Boss Paul Jewell saw League One Huddersfield Town in action for the second time in a week when he took in their 1-1 away draw against the MK Dons on Saturday afternoon. Elsewhere, one of this morning’s tabloids reports that the Blues manager has also been monitoring Preston striker Jamie Proctor.
After watching the Terriers beat Sheffield United 3-0 at Bramall Lane on Tuesday, Jewell admitted that he had attended with particular potential recruits in his thoughts: "I was looking at specific targets at that one. I went to have a look at a couple of players, maybe not just for this season but maybe looking for the future.”
Blades Matt Lowton, Ched Evans and Stephen Quinn have all previously been linked with Town but none of the players in action for Huddersfield in either game has been mentioned in connection with the Blues before.
MK Dons full-back Adam Smith, who is on loan from Spurs, was someone Town are understood to have approached early in the summer.
Jewell watching the Terriers, with coach Sean McCarthy joining him yesterday, is likely to lead to speculation that former Blue Jordan Rhodes was his target, but the Scotland U21 international frontman was an unused sub against the Dons and came on in the 71st minute at Bramall Lane.
The 21-year-old was one of a number of ex-Town players involved in yesterday’s game with Alan Lee starting for Huddersfield, Gary Roberts coming off their bench and keeper Nick Colgan also amongst the Terriers’ subs.
Dean Bowditch played the full 90 minutes for the home side, while their sub keeper was Irishman Ian McLoughlin, who was released by the Blues in the summer.
Jewell is clearly a fan of Lee Clark’s side, who took their league unbeaten run to a 34 matches at stadium:mk, which is a record outside the top flight.
Speaking on Friday, the Blues boss said Town need to emulate Huddersfield’s winning mentality: "I watched a game the other night and one of the teams hadn’t lost for 33 games and they never looked for one minute like they would lose.
"Without ever being brilliant, they just had that look about them which said that they weren’t going to lose, and that comes from winning games.”
Meanwhile, one of this morning’s tabloids claims Jewell has also been keeping his eye on Preston striker Jamie Proctor, a player he is said to view as a potential new Connor Wickham.
The 19-year-old 6ft 2in tall frontman has become a regular starter for his hometown club this season, scoring two goals in seven appearances, having broken into the side as a sub in the second half of the last campaign when he came off the bench six times.
Proctor, who netted his only goal of 2010/11 at Watford on the final day, was the player who replaced one-time Blues target Keith Treacy after half an hour of the Lilywhites’ game at Portman Road in April.
Earlier that season, Proctor, who is described as quick and powerful, had spent time on loan at Stockport in League Two, making four starts and three sub appearances without scoring.
Handed Preston’s number nine shirt at the beginning of the season, Proctor, a team-mate of Town striker Nathan Ellington last season, is contracted to the League One side until June next year and very much appears to be the type of "young, vibrant, hungry” player Jewell has said he is currently eyeing not just for this season but for future campaigns.