It must be a sign of the strength of squad depth that Aston Villa can now boast so many decent players out on loan. It shouldn’t be any great surprise that Nicky Shorey has become the latest to get a short term move away by joining Nottingham Forest until Christmas. I hope it works out for him, he deserves to get some competitive football under his belt.

I’m sure he’s equally frustrated, and it’s something that isn’t difficult to understand, but let’s hope Nicky has a little more class than Marlon Harewood who’s flapped his gums a little recently. There’s nothing too incendiary there, but we all know you weren’t playing Marlon. Here’s a clue about why though; since joining Newcastle on loan he’s made 9 appearance – 5 starts and 4 appearance from the bench, playing the full 90 minutes just twice. In fact, I make it a total of 489 minutes, he’s scored once and provided no assists. This is in the Championship.

Anyway, genuinely, best of luck to Nicky and Marlon and the rest of the players who are all out on loan until at least Christmas:-

• Nicky Shorey – Nottingham Forest
• Marlon Harewood – Newcastle
• Isaiah Osbourne – Middlesborough
• Eric Lichaj – Lincoln
• Nathan Baker – Lincoln
• Jonathon Hogg – Darlington
• James Collins – Darlington
• Shane Lowry – Plymouth

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