Breaking news: Upson and Dunn out injured. Would you seriously be devastated if these two departed our club? Their contribution has been negligible and it would be a surprise if any manager this side of the Urals would queue up to buy them.
I am all for reducing the squad by these two players. I'm not disputing their ability and no doubt both would have been England regulars if fit but how long can you wait to recover the outlay?
Surely no one can claim that it is too early to be selling them. Upson is good but is he really that good? King Kenny made him look better than he was and when Cunningham's legs started to go Upson played average. I am not saying that Jaidi or N'Gotty/ Taylor are better than him but if there is an opportunity to cash in Pennant-style then we should take the money. Deal or no deal. Ask me the question Noel. Deal.
As for David Dunn, if I remember rightly, he is the most talented player on our books. It's just been so damn long. A lovely guy and poetry in motion when wearing football boots but he just doesn't wear them often enough. Time moves on people and we have to accept certainties. Dunn is never going to be fit, Upson wants to play elsewhere and Julian Gray is a plumber.
There comes a time to cut loose and get closure. If both Upson and Dunn go on to have magnificent history book careers then we should be glad we saw them in the blue shirts. Even if it was only briefly.
In our heads we all play being the manager. If you were a manager would you buy Upson or Dunn? I think Upson has potential but how old do you have to be before you are no longer classed as potentially good? Dunn has the talent but the fitness has eluded him and in light of our club's ability to achieve incredible transfer sums (Heskey anyone?) then the money can be used to further rebuild our squad for a final assault on automatic promotion whilst also strengthening our chances of staying up.
There's the rub. Promotion is all well and good and don't get me wrong I'll be running round the Bullring with my y fronts on my head like the rest of you but having tasted the Premiership I would actually like to be in it for a sustained period with the outside chance of winning something silver. Ain't that a thought? Delusions? I don't think so. Simply ambitious and why not? It's not something to be ashamed of.
Any players purchased now have to be seen as potential Premiership players. You cannot buy someone decent on a six month contract. Players want two or three year deals. Journeymen are not an option. We can lose Dunn and Upson and replace them. Perhaps it is time to look at Nugent and Eastwood. DJ Campbell has struggled to recover the form he showed with those wonder goals against Sunderland, Jerome is slowly getting to grips with the game but does not look like scoring twenty goals and unfortunately Bendtner is too good for us.
Sully says the purchase of a striker is not guaranteed. Hmmm you would think for a guy who has made so much money out of being an astute businessman he would have learned some lessons from the last campaign and its utter failure to score goals.
Barnsley gave us a game but that defence of ours is holding out well and is the base for the solid performances. Each week the opposing manager says that they were unlucky and deserved something out of the match. Hey heads up everyone if you don't score you don't win, simple as, we found that out last season.
Having disposed of the Baggies a few weeks ago we now welcome their inbred cousins from further up the tram tracks. The Wolves are on a desperately poor run of form away from home but knowing our luck they will go all out and take something back to the Badlands. Fortunately for Bruce these games are rarely entertaining affairs and so as fans we will simply take the three points no matter how ugly the game is (or the opposing supporters).
Take note Steve. You don't need to impress anyone on Saturday dinner time. Just win the game. It would be nice to score more than two goals in a game but that's just greed. Twelve o clock kick off. Why? So no one gets drunk and causes trouble? So what happens at two o clock then? All day drinking instead? Bonus. Not that I'm too bothered, two pints and I'm leering at the bar maid who looks like Ann Widdecombe's ugly sister.
Keep right on. Ugliness is a condition brought on by the lack of alcohol.