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| Phil Bardsley |
It's somewhat different to five years ago. Here we are on the opening day of May, and on that occasion we were still two days away from confirming a play-off place with a win against Bristol City on the 3rd May.
I've had a look back. Other than Russell Anderson, who had suffered a cruciate ligament injury having joined us on loan from Sunderland, expressing a desire to return, the early news was all about manager Owen Coyle and Celtic after the Wembley win which came on 25th May.
The first players linked with any seriousness were Newcastle's former Blackburn wide man Damien Duff and Everton's Lars Jacobsen. The Jacobsen link had some merit until operational director Brendan Flood confirmed we would only be looking at British and Scandinavian players in our recruitment and they would have to be of a certain age. Jacobsen, at 29, was considered too old.
Rhys Williams was next but that always looked a non-starter with Middlesbrough's demands for him to be prohibitive. The Williams link was an interesting one, him having been on loan with us up to the Bristol City game, and Coyle then expressed a desire to bring Mark Randall back to Turf Moor; he'd been with us during the 2008/09 season.
Williams, Russell, Randall - move on five years and there's almost a pattern.
Michael Kightly, just coming to the end of his loan with us has expressed a desire to return on a permanent basis. He hinted very strongly that he would be here with his interviews after the Wigan game and yesterday there were suggestions that a deal could be imminent after promotion triggered a clause in his loan deal.
My sources tell me it wouldn't be a costly deal for the Clarets who have also been linked with Watford's Troy Deeney, and that one can't have come as a surprise and Sunderland's Craig Gardner.
But lurking away in the background, as always, are links with former players and this time it is two players we've had on loans during the tenure of previous managers.
Alongside the Gardner link was one with Phil Bardsley. That link, interestingly, came from the North East press.
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| Shane Duffy |
Bardsley arrived on loan at Burnley from Manchester United, making his debut alongside Andy Gray who had been signed on loan from Sunderland. Bardsley settled in at right-back in Steve Cotterill's team and he and Gray helped us out of a poor run.
He made six appearances for us before his season came to an end after suffering an injury in a 0-0 draw on what was our first ever visit to Hull's KC Stadium. He'd impressed enough and Cotterill was keen to bring him back to Turf Moor in the summer of 2007.
That didn't happen and Bardsley enjoyed loans with Rangers, Aston Villa and Sheffield United before signing for Sunderland in a £2 million deal in January 2008.
He's had his ups and downs on Wearside with the biggest down coming when he was left out of the squad under Paolo Di Canio. There have been strong suggestions he will move on come the end of the season although there is a new contract on offer to him at the Stadium of Light.
Yesterday another name was added, that of Shane Duffy, the Everton central defender who has been on loan at Yeovil this season.
Duffy, now 22, joined us in March 2011, an early signing for Eddie Howe. He made his debut in a 2-1 home defeat against Ipswich but was left out of the following game and returned to Goodison Park without adding to his appearances.
He's since had a loan with Scunthorpe during the 2011/12 season and this season has been with Yeovil since September and has played 36 league games for them including our visit to Huish Park in January.
It's just a guessing game right now who may or may not be signing for us. The speculation will continue, there's no doubt about that, but I'm sure Sean Dyche and his recruitment team will know exactly who their targets are ahead of our return to the Premier League.