Cummings and Goings with Stephen Cummings

THERE'S a lot to be said for having a manager who speaks his mind.

And since he has been here Stan has given us more than our fair share of memorable soundbites.

Who, for example, will ever forget his impassioned outburst as the Burnley careers of Mark Winstanley et al were brought to an abrupt end?

More recently, it was the supporters who were on the wrong end of Stan's invective following out ignominious exit from the FA Cup at the hands of Scunthorpe.

The problem is that if you constantly express forthright views you run the risk of offending people.

One wonders, for example, how those associated with the Trinidad and Tobago national side feel about being described as, "some tinpot outfit." Not so much foot and mouth as foot in mouth.

In Ternent's defence he was absolutely justified in damning a system which implements one rule for Dwight Yorke and another for his international team mates.

It's just the way he went about it.

If nothing else it generated bad publicity for the club.

On Saturday for example, the Guardian picked up on Ternent's comments and carried a piece questioning just who the tinpot outfit was given that we had temporarily lost our training ground as a consequence of the current foot and mouth crisis.

Another subject which clearly irked the manager was the media's interest in the whereabouts of Andy Payton on Saturday.

It was evident from Ternent's response that his heckles had been raised. Yet the query was a legitimate one. If Andy Cole did not feature for Manchester United or Robbie Fowler for Liverpool, questions would be asked.

When pressed on the matter the manager stated that Payton had been dropped for tactical reasons.

Fair enough. In recent weeks, Andy has not played anywhere near as well as he can. Yet the edgy, defensive nature of Ternent's reply will have set alarm bells ringing with certain supporters.

And he must know that Burnley being Burnley there will be 101 rumours doing the rounds by the time you read this.

Finally, farewell to Micky Mellon. His out of the blue departure is chiefly disappointing from a financial point of view.

Having paid £350,000 for the midfielder, Burnley will recoup absolutely nothing.

However, having gained the likes of Lee Briscoe and Kevin Ball in similar fashion, it's a case of taking the rough with the smooth.