Blackpool manager Ian Holloway has revealed he missed out on David Nugent because the striker would not answer his telephone.
Holloway claims the Seasiders managed to agree a deal with Portsmouth for Nugent but could not reach the former England international on transfer deadline day to wrap it up.
He said: “If the player hadn’t gone missing we’d have had David Nugent.
“With 20 minutes to go we had Nugent signed on, but no-one could locate him so he couldn’t sign his contract and it all fell through.
“So that’s one that wriggled out of the net. But it happens.
“I thought he was one that was worth trying to get, so because of that we put some other deals on hold.
“Nugent was the main one we targeted. We didn’t miss many, but unfortunately that was one we did and it wasn’t possible to get a back-up with 20 minutes left.”