The last two games haven't just been disappointing in terms of results - they have also highlighted the lack of depth within our squad.

The last two games haven't just been disappointing in terms of results - they have also highlighted the lack of depth within our squad.

The Coventry game demonstrated how we had to use players who were not fully fit or carrying bugs - I bet the manager would have been more tempted to rotate the team if he had had more options in reserve.

And the chances are that most of the team that played Southend will play again today, because even though Nigel Worthington was angry with them on Tuesday, there just aren't the bodies to make changes.

The transfer window means we are now relying on loan players to plug the gap and it won't be until January that we are unable to spend the money we received from the sales of Robert Green and Leon McKenzie.

However, although those two were sold for combined fees of £3m, how much of that have we actually received?

There will be all sorts of conditions attached to the money we will eventually get. McKenzie's total transfer fee will include add-ons for things such as winning promotion to the Premiership, and Green's final worth will be determined by factors such as England appearances and West Ham getting into Europe.

I don't think Green will need to score a hat-trick of second-half penalties in the 2010 World Cup final on a Tuesday in the rain for us to get all our money, but there will be hard-to-achieve conditions attached to the transfer fee, and it's more than possible that we won't ever receive all of the £3m for him and McKenzie.

That means we don't have as much cash at our disposal as some people might think we have, so when we do have the chance to buy again in January, we are going to have to very careful how we spend it.

t On a different note, I was delighted this week to read David Cuffley's traditional views regarding late substitutions in games. I have always been irritated when managers make a raft of changes in the final minutes of a match, and I would back moves to make it harder for managers to time-waste.

t NCISA's annual meeting is at Carrow Road on October 19 (7.30pm). It will be followed by a fans' forum attended by Delia, Michael Wynn Jones, Neil Doncaster and Andrew Cullen.

t www.ncisa.co.uk