MARK Cooper has revealed red tape could scupper his chances of signing Keith Gillespie.

The former Northern Ireland international, 35, has been training with the Quakers for the last week or so.

But the club need international clearance for him to sign, and that won’t get cleared up for another month.

Cooper is keen to keep Gillespie at the Arena after the ex-Newcastle winger impressed the Quakers boss on the training ground.

But he said: “There’s some FA rule which stipulates clubs need international clearance for a player who’s been playing in Ireland and we can’t get that until at least the end of November, so we’ve got to wait until then before we can sign any player who requires international clearance.

“We didn’t know about this until the other day and it is a disappointment.

“We’re always looking to strengthen but we want to get the right ones in. I don’t want to bring in loan players who won’t be staying with us, I want to bring players in who’ll be with us until the end of the season.”

Whether Gillespie remains with the club and signs at the end of November is up to him.