Toshack - Swansea to struggle

Former Swans manager, John Toshack believes Swansea will find life in the Championship a real battle. Following a 4-0 thumping at Espanyol, Toshack has made his comments on Roberto Martinez's squad which includes six Spaniards, two Dutch, two Trinidad & Tobagans as well as an Argentine.

Toshack might be trying to manage the expectations of Swans fans who will arrive at the Valley on 9th August full of confidence that their promotion winning side can start by getting a result against a club they will view as one of the promotion favourites. Indeed, Four-four-two magazine has predicted a third-place finish for the Addicks but I would temper that with their view that Crystal Palace will finish above us. I will reserve judgement until closer to the kick-off but as things stand I can't see either Palace or Charlton finishing in the top 6.

Interesting to hear Iain Dowie espousing the sentiments of the QPR board by talking about evolution and not revolution in terms of squad structure and club progress. He is "looking for one or two more" but claims to be largely happy with what he's got. That would suit me because I don't believe the current Rangers squad is particularly better than average in this division. Like Alan Pardew this year, it looks like Iain Dowie will be judged on his ability to motivate his side and get the best from what he's got.

Meanwhile, I see Palace have finally secured Jose Fonte on a permanent basis and have also dipped their toe in the non-league pool by signing Simon Thomas from Boreham Wood. All-in-all there hasn't been a lot of money spent in the Championship during the close season, and it's a similar position outside the big money deals for the big four in the Premier League. Richard Murray's comments about the state of football finances is proving uncannily accurate.

So with two weeks left to go, the big question for Addicks remains, who will we be bringing in? We clearly need that midfield cog and if we've funds for another, I would guess Pards' priority would be defensive cover in the shape of a big strong player with a bit of pace (mine would be a second midfielder unless we are planning on selling Fortune or Bougherra).

It's looking like a season loan deal for these positions might be the best we can do. We can probably fund better quality players this way. I am sure Pards wants experience as well as proven ability in these positions and it would look like we would need to target fringe Premier League players who might be passed their best but with something left to prove or who might be ready to drop down a division to continue to get first team football. West Ham, Fulham or Spurs might be the sort of clubs with large enough squads who would be keen to cut costs and get players playing. They are also close enough for a loan move not to inconvenience their stars too much.

Hadyn Mullins and Matthew Etherington at West Ham spring to mind. We've already been linked with Fulham's Hameur Bouazza and I don't believe that one's dead yet, but Simon Davies would be a real steal if we could land him, although we might need to adapt his natural attacking instincts. Steed Malbranque could find himself down the pecking order at White Hart Lane and would be another who could do a job in the Championship although he might also be more attacking than we need. Defensively, a loan of Leroy Primus or even Herman Hreidarsson would probably be as good as we could expect, although I would more than happy to see Sam Sodje back at the Valley - he still looks out-of-favour at Reading.