Kilmarnock signed a Sun headline writers dream today in Bradford midfielder Gary Locke. I tried in vain to come up with something original for a heading but failed miserably, so try tomorrow's cream bun as they have someone making up daft headlines on a full time basis (see Supercaleygoballistic...etc.). The photo call today was down at the Auchencruive training ground so I went along to see what the manager had to say.

Jim said: "We've signed Gary, who is a player I obviously know well, on a three year deal which is good news as at 27 years of age he is coming into his prime. It's been three years since he's had any real injury and he's well over that now. It was in 1996, over six years ago that he had real problems and then a wee cartilidge thing in '98, but since then he just had the same knocks as everyone else who is as committed as himself gets."

He went on: "I've wanted to sign him from the day I started here. As I've already said, I think the best is still to come from him. When I left Bradford with about two thirds of the season gone, he was by far the player of the season. He's good on the ball, he's got a terrific attitude and is a real competitor and I think he'll be a driving influence in the team. I see him more as a middle of the park player but he can play in a number of positions and he's comfortable on the right, left or centre, so that will create competition for places. He can play a defensive or attacking role and is good driving forward and uses the ball well. He's a good crosser of the ball too."

Gary looked fit and raring to go and had no problems keeping up with the rest of the squad during the session. Jim remarked: "Gary is ready to come into the team straight away. He's done all the pre-season work and had four or five games already so he'll be in contention for Saturday, in fact he's in the squad and got a very good chance of playing!"

Jose Quitongo was also present at Auchencruive. Jim commented: "Jose came to me an asked if it would be okay for him to train with us. A move to Spain had fell through for him because his wife couldn't settle so they came back here. I said that he could train with us and in the practice match last week against Morton I gave him the chance to play when one of the trialists go injured in the warm up, and he did really well. I told him that I didn't see him being a regular but that I might bring him on every now and then for twenty minutes and if he was happy with that then I would give him a short term contract. If he feels it isn't working or vice versa then he can find another club at the next transfer window and we agreed on that."

Jose will not be making his debut at Tannadice though. Jim said: "You might find him on the bench now and then, not on Saturday though, more likely just at home games when teams come here and try to sit in and make it tight. He's one we can bring on to open up the game a bit. He can play wide left or wide right and gives full backs trouble. He's quick, got grace and he beats people for fun and that excites the crowd which gets the rest of the team going. He's not costing us a lot of money and that's one of the great things about the board giving me a wage budget to work within."

He went on: "The squad has a lot more substance now and the five or six players we've brought in all have experience in the Premier League. You seen that on Saturday, there was a wee bit of edge to their game. There was couple of chances for them near the end of the game that I wasn't happy about, that's why we tightened up going into injury time. I didn't want to see us throw anything away after battling back for a point that we deserved."

The other trialists that we had last week were noticeably absent. The gaffer said: "Cozza is away back to Italy. He is a good player but he's not the type we are looking for. He was certainly way below the fitness level required to go in straight away. We might keep an eye on him and see how he does with his club after a few games. Santos is also away and we won't be taking up any options there, the same goes for Luntala. We were just having a look at them in training but they didn't fit in with our plans."

Paul McManus, however, is a different story. Jim said: "We don't know if Paul can make the step up from the third division to the Premier League but are hopeful. We tried to work out a deal with East Fife that if he did well we would pay a fee when he made his debut and again when he made more appearances, but they knocked it back so the deal is in limbo. I'm just waiting to hear back from the agents who are still working behind the scenes to get something sorted out, if they can then we'll sign him. he's young and he's raw but he's definitely got something."