Town boss Paul Jewell is still looking for more new recruits despite already adding 11 players to his squad this summer. The signings of Jimmy Bullard and Daryl Murphy were confirmed yesterday, while the paperwork making Ibrahima Sonko a Blue is set to be rubber-stamped this morning.
Jewell says there could be further additions either before the transfer window closes next Wednesday or on a loan basis after that: "I don’t think that’s the end of us. That’s 11 new players, a huge turnover and that’s another reason why it will take time for us to get right. It’s not going to happen overnight.
"Deadline day is less important for us than it is for the Premier League teams because we can still loan players seven days after it closes, so we could get players in on loan for the Blackpool game.”
The Blues manager confirmed that he has spoken to Stoke about two players with defender Danny Collins again claimed to be a £700,000 target by one of today’s papers. The other Potters player is almost certainly Ryan Shotton.
Jewell says that Stoke, in common with other Premier League clubs, are loath to let players move on until the transfer window closes, so it may be that one of the duo could come in during the week before Town’s trip to Bloomfield Road.
The Town boss says this week’s sudden influx of signings isn’t a knee-jerk reaction to Saturday’s hammering at Peterborough: "It’s not as if we’ve bought players because we got beaten 7-1, we were looking to sign players when we beat Bristol City 3-0.
"It’s a bit like London buses, they came along very quickly and quietly. The week has been no different in terms of being on the phone, it’s just that some things have fallen into place for us.”
Jewell realises that getting his signings to gel will take time but has always said turning Town into a competitive side would be a long-term task: "It’s not going to be easy but, having said that, if you don’t think the players that were already here are good enough, there’s no point in sticking with them.
"I think some of the results we’ve had this season show that there are certain areas where we are lacking, so we’ve got to try to improve the squad.”
One area where the Liverpudlian is certainly still looking to make a further signing is in goal with first choice David Stockdale subject to a 24-hour recall to Fulham and with Márton Fülöp having moved to West Brom on a free transfer earlier in the month.
Former Blue Richard Wright is still training with the squad and was in goal for the reserves in Monday’s behind-closed-doors friendly against Colchester, but Jewell says that at the moment that’s as far as things go: "Richard only lives around the corner, so he’s been training here and he played in the reserve game the other day because we didn’t want to risk Arran Lee-Barrett.
"He’s good experience for the young players, he’s got a good voice and he’s here training keeping fit, but things might change.
"We are on the look-out for another goalkeeper, a young one to take us forward in the future because Stocky might be called back at any time.
"We are aware of the situation where we’ve got Arran and we might have Richard as back-up, but in the long-term we need another young goalkeeper to take us forward and that search is continuing.”