Town boss Paul Jewell has confirmed that he made a loan approach for West Brom striker Simon Cox, as reported by TWTD on Tuesday, and that he was at the Derby-Doncaster match earlier in the week but has dismissed claims that he made a move for Aston Villa’s Nathan Delfouneso and that owner Marcus Evans joined him at Pride Park.
Asked about Cox, Jewell was reluctant to comment in too much detail: "I don’t really like talking about [other clubs'] players. He’s a player that we’ve enquired about to West Brom, but he wants to see if he can get in their first team, which is fine.
"He’s got a decent goalscoring record at this level. He’s a young player, 23. A new manager’s gone in at West Brom and he wants to impress him, and I fully understand that.”
However, the Blues boss says there is nothing in claims he made a similar move for Aston Villa frontman Nathan Delfouneso: "We haven’t made any phone calls regarding Nathan Delfouneso, but we’ve made a few phone calls and Cox was one of them.”
Jewell admitted that Cox’s current wish to remain with the Baggies doesn’t mean he might not revisit the situation in the future: "It probably doesn’t.”
The Town manager confirmed that he was back at his former club Derby on Tuesday to watch their 3-1 defeat to Doncaster with Rovers frontman Billy Sharp thought to be the reason for him making the trip: "I was at the game. I’m trying to look around for players for next season to improve our squad.
"It was either Derby-Doncaster or Middlesbrough-Notts Forest and Derby was closer than Middlesbrough.”
Jewell dismissed claims that Evans was with him at Pride Park and also that they held a meeting after Saturday’s game with Portsmouth, joking: "I don’t know what he looks like, he might have been sat next to me, I don’t know! There was also a report that I had an hour’s meeting on Saturday after the game.”
The Town manager says he is continuing to look for loan additions as well as more permanent signings: "I got knocked back on a couple last week. We’re not sitting here thinking we’re doing OK, we’re trying to improve the squad and it’s important to bring in people who will only improve our squad rather than being of a similarly ilk. We’re trying to improve it rather than bringing in people for the sake of it.
"I’ve made a few phone calls, spoken to a couple of managers and made a few enquiries but it’s that time of the year when no one’s safe from relegation or clubs are in a play-off situation. In the Premier League, if they aren’t in the 25 they can go, but sometimes it’s difficult to get people to come out of their comfort zone and I don’t want people coming here to do us a favour.”
The Blues boss is continuing to look for loan clubs for his fringe players, although he says he wants to keep hold of Tommy Smith, who turned down the chance of a spell three weeks ago: "Tommy we consider part of the first team squad at the moment.
"I’m not so much talking about Luke Hyam, but the Conor Hourihanes, the David Cawleys, the younger pros like Jack Ainsley, who I think are all good players and who I would like to see playing where it really means something.”