Town boss Kieran McKenna has spoken about the club’s plans for the January transfer window.
A year ago, the Blues brought in Massimo Luongo, Harry Clarke, Nathan Broadhead and George Hirst - on loan at that stage before the striker made his switch permanent in the summer - in what is widely regarded as Town’s best ever January transfer window.
The quartet went on to play key roles as the Blues went on a storming run in the second half of the season which secured promotion back to the Championship.
Asked whether the plan is to similarly augment his squad rather than make wholesale changes during this winter window, McKenna said: "We’ll try and add quality to the group and character to the group that will help us. That’s the same in every window.
"This will be an important one and we’ll try and add to the group as best we can within the resources and the possibilities that we have every window.”
McKenna is aiming to get the club’s January business done as soon as possible: "Always, always, that was beneficial last year.
"I think all the signings were relatively early for January signings, but especially Massimo we had in training from this time of the year last year, so we had a 10-day head start on January 1st.
"Getting players in as early as possible, especially with how we train and how we work, it’s not always a next-day transition. We feel players do benefit from a little bit more time with us.
"We’ll try and do things as early as we possibly can, but that’s not always in your control. If you’re trying to sign somebody else’s players in January, you don’t always control the timelines. We’ll do that the best we can.”
Another striker appears to be top of McKenna’s January wish-list with Fulham striker Jay Stansfield, a long-time Blues target, who is currently on loan at Birmingham, having been the subject of a Town enquiry more than a month ago.
Whether the 21-year-old would be available on a permanent basis, remains to be seen with another loan perhaps an option for the frontman, who is contracted to the Cottagers until the summer of 2027 with the club having an option for a further season.
McKenna says permanent and loan additions will be in his thoughts during January: "I think you have to look at both in the Championship.
"We didn’t do many loans in League One because we felt that in that market it was possible for us to add players that we could develop here and that would have a big impact for us, go to the next level and we could add a lot of value to, and we feel like we’ve done that in the Championship
"Of course, I think every team would rather have 22 of their own players in the building, who are permanently attached to the club, in our instance, their own assets to keep developing.
"But it’s not always the case and for a team like us, in our position in the Championship, you can acquire players on loan whose value you probably wouldn’t be able to meet as a permanent signing.
"We have to stay open to both possibilities and, of course, try and make signings that will help us for the second half of the season and be able to make an impact in the second half of the season, while also keeping to our medium and long-term plan of how we develop the squad and how we develop the team over the years ahead.
‘We’ll have discussions around that balance and try and find the right balance with both in this window.”