It's over for Brian Howard at Barnsley.
Must be.
Captain Howard didn't get a game against Norwich. He has been one of the few consistent- form, work-hard players at Oakwell.
He's scored 25 per cent of Barnsley goals. Only a madman would drop him and give football reasons. He apparently wasn't injured either, although Davey was not confirming or denying anything.
Why go now? How, when the player sales window is closed?
Somewhere along the line the answer will be £s and, hopefully, in excess of two million of them.
"The club will make a statement on Monday," was the official line.
So we waited after we'd watched.
Davey will be mightily relieved that Barnsley had a good look minus Brian.
The first half was the best this season so far.
Who needs Brian when Diego Leon is doing the things he did against Norwich. Almost lobbed the keeper from 40 yards in the first minute, pounded the post with a 25-yarder from inside right also.
Norwich keeper David Marshall had his hands full all afternoon.
Pity Leon didn't take the penalty when it came. Matty Pattison gave it with his arm to ball on Darren Moore's header. Barnsley skipper for the day Jon Macken pulled rank, grabbed the ball and sidefooted an awful shot from the spot.
Marshall dealt with bigger asks all afternoon. He wasn't going to be beaten unless he dived right. He didn't do that.
Macken had played well before and after until he was subbed towards the end.
Davey doesn't deal in blame, at least in public, and when Macken made way for Kayode Odejayi it was an injury thing.
"I'll never have a go at any player for a penalty miss. He's had the stature to come up and take it. Unfortunately he's missed but that's football," Davey reckoned.
"Jon is a confident lad, he's experienced and if another penalty comes I'm sure he'll be trying to grab that ball to avenge the miss."
It's now four games since a Barnsley goal and only super-leaky Nottingham Forest are propping them up and keeping them off the bottom spot.
The last thing Davey can afford is to be complacent. Draws at Oakwell won't pay the Championship rent and the management know it.
"I'm pleased with the performance but a 0-0 draw at home is not acceptable, especially at this moment in time," he admitted.
"They pushed on after the penalty and there's a belief among the players that they can turn this around. Those players are good players; they just need a bit of luck."
True.
That and a keeper who can do nothing for ages and then save the team in a split second. Luke Steele has done that in the past, probably still could. He's not getting the chance now Heinz Muller is back from his knee op.
Two games after a seven month lay-off and Muller is unbeaten.
"When he's needed he's come up trumps. He made a fantastic save in the first half. He gave us a bit off assurance," Davey reflected.
Antoine Sibierski's header tested the giant German most.
"So long as we have clean sheets, we can't lose the game and I think that is positive. Somehow we have to start scoring goals and continue with our performances like today's," Muller reckoned.
Like Muller, Anderson de Silva was playing his second comeback game in seven months. He didn't look bad either.
Jamal Campbell-Ryce likewise was flying for good spells and Davey was well-pleased with the lot of them, not least the back four.
"Denis Souza was fantastic, Sibierski has come out of the Premier League and he didn't give him a sniff all day," he said.
"He won every header, every tackle. His passing out from the back was good. The back four have given only given two goals away in the last five games.
"It's a platform to build on but we have to turn those draws into wins."
So all that's needed is a goalscorer.
A 15-goals-a-season man should do.
Err, hang on, how many did our Brian get in 2007-8?
Exactly 15.
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