Corney flies in for crunch talks

Photo: ALAN HOWARTH-

SIMON CORNEY . . . concern over results and style of play.

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SIMON Corney flew in to head a board meeting at Athletic today - at which the performance of the team and manager David Dunn came under scrutiny.

The club’s chairman made a rare trip back from his United States base to be briefed on a campaign that currently sees the club in 22nd place in the league table and in danger of being marooned in the bottom four.

Dunn, set to join the discussion, accepts he is under pressure to keep his job after a run of only three wins since he took over in mid-September.

Corney, who has spoken to Dunn by phone since the 1-1 draw with Colchester, is understood to be concerned at the team’s performance. He will be reluctant to go on a hunt for a fifth manager in 12 months.

For his part, Blackburn legend Dunn (36) strongly believes he can turn the team around. Having taken the job from previous incumbent Kelly with the transfer window closed, Dunn feels he should be given the

chance with the window back open to streamline and reshape a bloated squad.

While the club was yesterday linked with making initial moves for former Brentford interim head coach Lee Carsley as a replacement, Dunn has got on with the job of making contact with players he wants to bring in.

Players from the Championship are among those identified by the manager, who also full backs Cameron Dummigan and Daniel Lafferty back from Burnley. Dunn wants to cut the Athletic squad of 31 players.

He is hunting down a new centre back to slot into a defence that hasn’t kept a clean sheet since a scoreless draw at Rochdale in October.