I THINK we’ve put our 1-0 defeat against Morecambe to bed now by working hard in training and holding talks with our younger players.

We put the lads through a double session on Tuesday but I also made sure I had discussions with the likes of Shaq Coulthirst, Jack Payne and Jerome Binnom-Williams because they probably haven’t experienced what happened on Saturday before.

Basically we were punished for not taking our chances and Morecambe were able to execute a game plan on us.

Credit to them for that but it’s all about making sure we bounce back in the right way when we go to Luton Town on Saturday.

Funnily enough I was playing golf the other day with Mark Stein and, as a former player, he knew an awful lot about Luton.

I managed to get a bit of information from him as he didn’t know we were playing them this weekend but I also went to watch Luton against Crawley in the JPT Trophy on Tuesday night.

Crawley were the better team on the night and deserved to win but Luton had their chances and I saw enough about them to know we’re in for a tough test.

It’s a tight ground at Kenilworth Road and their fans get right behind them so I’m sure there will be a good atmosphere.

But we’re looking forward to that and hopefully getting the right result.

BARRY CORR, LUKE PROSSER AND RYAN LEONARD ALL BACK IN FULL TRAINING

WE’VE had Barry Corr, Luke Prosser and Ryan Leonard all back in full training this week which has been great to see.

But it does give me a real selection headache.

I probably have about 18 or 19 players all pushing for places in the team at the moment.

However, the players in possession of the shirts see that too and I would like to think it keeps them on their toes.

DISAPPOINTING TO HAVE WATFORD GAME CALLED OFF

IT WAS disappointing that our scheduled game at Watford was called off yesterday, especially as we would’ve seen Michael Timlin back in action.

We also have a lad in on trial from Norwich, Cameron McGeehan, and it would have been great to have a look at him too.

Hopefully both him and Michael Timlin will play in the game we have against Dagenham next weekend.

Cameron is a midfielder and I’m sure fans will be asking why I’m taking a look at someone else in that position when we’re already quite strong in that area.

But the answer is I’m always looking to improve on what we have and he’s someone who has been recommended to us as part of the relationship we built with Norwich last season.

I would imagine fans would want us to be looking at bringing in another full-back, where we are short of cover, or a striker.

However, I would like to point out we look to strengthen all areas of the team because if you ever stand still in football then you’re actually moving backwards.

BOLTON WANDERERS SPECULATION CONTINUES

EVERYWHERE I’ve been this week people have been asking me about the ongoing speculation surrounding myself and Bolton Wanderers.

There’s been no contact, like I keep on saying, but it did remind me of a conversation I had with the chairman during my time working there with Sam Allardyce.

With the job Sam was doing there was a lot of speculation surrounding his future.

He was linked with Newcastle United and England so with Sam’s permission I went and asked the chairman who would be in line to replace Sam when he left.

It’s still the same chairman that’s there now, Phil Gartside, and he said he felt I needed to get out and cut my teeth as a manager myself.

I think I’ve probably done that now but I’m perfectly happy at Southend and want to finish off what I’ve started here!

FOOTBALL'S FICKLE SIDE SHOWN AGAIN THIS WEEK

WE’VE seen more examples of just how fickle the football world is this week.

Billy McKinlay lost his job at Watford after eight days in charge and Russ Wilcox has been sacked by Scunthorpe United.

I remember Russ was presented with a special award by Sir Alex Ferguson at an LMA dinner at the end of last season for enjoying the best ever unbeaten run in the Football League.

He went on to get Scunthorpe promoted but 10 or 11 games in to the new season he’s already lost his job and it says a lot about what football is like these days.

I'VE BEEN OFFERED TWO BOOK DEALS, BUT SAID NO BOTH TIMES

SPORTING autobiographies have been hitting the headlines this week with Roy Keane and Kevin Pietersen both bringing out books.

I also had the chance to do an autobiography and had two deals from different publishers put to me after my time with Hull City came to an end.

I thought long and hard about whether or not I wanted to do it but in the end I decided it wasn’t for me.

I wouldn’t want my private life to be made even more public knowledge than it already is and I wouldn’t want to put my family through those kind of headlines.

I also think that ordinary conversations that take place are often blown up and exaggerated for the books to sell and that’s not really for me.

I have read a few though, I’ve read Brian Clough’s Bill Shankly’s and Bobby Robson’s which I found quite interesting.

Because of where I’m from, I’ve also read Sting’s and I couldn’t put it down to be honest, it was brilliant.

The only other one is Sir Alex Ferguson’s. I once told Graham Coughlan how I’d had a falling out with Sir Alex so Cocko thought it was funny to buy my his book as a Christmas present!