MORTON boss Dougie Imrie says he’ll look to fill the void left behind by Jay Emmanuel-Thomas's sacking...but only if the right option becomes available.

The Ton gaffer’s plans were thrown into chaos in the middle of last week as the one-time Arsenal man, who’d only penned a six-month contract 52 days earlier, was arrested and subsequently charged in connection with a £600,000 drugs bust at Stansted Airport.

Jay Emmanuel-Thomas saw his contract terminated last weekJay Emmanuel-Thomas saw his contract terminated last week (Image: George Munro) The forward's contract was terminated by the club on Thursday evening, little more than 24 hours after his initial arrest.

As far as Imrie is concerned, though, the bottom line is that it leaves him a man short at the top end of the pitch, with less than a week of the loan window left to try and plug the gap.

And he says the club will back him, should the right option come along.

He told the Tele: “We’ll try and act. We’re always actively looking to try and improve the squad.

“If we can identify the right player, then I'm sure the chairman and the board will back me to help land them.

“I have had a wee chuckle about some of the names that have been explored in the last week or so.

“All of these avenues have been explored. I’ve chased some of these players for weeks, away back at the start of the window.

“The work has already gone on in the background on transfers, long before the individual seems to pop up. It's not a case of approaching them when they become available.

“I’d been on the phone to many a Premier League manager on Thursday and Friday last week, but we can’t get the player in question because their manager wants to keep them in the building.

“It’s difficult, because now you’re probably looking into the free agent market.

“There are a few of those out there, but its about seeing if they fit the profile of what we’re looking for.”