Appleton opens up on transfer business

Rovers boss Michael Appleton has confirmed that the club are on the hunt for new faces in the January window after admitting that one or two of the current squad are getting a bit too comfortable.

It was thought that transfer business would be a bit on the limited side in the January transfer window but with the club desperately in need of a boost a few new faces could do the trick.

‘I’d like to bring in three or four new faces just to freshen everything up before the window shuts,’ the Rovers boss told the official website.

‘I’m sure that will give everyone at the football club, and the playing staff, a big lift.

‘It might kick into gear one or two players who maybe are very comfortable at the minute and it might get them to think twice about what their needs are.

‘You can get into a situation where people become comfortable and when people become comfortable that is when it becomes very dangerous.’

Appleton hasn’t ruled out the possibility of making a permanent signing but has expressed caution about doing so in the notorious panic buy environment that is the mid-season window.

‘If we are clever enough and do it right then there’s certainly a possibility of permanent signings,’ added Appleton. ‘I think doing permanent signings in January is something you have to be really really careful with. You’ve to make sure you’ve done your homework .

‘It is a little bit different than in the close-season where you can do a lot more homework on players and what they’re about.’

One person who will be wearing the blue and white halves again is Bradley Orr, who Appleton has confirmed will return to the club at the end of his loan spell at Ipswich at the end of January.