CITY director Dennis Tueart has confirmed that manager Stuart Pearce will be allowed to spend some of the Shaun Wright-Phillips transfer fee.

The Blues picked up a £21million windfall from the sale of Wright-Phillips to Chelsea.

And while some of that money will go towards clearing the club's debts, Pearce can bank on being given further support in strengthening his squad.

Tueart also confirmed that the move for Andy Cole was planned before Wright-Phillips' departure.

"Andy (Cole) wasn't really affected by the Shaun Wright-Phillips situation because it was once Jon Macken had left that the manager identified that he needed a qualified Premiership goalscorer," Tueart told BBC Sport.

"If you look at Andy's goalscoring record in the Premiership, even though last year he struggled a little bit with Fulham, with the funds he had available at the time, Stuart thought it was a good chance to get Andy in.

"So he set that opportunity up and we're still talking in that respect."

Positive

Tueart admitted that no-one at Eastlands had wanted to see Wright-Phillips go, but insisted the club must now look to take something positive out of the move.

He added: "When you lose one of your best players, initially there will be a little bit of a gap, but now the manager has to look at the balance of the team and improving other parts of it.

"Without question Stuart knows he has some money to go and spend in the transfer market, that was always the case anyway.

"We didn't expect Shaun to go but obviously there are two things to come out of it; one is that it will put a little bit of finance back into the football club and the other is it will allow money to be released for Stuart to go out into the market.

"He has been looking around for a few months since towards the end of last season when we thought the budget would be very limited, now it opens up further options.

"I think it's always exciting for fans when a manager goes out into the market and brings new players in because it gets them excited for the new season.

"The board and the chairman have said many times that we are still going forward as a football club and Stuart has the opportunity to go and recruit players that will help our cause."

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