“When things weren’t going right with Harry, that I said in a board meeting, that if we made a change then we needed to give the manager six weeks before Christmas in order to make a true assessment of the players.
“There would have been no point making a change before Christmas, going straight into a window and staggering from crisis to crisis.
“Neal needs six weeks to work with the players and those who are out of favour might be starting come January.
“He may see something in them that really appeals to him.”