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Jean-Alain Boumsong appears to be the first player out of the door in the summer, unless of course the new manager can transform his patchy career.

Boumsong has been the joke of the TV pundits since his summer signing, so much so they've even created a pact where they no long want to talk about him.

Roeder: 'You won't get me to criticise him publicly because I was a player once of some sort and any manager or coach who criticised me or another player after a bad mistake wasn't a person for me, was not a good coach, was not a good manager.

'But that does not mean to say I will not sit down with Boumsong and go through the goals and share my view of where he could have done better.'

The 26-year-old was booed him off the pitch after his sending-off in the 3-1 home defeat to Liverpool last month. And his spectacular fall from grace hit rock bottom when he was an unused substitute in the 3-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur. It was the first time Boumsong had been dropped from the side since he signed from Glasgow Rangers in January 2005, with Craig Moore and Peter Ramage occupying the centre-half positions.

He is the first choice centre-back of France and he could also be dropped by his country if he does not win his place back at club level.

He has not officially asked for a transfer, but a move back to France looks odds on.

The most frustrating thing for chairman Freddie Shepherd is that they could have signed the player on a free transfer from Auxerre in 2004 when Sir Bobby Robson was manager, but the former England coach was not interested. And doesn't that say a lot?

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