Town have confirmed the signing of Crystal Palace striker Stern John on loan until 29th December. The paperwork on the deal was completed close to the 5pm deadline with the authorities rubber-stamping the move later in the evening.

The Trinidad and Tobago international has played for the Eagles only seven times since joining them in the summer after undergoing elbow surgery in August. He is yet to score this season.

Having played for Malta Carib Alcons in his home country, John moved on to the Carolina Dynamo, the New Orleans Riverboat Gamblers and Columbus Crew in the US before relocating to England with Nottingham Forest in 1999.

Since then the 5ft 11in tall frontman has played for a long list of clubs, largely at Championship level: Birmingham City, Coventry, Derby (loan), Sunderland, Southampton and Bristol City (loan), before joining Palace in the summer on a free transfer. He has made 109 appearances for his country, scoring 69 goals.

In eight months at Sunderland under Keane between January and August 2007, John scored five goals in 10 starts and six sub appearances, helping the Black Cats to win the Championship. Overall in English football, John has scored 97 goals in 250 starts and 105 sub substitute appearances.

The striker will train with his new team-mates on Friday and is likely to make his debut at Cardiff on Sunday.

Photo: Action Images

bluelass7 added 19:41 - Nov 26 Look at it this way, it's another option with experience....WELCOME ABOARD Stern!
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bedsitfc added 19:42 - Nov 26 oh great!!!!!!! but will give him a chance come on stern goodluck and i hope we want to sign him perm in january
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titanicclown added 19:42 - Nov 26 Stern John was a top player. Intelligent and strong and always handful. Cant help but think that he's not much different to what we've already got though and we really needed an option of pace upfront. Still, John is a class act and hopefully he can notch on Saturday.
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itfckieren added 19:42 - Nov 26 Great news!! Get him straight in the team alongside Priskin sunday.. I'm confident that Stern John will get us the goals we need!! COYB!!
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SouperJim added 19:44 - Nov 26 A good loan signing, big and powerful, proven at this level and a different type of striker to anything we have at the club. Could prove to be a good foil for Priskin or Pablo. Same old doom and gloom from many of you career news comment posters. Get a grip, we're not Real Madrid and the likes of Stern John is a good addition for us.
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ncfcprideofanglia added 19:51 - Nov 26 Great signing , just shows the class of player you can sign if you have plenty of money . Stern will fire the goals to get you to the promised land. Lmfao .
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roytheboy added 19:54 - Nov 26 Well done Roy Keane, I'm looking forward to us scoring some goals now at last, it will serve to keep our regular strikers on their toes also, let's face it, they have been pretty poor generally speaking, new blood is always exciting.
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Mungo added 19:55 - Nov 26 The last roll of the dice for Keane I think. Stern John has a decent enough record in the Championship and given that there is probably no fee involved, this could turn out to be a stroke of brilliance and turn around our season. Alternatively, it could turn out to be another bad signing, at which point we send him back to Palace. Good luck Stern!!!
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bluethroughnthrough added 19:56 - Nov 26 we need some presence in the box, he could be our emile heskey....i won't judge him till i've seen him play a few games. I thought Priskin was gonna be amazing but so far thats far from true... lets get behind the lads
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northernblues added 19:57 - Nov 26 my christmas wish list, king and keane out! but why wait till christamas!
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MickeyMills added 20:02 - Nov 26 Let the goals commence!
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Leedsblue added 20:03 - Nov 26 Keane has already said, most teams are reluctant to let any players go out on loan at this time of year, so all you moaning lot expecting Ronaldo etc to sign should stick to playing your computer games. Keane knows how Stern John plays which can only be a good thing, and any striker coming in can only be a plus, (as our usual lot could'nt hit a barn door) so give the guy a chance before the 'hecklers' raise their voice and force another player out of Portman Road, with negatism!!!!!! I thought scousers used to whinge til I read comments on here.

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MickeyMills added 20:04 - Nov 26 Leedsblue 'calm down, calm down' :-)
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FormerlyCGS added 20:06 - Nov 26 ITFC ARE A JOKE END OF
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ShropshireBluenago09 added 20:06 - Nov 26 Another Sunderland reject! The trend is obvious now. We cant sign anyone unless they are Irish or ex-Sunderland. Like a few posts here, they all say John WAS good! and he doesnt offer much else than what we already have. Our strikers have not been given time. Keane hasnt stuck with a 2 striker partnership all season, if he had and players had time to gel, (i.e Counago & Priskin or Stead & Walters) we undoubtedly would have scored more. Dropping strikers like Stead and Counago after 1 or 2 games, because they havent scored is madness. These players need encoragement and a confidence boost, NOT a place on the bench. Right we are not Real Madrid, but we aint Carlisle or Palace for that matter either!!!

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Redmond added 20:08 - Nov 26 good signing lets hope he scores a few goals we need
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MickeyMills added 20:10 - Nov 26 CGS What does a transvestite do at christmas? He eats, drinks and be Mary. That is a joke (albeit not a very good one) ITFC are not a joke. The manager maybe, but NOT ITFC
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AJblue added 20:11 - Nov 26 CGS, ITFC are now a joke, end of....does that now mean you are back off to supporting Spurs?
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PunchNoHopers added 20:14 - Nov 26 Can't say I'm that pleased by the news, had hoped for much better! Gonna take him til Xmas to get match fit, he hasn't played for most of the season! However I'll reserve proper judgement until I see him play!
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jas0999 added 20:14 - Nov 26 We need to give him a chance. Not the signing any of us wanted, but yet no one else has signed a top Premiership player on loan today. Let's see how he does. Shame no replacement for Begovic.
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Blueknight85 added 20:16 - Nov 26 rubberblood if you play football manager 10 you fail much like the game.... champinship manager is far better get it sorted :P
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FormerlyCGS added 20:17 - Nov 26 Mickeymills fair point ITFC are no joke, i didnt mean that, i am fuming at keane. He aint got a clue and is dragging us down. ROY KEANE IS A JOKE AND FAST TURNING US INTO ONE WIHT HIM THE LONGER WE KEEP HIM HERE
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Lolocaust6 added 20:18 - Nov 26 Useless. Pointless waste of our time and money. I am well and truly disgusted. We could have not got him on loan and just put McCauley up top, he would be just as much use!
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Mark added 20:25 - Nov 26 I agree with the comment about a partnership not being formed this season up-front, as has been common with most positions all over the pitch. For me, Counago and Stead are the best partnership we have, so why not pick them for a few games running and let the partnership bond? If it doesn't work, change it but then give the new combination a few games. As it is, changing every match between Counago-Stead-Priskin-Wickham-Walters-Martin has meant they cannot gel, and with constant changes behind them too it is difficult to get the football and the goals we want to see. Good luck to John. As he is here we might as well give him a few matches and not start chopping and changing between John-Counago-Stead-Priskin-Wickham-Walters-Martin!!

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MickeyMills added 20:25 - Nov 26 I actually agree that the signing today, in my opinion, was one of a desperate man. I do not think that Stern John can bring us any more than we have already got. We would have been better trying to loan a hungry 19/20/21 year old from a Premiership club, but on reflection, I am not sure that we would have been able to attract one! I, like many others, think that we have the potential talent in our squad to deliver what we all want. Bearing that in mind, how many others think that Mr Keane should be investing his time in squad/player development as opposed to trying to sign Cinderella players .... good once upon a time And CGS - you have obviously still not found that spell check!

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