I HAD to smile this week when all and sundry decided to celebrate the 13th anniversary of the great Jay-Jay Okocha signing for Wanderers.

Thirteenth anniversary? A quick search on the internet revealed we should have bought him something made of lace, or perhaps a pair of laces? I don’t think Jay Jay would struggle for either.

Such is the paucity of concrete transfer news at the Macron Stadium, even the club itself jumped readily on board to rejoice the occasion, posting a plethora of pictures of the Nigerian wizard on their Twitter and Facebook feed. Now that really was a signing that turned heads in the footballing world.

Sadly for fans, that’s as exciting as things got this week.

We are at that stage of the year when the rumour mill slows to a crawl. Holidays and international tournaments put almost everything on hold until clubs get back into training at the end of the month.

Agents never stop, of course, and I’ve never seen a blank football gossip column yet. But if you’re waiting for official announcements and players holding shirts and scarves in the stands, then July 1 is the day to circle on your calendar.

Understandably, Wanderers fans are getting a bit antsy about the lack of business being done by their club. I can only echo their concern.

Neil Lennon’s squad looks painfully thin in certain positions, suffers from a general lack of pace, and a definite lack of goals.

I picked up the programme from the Norwich home game a couple of days ago, on which 31 names were listed on the back page. Fourteen of those players are now no longer with the club and another two – Eidur Gudjohnsen and Emile Heskey – are out of contract; that’s more than half the squad.

Ever since the end of the season we have heard murmurings of outside investment, be it from Ireland, Israel or elsewhere in the Middle East, but while we wait for some tangible evidence, the pool of available players seems to be diminishing with each passing day.

A week after the play-off final a list of 160-or-so Championship players who were available on a free transfer was published by the Football League, followed quickly by another 65 players looking for work from the Premier League.

Wanderers have helped themselves to two solid signings from that bunch – Gary Madine and Ben Amos – and lost out on another in Craig Morgan.

Lennon has scoured the globe for value, cast out a lot of lines; but at what point does the manager have to start reeling in?

I can’t really fault the two bits of business done so far – albeit unofficially.

Fans will be happy to see Amos return after his impressive loan spell last season, and it is also interesting to know that ex-Wanderer Ali Al-Habsi was considered as a viable alternative.

Madine’s arrival has been less celebrated. But listening to the Gateshead-born striker, you sense he really is hungry to prove his doubters wrong.

He seems keen to put the huge mistakes he made as a younger man behind him, and my own personal view is that everyone should be given a chance to do just that.

Madine was one of the few people to walk out of the wreckage at Blackpool last season with any credit, perhaps an indication of how good he could be with a decent run in the team.

He didn’t get that under Dave Jones or Stuart Gray at Sheffield Wednesday – indeed, it was Gary Megson who got the best out of him at Hillsborough. If Wanderers can provide some good old-fashioned centre-forward ammunition, he looks the type who could prosper.

As solid a performer as Madine looks, however, Wanderers need something extra up front if they are going to avoid trouble this season, in my view.

The club needs to find player who can get fans talking positively about the new season again.

The days of recruiting a Jay-Jay are long gone but the Whites could do themselves a big favour by sprinkling some star dust on their next signing.