A Week To Go, Where Are We At?

We now have just one week to go in the January transfer window and things, including pressure are building up.

Firstly, we have signed Lee Camp on a six month deal.

The reaction to this signing is mixed, at best. Most fans' reactions are 'We don't need another keeper!'

He is hardly a world class goalie that will dramatically improve the team - but Chris Hughton thinks differently to us.

If Mark Bunn suffered a similar injury to John Ruddy could Declan Rudd reasonably be expected to see us through the business end of the season?

Remember what happened when Bryan Gunn was injured in 1995 and a young Andy Marshall stepped up?

We got relegated and I remember Robert Chase publically later stating that he should've bought a replacement, experienced keeper.

Maybe the signing of Camp is a 'just in case' thing. He's free, so it's just going to be his wages to cover till June.

Then there is the ongoing striker situation. Ask any City fan where we need to strengthen and they'll tell you that we're light up front.

Two bids have been made for Gary Hooper and both have been rejected. The Express report this morning that we will try again.

Hooper has declined the contract extension that's been on the table for him since October and as Neil Lennon pointed out, it's not a coincidence that he has decided to reject it after a Premier League bid for him.

Will we sign him? That depends on many things -Celtic's desire and determination to keep him, the player and his desire to move on and then there are other clubs being interested.

Rumours now abound that Spurs and QPR are interested - if that is the case we can't compete with that sort of finance.

Spurs are Hooper's first club and QPR will just throw money at people until they agree to sign, so our chances look slim.

As far as Danny Graham goes, it's all quiet. It seems certain that Laudrup will want a replacement before he lets Graham go and it sounds like he wants Kenwyne Jones.

If Jones moves to Swansea then Graham may well become available but whether he goes to City or Sunderland is another tough one to call.

Meanwhile, Sky Sports reported last night that Norwich have made a £1.2m bid for Kansas City's Kei Kamara.

This lad is the reigning Sierra Leone player of the year and I accept I know nothing about him but the thought of this leaves me distictly underwhelmed.

Apparently he was on trial with Stoke in December but he wasn't good enough to impress Tony Pulis - hardly inspiring is it?!

And then we have Jamie Mackie. The QPR striker has scored 2 goals in 22 appearances this term and The Mail have us looking at him for a reported £3m.

These last two snippets are fairly disappointing really. If they turn out in a yellow shirt and are both brilliant then I'll happily eat my words but I'd rather spend more cash to get either Hooper or Graham.

You always have to pay more in January so if getting both looks out of the question, why not throw the cash behind one big bid for one or the other?

Anyway, enough rambling, things are about to get very interesting - one way or the other...

OTBC