Town head of football development Bryan Klug says the Blues are only a few players away from a promotion-pushing side. The long-serving coach says the club's new management team have identified the areas which need strengthening.

Klug said: "Two or three players would make all the difference and we know what positions we are looking at. We already have some excellent players at the club.”

New manager Roy Keane clearly sees the strike force as one area which needs sharpening, having made a trip to Hungary to catch Debreneci frontman Gergely Rudolf in action at the weekend.

Left midfield also looks like an area which needs cover while Luciano Civelli is out injured. The Argentinian is not due back from his knee ligament injury until early next year.

The Blues might also look for another left-back with Keane is yet to tell out-of-contract pair Dan Harding and Matt Richards whether they are in his plans for next season.

Town may also try to land another central defender with Iván Campo leaving in the summer, while the Blues have failed to find a blend in central midfield this season and have also released Tommy Miller.

Klug, whose new role sees him involved both in coaching and scouting, says the Blues will continue to look to their youth system for first team recruits during the Roy Keane era: "The emphasis will remain on developing our own players and this year's input is as good as it has been for a long while.

"We have Connor Wickham coming in from school plus a couple of lads coming over from Ireland [Northern Irish youngsters Josh Carson and Rory McKeown are joining as full-time scholars], and towards the end of last season Ronan Murray and Dave Cawley in particular from the current academy group looked very good and showed a great deal of progress.”

Meanwhile, former Town chief executive Derek Bowden might soon find himself working across the border after Norwich City announced the resignations of chairman Roger Munby and chief executive Neil Doncaster last night.

Bowden, who leaves the Blues this month after being replaced with Simon Clegg by club owner Marcus Evans, would appear to be an obvious potential candidate to fill Doncaster's shoes having seen Town through their tough times.

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