Pearce avoids doom and gloom after stormy week

After a week that saw Shaun Wright-Phillips sign for Chelsea and Joey Barton sent home from the club’s pre-season trip to Thailand in disgrace, Manchester City manager Stuart Pearce dismissed the difficulties of the last seven days.

For a man in his first stint as a Premier League manager, Pearce has had a week that would have turned the hair of lesser men a whiter shade of grey.