A lot to learn

Reporter: Matthew Chambers
Date published: 07 November 2014


STRIKER Dominic Poleon is Athletic’s answer to Mario Balotelli, according to manager Lee Johnson.

The former Leeds man (21) could start in the FA Cup first-round tie against Leyton Orient at SportsDirect.com Park tomorrow, as he strives to improve a scoring record featuring only one goal in a dozen appearances for his new employers.

Poleon blotted his copybook at Bristol City last week, in Johnson’s view, by high-fiving pals Kieran Agard and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas on the field after the final whistle.

He suffered for that mistake, with his manager grabbing him angrily near the tunnel.

But Johnson, who compared the moment to that when Liverpool forward Balotelli swapped shirts at half-time against Real Madrid with his side 3-0 down, says that a player he considers to be a talented work-in-progress needs only encouragement from supporters — as well as an occasional kick up the backside from his boss.

“Dom has extreme power and pace. He doesn’t possess a great touch, isn’t great with his back to goal and is not a great finisher,” said Johnson, whose main injury concern ahead of tomorrow’s tie is over loan midfielder Michael Tidser (calf).

“If he was all of those things, we wouldn’t have him. With his pace and power, he would be at a top Championship club at a minimum and probably bought by a Premier League club.

“He always was, and is, a development player for us. Not just in his technique, but in his professionalism. He’s a very good, nice lad and we are educating him.

“I got a few tweets about what I did at the weekend where I really ripped into him. My attitude is, if you don’t feel it as much as I do there’s no point in being here.

“He isn’t like that really. He has a lovely vibe about him and does work hard. People may think he hasn’t got a good attitude, but that isn’t the case at all. It’s important my players get into my personality. If they don’t, I can’t work with them.”



Adam Lockwood is set to step up his recovery towards match fitness in a reserve game in the middle of next week. Fellow centre-back George Elokobi is described as a 50-50 shot to return for the derby clash at Rochdale on Saturday, November 29.



ATHLETIC voted against a proposal to allow the use of artificial pitches in League One and League Two next season. The motion wasn’t passed at a Football League meeting yesterday, with 34 clubs in favour, 34 against and four abstaining

Athletic manager Lee Johnson’s view is that he wouldn’t rule it out in the future, but that at present the regular use of artificial pitches would “write off” up to six players in his current squad who have had knee problems in the past, due to the harder surface.

He said: “As a player, would I want to play on an artificial surface? Absolutely not. As a manager, do I want it? No, not really.

“I don’t think the 4G is quite right yet as it doesn’t quite replicate grass.”