As an example Talbot said of Chris Killen, “Chris doesn’t score enough or shoot enough, but I’m convinced he will get there with a bit more hard work. He’s a player who cost a lot of money (£250,000 from Manchester City) and is under contract to the end of next season, so we need to get more value. I’d also like to see him hold the ball a bit better, but we should get more consistency as he gets fitter. Hopefully, in time, the supporters and the people at the club will really start seeing what he can do.”

Whatever Mr. Talbot’s reasons, and my opinions count for nothing at Boundary Park, but as a player/manager myself I can’t see any public slagging off of players achieving anything positive. When players play bad, they don’t need telling. I know when I’ve done wrong and I will work on it for the next game. Most players don’t like to dwell on mistakes and in the end it doesn’t make them go away or improve dressing room atmosphere. Team spirit is essentiial in a successful team and dragging up past mistakes won’t make a player do better next time and can actually have the opposite effect. Perhaps a gentle word here and there could achieve the same result, but in my opinion the silent approach always has better effect, but as I say, “Who am I?”