New club, same Allardyce

[Batman]

Newcastle boss Sam Allardyce has revealed his frustrations that he has not been able to bring in defensive reinforcements at St James' Park.

Allardyce has admitted he has found life in the transfer market difficult since an early burst of activity in his Newcastle tenure.

Mark Viduka, Joey Barton, David Rozehnal and Geremi have all joined the club, but Allardyce has yet to add further new faces.

"It has been an incredibly frustrating two weeks," Allardyce said.

"It takes up a vast amount of my time because it is the most important thing for me to strengthen the squad we have at the moment, and particularly the defensive area."

The St James' Park boss admits he is aiming to bring in up to four new signings, and that he is prepared to leave pre-season training to his backroom staff as he pursues potential targets.

"Unfortunately everything this week progressed to a certain level and has fallen on stony ground," Allardyce added.

"I haven't been able to pursue something to the full conclusion of actually bringing him in for a medical to try to finish off a transfer.

"I can delegate to my backroom staff to carry on with the players the huge amount of training and conditioning they need to get ready for the start of the season, and be with them when I can.

"But really the main focus is to strengthen the squad as early as possible and hopefully by August 11th we will have done that by three or four players."