SHEFKI Kuqi has revealed he joined Crystal Palace because he believes they have a better squad than the Ipswich one that failed to win promotion by two points the season before last.

By Derek Davis

SHEFKI Kuqi has revealed he joined Crystal Palace because he believes they have a better squad than the Ipswich one that failed to win promotion by two points the season before last.

Eagles boss Peter Taylor paid Blackburn £2.5m to hand the Finland striker a three-year deal, which allowed Jon Macken to join the Blues on loan.

He said: “The squad here now is as strong a squad as there is in the Championship.

“At Ipswich, we had quite a small squad but there was a lot of togetherness within it - but I think this Palace one is a better squad.”

Macken is expected to make his Town debut when George Burley brings his Southampton side to Town on Saturday, complete with Kelvin Davis, Chris Makin and Jermaine Wright.

Town have brought in a couple of trialists and former Rangers defender Bob Malcolm could play for Town reserves at Stevenage tonight along with Dutchman Joey Van Den Berg, who has recently been released by Heerenveen.

International defender Gabby Zakuani was denied the opportunity to join Ipswich on loan from Fulham by his manager, according to his agent Richard Cody.

The Congo-born defender arrived at Craven Cottage from Leyton Orient in the summer in a £1.5m deal but has yet to make a senior appearance. Even so Fulham boss Chris Coleman has made it clear the African figures in his plans.

Cody said: “A few people enquired about taking him on loan - Ipswich and Palace - but there was no way that Chris Coleman would let him go. It just won't happen.

“If Chris felt that it was the best thing to do we would go along with it but Chris believes Gabby is making very good progress and I'm happy with that situation.”