Shattered footballers. A selection of high-powered German cars still parked up, despite it being mid-afternoon. Good weather.

Must be pre-season.

It was back to business for Albion players today. The new signings were there, Borja Valero was around with only the World Cup players absent. Marek Cech, incidentally, got married on Saturday - just as well Slovakia didn't reach the quarter-finals in South Africa.

A three-line whip from Jeremy Peace and his directors brought me to the training ground today. The reasons for this are embargoed until Tuesday. You can read about them on the Birmingham Mail website.

Transfer matters are the remit of Dan Ashworth these days. Things are going on but nothing is imminent - despite what you might have seen about Boaz Myhill. That one is unlikely at this stage.

Joe Ledley has been identified. But his arrival onto the transfer conveyor has come at the wrong time. Do Albion really need to dip into the market for another midfielder when the search for a striker and goalkeeper is more pressing? It could eat into the budget and leave them short for a player they really need. If he's still available come August then maybe... Cardiff will want him to move to an English club as they won't get compensation should he go to Scotland or overseas.

Late July/early August will be the prime time when players start moving but Albion may still have to wait. The dynamics of this summer's transfer window have been changed by the introduction of the 25-player squad selection.

Little has been made of this rule change but it's significant. And here's why...

By the closure of the summer transfer window all Premier League clubs must name their 25 players for the first-half of the season. A club has to name ALL professional players if the squad was to fall below 25 by not doing so. Come January they have to announce the 25 men again. No changes can be made in-between windows. So you can't keep a place free if you wish to sign a free agent.

And what about Albion?

The knock-on effect means that clubs with more than 25 registered senior players (Chelsea or Manchester City spring to mind as example) must sell or release their unwanted players before the end of the window or risk having highly-paid inactive passengers on their books.

What might feasibly happen is that a Chelsea or Man City will release/sell some players to a, for example, Villa or Everton. They may then find themselves with more than 25 players so will need to move people on. And so a Blackburn or Sunderland might come into the equation and then they might end up with more than 25...and so on.

That's the simplistic explanation and only if you apply the concept of common sense - which, let's face it, rarely applies to football. But Albion are braced for the prospect of that filter effect.

This is why it could be a while before players start trickling down towards Albion. And the Baggies still have two domestic loans to use. It could be an interesting summer. Albion may benefit from another club's need to release a player they would otherwise want to keep.

But best be patient.

As for Graham Dorrans...EastEnders three times a week will be the nearest he gets to that part of London. To say Albion are getting bored with West Ham and his agent would be an understatement of some magnitude.