DOUGIE Freedman is under no undue pressure to deliver promotion this season.

Wanderers chairman Phil Gartside admits he would be disappointed if the club were to fail in their efforts to clinch a play-off place, but has played down the impact that another year in the Championship would have on the club.

Speaking before last night’s 1-0 victory over Huddersfield Town, Gartside accepted the Whites had ridden their luck at times in recent weeks but said there would be no panic if the promotion chase proved a fruitless one.

“We have not given up at all,” he said. “All the other teams are trying harder to keep us in it than we seem to be doing to stay there. It would be a disappointment (missing promotion) but it would not be the end of the world by any stretch of the imagination.”

A week into the current campaign Gartside said the club were under “100 per cent pressure” to return to the Premier League at the first time of asking.

He clarified his comments on BBC Radio Manchester last night, explaining they had been directed towards the previous managerial regime, and not the current one.

“I’m under the same pressure,” he added. “I’m no different than anyone else.”

After coming under fire for the club’s handling of Kevin Davies’ contract last week, the chairman also came out fighting.

“I don’t have a problem,” he said. “We have dealt with it in a professional manner.

“I’m surprised that the decision has come as such a shock when it has been in the press and social media for two months that he was considering a move and there was no contract.

“It is always difficult. Ten years is a long time to have known someone.

“I can’t call him a close friend but we have been close and part of the club. But all things come to an end.

“We were trying to do the right thing and trying to help him move on if that is what he wanted.”

Gartside briefly turned the airwaves blue after the matter of his explosive interview with Talksport was mentioned, but calmed down to confirm that the club would offer Davies a benefit game if the proper channels are adhered to.

“I would give him one (a benefit game) tomorrow provided the football authorities agreed,” he said.

“(The request) has got to come from a committee. Someone said that should be me, but I can't do it. It cannot be part of the club. All we can do is offer assistance. We would love to help but it is not our gift to give. It is nothing to do with the club, we can't control that.”