CHERRIES chairman Peter Phillips has welcomed plans to maintain a substantial loan system next season.

Football League representations to retain the provision for short-term temporary transfers appear to have been successful.

The current loan system was in jeopardy due to the implementation of FIFA's transfer window, which would have only allowed clubs to bolster their squads during the summer or in January.

But it seems an agreement has been reached whereby clubs will be permitted to sign additional players "in certain exceptional circumstances" during the closed periods.

And although precise details are still to be confirmed, the continuation of short-term loans are believed to be included within the "exceptional circumstances" parameters.

Phillips told the Daily Echo: "I'm very pleased. If they had imposed the new transfer windows in the strictest fashion and not allowed short-term loans, it would have been another serious blow to clubs at our level and we've suffered enough in the last three or four years so this would have been another nail in the coffin.

"I'm glad to see that it looks as if common sense is going to prevail and that we will still be able to use the loan market which we've used so successfully in the past two or three seasons.

"It's also a boost for Playershare because it was difficult to see quite how it was going to work next season if we couldn't bring in a loan player as they funded all our loan players last season."

The Football League has been trying to negotiate a degree of flexibility for clubs regarding the application of the transfer window for the past few months.

And although it is understood a compromise has been reached for short-term loans, minor changes are expected to be brought in to show the principles of the regulations are not being ignored.

The news will come as a welcome boost to Cherries boss Sean O'Driscoll who is regularly forced to scour the loan market to bolster his squad.

O'Driscoll told the Daily Echo: "It's the sensible option and a compromise, and although it's not as flexible as it was, at least it will give you a chance to plug gaps as and when you need to.

"If they had scrapped the loan system, it would have given a lot of clubs problems and it may have got to the stage where teams with small squads had to cancel games because they could not field a side."

Asked if the decision would govern his plans for the size of his squad for the coming season, O'Driscoll replied: "Our squad size is governed by finance and although I might have said I would like to bring in six players, the only way to do that is to bring in six players on low wages and then you don't get the quality.

"If they had scrapped the loan market, I think it would have made people more aware of how difficult it is to run a team on 17 players.

"If we've had problems in the past, we've got players in on loan so if that had gone, it would have made it a bit more visible to everybody.

"But because our squad is flexible and adaptable, sometimes we've done really well in covering the shortfalls we have."

Speaking to the Daily Echo on Tuesday May 24, a spokesman for the Football League said: "How the new FIFA transfer regulations are going to be implemented are still being discussed between the Football League and the Football Association and when things are finalised, we'll announce what they are."