Posted by This Is Boston on
JAY JAY Okocha says it is essential that Wanderers strengthen their squad, if they are to retain their place among the leading lights of the Premiership next season.
JAY JAY Okocha says it is essential that Wanderers strengthen their squad, if they are to retain their place among the leading lights of the Premiership next season.
The Reebok skipper admits it will be tough to match last season's record high, especially with the added demands of a UEFA Cup campaign.
But he insists they will have nothing to fear, provided Sam Allardyce can make the necessary additions to his squad.
"It will be more difficult than last season with another tournament to take in," he said. "For many of the players, Europe will be new but we mustn"t get carried away with that and forget to do well in the Premiership .
"We must try and find a balance and we will; need a big squad to do it with.
"The good news is that we"ve been together for a while and we know each other very well. But I still think we need a couple more players. The squad needs strengthening."
Okocha, who returned to pre-season training this week after being given extra time to rest after his international commitments, is as anxious as Allardyce to see some transfer activity. He smiles at the suggestion that, despite Wanderers paying a record fee ó believed to be in the region of £4m ó to sign El-Hadji Diouf on a permanent basis from Liverpool, many fans do not consider the Senegal striker as a "new" signing, having spent last season on loan at the Reebok
"I"m with the supporters on that one," he said. "He is already part of the team. We know him from last season and he is not like a new face to us. Even though they spent a lot of money on him, I don"t see him as a new signing. We still need new faces."
Okocha has warned that Wanderers will find it tough to even match, let alone improve on, last season"s sixth placed finish but says there is no reason to be daunted by the task of living up to their reputation.
"If we can achieve what we achieved last season, it would be wonderful," he added. "That would be success.
"Sometimes it"s easier to get there than to stay there. But there is nothing to be scared of.
"We just have to be ambitious. We have that target and we have got to go for it.
"We don"t have much to lose, we can only win."