Ian Holloway has hinted that one of Swindon Town’s loan players could become permanent ahead of the end of the transfer window.

Swindon have made two acquisitions so far this window with Tom Nichols joining on loan from Mansfield Town and Joe Westley from Burnley.

Those two moves have left Swindon with six players on loan, with the rules only allowing teams to use five loan players in any matchday squad, meaning at least one would have to be excluded each week.

However, Holloway said that there was a possibility that Swindon could get their number of loans down to five and keep all of the players in the squad.

He said: “We might be able to manipulate that around and make one of them a full-time thing. So, we can get rid of that problem.

“It is not ideal as clubs will only loan you players to get them playing but something might happen which makes that a wasted question.”

With Miguel Freckleton set to become part of the squad again once he returns from injury this week, he will join the other loanees of Joel Cotterill, who now looks set to stay at Swindon, Dan Barden, Kabongo Tshimanga, Nichols, and Westley.

But even if Swindon are unable to make one of the loan players into a permanent one before the deadline, Holloway backs himself to be able to handle the situation.

He said: “I should know how to do that, shouldn’t I?

“Talking to players is something that I pride myself on, I never lie to them, I always tell them what I am thinking, and I always tell them the truth.

“If they don’t like it then we don’t get on because I always wanted to know where I stood with someone.

“If you ask [Paul] Glatzel, he knows [what I think] and if you look at his reaction to what I asked him to do the other day then that showed what he is about.

“Wherever you are, you can do something about it if that is not where you want to be and that is the responsibility that I give you, but I will tell you what I need and not lie to you.

“It is about how you process that and what you do about it.

“If everybody is fit then I might have some severe problems and have to leave one or two out and then you will see what the attitude is like at your football club.”