Town boss Mick McCarthy says his squad isn’t too far away from the one which will start the new Championship season at Brentford on Saturday 8th August.

“I think we’re fairly close,” he said. “We’ve got the two keepers from last season, we’ve got everybody in the back four barring Tyrone Mings, of course.

“We signed [centre-half] Josh Yorwerth from Cardiff. Two young lads who played for the U21s last year, Josh Emmanuel and Myles Kenlock, I’ve really high hopes for. They’re a right-back and left-back.

“Skusey, Kevin Bru, Bish, Tabby and Luke Hyam are midfield players, Ainsley Maitland-Niles can play anywhere along the midfield.

“We’ve talked about the wingers [Ryan Fraser, Dylan Connolly, Alex Henshall and Cameron Stewart] and we’ve got four strikers.

Emmanuel

“I really only want 22 players, I don’t want 28, 29 or 30 players because you can’t use them all and the ones that are not involved end up getting disaffected and being a pain in the rear.”

Regarding that vacancy at left-back created by Tyrone Mings's exit, he says the shirt is Jonny Parr’s to secure as his own: “Jonny was great and having got in at Millwall when I put him on at wide left and he went on and scored, he had a few games at wide left or wide right. He’s played right-back as well.

Kenlock

“Sometimes being a good utility player doesn’t do you any favours because they get moved around but he was signed as a left-back and we’ve just lost the best left-back in the division.

“I was sad for Jonny because that’s his position. Well, he’s under pressure now to perform there, because that’s his position.”

Yorwerth

Darren Ambrose is back at the club and could win a fourth stint with the Blues if he impresses during pre-season training.

“I’ve offered Darren a chance to train," McCarthy said. "I thought he was good with us last season. But I guess he’s got to find a position really that he can get in and play in the team.

“But he certainly added to training, he’s a good character around the place and he was unlucky towards the end because he got in the side and played very well.

“Then he trained on the Thursday and did his hamstring and he was injured for most of the rest of the season. It’s a chance for him, but it’s just a chance, there are no promises either way.”

The Blues boss says he hasn’t offered the same opportunity to Stephen and Noel Hunt, Richard Chaplow or Paul Anderson, like Ambrose not given new terms at the end of the season in May but told the offer of a contract may be made later on in the summer.

He says he is still keeping his options open: “I guess that’s what I’m doing. I’ve got four strikers at the minute and I’ve talked about the lads that I’ve got wide in terms of Dylan Connolly and Ainsley Maitland-Niles. I’m going to see what we do with them first.”

Cameron Stewart, who made only two FA Cup sub appearances last season before joining Barnsley on loan having joined on a free transfer from Hull City last summer, returned to Playford Road yesterday and McCarthy says he, like Alex Henshall, can get himself back into his plans.

“He’s the same. He comes back and he’s got to get his nose down and see if he can get in the team, see if he can get in the squad first,” he said.

“Everybody’s the same. They come back and they’ve just got to crack on. They’ve all come back and their fitness stats are unbelievable most of them.”

Asked whether he has got all the money from the Mings sale to spend he joked: “It’s under my mattress at home.”

He refused to be drawn on weekend links with Hibernian midfielder Scott Allan: “We’ll be linked with loads, even more so now everybody thinks we’ve got a shedload of cash.

“Whatever gets invested I hope we manage to reinvest it wisely. But I wouldn’t discuss players that we’re interested in, or not interested in for that matter.”

He added: “I’d like to think I could spend it wisely, and hopefully I can. It’s a lot easier if you make mistakes when you sign them for nothing and don’t pay them a lot, mistakes get overlooked a little bit. Hopefully it will be spent wisely and well, whatever that might be.”

Quizzed on whether the fees selling clubs will want from Town will increase due to them knowing the Blues have money in the bank, he added: “I’ve got an owner that is probably one of the best at handling all that, so that doesn’t worry me at all.”

Photo: Action Images

jas0999 added 06:14 - Jul 1 I agree we are looking good up front. I'm still not convinced Tabb is the answer. I also think we desperately need a creative goal scoring midfielder. Defensively we look short of numbers. A right back needed for me, whilst I personally don't rate either keeper higher than average. We had a small squad last season and thirteen players from that have left (including the loans). We have signed four. That's a heck of a shortfall. I think we still need three or four new players and on expecting money to be invested as promised by Milne.

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battyblue added 07:08 - Jul 1 We need a proper right back for Christs sake the defense is not good enough as is i have no problem with Parr and Berra or the other two if played in their rightful positions which they are not we have the cash to put this right so lets get it right from the start not six weeks on after we have dropped valuable points.
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Len_Brennan added 07:09 - Jul 1 Jas: I agree pretty much with what you are saying, but I think you are bit a bit harsh on Tabb. I don't see him as being in the starting XI, but he is certainly a decent squad option at this level. Many people forget that he was really good for the first half of last season & even his critics admitted that he was a candidate for man of the match in a number of games. He started more games than he should have, because MM likes his attitude & hard work, but he's certainly decent enough to be on the bench & get a game when we need those attributes to help us see out a result or dig in.

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MeenoITFC added 07:57 - Jul 1 I think i remember people moaning when mingsy started his first game. Give the boys a chance pre-season we still have a while left. As said above 3 signings and a loan would be enough to secure us until January.
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Surco72 added 09:14 - Jul 1 Bart Chambo Berra Smith Frazer Skuse Parr Bishop Dids Sears Murphy Great starting eleven and a lot of depth and pace in squad Think we are missing one old head to put his foot on ball in middle of park when we have lead to see game out perhaps with options up front Dids may be that man this season or Ambrose if he gets fit ?
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GeorgeITFC24 added 09:17 - Jul 1 I agree with MM but think we need a right back and a goal scoring midfielder
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rickw added 09:20 - Jul 1 It's good to hear MM rates more youth team players - Emmanuel and Kenlock. We are all demanding signings but if we have a home grown player capable of making the step-up - doing what Bishop did last season, then that's even better!
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StowTractorBoy added 10:25 - Jul 1 Agree with most we definitely need a proper right back and although both our goalkeepers are adequate I think we can do better so would like a new keeper as well. Somehow I don't think we will get one as MM is very loyal and can't really argue with that.
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blue_movies added 10:38 - Jul 1 With ambition like that we can easily finish mid table. Who would want a top two finish if we save a few million on fees.
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Miles added 11:29 - Jul 1 I would like to see us sign an out and out right back, creative midfielder and a left back primarily as cover to Jonny parr. Think that will more or less sort us out. Sears, varney, hunt, Chaplow, Williams, fryers, wood and ambrose didn't start the season with us last year and I assume along the way we will sign more depending on injuries and loss of form. No point having 30 fully fit players at the moment.

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scunnyblue added 12:50 - Jul 1 My take on our squad so far is MM has trimmed out the dead wood sold mings for huge profit and brought in 3 players so far he thinks can help push our team forward. I like the idea that he will give those young lads a run pre season in the full backs positions before making a move to sign a full back of some sort. Thou i do think we need another creative midfielder of some description before the season starts.

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DrJeckyll added 19:19 - Jul 1 3 players in plus youth players given opportunity to step up which some seem to have completely dismissed. Like the suggestion that DM could fill an AM role :-)
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Warkys_Tash added 19:34 - Jul 1 Need a goal scoring & creative midfielder in the Harry Arter mould. Let's hope it's Johnny Williams?
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