When Alan Knill left Glanford Park on Tuesday, it was no doubt with a distinct feeling of deja vu.

Forget a meeting with the media - which featured several quotes of 'I keep saying the same old thing' with reference to the Iron's ability to play enterprising football, without being able to buy a win - this particular familiarity surrounded a likely knockback in the transfer market.

Knill spent the first half of his first summer in charge of Scunthorpe United tracking Manchester United striker Nicky Ajose, on the back of his defence-distressing displays for his Bury side last season.

Although never confident of being able to lure the 19-year-old to North Lincolnshire, he was hopeful. But unfortunately for the Iron, it was a chase that ended in defeat.

Blood was thicker than water, but money also spoke. Ajose was sold to Championship new boys Peterborough United for £300,000 as the Bury-born front man swapped potential team talks from Fergie Snr to Fergie Jnr.

Last week, it was a scenario Knill feared he was about to relive all over again.

Fit again following a month sidelined with a hamstring problem, Ajose was frustrated at his new position further down the Posh pecking order.

It was at that stage, little more than a week ago, the United manager learned of his potential availability. Immediately the wheels were put in motion to resurrect a marquee deal.

Knill has made no secret of the fact he is working within a tight financial framework at Glanford Park.

That's not done to attempt to embarrass the Iron board into thrusting more scrunched up notes into his transfer kitty, it's because it's a fact. The Iron manager has always maintained honesty is the best policy.

For the past 10 days he has spoken of his desire to add to his attacking options, but to do that he had to move people on.

When an offer came in to take Michael Nelson on loan, thought to be from Knill's former club Bury, things had started to click into place.

But the player's decision to reject said move seemingly pulled the rug from underneath Ajose's chance to renew acquaintances with the Iron management team.

For the second time in four months, it looked like the England youth international would become the one that got away.

But a phone call to Iron chairman Steve Wharton changed all that - and reminded his manager why he had accepted the opportunity rebuild flagging Scunthorpe's fortunes.

"The chances were we were going to lose out on Nicky, but once I said that to the board, the chairman said 'we'll go and get him'," Knill explained, when asked how he'd managed to recruit without the anticipated departure.

"When it came up on Wednesday and the chairman said we'd done the deal, I was delighted.

"It's honestly so different for me. I rang the staff and told them the news and they were like 'it's a lot different here'. That's why we came."

Despite criticism from some quarters, no matter what your opinion on the Iron chairman, Wharton has always backed his managers.

To both his and the club's detriment, he allowed Ian Baraclough to bring in nine new faces during January.

Some, it quickly became evident, were deals of desperation. But they were acts nonetheless performed in support of the man charged with leading the club forward.

Iron purse strings may be tight, but they are clearly not closed.

And at least under Knill, who has been sanctioned cash to buy Jimmy Ryan and Damien Mozika, as well as recruiting six other new faces, be they on free transfers or loans, investment has been wise.

'Frustration' was a frequent word when I spoke to Ajose upon his arrival at Glanford Park, but Knill sees the exact same player now as when he was netting 13 times in 28 league games at Bury.

"I don't think it's affected Nicky," was his response when asked about whether there were any tell-tale signs of Ajose's tough few months at London Road.

"Talking to him he just seems like the same lad.

"I'm hopeful he's going to be great for us. He flourished at Bury and hopefully he'll flourish here."

"Young players get so down on themselves when they get an injury.

"I tell them 'in another 12 years, you'll have had worse times than this so get over it and get on with it'.

"Peterborough paid quite a bit of money for him and his wages are pretty big. The expectation lumped on his shoulders is huge and that can be difficult, especially when you've got to fill Craig Mackail-Smith's boots.

"Obviously it hasn't worked straight away, but with a little bit of nurturing and a little bit of love I think he'll get there."

Knill will certainly provide the love.

His lengthy pursuit of Ajose shows how highly he rates the versatile front man and the job he can fulfil at Glanford Park.

The iron chief is quick to point out his newest recruit is far from the 'finished article'.

But there is an honesty about Ajose's personality that Knill can clearly identify with, even though, it seems, they don't always share the same opinion.

"He came into League Two and clicked really well with Ryan Lowe. They had a really good partnership, but playing the same sort of way we do," says the United boss of the pair's time together at Gigg Lane.

"When the ball was on the floor his mobility and cleverness made it difficult for the opposition.

"He's a real studier, as most of the young players are these days.

"Me and the staff are watching football 24/7, but the young players really watch it.

"We used to work with him and say 'this is what Rooney does', because it's easier to paint a picture when they know the player, and he took it all on board really well.

"He came a little bit deep at first, so we told him where he was dangerous – at the top of the pitch.

"We told him we were happy for him to come and link up play, but he had to be at the top end of the pitch when the ball was around there.

"Once he was in there, some of his finishes were top drawer.

"On the bench we'd say 'shoot', but no, he goes around the keeper. It was brilliant.

"He's got a lot of attributes I like, but he's really single-minded.

"He's got an opinion, and sometimes you'd go 'who does he think he is?', but the one thing he always did was deliver on the pitch.

"We all believe that one day he'll be a Championship player, maybe more."

A chat with Ajose, who has been capped by his country at Under-16 and Under-17 level makes it easy to understand exactly where Knill is coming from when it comes to the striker's character.

Polite and to the point, there is a clear degree of self-confidence about the 19-year-old who shares his current gaffer's outlook on his career.

Leaving the United of Manchester for the one of Peterborough is as big a step out of your comfort zone as you'll find from a player swapping the Premier League for the Championship, but it's one by which Ajose has not been daunted.

"I had a great upbringing at Man United, I'd been there 10 or 11 years, but sometimes you have to move on to progress your career," he explained on that subject.

"That's what I think I've done.

"I got offers from the Championship and when an offer like that presents itself I think it would have been really silly to turn it down.

"The injury was unfortunate, but I want to do well here and go back there.

"I can do it in the Championship, I've no doubts about that."

Ajose's assessment of his own game is equally as blunt: "I like to score and create goals. It's as simple as that."

Do that at Glanford Park and he has the potential to be the final brick in the wall Knill has been building since seeing the Iron's pride pretty much bulldozed by an embarrassing 6-0 rout at Norwich City in April in his first match in charge.

If Ajose starts against Yeovil Town this afternoon, for the first time in his five months at the helm, the spine of the Scunthorpe team will have been assembled by Knill.

"I hope he's the final piece of the jigsaw, but in football you never know," added the United manager.

"It is though a good bit of business for us and the most encouraging thing is that in spite of our league position we're still attracting decent players.

"Clubs are still saying 'go play for them, because they'll do well for you'."

It's now over to Ajose, and whoever else Knill is sanctioned to spend money on, to back up that faith.