David Sullivan’s interview with Sky Sports in which he describes the perception of Sam Allardyce as “a rough northerner and possibly not very bright” will raise more than the odd eyebrow.

He immediately qualifies it by saying that in fact his manager is an intelligent man and that they both get on well but it’s not exactly the type of comment you expect to read on a public forum.

Some may jump up and down making noises of protest immediately whilst others will understand that the co owner is going to the heart of an issue which has troubled many but perhaps shouldn’t.

Sullivan has summed up the perception of many – the only question is why he did so!

Sam certainly gives off an image and that the co chairman should decide to describe it so perfectly is both amusing and bold – it demonstrates their relationshp. Nothing is off limits!

After all Sam himself chose to give a veiled piece of advice to the owners in a recent interview when declaring that they were perhaps too easy to contact and are affected by the abuse floating around on the social media.

Not really his job to be giving protective advice to the people who employ him is it (?) but there you go.

Sullivan’s decision to give the interview at all raised some issues because essentially it said no more than we already know – that Sam Allardyce’s future will not be decided before the end of the season.

Many will already be calling for a deal to be done on the back of him sitting in fifth place and the team playing some great football – don’t expect it to happen.

The two owners are extremely cautious guys who will never be rushed and certainly won’t be changing their usual modus operandi on the back of a few decent results.

And it’s unlikely that League position alone will be the sole factor in their decision but more of that in a later story!