In the Championship - Derby leading the way

Last updated : 14 June 2008 By Tony Scholes
Jordan Stewart - one of Paul Jewell's signings at Derby
It is six weeks since the curtain came down on our 2007/08 season and there's still no news of the first signing at Turf Moor although we've been linked with enough players to give us our biggest squad in years.

If we are concerned then the same applies at another eleven of the clubs who are still to dip a toe into the summer market whilst another eight clubs have made just the one signings which means only four clubs have signed two players or more.

One of those four clubs is Southampton, and would you be dancing with delight if you supported them? Big sections of the ground are being closed down to cut costs, a new manager has come in (if indeed he has arrived) with the Chief Executive confirming he was all they could afford, and the two signings to date are Chris Perry and Lee Holmes from Luton and Derby respectively.

The bells of St. Mary's are tolling for a club in deep crisis. They only just escaped the drop last time and it might have been nothing other than a reprieve for a club who have not even as yet been able to announce their retained list.

So that leaves three clubs who have made more than one signings and that includes newly promoted Swansea. It is difficult to say too much about their transfer activity given I don't know too much, if anything about their new players.

They've signed Ashley Williams from Stockport whilst bringing in Gorka Pintando from Granada and Espanyol's Jordi Gomez on loan. Manager Roberto Martinez has admitted things could be difficult for his club in terms of getting players in following promotion and that's been more than echoed by Sean O'Driscoll at Doncaster who has already admitted that competing at the new level is going to be virtually impossible now they are playing in a league with sixteen former Premier League clubs.

That's all the clubs covered bar two and these are two who seem to have money to spend. We know, or we are told, that QPR are now richer than Chelsea. Some say they are in a better state than Chelsea because they don't have Peter Kenyon, but they do still have Gianni Paladini around the place so everything isn't perfect.

So far they've brought in three new players. The first to sign was Peter Ramage after he was released by Newcastle and they followed that up with the capture of Slavia Prague goalkeeper Radek Cerny who had kept Paul Robinson out of the Spurs side for a period last season when he was on loan at White Hart Lane.

The last signing so far is that of Mattio Alberti from Chievo Verona but there's no doubt there are more to come. We know they've made an offer for Blackpool defender Kaspars Gorkss, they've been linked with his team mate Wes Hoolahan and West Ham's Bobby Zamora and today there are suggestions they could sign Ben Watson from Crystal Palace, and what a good signing that would be.

Money is no object for QPR and manager Iain Dowie but apparently it is at Derby. Only a couple of months ago manager Paul Jewell said there wasn't a penny left of their parachute money but it hasn't stopped him in taking new players to Pride Park.

Not only do they lead the way with signings but they've more than Swansea and QPR put together with seven. They are going to be this summer's Leicester and I bet they hope they won't be next season's Leicester.

To be fair they do appear to be bringing in better quality than was seen arriving at the Crisp Bowl a year ago, certainly with one or two, but time will tell. So far they've added to their squad with Ruben Zadkovich, full backs Paul Connolly and Jordan Stewart from Plymouth and Watford respectively, Doncaster's Paul Green who opted not to sign a new contract at the Keepmoat and Kris Commons from Forest.

To add to that they have taken Nathan Ellington on a season long loan from Watford and await a tribunal decision on a fee for Steve Davies from Tranmere.

That's it for now, 23 signings in total and a number of clubs waiting for their first. I wouldn't be surprised to see us come off that list of clubs waiting during this next week - but who is the most likely of those we have been linked with?