CITY will have to splash the cash on another centre half after pulling the plug on Gordon Greer.

Stuart McCall has expressed his disappointment at missing out on the experienced Scot, who is now expected to sign for League One rivals Doncaster.

Romain Vincelot switched to the middle of defence for Saturday's friendly against Sunderland but, with Greer gone, a hole remains in the squad with under a fortnight until the opening game.

The loan route is one option but McCall admitted that any permanent deal for a suitable central defender is likely to involve a fee.

He will sit down today with chairman Edin Rahic, Greg Abbott and Kenny Black to resurrect the list of targets that had been identified before taking Greer on the squad's training camp to Austria.

McCall said: "Maybe one has moved on who wasn't prepared to come away. I think the others would cost money and that's fine. Most of the ones we've looked at are at clubs.

"We'll see where we go and who we go for. There are some decent ones on the list, no doubt about that, but they are not free agents and we're going to have to pay.

"The owners have shown they are not frightened to pay for players. We've brought a few in this season that we've paid money for, so hopefully we can get the right ones – and get them in sooner rather than later."

McCall is also chasing more experienced cover at right back, with untried youngster Jacob Hanson currently the understudy for Tony McMahon for that role.

"It's good that we got the players in early on from middle to front but defensively is an area we need to strengthen," said the City boss.

"If you think Romain is a central midfielder, although we like him at the back as well, we've actually got four (senior) defenders.

"Three of them are left-sided – Adam Chicksen, Nat Knight-Percival and Matt Kilgallon, as well as Macca, so I think we need a couple more in.

"But we've got a couple of weeks to sort it and I know Greg is working hard behind the scenes."

McCall is clearly frustrated at losing Greer from his plans after the 36-year-old spent ten days with the club, featuring in the friendlies at Echterdingen and Guiseley.

His comments suggested that Rahic will have had the final say in the decision.

McCall said: "Greg, myself and the staff were pleased with what Gordon had done. That was the point of taking him away with us to have a look.

"Look at the other clubs who've done it. Michael Turner went away with Southend and they've signed him, Mike Williamson went away with Oxford and they're signing him.

"It doesn't always work but Gordon's not our player now and he's not going to be.

"It's nothing to do with his age or the money. His age wasn't an issue. We obviously knew how old he was when we took him away and it would have been crazy to do that if we weren't looking to sign him.

"But I think the process was going to be too long to decide and obviously another club stepped in. I get that totally and we've got to move on."