Another day and more news on the transfer front as things begin to pick up a pace at Pride Park.

Further to the target update article posted yesterday, the DET is reporting that the Rams have submitted a bid for Crewe fullback John Brayford, whilst Exeter have publicly announced that they are considering an offer for Dean Moxey, which is odd in these hush hush days of transfer espionage, although you could point to the Ferrie Bodde affair of last year as another example of a public transfer saga; hopefully this one will end up better for us.

As I mentioned previously, there is interest from other clubs for both players but it appears the Rams are the only party to actually submit formal bids thus far, presumably hoping for a quick deal. Crewe boss Gudjon Thordarson is resigned to losing his player of the year and you would imagine we have the advantage given that Nigel Clough, Brayford’s manager at Burton, is now running the show at Pride Park.

Quite where Brayford would fit in should he sign remains to be seen since he would face competition for a starting role from club captain Paul Connelly who, despite playing poorly towards the back end of the season, had a more than reasonable first campaign with the club even though we were at times a shambles defensively. Perhaps our Nigel feels that increased competition will benefit Connelly, who had no real threat to his place once Tyrone Mears had done a bunk, but whatever the reason there’s no doubt that Brayford has made an impression since moving into league football and at just 21 years of age is a solid bet to continue his progression if he can be persuaded to sign on at Pride Park.

The Dean Moxey situation also progresses as mentioned although I have a bit more scepticism here since Exeter appear to be going down the Swansea route of revealing publicly what’s going on, which if that pattern is to be followed will lead to messiness and the probable breakdown of any deal. I may be being paranoid here but its not often a club makes an official statement when they receive a bid for one of their players – this is either a ploy to put the price up or the first step in making a very public rebuttal, neither of which will hasten the process of bringing the player to Pride Park.

I suppose we can but wait and see what happens but I’m keen for the club to acquire another left sided player since I just don’t buy into the theory that Jay McEveley isn’t going to revert to the mean after his solid late season showings before his foot injury, in the same way I don’t believe Gary Teale or Robbie Savage will contribute a whole lot next season despite their midseason run of impressive games.

Moving slightly off topic and back on Shaun Barker, it appears the manager situation at Blackpool is going to drag on for a while yet as caretaker Tony Parkes has walked away from the club despite being offered the position full time. As it happens I don’t agree with Adam Pearson’s view that a new manager will accept a bid that Blackpool’s chairman has already rejected but then he would know a bit more about this sort of thing than I do, and I’ve come to trust the man’s judgement so time will have to tell on that front.

So long as Forest don’t get him anyway.

Photo: Action Images

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