I AM flabbergasted that Graeme Souness has taken a holiday at this time of year. We are in the middle of the transfer window and the club is clearly in trouble, with difficult games coming up that could see us firmly entrenched in the bottom three by the end of February.

What sort of message does this holiday send out to the players and fans? The wrong one! Our players are under-performing, big time, we are not too good to go down, and Souness going away can only confirm some of our players' views that everything will work out okay.

Souness missed a reserve game, again, at Christie Park. He missed a previous one due to a television appearance as a pundit. Is he losing interest in our club because he is not getting the financial backing he wants?

Do his instincts tell him that he has taken the club as far as he can?

Souness had done a marvellous job for the club until the beginning of this season, however if there is deep-rooted disharmony in the club, now is the time to tackle it before we go into terminal decline.

ROGER BALL,

Hawthorne Place, Clitheroe.