Boss Paul Jewell has confirmed that the Blues watched Leyton Orient winger George Porter in action during last week’s 3-0 FA Cup victory over Bromley at Brisbane Road. However, the Town manager says Carlisle’s Rory Loy, who was also mentioned as being a Town target earlier in the week is not someone he is familiar with.
While Jewell says Porter was watched he played down the suggestion that a move is imminent: "One of our scouts was at that game, so people put two and two together and got eight.”
Carlisle’s Loy, like Porter an FA Cup scorer last weekend, is not someone who is on his radar: "Who? I don’t know him, I’m not aware of him. We probably had 10 or 12 games covered on Saturday but I don’t know Rory Loy.”
Jewell says he’s similarly unaware of Kirkley and Pakefield’s 18-year-old striker Ryan Crisp, who reports in Norfolk reported was training with the Blues with academy manager Sammy Morgan subsequently telling TWTD that the player is with the youth set-up rather than the senior squad.
The Town boss himself continued his search for young players by watching the Preston-Southend FA Cup tie a week ago, but in addition to looking for youthful new recruits, Jewell is also keen to tie down the likes of Danny Collins and Keith Andrews on a permanent basis: "I spoke to them and I think Marcus has spoken to Keith’s agent and has indicated that we’d like to keep Keith here beyond the season, but it’s not that easy, as you can imagine.
"It’s not easy dealing with Blackburn. I’ve spoken to Tony Pulis at Stoke, who is a pal of mine, and he said to see how it goes.
"Stoke City’s situation can change, Blackburn’s situation can change. We’re in the hands of a lot of other things for the deal to be done.
"We’d love to do the deals, no doubt about it, we’d like to get the two of them and that’s what we’re working exceptionally hard to try and do.”
The Blues boss says that while Andrews has done well in the more defensive role he occupies for the Republic of Ireland, he thinks he’s at his best in the more attacking position he plays with Town: "I think Keith is better going forward, he’s got five goals for us this season. He plays a different system for Ireland.
"I think Keith can do both roles. He can play in a 4-4-2, he can play in an advanced role and I know he enjoys getting in the box and scoring goals.
"I think Trapattoni was probably going to give him a rollocking for getting in the box when he scored [against Estonia]! He’s a good player and we want to try and keep him here.”
Andrew’s half-season loan is up in January, while Collins’s 93-day spell has been extended until after the Derby County match in December.
Both players have 18 months remaining on their contracts with their Premier League sides with neither expecting a recall to the first team at their parent clubs.
Meanwhile, Doncaster boss Dean Saunders has reiterated his intention to keep Town target Billy Sharp, who Jewell says he expects to leave the Keepmoat Stadium in January: "I don't want to lose Billy, he scores goals and that's hard to come by.
"I am hoping he will stay with us, he is looking sharper every day and looking as if he has a weight off his shoulder. Hopefully he keeps banging them in and we get in a good position."
Saunders doesn’t appear overly impressed that his old Bradford manager is talking about his player: "You should speak about your own players and that should be it. It's not something I would do. But Billy has had bigger problems than that and I am sure he can deal with it."