The ANDY LOCHHEAD column

IT is no surprise that Steve Cotterill has moved heaven and earth to try and keep Gary Cahill at Burnley for the rest of this season.

The young man has been sensational in his two months at Turf Moor, where amazingly he made his senior debut.

They say players grow up quickly with experience and certainly in that short spell, the boy has become man.

It's good to know the chairman has an eye for a player too. I was standing with Barry Kilby waiting for Gary to come and collect his man of the match award following the fantastic win over Wigan and the chairman turned to me and said: "We're going to have to try to sign this lad."

When you've got the main man praising you, you know you are on the right track so it warms the heart to hear that Steve has tried to secure Gary for another six months.

It would leave Steve with a nice little problem though of having three quality centre backs.

Three into two doesn't go, so instead why not look to play all three?

A regular feature of the team this season has been the crossing ability of both full backs, Mo Camara and Michael Duff.

They both look to get forward whenever possible, so using them as wing-backs could benefit the team from an attacking point of view.

The loss of Robbie Blake and his goals would hurt any side, but with the extra width provided it would leave the likes of Ian Moore to hang around the penalty area and grab some glory himself.

Certainly there is no need to feel despondent at Robbie's imminent departure.

The striker has served Burnley well over the past three years and, had Birmingham shown their hand before all the fuss surrounding Wigan's four failed bids, I think most Clarets fans would have been happy to see Robbie get another chance to play at the top level.

The money also leaves Steve in a strong position to strengthen the whole squad - providing some of it finds its way from boardroom to manager's office.

So far this season, Steve has been faultless in his signings and his ability to get the absolute best from every player.

There's no reason to think that won't be the case when new faces do eventually arrive.

Happy New Year everyone.