IN my day, Burnley were a selling club. You knew that come Easter, one of us was going to be sold on in order to balance the books.

But you also knew that there was a ready-made replacement in the reserves. That's what made them so valuable to clubs and that's why I'm delighted that Burnley have re-instated their reserve team.

When I joined Burnley at the age of 17, you did your apprenticeship in the reserves for a couple of years before you even got a sniff of the first team. But you were ready when the opportunity came.

And it's vital that we try and get back to that trend. Chris McCann and Kyle Lafferty have come through the system into the first team, but they must be the first of many.

It's difficult for a club like Burnley being so close to so many bigger clubs to get the best players, but it's a system that will ultimately benefit the Clarets in the long-term.

Looking at the present, I'm a bit disappointed with the lack of transfer activity at Tuf Moor so far.

We've signed a keeper, which was a priority, and Besart Berisha after he got his work permit yesterday. But the £340,000 we'll pay for him is a drop in the ocean.

I was hoping that more signings would have been made by now, but the market is still very quiet.

Hopefully it will pick up quite soon and more new faces will be added to the squad that returns for pre-season next week.

With the quality of the teams coming into the Championship, we need a bigger and stronger squad for next season, so I'm hoping the manager is just keeping his powder dry.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - we need a natural right back. We've played people out of position on the right for too long now and we need to fill that gap.

When we had Phil Bardsley on loan from Manchester United he really looked the part, and hopefully Steve has something up his sleeve.

Berisha looks to be a class act in midfield and will give us something different. I've only seen him once, in the game against England B at Turf Moor, but he looked like he could beat a man and will no doubt be an asset.

But I think we need another striker and a right back before the start of the season if we're to make a realistic attempt to get out of a very difficult league.