TWTD understands that Town are again looking to sign Nottingham Forest striker Dele Adebola. Chief scout Steve McCall and new coach Ian McParland were spotted watching the Nigerian in action at St Andrew’s on Tuesday as Forest were defeated 1-0 by Birmingham in the FA Cup.

The 34-year-old, previously tracked by Jim Magilton during his time as manager, joined Billy Davies’s club on a free transfer from Bristol City in the summer, having been named the Robins’ Player of the Year last season after scoring 10 goals. The 6ft 3in tall frontman turned down a new one-year deal at Ashton Gate to sign a two-year contract at the City Ground.

Since then the Lagos-born striker has been seen as a squad player, making nine starts and 16 sub appearances, scoring three goals. Forest currently have a surfeit of strikers and may well be willing to agree to either a permanent deal or a loan until the end of the season.

Adebola was brought up in Liverpool, having moved to England as a child, and as a youngster played in the same representative sides as Robbie Fowler.

A graduate of Crewe’s famous youth set-up, he made his senior debut for the Railwaymen in 1992/93 as a 17-year-old, subsequently spending time on loan at Bangor City and Northwich Victoria.

Birmingham ended Adebola’s stay at Gresty Road in 1998 when a £1 million fee took him to St Andrew’s. Having been on loan at Oldham during his time with the Midlanders, he joined Crystal Palace in 2002 on a free transfer.

After a year at Selhurst Park, Adebola moved on to Coventry on a free transfer, during which time Jim Magilton repeatedly attempted to bring him to Portman Road.

Spells on loan at Bradford and Burnley were followed by a permanent move to Bristol City in January 2008.

Adebola came close to winning caps with Nigeria earlier in his career having been named in their provisional squad for the African Nations Cup in 2000, but failing to make the cut.

Northern Ireland had previously been interested in recruiting him via the rule which allows players born outside the UK with British passports to play for any of the home nations, but Adebola declined the offer.

Meanwhile, defender Alex Bruce says he is disappointed that Bryan Klug is leaving the club, as revealed by TWTD last night: “We worked together for four years and had some great times. I owe a lot to him. You speak as you find and he was always very good to me."

Hungarian reports continue to link the Blues, Sheffield United, Coventry and Plymouth with left winger Peter Halmosi. The Hull midfielder was previously mentioned in connection with the Blues late last month.

Town are amongst a number of English clubs being linked with Republic of Ireland U16 international striker Michael Drennan. Aston Villa are said to be favourites to sign the Kilkenny-based youngster with the Blues, Manchester City and Sunderland also believed to be interested.

Elsewhere, former Blue Shefki Kuqi’s move from German side Koblenz to Swansea is reported to have broken down due to the Finnish international’s agent’s demands.

Swans chairman Huw Jenkins said: "[Manager] Paulo [Sousa] was keen on Kuqi, but I looked into that option and sometimes what is demanded comes nowhere near what we are prepared to offer. As things stand, the move is not going to happen."

Ex-Town boss George Burley is reported to have spoken to Kilmarnock regarding their manager’s job, but the role is said to have been offered to former Aberdeen boss Jimmy Calderwood.

Photo: Action Images

Boz581 added 07:10 - Jan 14 Bobbypetta may have a point......however, we really should be looking for a goal machine, but with the chances we are creating at the momment he may be able to do a job, realisticly we are not going to attract the type of player we are all craving. RK has been trying ever since he took over , look at what we have up front???????
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bluepeter added 07:39 - Jan 14 jesus I live next to your flat on the top floor of tower mill! Can you see the pitch from there?
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nobrain added 08:04 - Jan 14 Seems highly unlikely to me - just more paper speculation by a lazy journo....
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pabloc added 08:19 - Jan 14 no way we cant sign him,we are the blue army not dads army.
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moyardmadman added 08:28 - Jan 14 im only 45 still play every spring season for local st helens, abit of a beer belly ,,balding, dodgy left ankle , 100,000 a year and im yours roy scored8 goals in 10 games last year as agoal keeper /defender,,,,,,,,,,, phone mobile 4180544 789 cheers m,awaiting call
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chalkandcheese added 08:41 - Jan 14 Calm Down all, its just media hype again!!! why couldnt our scouts be looking at some fringe birmingham players ??????
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MaySixth added 09:12 - Jan 14 Stevie Wonder could see we need a striker with PACE
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cbower added 09:12 - Jan 14 Age is not the real issue here. Many of you have suggested Kevin Phillips as a short-term signing and he is of a similar age (more quality I admit). If there is any truth in the story then surely it would only be on-loan until the end of the season at the very most. Anything permanent would need to be at least a two year deal as that is what Adebola currently has at Forest and at his age he is not going to move for a lesser contract (and I think Keane would want to look for someone different in the summer anyway). BobbyPetta has a good point, as awkward as Adebola is, he could do a good job in the short term (certainly more passion than Stern John). However, I do not think it is necessarily the target man type we need. Pace up front is what the side currently lacks and midfield players getting beyond the strikers

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3wheeltractorboy added 09:15 - Jan 14 The FA will see this as a frivilious scouting mission and we will be told we have to buy Mr Blobby too........
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SwindonBlue added 09:17 - Jan 14 Did Gary McSheffrey play? I read a report a couple of days ago saying that he feared his days at Birmingham were numbered and he was considering a move to a Championship club. Or how about Nathan Tyson? I might be wrong but Idon't think he's in the Forest side regularly. Perhaps they are more realistic targets.
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FriskinPriskin1 added 09:35 - Jan 14 SwindonBlue - good call. My view is that we are looking at 'someone' else. Forest and Birmingham have plenty of players. Could we even be looking at a left back? Or Tyson...we keep saying John is a stop gap, why would we be looking to sign Abedola when he is even older?
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ITFC1985 added 09:40 - Jan 14 Lets just pray this is a horrific rumour, we do not need a striker like Adebola we need someone with abit of pace, we should go for Billy Sharp surely he would want to play for a better club than Doncaster? surely......
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devontractorboy added 09:42 - Jan 14 WickedBlue I think you mean =5, maths isn't my strong point though!! Just hope you're right about paper talk, Delia Abebola was on soccer am last week and he's had I think 13 clubs, he's too old and doesn't score enough goals, I'd rather have Shefki back to be honest! Why can't we take a chance and 'dip down' for a player like Lambert from Saints or Simeon Jackson from Gillingham? Please God we don't want Adebola at Ipswich!!

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Surco72 added 09:58 - Jan 14 Agree with Devon young and pacey is what we need ,what about Austin from Swindon ,that wouldnt cost that much ? I believe Roy is trying to build a large,tall ,physical direct side Adebola and Hulse fit that more ,Martin,Priskin,Counago,Healy do not match this .Which is why he persisted with Trotter so long and didnt give Garvan a go ? I maybe wrong we will see
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PunchNoHopers added 10:01 - Jan 14 Really hope they were at that game to watch a Birmingham Premiership player, even a loan deal until the end of the season, but certainly not Adebola!
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PurgamentumIneo added 10:16 - Jan 14 Ian McParland could have been watching anyone at that game, just because he is a striker who is available, doesn't mean we were definitely watching him does it? Hopefully we were watching Shorey.
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yorksblue added 10:17 - Jan 14 No more journeymen dinasaurs please. Stern John has proven to be a waste of time and money. Give Wickham a decent run in the side. The lad has bags of promise, as seen at Leicester on Sunday.
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maximoalex added 10:43 - Jan 14 Forest enquire about Victor Moses, so we enquire about Dele Adebola? This has to be a nonsense story. Keano, go bust some legs & sort these journalists out!
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Nunn_the_Wiser added 10:45 - Jan 14 Love Adebola, hes quality, get him in Keano!
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imalwayswrong added 11:15 - Jan 14 If roy needs a big man - look for koller or vieri . Proven quality
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8ashblue added 11:17 - Jan 14 unless its been confirmed by Town, it's a strange conclusion to be drawn from attending the match! Brum had 5 strikers on show during the game so it maybe one of them was the reason for the interest, Phillips maybe! Forest's forwards were poor according to the report anyway so i cant see tehm figuring in RK's thoughts.
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blueboy20 added 12:02 - Jan 14 Slow, old and wont score enough goals to get us into the play-offs we need a David Johnson character, he came in we were in the bottom 3 at Christmas 97 then he bagged 30 goals and we ended up fifth, cant we find a player like him please!
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AFCC added 12:22 - Jan 14 Dele Adebola, Stern John... maybe we can try a coax Shaun Goater out of retirement then we would have a strike force that anyone playing Champ Manager '95 would be proud of!!!!
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Beattie_agrees added 12:24 - Jan 14 Don't worry my friends, this surely can't be anything more than paper talk. Keono isn't that desperate. Besides, if he really wants a lazy, has-been, couldn't hit a donkey's back-side with a banjo striker, he would recall the one we have on loan at Colchester.
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samassiabou added 12:44 - Jan 14 For christ sake lets at least give the boy a chance. What we need is a target man who is going to hold the ball up in the final third. His goal scoring record may not be as prolific as previous strikers we have had at this club. So for all you pessismic get a f**king grip! Blueboy20 you wana watch what your saying..you call yourself a true blue??
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