Town have signed West Ham keeper Stephen Henderson on loan. The Blues are expected to confirm the deal on Tuesday but we understand that the Irishman has been at the club today.

Henderson was one of the trio of Portsmouth players the Blues targeted in January prior to his switch to Upton Park. Despite lengthy negotiations, the Blues were unable to agree a deal for any of the three.

In March he joined the Hammers on a temporary loan with a view to a permanent deal in the summer when he signed a three-year contract. However, since then he has made only two starts in the Capital One Cup.

Republic of Ireland U21 international keeper Henderson had joined Pompey from Bristol City in the summer of 2011 having failed to usurp ex-England international David James at Ashton Gate.

Henderson, who stands 6ft 4in tall, had previously spent time on loan at York, Weymouth, Aldershot and Yeovil, and the Glovers’ Player of the Year award in 2010/11.

The Dubliner comes from a goalkeeping dynasty. Grandfather Paddy played for Shamrock Rovers in the 1960s, his father, also named Stephen, played, managed and coached at various sides in the League of Ireland.

His uncle Dave also played in the League of Ireland, for amongst others Shamrock Rovers, and another uncle, Wayne, currently plays for Preston and the Republic of Ireland.

Scott Loach and Arran Lee-Barrett are the club's current senior keepers with the former Watford man widely criticised for his performance in the recent 2-1 home defeat to Cardiff City.

Town, who signed free agent Nigel Reo-Coker on a three-month short-term deal on Saturday, already have Massimo Luongo, Daryl Murphy, Guirane N'Daw, Danny Higginbotham, DJ Campbell, Bilel Mohsni and Richie Wellens on loan.

Clubs are permitted to name five domestic loan players in a matchday squad with Henderson the sixth. Murphy (Celtic) and N'Daw (St Etienne) don't count to this total with their parent clubs from 'foreign' associations.

Photo: Action Images

Karlosfandangal added 13:29 - Oct 15 Yes we have a lot of loan players, However still think They were looking for cover of Hyam and Reo was the one but could not get the deal done so went with Wellans as a stop gap. Wellens is still part of Leicester plans so we will not be able to sign him. Reo is cover as Hyam injured and no idea what the story is on N'Daw but something not right there so need a player. DJ Campbell is for Chopra till he sorts his head and personal problems out again. Murphy here all season and can do a job and cover positions right across the middle and up front as is Luongo however don't think he will be able to last a full season without being rested. Henderson really no idea why we have got him unless West Ham are going to off load and we can sign him as he was Jewells main target in Jan.

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thechangingman added 13:31 - Oct 15 Don't panic Mr Mainwaring!!! Oh - too late.... Stupid boy.
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tiredandbored added 13:31 - Oct 15 This is not one dodgy game though. Sure the Cardiff game was the one where his mistakes cost us the game, but Loach is not commanding enough either physically or verbally. I sit behind the goal, Sir Alf stand, and I can't hear him. We need someone along with a commanding centre half like Higginbottom to build the defense from. As for Henderson, any player who talks to us, then decides to go elsewhere, as far as I'm concerned can foxtrot oscar, they have no place here at PR. PJ shouldn't have signed Loach in the first place, but, now he is here, this is not the way to treat him. My Derby pal said we would be in trouble the minute PJ arrived, maybe Derby will seal PJ's fate on Tues?

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itfc1981 added 13:36 - Oct 15
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faith added 13:37 - Oct 15 Clueless Paul strikes again, Henderson didnt want to sign for us before so why sign him now? Loach isnt the best but he WANTS to play here yes he makes mistakes but has only had one relly bad game, surely we must be able to coach him a bit and help him out rather than sign henderson. Jewell you really are starting to wear me down now.
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Surco72 added 13:40 - Oct 15 I cant read anywhere where it says Henderson has been brought in to replace Loach ? But dont let that stop the jumping to conclusions . All positions need competion and now we have it ALB is nowhere near good enough . Reo Coker is not a loan ,Murphy will be out of contract by the time his loan finishes and can sign .Wellens was only ever temporary and DJ was brought in as Taylor got injured and Chops has his issues .Higginbotham has no future at Stoke and will sign in January . People moaned about signing experienced players on deals and now they moan about getting them on loan and trying them out first to see if all works out

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itfc1981 added 13:42 - Oct 15 New club badge perhaps? http://img.geocaching.com/cache/c505299d-65a9-441e-9972-4c6ecb2fd60c.jpg?rnd=0.1
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BigginBlue added 13:42 - Oct 15 What a ridiculous signing loach is better and a lot keener than this money grabbing wannabe. If he really wanted to be here we would have signed last January!
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Warkys_Tash added 13:46 - Oct 15 Keanish, just a thought... Maybe Jewell has said to Evans, if he had been allowed to sign his targets in the summer when he wanted them, then we wouldn't be in this position. So maybe, Evans has realised this now & decided to released the funds and let Jewell sign those targets. This is why we are now seeing 5 new signings? Obviously, they can't be permanent at the moment due to the perm transfer window being shut. Everyone: At least the club are using the two week international break to get the players in as early as possible, ready for the fight. I am not sure Jewell is the man for the job, infact I am almost certain he isn't. However let us all wait and see what the next five games bring with these new players, before we start to panic. Let's all try to be positive, on paper all 5 recent signings look decent. COYB!!

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PunchNoHopers added 13:48 - Oct 15 So Loach was signed before the season started, wanted to come and wanted to play for Town, he had one bad game, so we bring in Henderson who didn't want to come and play for us last season! And now we even have more loan players than we are actually allowed to play at the same time for the time being anyway!
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RYITFC added 13:53 - Oct 15 Knee jerk reaction, Loach only had 1 bad game. Worst manager in ITFC's history.
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foot_kick_ball_goal added 13:53 - Oct 15 Is Loach really that bad? Really? I think overall he has been OK, he's only 24 and the errors he has made have been more down to poor decision making and positioning, and not as a result of a lack of ability. As he gets more experience, he will undoubtedly improve. What is the point of trying to build a young team if, instead of giving young players time to develop; you a) kick them out of the team when they make a couple of mistakes in a game, and b) constantly denounce them as being rubbish, not up to a championship level and saying that they shouldn't play for Ipswich. It's not very productive. I do, however, that if Loach was training alongside a more experienced keeper, the experience could rub off a little and help him develop. Which (and i'm going to go out on a limb here) makes it a shame Richard Wright was hoofed out... so he's good enough to be the third choice for the premier league champions, but not for us as at least a second seed keeper? Would have been great to have two through and through Ipswich town players like that.

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ericclacton added 13:56 - Oct 15 It reeks of Derby County ,or is it me. Starting to get a creepy feeling, what on earth is going on, it's mid October.
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casanovacrow added 13:58 - Oct 15 Jewell signs in his own keeper then replaces them after 10 games ...happens across the park doesn't it, doesn't know what he's doing
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blues1 added 14:05 - Oct 15 slowtractorboy. you are actually spot on. while im not convinced we really needed to bring in a keeper on loan at this point in time, as apart from nething else will mean 1 of the other loanees having to be left out of the matchday squad., loach is simply not good enough. it isnt just the cardiff game that hes made mistakes in. yes, hes a good shot stopper)tho hes been beaten by shots he shouldnt have(wolves 2nd goal for example), but then lee barratt is a good shot stopper most of the time too. imo loach is no better than alb & that is why henderson being brought in. for those saying he didnt want to play for us in jan, rubbish, he just wanted more money than we willing to pay. and, as much as i think its good to have players in your side who support the team, that is not a reason to keep some1 in the side who isnt either good enough, or simply isnt performing at this moment on time. but i certainly agree that if this is purely a short term loan with no prospect of signing him then its really a total waste of time & money. like every1 im concerned at the number of loanees. while im happy with some of them, others do seem to be a waste of our time, & a total panic measure by a manager who hasnt got a clue. lets just hope it doesnt backfire on us.

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ChestnutSe added 14:06 - Oct 15 What a great signing. We need 3 keepers in the squad and this will help to provide competition. Its won't be a knee jerk reaction to 2 mistakes in one game and just cos he has signed does not mean he will go straight into the team. He went to West Ham rather than us because they could afford to and were willing to pay him more. Thats exactly what we would all do in a similiar situation so its silly to slag him off for doing that. On top of the Reo Coker deal it looks like PJ and ME are getting there act together. Most would say "about time" but Rome was not built in a day and sometimes you can't hire the people you would like for all sorts of reasons. Running ITFC is not a computer game but hard work I imagine and it takes lots of little building blocks to build a good club and team. Get real, support the club and let the management do their jobs.

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osborne1nil added 14:18 - Oct 15 Loach has not been great so far IMO. He may be a Blue but he has not performed especially well. Cardiff showed this up but he seems to be unable to come off his line, punches when he should be catching. I think his kicking has been ok and his general reaction / shot stopping is ok but he lacks domination of his area, worrying. I feel he is no better than ALB. What are the coaches practising with them? Expect to see Henderson start the next game with Loach or ALB on bench.

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Dog added 14:19 - Oct 15 This is funny So very funny. Remember how many loan players the Scum had when they got relegated and what their transfer policy was. Oh dear!!. Oh dear!!. Jewell should have gone a week ago. Muppets the lot of them.
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WeirdFishes added 14:22 - Oct 15 BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO0
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hmarcham2 added 14:26 - Oct 15 All of these 'panic' loan signings are becoming horribly reminiscent of teams that have gone down in previous years. SOMEBODY please save our club before it's too late!
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RedDust added 14:40 - Oct 15 With having loans so many loans in ironically by it's very nature loans the soul of this club out!
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Bananaman added 14:43 - Oct 15 Unfortunately this just shows that PJ has got no intention of building a team for the future. He is after a quick fix to save his job and to make sure that he doesnt suffer the humiliation of relegation this season. If we are to go up we need a balanced team of youth and experienced that are fundamentally each committed to the club and its interests. We need to stop tinkering with the team and establish a continuity with the players that we have. If this takes one or two more years in the division then fair enough but what we are doing at the moment seems to be destroying the club and getting us nowhere.

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Stato added 14:47 - Oct 15 For me Loach and Chopra and JET should all be on the bench and Drury should only be playing Div 1. I like the look of the squad that we have now and think Jewell is not the one to blame for why this squad wasn't in place back in August. I didn't want Jewell here in the first place but think he has not been supported properly in getting deals done on both existing players and potential new signings.

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alfromcol added 15:15 - Oct 15 We are now well and truly back in the Keane era, where you turn up at a game and have no idea what the team sheet will look like. As others have said, PJ is now replacing his signings with loan players, or even worse his loan players with other loan players eg Luongo, N'Daw
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floridaboy added 15:19 - Oct 15 Henderson is bench warming at West Ham so he has not signed for us to bench warm, so he will be No 1 with Loach on the bench. All we need now is a decent left back to replace a very poor Cresswell and things might start to get going Not holding my breath though!!
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