Instead of having no interest in when the Ecuadorian returns and having doubts over the striker's attitude, Strachan now can't wait to see him back. "I think I have had him for five training sessions, that's about seven and a half hours but from what I have seen he has a hunger to get in between the posts," said Strachan. "While our strikers work elsewhere he works right in there. As soon as he is fit he will join us because I liked what I saw of him in the 45 minutes he played against Manchester United. I thought then he is not bad - and again at Rotherham which was not a good night for us.
Of course it wouldn't be a Strachan quote without a barbed reference at the end of it. Strachan takes a pot shot at Delgado's maturity and has a go at his family, all in one breath. Way to get a player on your side Gordon."It has been a difficult time for him. He is a lad who is easy to influence," said the tactful Scot." He will believe the last person he listens to and his brother in Ecuador is a problem.
"But reality has bitten after the World Cup. That was a distraction but now this is it, this is where he plays - and he seems to be happier."
On the other hand Rupert Lowe has distanced himself from the player he was so involved with bringing to the club. Now it's all Stuart Gray's fault. "He was the top scorer in the World cup qualifying group and we took the view that he was an excellent striker," said Lowe." Terry Cooper watched him for Ecuador and advised Stuart Gray to buy him and Stuart sanctioned it."
Oddly enough, I seem to remember that Lowe was very much involved in bringing the player in. Especially as we hadn't appointed Gray as the manger at that time. Lowe's signature was on the cheque and he was no doubt waiting to cash in on a lucrative bid after the World Cup.
Lowe is still seething that the player had been used so much by Ecuador leading to his current injury problems. Lowe said: "We had full medical report done on his return and we are waiting for it. It is certainly my opinion that Delgado should not have played for Ecuador in the World Cup and they put their own interests before his.
"I have heard that his knee swelled up so much that he could hardly walk and needed injections games to cut the pain. If the report confirms our opinion then we will make a formal complaint to FIFA.
It just goes to show that in a news free week, people will say practically anything to ease the tedium of answering the same questions in exactly the same way. The good news is that we could well be seeing a determined, quality goalscorer appear in our team within the next month. It's either that or we'll see the club take legal action against the Ecuadorian FA for being stuck with a petulant, injured crock. It depends which articles you read, really.