Cookie Watch #3 and other news

The Spanish season is now very close to starting and Chris Coleman has made his first signing for Real Sociedad. Perhaps unsurprisingly it is another welsh man, David Vaughan the 24 year old Crewe Alexandra winger.

A couple of great articles from the Times that were pointed out to me by my American friend BQ. Coleman embraces new challenge and Outsider Coleman feels home at last. There's also been another Postcard from San Sebastian in the Mail and this article on the BBC. This suggests to me that there is going to be a lot of media interest in how Cookie performs. The odds are hugely stacked against him, with very little money and the need to rely on home grown Basque talent, but I suspect the British media are actually going to be quite supportive of him.

There's been an increase in rumours following Saturday's disaster with a number of players being linked with moves in and out of the club. With ten days remaining of the transfer window it's always an edgy time and if some of the rumours are true then it's concerning that we might be letting players move on at a time when our squad appears to be thinner than we might have hoped. Richard covers all of this very well on Craven Cottage Newsround.

Brian McBride may or may not need surgery on his knee, either way he is going to be out for at least three months. This means we are looking for another striker who can be strong in the air and hold the ball up for the likes of Healy and Kamara. Maybe it's Kyle Lafferty but that could just be another lazy Northern Ireland link. Papa Bouba Diop has apparently been given the go ahead to leave Fulham and is being linked with a move to either Portsmouth or Newcastle. If The Wardrobe does go it will leave us light in central midfield, the (rarely reliable) News of the World suggest that PSG's Sammy Traore, who can also play centre back, may fill the void.