Sears Sitting Pretty

So what now for Freddie Sears? Last season should have been the making of him. Out of the Premiership, here was his opportunity to find his feet, establish himself in Claret and Blue, plunder a stack of goals and trigger the debate, "Can he reproduce that in the Prem?"

Allardyce even picked him in the first eleven for the opening two fixtures, but with a gross return of one goal from 180 minutes of football, it was obvious that the team needed more creativity and firepower, so Freddie was dumped - again.

He had more chances - notably in the Cups against Aldershot and Sheffield Wednesday, but again the team looked toothless and in the FA Cup defeat, Sears missed a sitter.

So it was off to Colchester on loan, and yet another opportunity to recover confidence by filling his boots against lesser opposition. Sadly, Freddie has small boots. Eleven games yielded just two goals, one a penalty (which he only took because the three first choice penalty takers were not on the field) and one goal in the final fixture of the season. The word pathetic unfortunately springs to mind.

But Freddie is still on our books. Why? Well Duxbury and Zola were desperate for some good news and offered him a ridiculous contract so they could boast that the Academy star had been secured for the next God knows how many years - I think it was a four year deal actually. And Freddie isn't going to earn the sort of money we are paying him anywhere else is he?

Still, let's be positive. For three years now we have said that Freddie's goals may be like London buses. You wait for hours and then suddenly five come along at once. Ignore everything that went before that final game of last season, and Freddie has a 100% goals to games played ratio at the moment! Man City will be enquiring on that basis!