Town boss Roy Keane says he feels Town might have been relegated last season but for the club’s loan signings. The Blues manager will again be looking to add loanees to his squad in the weeks to come with no new permanent additions expected before the closure of the transfer window on Tuesday.
Keane said: "We’ll look at the loan system in the next few weeks, particularly after the international break. We’ll see how our injured boys are coming back. Over the course of the Championship you need a little bit of strength in depth. We didn’t have it last year and we were very dependent on our loan players.
"I honestly feel we would have been relegated without the loan players coming in, the likes of Daryl Murphy, Jack Colback, David Healy and Asmir Begovic.
"They were important players for us,” Keane added, "and it looks like it might be the case for us again this year.”
Keane says the squad is weak in one or two positions: "We’re OK for numbers, it’s just the lack of strength in certain areas of the football club.
"We’ve got to bring players in who can help us go to another level, otherwise we’ll go with what we’ve got and the players we’ve got at the moment are all doing well.
"I’ll be very surprised if anyone comes or goes at this football club in the next few days. It should be a quiet Bank Holiday Monday.”
The Town boss has been pleased with his young squad so far but says it’s still some way off the sides who have won automatic promotion in recent seasons in terms of numbers and experience: "We’re pleased with the young players, but you compare the teams that have been promoted over the last year or two.
"We’ve got Luke Hyam in the midfield. Newcastle got promoted last year with people like Nicky Butt and Alan Smith, who have won Premier League medals and European Cups.
"The West Brom players had played at international level and had played in the Premiership before. It’s no coincidence that the teams that go up are the teams which have a bit more strength in depth.”
The Blues boss dismissed reports last weekend claiming that Town were amongst the clubs chasing new Bristol City striker Brett Pitman while he was still with Bournemouth and played down reports linking Town with Rotherham’s Adam Le Fondre, although he didn’t rule out his scouts having watched the former Rochdale man.
Keane says he has received no new bids for his players recently: "I’ve had some conversations with managers about who might or might not be available, but no offers.”