I'm sure every supporter of ITFC knows his name and I'm pretty sure they all know what he is about. A burly 17 year old who if you had just seen for the first time you'd no doubt think he was a little bit older!

Now I'm not here to talk about his physique, I'm here to talk about the massive dilemma that is facing our infamous manager. Wickham is undoubtedly very, very talented but you have to remember that at the moment he is pure raw talent, and the rest is potential. Aside from the upcoming transfer window, the problem for me is how to utilise Wickham in the best way possible.

Wickham undoubtedly finished on a massive high last season, scoring several goals after signing his first professional contract, some of them were very classy too, just see his goal against Derby.

Everyone then assumed then Keane would sell Priskin and Wickham would lead the line, however both the fans and Wickham were brought down to earth quicker than expected, as Wickham picked up a nasty ankle injury in pre-season meaning he missed the first few games of the season and all the fitness build up in pre-season too.

Then after making a quicker recovery than expected, as with ankle injuries, he suffered a further setback for a few weeks leaving him to I believe, only four or five appearances this season.

Now I've obviously seen some criticism of Roy and his handling, saying he is using "kid gloves" and then the infamous Daily Mail rubbish saying there was a bust up between the pair.

If we can credit Roy for one thing in his tenure so far, it has to be that he is excellent with young players and I trust he is also doing the right thing with young Connor. He also doesn't even need to rushing Wickham back from injury as Tamas seems to have become nigh-on unstoppable recently and Scotland who seems to always score at home.

We may just have to wait a few more weeks to relish our star number nine back to his natural best. This was written before the derby game and he's now been called up to the England U21 squad, but I still don't think he is quite ready yet.

SouperJim added 14:13 - Nov 16 "Everyone then assumed then Keane would sell Priskin and Wickham would lead the line". Complete nonsense there I'm afraid, I don't know who thought that (other than you) but their assumptions were seriously misguided at best. Nobody in their right mind buys a striker for £1.5m+ then sells him at a massive loss 12 months later because he had a poor season. Similarly, nobody in their right mind expects a 17 year old lad to lead the line.

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JammyDodgerrr added 14:17 - Nov 16 I think you'll find that quite a few people on here at the start of the season were fully expecting Wickham to be our star striker, especially after he was given the number 9 shirt and Priskin had a number outside the first 11. Just going on what i read.
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JammyDodgerrr added 14:24 - Nov 16 Maybe i generalised a bit.
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SouperJim added 16:25 - Nov 16 Unless I'm mistaken, Priskin kept the shirt he had the year before. Giving Wickham Pablo's shirt was probably meant as a statement of how highly the manager rates him and a message to the fans that we're not looking to cash in on him, rather than a promise that his name would be first on the team sheet every week. Your blog seems to be questioning where all the promise has gone... Wickham still is our "star striker", however he is a young player and it is easy to expect too much of him too quickly. We are only a third of the way through the season and he has been coming back from injury. Give the lad a chance.

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Baggins78 added 12:45 - Nov 18 First of all you've described Keane as an "Infamous manager", really? I think that's a little harsh for one of the Premiership's best ever players who has just started out in management. Also i aggree with SouperJim, I don't believe many peopple expected Priskin to be sold, he was a huge investment and after a disappointing season we would have been lucky to have got half of what we paid for him. Flicking through this again, I don't think I get your point here, is Keane an infamously bad manager or is he doing well with the youngsters?? What's the point of this blog? Apart from that the blog was good in a way

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tom_the_blue added 16:19 - Nov 18 Good blog I think we all put a bit too much pressure on Connor and I think Keano has treated him superbly so far. Just hope he can grab that elusive goal!!!
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Back_The_Boss added 07:09 - Nov 21 Decent blog. All I would say is that Keane was one of the best prem players of all time so i wouldn't regard him as an infamous manager.
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Ballistic added 13:13 - Nov 22 Respectable blog For any of our strikers to shine be it a promising youngster or experienced championship they need the service and it just isn't happening. We created chances last season but couldn't convert them. This season we simple haven't created no were near enough. How many saves did the Hull keeper have to make or the Barnsley keeper against us? This is an issue for Keane to address and one that is in his control. The formation, the players purchased the loan players acquired are his choice. Connor will thrive if he is given the time on the field, in a formation that suits his style and sufficent service. The same applies to Scotland & Priskin. Long hopefully balls can be useful but a tad predicatable and certainly not entertaining.

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Calmingwind added 11:07 - Dec 4 extended run in the side has helped priskin no end, i think would do the same for conner. trouble is if you play one, you generally cant play the other unless you drop jock (scotland). The lad will get his chance again for sure. perhaps what alot of people fear is that he will go the same road as bowditch. scotlands recent form hasnt been great, even at home but i think with tamas theres the making there of a good partnership, but they need time to Gel like any relationship does. starting over with tamas/conner jock/conner is not the asnwer., atliest not for the next few games or so.

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