Laws The Loan Arranger

Owls boss Brian Laws must be pretty confident about the fitness of his returning stars, as he told Radio Sheffield he'd like to move several of the squad out on loan.

'There are some players that need to go out on loan and I am not talking about the kids.. I don't want them away at the Christmas period, I want them back before then. So I will see if I can get one or two out in the next week.'

Confirming that the players in his thoughts are Peter Gilbert and Wade Small he went on to say 'There may even be another striker that I want to get out.'

So what's the thinking behind it? Loan stars Tony McMahon and Lewis Buxton are performing well and Frankie Simek is on the verge of returning, so Gilbert is the defender scheduled to maintain his fitness at another club. Laws would want him back in the swing of things at S6 before the loanees depart.

JJ, EE, McAllister and Tudgay are all capable of filling the left or right midfield positions, the centre being shored up by Watson and O'Connor, so Small is currently the midfielder most likely to go out on loan. Rocky Lekaj may also head out of S6 to gain valuable first team experience: if Rocky gets as much from it as McAllister got from his loans, he'll be a much improved player.

And the striker who may be loaned? Leonaldo is scoring, Tudgay is solid, Sodje looks to be coming back to his rampaging best and Jeffers fitness is improving day by day, so Deon Burton could well be the man to play away for a while.

The above loan action follows Luke Boden's move to Rushden and Diamonds last week: more ducking and diving as Owls gaffer Laws tries to balance the books and find that settled squad we're all hoping for.

Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.