Sol Bamber wasn't injured till after the January window , but if I remember correctly Sean Morrison was out having surgery, so that's wrong. In fact we cancelled Matthew Conolly going to Hull at the last minute for that reason didn't we ?

Same thing exactly in fact. We held on to Conolly as an emergency option just as we did Rhys Healey.

You mention a number of other options but they either weren't working for us, or were needed to fulfill other roles. I think Sir Neil was half intending to play Sala or Niasse as the central target man with Bobby Reid in behind him. If that'd worked ,then I'd say that Rhys Healey was the second choice for the Bobby Reid role.

If you'd started shifting all these other players right out of position to play centre forward, well then obviously that part of the team would suffer and you'd lose the shape entirely .

I think Sir Neil was hoping that Rhys might be so thrilled at the unexpected opportunity that he'd draw out a superhuman effort - a thing that can happen in such circumstances, and despite what you've said there, his options as a competent coach were very limited at that time.

In any case, we know that for whatever reason ,and despite everyone's best efforts, it didn't work out for the club or the boy himself , which is a pity , but I don't see anything is gained by assassinating his reputation when he's leaving or pulling the managers decisions apart with the benefit of hindsight.