Tilly to make loan move for Championship midfielder

Last updated : 27 August 2008 By Shrimpers24

My first thought was of Coventry City's Chris Birchall as TLG had received a text from a Sky Blue contact that he was on the verge of joining a League One club.......which now seems to be Carlisle! Their boss John Ward admitting an interest in the 24-year-old Trinidad & Tobago international who has been told he can leave the Ricoh Arena by Coventry boss Chris Coleman.

Birchall began his career with Port Vale where he scored nine times in 94 appearances for the club, picking up the Valiants' young player of the year award in 2005. His performances earned him a call up to the Trinidad & Tobago squad to become the first white player in 60 years to represent the country. His eligibility is due to his mother who was born in Port of Spain.

He then went to the World Cup finals in 2006 after being called up by Trinidad & Tobago, the first white player to do so for 60 years due to his mothers birth in the Port of Spain. His impressive displays earned him a £300,000 move to Coventry on his return to England. However, his first-team opportunities have been limited and following an injury-hit loan spell with St Mirren last summer, Birchall has been told he does not feature in Chris Coleman's plans.

Carlisle are set to be without midfielder Chris Lumsdon until November with a back injury but Ward was quick to play down an imminent move for Birchall. "Chris Coleman might be wondering what I'm doing but I haven't spoken to Coventry or the player," Ward said. "I speak to a lot of agents about players at this time of the year with the transfer deadline approaching."

So no word with the players club yet, could Tilly have had a call from the same agent?


Meanwhile, Lee Barnard spoke to www.southendunited.co.uk about his latest setback: "Somebody's knee went into my thigh just before half time and it really stiffened up. I was really struggling with it during the second half but the bruising has come out a bit now. I'm hoping there's no real damage and I'm confident of being fit. But I haven't trained yet so I don't really know where I am with it at this stage."

Oh dear, didn't Revell limp off as well when substituted? 

Roll on September 2 and we can have a rest from all this loan stuff.

Sadly though TLG does not believe weekly updates on the state of the good Lord's fitness will ever stop!