Boss Kieran McKenna believes the Blues are a stronger squad following the additions made during the transfer window, while talks will continue with free agent former Manchester United centre-half Axel Tuanzebe.

Deadline day ended up being quiet at Portman Road with no further recruits on top of the six signings previously made.

At his afternoon press conference, McKenna told reporters he’d speak about the transfer window after today’s match.

“I think it’s a busy day for all clubs and everyone was working through the day with lots of deals going on right through the leagues,” he said.

“There was an option at the start of the day to sign a player and that might have freed somebody to leave [almost certainly Elkan Baggott on loan], but it didn’t happen so that’s football, that’s the nature of the business and especially when something goes down to the last day, nothing’s a guarantee.

“The window’s shut now and in some ways that gives us a nice clarity regarding the group that we’re working with. I believe in the group of players that we have, I know what they’re giving every day to compete and we continue on our journey.

“We said all along that as a club we need to stick to the long-term plan to make sensible decisions and to try and rebuild this football club in a sustainable manner and that’s very difficult to do in the Championship.

“It’s really easy to see football clubs who have come into big difficulties or had big highs and lows by trying to chase it in another way. We’ve got fantastic support with the ownership group, who want to work to a long-term and sustainable plan of improvement, and that’s what we’ll continue to work towards.

“Of course, recruitment is a big part of that and sticking to that is really, really important and not easy to do in football.

“We feel that we’ve improved the squad with the players that have come in. I think you can see that with the impact of the bench today. We feel that we’ve improved the squad from last year.

“We want to continue on our model of bringing in young, hungry talent to the football club that can develop in the same way that the players have developed over the last 12 months and be on this journey with us and we’ll look to continue to do that.

“But it’s not always possible to do that and if you can’t, it’s better to stick to your plan, stick to your way of working and believing in what you’re doing.

“I think, as I say, every club will have wanted to have added more quality to the group. We want to continue to add quality to the group but I know the club has worked very hard throughout the course of the window.

“I know we working very hard towards the next window to keep trying to improve the club in a sustainable way to set the club up for a brighter future, and that’s what we’ll continue to try and do.”

As reported, Tuanzebe, who has been on trial with Luton until the last few days, was in talks yesterday and is set to spend time with the Blues before a decision is made on whether he will join the squad but with the 25-year-old able to sign outside the window as a free agent

McKenna added: “Axel’s a player I know very well [from Manchester United], a player of real high pedigree. He’s someone that we’re speaking to at the moment.

“He is not fully returned from his injury yet, so we’re continuing to have discussions with him as that process goes on.

“And there’s not too much more I can add at the moment. We’ve got a space in our squad available and Axel’s a free agent and a tremendous player, who has played at higher levels and would be attractive to any club, certainly at this level, so we’re speaking with him and we’ll continue to speak with him and see if it’s beneficial for us and the right thing for the player to join us at some stage.”

Photo: TWTD

Gforce added 19:09 - Sep 2 He's spot on with everything he said. The three lads who came on ,Hutchinson, Williams and Taylor certainly made the difference today.I can see all 3 pushing for a starting place very soon.
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billlm added 19:31 - Sep 2 Gforce, Williams will replace Clarke, Taylor way to skillful and drive will replace Massimo, Burns I'd look over my shoulder Omar is a very good player, Burns shirt to lose ATM,
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Bazza8564 added 19:41 - Sep 2 Lots of people have moaned about the window, i think it was excellent. We released paid off and loaned out players to clear the decks of what, 11-12 players including the two to Hull this week, got Hirst back, gave Massimo another year and then took Slicker Williams Hutchinson and Scarlett from Premier league clubs and landed Taylor who we all rate. The age range and average has dropped, we are rid of the majority who couldnt get in our league one side and the loans (with options ??) mean we've had to spend very little money. It feels to me like great business. We will trade again in January, in and out I suspect, and window by window we will build a squad that can deliver a PL slot for us. But anybody thinking we would come into this division and flourish easily because of the style we have (myself included) needs to think again. This is a 3 year project at the least, if we we do it quicker then i'll be surprised, and sad to see the inevitable exit for a lot of players who have served us well, because the CH is a big enough stretch for a lot of them. Well done today lads, you did us proud

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dirtydingusmagee added 20:39 - Sep 2 no news about Hurst ?
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Stato added 21:46 - Sep 2 Bazza of course you're right that as KM says we have improved the squad but Ashton said we were going to improve the starting 11 and today we saw the same starting 11 we had last season.
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warktheline added 22:57 - Sep 2 For those that understand football and it’s current climate will totally agree with the boss. We are undoubtedly a stronger squad and these additions will in time win us games! Huge potential and exciting signings and times ahead!
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Europablue added 00:48 - Sep 3 BossMan Hirst is in the starting 11 and he is an improvement over no Hirst. The comparison to last year does not count for players who were not contracted to play for us this year because we had those players last year and not this year. It would be very difficult to justify adding new signings straight away into the starting 11 just because performances and results have been very good, so it would be a push to swap someone like Luongo with Taylor, or Burns with Hutchinson even though they might become regular starters later in the season.

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SpiritOfJohn added 12:12 - Sep 3 When we signed four players in January I don't think any of them walked straight into the first eleven, and that hasn't happened immediately with our new signings after this transfer window, with the exception of Hirst who was already with us last season. That doesn't mean that none of the new boys will become first team regulars. In fact, it looks like Taylor and Williams are already making a case for a first league start. Hutchinson looks best suited to make an impact from the bench. Hladky has done well so don't expect Slicker to start in the league. Will reserve judgement on Scarlett until I've seen him play!

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kiwiblue added 02:38 - Sep 4 Hull who has left to go there? Oxford maybe?
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