McCammon's days could be numbered

There is no chance of Big Mac staging a repeat at Pride Park tomorrow. He has four players above him in the fight for forward places.

McCammon has dropped down the pecking order with the signings of Colin Kazim-Richards and Federico Turienzo. Leon Knight and Jason Robinson are also ahead of him in the queue.

Maheta Molango has already been loaned out to Lincoln for a year and McCammon's days could be numbered as well.

Manager Mark McGhee said: "He's a physical presence, someone who when he plays up against the last man is quick and strong.

"His real strength is getting in behind, not facing up and keeping the ball, which is hopefully what Federico is going to do.

"I have mentioned Federico, Colin, Jake and Leon. I've not mentioned Mark McCammon. I think that tells you what I think.

"Mark was brought here for a particular reason at a time when we could afford a particular type of player.

"He was brought here to do a job for that time. It could be that Mark McCammon's time has passed. It's up to him to prove it is not."

McCammon has been keeping a low profile since his infamous bust-up with McGhee at Burnley in April.

He was substituted at half-time, ordered off the team coach after the match and made his own way back home to London after rejecting the offer of alternative club transport.

McCammon politely refused a request to be interviewed this week on the grounds that he does not want to talk his way into trouble again. That also happened to him when he first joined Albion from Millwall last season, initially on loan.

Dennis Wise, the Millwall manager at the time, took exception to McCammon complaining he had been frozen out.

McCammon turned his second loan spell into a permanent move to the Seagulls in February. He celebrated immediately with equalisers in each half in a 3-2 defeat against Derby at Withdean.

The former Brentford giant scored the winner against eventual champions Sunderland a fortnight later and remained a regular member of the side until the Burnley fall-out.

Some supporters have always questioned the signing of McCammon. As an agitated McGhee quite rightly pointed out at Wednesday night's fans' forum at Hove greyhound stadium, they have short memories.

"Fans shouldn't be too critical of Mark or any other player," he said. "We are trying to evolve the squad and make the squad better.

"Because of that, when we get better players, some players will look not as good.

"That doesn't make them bad players in the right circumstances or bad people.

"At the end of the day maybe Mark has had his time here but that remains to be seen.

"Last season the success we had was the sum of everybody's efforts. We require all hands to the pumps.

"Everybody has to pull their weight or we go down, there's no doubt about that.

"Take someone, for instance, like David Yelldell (loan keeper from Blackburn).

"He had a stormer at Leeds and then had a very difficult time but that point at Leeds kept us up. You therefore cannot under-estimate what David Yelldell did for us.

"Mark McCammon contributed as well. It was the squad which kept us up, not individuals, not Adam Virgo or Dan Harding or Danny Cullip but the squad, and Mark was a part of it."

Robinson, meanwhile, has played himself onto the bench at Derby tomorrow with a hat-trick in Monday night's friendly at Hastings.

Ironically, it was as McCammon's second half replacement at Burnley four months ago that the small and slender youngster really caught the eye.

McGhee said: "I still worry that Jake's size will ultimately be a difficulty for him.

"However, if Jake can produce that sort of performance more regularly then there is absolutely no doubt he can contribute this year. The minimum would be on the bench every week.

"At Hastings the other night, when he got three goals against, okay, lower quality opposition on a pitch that wasn't great, Jake for the first time in pre-season looked much more like the player he did at Burnley.

"He got himself on the coach to Derby because of his performance. If he can keep doing that he can confound the argument about his size."