Players are in a state of shock

Although results haven´t been going our way, the departure as manager of Andy Hessenthaler came as a real bolt out of the blue this morning and the players have been left in a state of shock.

We were informed in a meeting prior to training and there was certainly a big cloud hanging over us once we´d got our boots on. We´re all upset for Andy and obviously it puts our own futures on the line because we don´t know what´s going to happen now and we don´t know where we stand.

John Gorman and Iwan Roberts have been put in temporary charge for Saturday´s game against Nottingham Forest and all we can do for now is give it our all for them and hopefully things will become clearer as the days go on.

I´m particularly sad about Andy´s departure as manager because I owe so much to him; he was the person who gave me my debut and stuck with me when maybe it could have been easier to leave me out of the team. The good news is that he is still contracted as a player and I think he is going to remain at the club in that capacity.

Although he´s not the gaffer any more, I´m sure we´ll still know him as such because he´s been so influential to the younger players we have in the team.

Now our attentions turn to Forest in what really is a six pointer for us. Three defeats on the spin have undone our previous good work but, with home advantage, we´ll be pulling out all the stops to get ourselves back on track. These may be uncertain times off the pitch but, on it, we´ll be pulling out all the stops.