The City game emphasised the need for new blood and Dowie said, “The squad we have is not sustainable for 46 league games. We will be in serious trouble if we do not make additions to the squad and maybe Saturday is a wake-up call to the powers that be. There is a fine line between making sure you run things properly and not running it with any professionalism. I demand professionalism from my players, but we need little things available like fruit, energy drinks and bottled water.”
Eight of the 17 players used on Saturday were aged 20 or under and Dowie hopes to add a few loan players before Saturday’s season kick off against Brighton. One piece of good news is that David Eyres’ injury is not as bad as it was originally thought. Dowie went on, “It is just a little knock, which is a relief as David is an important player and one of our better ones.”