MARVIN Sordell’s non-appearance in the squad at Sheffield Wednesday seems to have been this week’s talking point – but only hard work is going to get him back on track.

I know £3million doesn’t sound a lot when you see what gets spent these days but it is to our club, and we haven’t seen the lad get close to his potential.

Last year he didn’t get a chance but you are not telling me that if he was pulling up trees in training that he wouldn’t have been in that team at some point. That tells me a story.

He went away with the GB squad in the summer and he came back to prove a point. But I’d say that so far he hasn’t looked like the striker we thought we were buying.

The good thing for him is that he has got time to turn it round. There’s nothing the club can do until the transfer window and people forget, we’re only seven games into the season.

Owen has come out and said he’ll get his opportunity. But the lad can’t sit around waiting for it to happen, he’s got to be out there on the training pitch every morning forcing the issue.

He has dropped down the pecking order now, and you’d have to say that out of four choices, he’s fourth on that list. It’s a tough position to be in, but now we’ll see what he’s really made of.

People point the finger at Kevin Davies and David Ngog in particular and say they are not scoring goals, but as a striker, you can still play well for the team without getting on the scoresheet.

Kev’s record is well documented – and David has probably got more excuse than most because he has only just come back from injury. And yet it was his chasing that led to the winning goal at Hillsborough, and that’s the kind of graft the manager wants.

You get nothing for nothing in this league and if you are seen with your hands on your hips and waiting for things to fall for you, then your chances are going to be few and far between.

The supporters know when a player is working his socks off and when he’s being a passenger, just as well as a manager and his staff know when you’re really putting it in on the training ground.

Whether that’s the problem for Marvin, you can’t really be sure, but I’m positive that hard work and the right attitude will see him go far.

*****

SUCCESS this season is going to be about which club keeps their head the longest.

Barnsley beat Birmingham 5-0, Huddersfield won at Blackpool, Blackburn got beat and now Steve Kean’s apparently getting the sack. It’s hard to keep up.

It’ll be a rollercoaster, that’s for sure, but from our perspective it is all about getting on a run now. The win against Sheffield Wednesday will give Owen, pictured, a bit of breathing space and hopefully give the lads a bit of belief heading into two big home games before the international break.

Palace won’t be an easy one – they have a few good young players – and we all saw that Leeds beat Everton in midweek, so they are coming into some form.

What was important, though, is that we got another three points on the board that just cooled things down a bit. A bad result last weekend and it would have been easy to go into the next two games thinking very negatively about where we are going. By all accounts – and my two boys were among them – the fans were brilliant at Hillsborough.

I have no doubt they will be again this weekend.

*****

STEPHEN Warnock’s arrival was instantly thought to be bad news for Marcos Alonso but that’s not necessarily the case.

I think the lad has got a lot to offer further up the park in midfield, and I can see that’s where he’ll be playing in the next couple of years.

He strikes an unbelievable ball, has an eye for goal as we saw on Saturday when he scored a great header, and he’s physically strong too.

We’ve looked a little suspect in both full-back positions this season. Too many goals have come from crosses and it was the same case last season as well.

Sam Ricketts has had a poor spell early on but he’ll be back. I think his better position is on the right and he’s been fantastic for this club since he came here.

Sometimes people don’t realise that when you’re getting down on yourself for a mistake, that it’s hard to pick yourself up. You’re constantly trying to make up and the situation can escalate.

A spell out of the team might just help him relax and come back the player he undoubtedly is.

Warnock is a good signing, though. He’s one of those who would have had plenty more international caps had he played at a different time than Ashley Cole.

There’s been a lot of managerial changes at Villa and he’s ended up being a casualty of it all, but he’s a player who’s always looked solid to me and I think he’ll be a success, whether it’s at the back or as a midfield sitter.

*****

I NOTICED my old mate Phil Brown was shortlisted for the Bury manager’s job – I’m sorry he didn’t get it.

I couldn’t think of anyone who would have made a bigger impact.

He’s an infectious character that would have given the whole place a lift after a difficult start to the season. It would have been the perfect fit because the club is on his doorstep and he’s the kind of guy who’ll go and give the squad belief.

I wish him good luck for the future, because he needs to get back in.

*****

I TICKED another thing off my bucket list last weekend when I visited the amazing Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Dallas Cowboys’ new home cost $1.2billion and boasts the world’s largest TV, which would stretch from one 18-yard box to the other if you placed it on the pitch at the Reebok.

It holds 108,000 people, has a fully retractable roof, and even though the game against the Tampa Bay Bucaneers was terrible, it was a fantastic experience.

I’d still rather have been at Hillsborough, though, where my two lads were giving me constant updates!