Blues boss Paul Lambert says “things are ongoing” as he looks to add to his squad during the January transfer window having met with club owner Marcus Evans at Playford Road earlier in the week.

Lambert recently handed Evans a list of transfer window targets and, asked whether there has been any progress on any of the players he wants to bring in, said the two held discussions earlier in the week.

“I know what’s going on, I spoke to Marcus the other day, he was in here the other day,” the Blues boss said.

“We know exactly where we’re going, what we’re trying to do, which is great. Things are ongoing.”

Regarding the budget at his disposal, he added: “I doesn’t matter about money, money doesn’t always guarantee success or anything like.

“Get the right people into this club. As I said before, right or wrong, I’ll do what’s right for this club. I’ll not put the club in a position where we spend a helluva lot of money and we don’t make inroads on anything. I’ve got to look after it and that’s what I’ll do.”

Experienced Championship players are top of Lambert’s list and he knows that targets of that profile are likely to be on big wages.

“They are but that’s why you need the hungry ones,” he added. “You can’t get in a negotiation with clubs, all I can do is try and sell the club to the individual. The other side of that will need to come from the people above me.”

He reiterated that loan additions are more likely than permanent signings given Town’s situation.

“Probably but I had loans before and, touch wood, I’ve not had too many bad ones,” he said. “We’ll try and get the right ones in.”

Lambert laughed off rumours that Peter Crouch and Charlie Adam from his former club Stoke are on his list.

“They’re two good guys, I’ve no problem there but it’s not one… because I’m an ex-Stoke manager it’s unfair to speak about the guys,” he said.

“There are ones that we have identified to try and get in and we’ll try and we’ll try and get lads in.”

Reflecting further on the type of player he’s after, he continued: “Ideally you want ones that know this league and that’s what I’m looking at, that are a wee bit more experienced than what we’ve got. We need a little bit of help in a number of areas.

“I don’t mind one young one coming in at certain times but predominantly we need lads that know the league.”

He says he’s not ruling out additions from overseas if he feels players are good enough but that’s not primarily where he’s looking at present.

“It all depends, I won’t turn away from anything,” he admitted. “If I think one’s good enough to come in if I take him, I’ll look at it.

“It doesn’t matter if they’re young, if there’s a hunger there to do it and they want to come, then great.

“But predominantly at this moment we need lads that maybe know the league and higher, I think that’s what we have to look at.”

He says he’s not a fan of the winter window: “I think the January window is a nonsense. What I won’t do is bring in people that I think will just make up the numbers because there’s too many players and you panic in the euphoria of this one getting linked with you, that one’s getting linked with you, and you think there’s absolutely no way they’re going to come here or there’s a chance that he’s going to come.

“So I don’t really get caught up in the euphoria of it because I think it’s a nonsense the January window.”

Even so, he says he keeps his phone close to him: “I do, but that’s why I think it’s a nonsense, that the managers have to be put under that stress to try and get people in every time, it’s not an easy window. But we’ve identified ones well before now and we will try and get them in.”

In terms of exits, Lambert says he’ll not consider any departures until he has brought players in.

“Nobody will leave until I think we can get people in,” he insisted. “Nobody, I’ll never sanction anybody to leave until I think we can get people in that I think can help us, then I might look at it and say, ‘OK, maybe one or two’, but I’ll never release anybody until I think people are coming in.

“We need everybody here, I know lads are in the last year of their contract, you can’t stop that but that’s from before my time, the lads that are coming out of contract, I can’t stop that.

“I need to look after the club’s interest as well and I won’t put any player before the club. The club’s always got to come first, that’s important.”

He says it’s not the case that players will have to move on to fund his additions: “Not really but if we bring people in you know that we’ll have to look at lads maybe going out on loan, but until somebody comes in this door, nobody will leave.

“There are also one or two lads out of contract come the summer and we have to look at that.”

The Blues boss says he’s yet to make a decision on recalling the Town players currently out on loan or sending loanees at Portman Road back to their parent clubs.

“No, I’ve not looked that far,” he said. “I know what's happening with it but I've not looked that far away into the ins and outs of it.”

Photo: TWTD

Mullet added 16:35 - Dec 13 I completely trust Lambert to identify the right blokes. Evans to sign them? Different story.
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norfolkbluey added 16:46 - Dec 13 Agree with Mullet. Thank God we have Lambert and not Hurst. A level headed Scot is worth ten Yorkshiremen.
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MichaelRockyLavelle added 17:51 - Dec 13 All sounding promising Until he said he's not through about bringing people back from loan :( Emmanuel is probably the best RB the club has and ought to be given a chance to get into the team..Wolfenden also seemed like he'd be competent at championship level - but might be too young ... I think we need - 1) a big, target man striker 2) another CB (left footed) We could benefit from - 3) a RB or Emmanuel back from Loan 4) an attacking midfielder (box to box) 5) a CDM in case Skuse's fitness plays up again

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Essexnblue added 18:15 - Dec 13 MichaelRockyLavelle Josh Emmanuel cannot get into Shrewsbury team which would suggest he is the same standard as the dross that Hurst brought to the club. I agree that Spence needs replacing but its interesting that PL says we need Championship players to dig us out and give us a chance. Just goes to show that he is with the fans and has the same view of Hursts recruitment policy. I think players will only return to ITFC if our targets cannot be signed, as he says he needs players with championship experience and both JE and Woolfy have only played handful of games at this level. I hope that Peter Crouch is a target for loan, as I think he will give us something different and will score goals and what ever his involvement will lift the crowd.

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naa added 19:56 - Dec 13 Interesting that Emmanuel isn't getting in the Shrewsbury team. He was player of the year at promoted Rotherham last year. Maybe he just doesn't fit with the style (he's rather attacking)
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ITFCsince73 added 20:10 - Dec 13 Let's be honest replacing the likes of Spence in January won't be difficult. Or expensive. Possibly the poorest regular right back playing Championship football. Even makes Chambo look a quality right back from his days there. Who at the time owned the poorest RB in the league title.
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ShropshireBluenago09 added 20:56 - Dec 13 Emmanuel was on the bench v Burton but has been an ever present in the Shrewsbury team so far. Most Shrewsbury fans I know say he is 7 out of 10 every game super consistent
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runningout added 21:50 - Dec 13 would have hoped for a 9/10 surely
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runningout added 21:52 - Dec 13 We need an least 3 new faces even if we win next 4 games. Competition for places is not strong enough
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Essexnblue added 22:05 - Dec 13 ShropshireBluenago09 according to Shrewsburys own website, Emmanuel has played 13 out of 21 games this season and hasn't been in the team for 3 games. That's hardly welcoming form in a struggling div 1 team. As PL states we need players of championship and above to get us out of this hole, that's why he hasn't thought about our players out on loan as all are playing a poorer standard of football.

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TrumptonBlue added 08:53 - Dec 14 Shrewsbury have played 16 league games since Emmanuel has been there (he didn't join them until the end of the transfer window, by which time they'd already played five league games). He has played in 13 of them. He played in the EFL Trophy just a week ago but has missed out in their last two league games. Bear in mind that they have a new manager who is probably assessing his squad. I'm not saying he's the answer for us - although it would be nice to see him given another chance here - but let's not pretend he's only made a fleeting contribution at Shrewsbury.

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rugbytomc added 09:47 - Dec 14 I'd put money on Emmanuel being a better right back than Spence. But that isn't saying much. Plus if he was brought back and no other RB brought in, it puts a lot of pressure on him to be our RB saviour! I'd make a RB a priority, then a CB with height (Pennington and Chambers don't offer the aerial threat in either box that Smith and Berra did for example). Then I'd sign a striker - a proven goalscorer who gets in the right place at the right time. Those would be my priorities anyway. I think we need to focus on what's needed for right now - people to help us avoid relegation. Then in the summer we can cut our losses on Nolan, Nsiala and Donacien and look at what we need either for the Championship or League 1

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BobbyBell added 10:23 - Dec 14 Emmanuel or Spense? Surely that's a no brainer. Get the boy back now.
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SouperJim added 14:10 - Dec 14 Essexnblue maybe do your homework before making silly statements. Emmanuel has played plenty of games for Shrewsbury this season, played most games for Rotherham last season and was voted their young player of the year. I'm not saying he's definitely the answer, but would could do worse given our current predicament, not to mention Evans' recent track record for actually signing the players his manager identifies...

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