Wayne storm

THE gossip wires have been buzzing this week.
It's all been Wayne this, Wayne that.
Is it true he has asked for a transfer?
Why is he still on the subs bench when lesser players are in the first team?
Has it all been down to a huge fall-out with the manager?
Well, it has kept me hooked, particularly as it involves a player who has hardly kicked a ball in anger at the highest level.

Oh.
You thought I was talking about Mr Rooney?
His announcement he is leaving Manchester United, only to do a quick pirouette (expect to see him on Strictly Come Dancing soon) and sign a new 5-year contract with the club has been the talk on everyone's lips.
Well, everyone but we Gasheads, that is.
Because when you support your OWN club, not some media-saturated, multi-national conglomerate in danger of losing its soul to money-grabbing shareholders, you are every bit as passionate about what goes on within.
And the story that's got US gripped involves Wayne Brown.
Heard of him?
He's a 21-year-old midfielder weighing in at 5ft and a fag end.
As far as I know he doesn't spend money on £1,000-a-night hookers, or have a wife that appears on the front of OK and Hello every week of the year.
He's just a common-or-garden, middle-of-the-road, League One footballer.
We signed him in the summer from Fulham where I believe he made the odd appearance in the fizzy lager cup - one of them against us which, incidentally, we won - but not much else.
Still, he was on the books of a Premier League club. And, by all accounts, they wanted him to stay.
But he jumped ship and came to the Gas, obviously attracted by the magnificent aura of the Mem, the exciting football on offer and, yes, a guaranteed first-team place.
Except, of course, it wasn't guaranteed.
He had a couple of games and ever since then has been getting splinters in his backside.
Meanwhile local boy Chris Lines - a Gashead through and through - has been keeping him out of the side, and getting slated for what fans argue have been some pretty poor performances this season.
Brown must play, Lines must not is the mantra.
It's obvious Brown should play because he can pass, shoot, run and score.
He would be the ideal foil for our super striker, Good Will Hoskins.
In fact, by my estimate, it is only our manager Paul Trollope who remains completely oblivious to this fact.
Still, Lines had a stay of execution by Gashead firing squad last week.
He actually scored.
For the first time this season he found his shooting boots and brilliantly hooked the ball home for the vital second goal against Rochdale.
So keeping his place, no doubt, for another week.
This week's trip to Hartlepool, where three points would leave us sitting very nicely, thank you, in the top echelons of League One.
The rumbles remain, though. Is it true that while Lines has been holding down a place, Brown has been marching into the manager's office demanding a transfer?
Did Trolls come face to face with him in a slagging match, and did he throw his shirt on the floor?
Well, I'm not averse to a bit of creative tension in the ranks, to be honest.
And I salute a player who is that keen to play that he can't contain his frustration.
But I'm sure he will get his chance.
Meanwhile Lines - who notched more than a dozen goals for the Gas from midfield last season - may well have received a massive boost to his confidence with last week's strike.
And I imagine he will be very keen to repay the loyalty the manager has shown to him.
Hopefully, he will do that with another goal at Hartlepool.
While the team is winning, it's hard to criticise the manager's selections.
It's when things go wrong that the clamour will start to get our Wayne in the team.
Puts poor Sir Alex Ferguson's problems in perspective a bit, doesn't it?