Boss Mick McCarthy has revealed that he’s looking to let midfielder Anthony Wordsworth out on loan now that he’s signed Stephen Hunt on a short-term play-to-be-paid deal.
Hunt, who made his debut as a late sub at Blackpool, joined up with the Blues on Friday, having previously been at the club training earlier in the season.
McCarthy says the reason he wasn’t snapped up then wasn’t to do with money: "Everybody wants to know if it’s a budget issue but it’s not.
"It was because I’d got Tunners playing on the left, Tabby on the left, I’ve got Ando on the right and Carlos on the right. I’ve got four strikers and four wide midfielders, I just didn’t need another one.
"I might let Woody go out on loan, if I can. He needs games. And if I do that Hunty can play on the left and Tabby can play on the inside. I’ll wait and see what happens.”
He added that something is in process regarding getting Wordsworth sorted with a temporary club, the £100,000 January signing from Colchester having been very much a fringe player this season, making only two brief sub appearances and often being left out of the matchday 18.
Hunt previously played under McCarthy at Wolves, the Blues boss signed him from Hull for a reported £3 million in June 2010, and he joked that he hasn’t been able to get rid of him since: "He’s like a bad penny Hunty!
"He came and trained with us and I said ‘Now Hunty, piss off, you can’t stay, we can’t sign anybody else!’. It wasn’t like that but it makes a good story.
"He thought he was coming to Blackpool. I said ‘Good lad, all the best’, then he went to Millwall.
"It was funny [on Friday night] night because you have to sing on your first day here. And he stood up and his singing was awful but his stories were great: ‘What an awful six months I’ve had, I’ve had good deals, turned them down, some bad deals and now I’ve got a s--t deal but I’m here!’.
"He’s here and he’s such a good character, he’s great. For somebody to come from Ireland on Friday morning and join in training and then go on the pitch and play the way he did is a good story.”
McCarthy says that despite Hunt rarely, if ever, having played at left-back he "wasn’t worried about him at all” during Saturday’s game.
He feels the 32-year-old is a good player to have in a dressing room: "Hunty deserves to be at a football club. There’s something about him, he has a great character about him, other people bounce off him. I felt for him actually.
"I have to say he’s come in and if he plays he gets paid. He’s had a great attitude towards it. Maybe he might stay with us and maybe he’ll do well enough that he’ll get somewhere else.”
He believes Hunt’s willingness to join the club despite only being paid when he plays matches says a lot about him: "That’s testimony to him, he just wants to come and play. A great attitude.”