Not even 2 months after signing a 2 year contract following a reasonably successful loan spell at the Cottage, the Mirror are reporting that Jonathan Greening is off out on a season-long loan. Apparently Greening is surplus to Mark Hughes’ requirements and he may be off ooop north to Blackburn.

Checking against the squad profiles on the Offal this would leave 9 midfielders, one of whom is Robert Milsom; a player with no squad number and no league appearances to date. So, with no offence to Rob, that pretty much leaves 8. Is that enough? Chris Baird is listed as a defender but can perform well in midfield however we have only have 8 defenders, 7 if you move Bairdy forward. I’m no footy manager but I’m worried that’s not enough. Okay so we have a 26 man squad (27 if you include Milsom) so someone’s going to get “dropped” but must it be from a position where we’re lacking a bit of cover? And although Greening wasn’t a prolific goal-scorer he did seem to do a good job as a playmaker. I can certainly think of less effective members of the squad… (for another day maybe)

This may all of course suggest that Hughes has his eye on some potential new midfielders that have somehow escaped the media radar. I’m determined to be optimistic this season so that’s my theory and I’m sticking with it. They’d best get a wriggle on though.