Boss Paul Jewell admits that midfielder Massimo Luongo was unlucky to be the loanee left out of the Town squad at Hull City on Saturday. The Blues are only permitted to name five of their six domestic loanees in their matchday 18 with the Tottenham youngster the man to sit out at the KC Stadium.
Jewell says he spoke with the Australian, who was fine with the decision: "I chatted with Massimo. Don’t forget he’s only a kid who is coming through.
"I said to him that he finds himself coming from the comfort zone at Tottenham and the U18 league to a tough and rough league where the team and everyone is having a tough time.
"Whatever happens this season it’ll be a huge learning curve for him and it’ll be beneficial. Sometimes you learn more about yourself, both as a player and as a manager, in really difficult times.
"I had a long conversation with him and he’s cool with the situation. He’s learning all the time. He’s training with first team players, he’s been in the squad, he’s been in games, he’s been left out. He’s experienced new things at 20 and that’s good for him.”
He admits that not all players are necessarily quite so accommodating in similar circumstances and that no manager is universally adored by the members of his squad: "I think in any industry and at any football club throughout the world, there will be some people who don’t like the manager.
"There’s a difference between liking them and respecting them. When you pick a team as a manager, 11 players and 11 wives and 11 families think you’ve picked the right team, the other 15 in the squad think you haven’t, and it’s personal.
"You’ve got to get used to not being liked and popular, but I think there’s a difference between that and being respected.
"But I know I haven’t lost that dressing room because I've had a lot of players knock on my door yesterday and today and some sent me text messages over the weekend saying that they hope I don’t decide to leave because they like what we’re trying to do here.
"It’s just frustrating that we haven’t made that breakthrough of winning games at the moment.”