David Cuffley Patience will have to be the name of the game for Norwich City boss Bryan Gunn as he prepares for a summer recruitment drive. Gunn had a whirlwind 10 days in which to bring in new faces in January after his initial appointment as manager, and added to his five January captures with three further loan signings in the remaining weeks of the season.

David Cuffley

Patience will have to be the name of the game for Norwich City boss Bryan Gunn as he prepares for a summer recruitment drive.

Gunn had a whirlwind 10 days in which to bring in new faces in January after his initial appointment as manager, and added to his five January captures with three further loan signings in the remaining weeks of the season.

Now, after being reappointed for 2009-10, he admits he is impatient to start adding to his diminished senior squad - but knows it could be a slow process.

He said: “There are a lot of people on holiday but at the same time agents are on the phone recommending players and it's a case of sifting through as many people as possible and deciding whether we need to move.

“I would think it will be a domino effect - when one goes, one comes in.

“Not having been in the managerial seat before, it's one of those things you want to happen as quickly as possible but I realise it's not going to happen overnight. Patience is the key.”

Though most of City's players have dispersed for the summer, Gunn said it was business as usual at Colney as he dealt with a steady stream of phone calls over the past week.

He said: “We are still working behind the scenes. It has been non-stop and I will be speaking to the coaching staff to make sure we know as many options as are available to us before we start making decisions on what squad we will have.”

The failure of fancied Leeds and MK Dons to make it into the Championship through the play-offs was bound to make life tougher for the rest of League One next season, he said.

“Leeds will be favourites to go up as the biggest club and MK Dons are a team on the up. It will be a tough league but also more attractive because of them,” he said.

“But it will be tough with either Scunthorpe or Millwall, too.

“We have to make sure we build a squad that is competitive in this league. Teams will want to come to Norwich and win and will see us as a big scalp.”

One bonus for Gunn will be the Canaries' anticipated re-admission to the Football Combination at the annual meeting on June 3, re-establishing regular reserve team football.

He said: “It is important for different reasons. The players that come out of our Academy structure, in contention for first team places, have an opportunity to progress and develop and it's a good opportunity for them to play at a higher level.

“It will benefit us in different ways. We need to make sure we give players recovering from long-term injuries a few games.”