Town manager George Burley today moved to deny any rift with French centre-half Manu Thetis.

Rumours have surfaced in the last week that Manu had reacted angrily to his being dropped for the game with Charlton last Tuesday.

Some even suggested a punch may have been thrown, a claim strenuously denied by the Town manager: "Do you think I'd be around if Manu had hit me?". Which is a fair point.

As regards reports of Manu driving away from the ground before the Charlton game Burley says he would have hoped that the former Marseille player would have stayed around, but didn't seem overly concerned.

As for Manu's recent absence from the first team and reserve teams it turns out that he has an Achilles' injury, something that certainly hadn't been mentioned up to now, although the player does have a history of Achilles' trouble. Does that all sound convincing? Hmmm.

The Town squad for tonight's game as printed on the official press release has caused some concern amongst Town supporters as it fails to name Tony Mowbray as a member. The squad list in this evening's Evening Star names Mowbray amongst the 19 players so it looks like an inadvertent omission by the club. Whether the injured Jim Magilton plays for Town will be decided at the last minute.

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