PHIL Gartside is steadfastly refusing to change Wanderers transfer policy after moving back into the loan market for Liverpool striker El-Hadji Diouf.

Diouf became Wanderers' eighth summer signing, only two of whom -- Gary Speed and Tal Ben Haim -- have cost fees, underlining the club's reluctance to be drawn into the big-spending routine that has been the undoing of so many down the years.

Indeed, Gartside and Sam Allardyce are seen as a model for other clubs with aspirations to establish footholds in the Premiership without jeopardising their long-term futures.

It is a strategy the chairman is determined to stick with, despite frequent promptings from supporters, Allardyce himself and even skipper Jay-Jay Okocha, who has twice this summer called on the Wanderers board to make more money available.

"That's how it will always be," Gartside said. "We're not going to move from that .. . it's a proven way of operating and until we find a better way, we'll stick with it.

"Compare what we've done with Chelsea. They've signed seven players for £68million, we've brought in eight for £1m. Who's doing it right?

"I noticed Jay-Jay saying the other day that we should change our transfer policy, but I reminded him that it was that transfer policy that brought him here in the first place."

Allardyce might have been frustrated at having to operate under such financial constraints but he knows he will be under no pressure to either match, or better, last season's success when Wanderers reached the Carling Cup Final, finished eighth in the Premiership and attracted record crowds.

Gartside has once again budgeted to finish 17th -- a policy that has prompted some supporters to accuse the club of lacking ambition.

His response is unequivocal. "Our ambition is to win the league, but the plan is to stay in the Premiership," he said. "We'd like to be in the position of looking forward to our holidays next March, knowing we're safe, like we were last year.'

With three of their summer signings being in the veteran category -- Speed is 34, Fernando Hierro 36 and Les Ferdinand 37 -- Wanderers have been tagged as Dad's Army and the Over The Hill Gang. But Diouf, at 23, is by no means the youngest of the new recruits. Ben Haim is just 22, while Michael Bridges (26) and Julio Cesar (25) still have their best years to come. The average age of the starting 11 against Charlton was under 28.

"I'm happy with the business we've done," the chairman added. "We've got the average age down, we've got a couple of good young players in there, some good young players coming through the Academy and we've got a good balance between flair and hard work."

And there could be more to come before the transfer window closes on August 31. Wanderers are currently trying to cut through the red tape holding up the signing of Nigerian international midfielder, Blessing Kaku, from Ashdod in Israel, while Allardyce is hoping to add a goalkeeper and another defender to his squad.

Gartside said: "We're still negotiating with Kaku and, hopefully, it will happen. But we're talking about a Nigerian international with a Belgian passport, playing in Israel. There are bound to be problems."