New manager Joe Royle has completed his first signing for Athletic. He has returned to his old club Ipswich Town and has poached goalkeeper Shane Supple, initially on a one-month loan deal. Supple is an Eire under-21 international and will add cover for injured Greg Fleming. Veteran Mark Crossley is also a long way of playing again after undergoing back surgery. Royle is also working on bringing in more loan signings, although he was pleased with the attitude that his players have shown in training. He told the official website, "I was generally happy with how things went and the lads seem to have a good affinity. I've identified a few things to work on, but that will take time. The response from the players has been terrific, although I'm under no illusions as someone new coming in always tends to put a spring in peoples' step. I will have to rely heavily on the coaching staff initially. I had the initial framework of a team in mind when I came here, and the task now is top up some flesh on the skeleton."
"First and foremost we must concentrate on getting things right on Saturday. Everyone knows I like attacking football and my sides always score goals. We will be going for it. Of course we must defend well but I like my players to get forward as much as possible. Today's session wasn't without a casualty - defender Sean Gregan, who was left with a busted nose following an accidental collision with Lee Hughes as the pair jumped for a high ball. Sean won't be doing any modelling for a couple of weeks, but he'll be fine."