FOUR of Sam Allardyce's summer signings - Per Frandsen, Michael Ricketts, Simon Charlton and Leam Richardson - are expected to go on parade when Wanderers take on local side Indiana Blast in the first game of their US tour in Indianapolis tomorrow night.

Abnd while the cheque book might be locked away Allardyce knows he needs more players if Wanderers are to be a force in Division One next season.

"I couldn't put my hand on my heart and say the current squad is better than last year," the manager confessed today.

"But, if I can get my hands on the players to make the squad up to the strength and the size I want, then we'll be getting something like."

Summer transfers - Frandsen's return being undoubtedly the biggest plus - have given the Wanderers squad a new look. Ricketts will give the attack a new dimension and Charlton and Barness will add experience and a certain versatility to the defence.

But Allardyce knows his hand has been weakened considerably by the sales of Eidur Gudjohnsen and Claus Jensen and the loss of Michael Johansen, Paul Ritchie and Allan Johnston from the squad that reached last season's play-offs.

"It's fair to say that we have done more business than most clubs and there have been as many ins as outs," he acknowledged. "But the squad is still not big enough.

"We have had to address the financial problems, I think people know that, but I've got to make sure, as best I can, that the team doesn't suffer and that's why I'll continue to look for players."

At least four of his summer signings - Frandsen, Ricketts, Charlton and Leam Richardson - are expected to go on parade when Wanderers take on local side Indiana Blast in the first game of their US tour in Indianapolis tomorrow night. The fifth, Barness, is carrying a slight injury and has been restricted to light training.

Ian Woan and the American John Torrington - the pick of the trialists from the ill-fated three-match trip to Denmark - will get another chance to impress the management.

Torrington, once of Manchester United and latterly of Bayer Leverkusen, could switch sides next Sunday when Wanderers take on the United States Under 23 National side. The 20-year-old Californian is a member of the US squad using the friendly as an Olympic trial.

The tour, originally a three-match itinerary, should have kicked off tonight with a friendly against the Cincinnati River Hawks but the game was cancelled on Friday after it became known that the A-League club had financial difficulties - problems that prompted former Wanderers' legend John McGinlay to quit as coach after just six weeks, as exclusively revealed in Saturday's BEN. Organisers feared the River Hawks would not be able to fulfil the fixture.

Allardyce was not at all disappointed by the loss of the fixture. "We've come here primarily to work the players hard," the manager said. "They are having at least two sessions a day and enjoying excellent facilities. The two games that are left will be ample."

The manager isn't happy, however, about having to leave Mark Fish behind.

The South African, who missed the tour of Denmark in the aftermath of his failed transfer to Charlton, was due to fly out with the team on Friday. But he had no visa and, unlike the rest of the squad, was not entitled to enter the United States under the Visa Waiver Programme.

"I really wanted Mark to be here because he has missed so much of pre-season," the manager admitted, "but we didn't apply for a visa and that means he's had to stay at home."