Town manager Joe Royle has admitted that bringing in new players is no easy task given the tightness of the club's finances. Royle wants to add a striker and a midfielder to his squad before the new season starts.

Royle said: "After administration at this club we had to get the wage bill down from £17 million to £5 million and it is not an easy task to bring in players you want while having to adhere to these guidelines.

"But this is a great club and its survival comes first. I just have to do the best I can in the circumstances.

"It is a day-to-day situation really and very much a question of availability and wages. I am looking for a striker who can hold up the ball first and foremost and also a midfielder if possible."

This season is the first without a £5 million parachute payment since the club was relegated in 2001/02.

The exit of a number of higher-paid players has helped the financial situation but striker Pablo Couñago - signed on a Bosman at the top of the transfer market in 2001 - remains on a salary which on its own accounts for around a fifth of the club's annual wage bill.

Royle said last week that the Spaniard's wages were the equivalent to those of three players signed at current Division One levels.

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