Derek Townsley looks almost certain to be joining up with Gretna Town, of the Scottish Third Division, where former United loanee Lee Maddison currently plays. Townsley has been out of favour at United for some time, and never lived up to his pre-season promise. On Radio Oxford last Saturday, when questioned about Townsley’s possible move, Ian Atkins said “if they want him, they can have him”. Gretna boss Rowan Alexander came up with some piffle about Townsley being from Carlisle and so a move to Gretna would be like a homecoming for him. It is thought that Townsley might initially go on loan with a view to a permanent move.

In other speculation today Atkins has been linked with the vacant manager’s position at Coventry City, where Gary McAllister recently resigned for family reasons. Eric Black is currently in charge of team affairs, but the Sky Blues are likely to want to move quickly to appoint a permanent successor. Firoz Kassam earlier refused to allow Southend United permission to talk with Atkins, but he did say that if a bigger club came in (and let’s face it, there are fewer clubs smaller than Southend) then he wouldn’t stand in Atkins’ way if it meant a move to a higher division. Despite Atkins’ success at United it is unlikely that Coventry will be seriously interested in him, as there are higher profile former managers out there with experience of First Division football.

In the Football Combination today United’s reserves were hammered by Cardiff City, going down 6-1 despite Lee Steele giving the Us a tenth minute lead. Cardiff hit back with three goals before half-time and a further three after the break. United, fielding only three players with first team experience, also had to rely on goalkeeper Simon Cox to produce five outstanding saves. Amongst the Bluebirds’ scorers was former United loanee Gavin Gordon.