One in, one out at Luton

Boss Kevin Blackwell has today completed the signing of former QPR and Chelsea striker Paul Furlong. The 38-year old has signed a one-year deal with Luton as Blackwell looks to get us back into the Championship. Luton are also expected to confirm the signing of Paul Peschisolido tomorrow.

 Paul Furlong started his career at non-league Enfield, before moving to Coventry where he was much less of a success. He was then sold on to Watford, a move which led to 79 appearances, 37 goals and a multi-million pound transfer to Premiership Chelsea. He was much less of a success at Chelsea, with just 13 appearances in 65 matches. A record that Warren Feeney wishes for, undoubtedly. Anyway, he then moved onto Birmingham City for £1.5million, a move which saw him score 50 times in about 130 appearances before being sent on loan to QPR, Sheffield United and QPR again. He impressed Rangers enough to make them sign him, and in his permanent spell he scored 54 goals in 162 appearances. This includes three goals against Luton - he always seemed to score against us for Rangers. This move adds even more experience to the team. Furlong has played almost 500 league matches in his professional career, scoring 163 league goals, and you can't get much more experienced than a 38-year old striker (unless we signed Teddy Sheringham). My only real concern at the moment is that Furlong didn't score many last season and appeared to have little impact in a QPR team that struggled last season. He only scored twice, inevitably one of those was against us. On the other hand, it is a division lower against worse defences, so maybe he can chip in with a number of goals for us.

This move, and the possible move of Peschisolido could see the departure of Adam Boyd. A possible move to Darlington has already fell through for the former Hartlepool striker, and Blackwell is believed to have placed Boyd on the transfer list. Yesterday, Blackwell released our longest serving player (excepting Spring), Russell Perrett. Perrett, who recently turned 34, has signed for League One rivals Bournemouth today. Despite being at the club since 2001, Perrett hasn't made that many appearances, with just under 100. Nevertheless, when he was fit enough to play he was always a solid defender for us, and he played a key role in the two promotion seasons. In the 2003-04 season, he stood in for Coyne and Curtis Davies when needed and was a good backup player. Good luck to Russell in the coming season. As for Luton, his departure may mean that we need to sign another centre-back. With Coyne and Barnett as first choice, there are very few obvious choices as a back-up centre-back, with only Keith Keane an option, unless Goodall can play there.  Released midfielder Michael Leary has also found a new club, joining Barnet on a free transfer.