The Tom Ross Column: Midland managers will be shopping in different stores

May 27 2009 By Tom Ross

SO THAT’S it then, another season over and no great escape for the Baggies but hard fought promotions to the big time for Blues and Wolves, while Villa qualify for Europe.

However before the goalposts were down for the summer thoughts have already turned to next season.

It promises to be a busy time for all the managers although they will all be shopping in very different markets.

Martin O’Neil is ready to splash the cash to take Villa another rung up the Premier League hierarchy ladder.

I hosted the latest BRMB celebrity football forum in Tamworth last week with Bulgarian midfielder Stiliyan Petrov as my guest. He told the 500 Villa fans that he had been assured before signing his new 4-year contract that Villa would be bringing in a number of good players.

Contrast that with Alex McLeish who will have to work on building a team good enough to stay in the Premier League on limited resources. However, he believes that if he finds a player who can definitely make a difference then David Sullivan will find the money.

Mick McCarthy and Wolves have kept their counsel on what they have to spend or not as the case might be, but the understanding is that Steve Morgan is ready to have a right go at keeping Wolves in the Premier League.

Baggies boss Tony Mowbray will have to wheel and deal to get them back to the top flight. He will have to do it with no more than 20 players and that includes two goalkeepers. I spoke to chairman Jeremy Peace, and found it difficult to argue with the logic of his utilisation plan.

However, football is anything but logical, with normal business practices generally going out the window.

As Mr peace pointed out they can make use of the loan market if needed, but I have known times when as many as 5 or 6 players are injured with a couple of them long term, so what happens then?

If Tony has a relatively injury and suspension free season then it might work, but I am not totally convinced.

The next couple of months are what is known as the “silly season” this is when clubs are linked with all sorts or players most of whom they have no interest in whatsoever.