Glenn Roeder will pick up the phone this week to give David Platt
the bad news that Joe Cole will be missing from his England U21
squad to face Greece in a couple of weeks' time.
That will be the inevitable conclusion to be drawn as the club continue to search for a cure to Joe's niggly foot injury.
But it is not all bad news for Glenn, who admits the arrival of Laurent Courtois to the club has ensured he has a ready made replacement on the left while Joe is on the sidelines.
"Joe is having a few days off now and taking the weight off his foot that has been a problem for nine weeks," says Glenn.
"He had had five or six days away from the training ground and has rested his foot at home.
"Apparently he is feeling the same and it hasn't really improved; we will just have to wait and see.
"He is off to see another specialist later in the week to get another opinion.
"He will take the two scans with him to see if he sees something that we haven't, but we are pretty confident that what we have seen on the scans which is not showing anything untoward, and it will be the same.
"It is really a mystery that the pain hasn't come out of the foot.
"We are told that bone bruising can take a long time, though I don't think too much is known about it.
"But it is a pain he can't put up with, especially as it is on the right foot which he favours.
"It has disrupted his training to the detriment of when he plays for the team and I thought it was only right that I should bring him in, have a long chat with him, and take him out of the frame for the time being."
That will mean missing the Everton game and the subsequent international action.
The silver lining in the cloud for Glenn, however, is the 'coming of age' of Laurent Courtois following his full Premiership debut at the weekend.
"The way Laurent played certainly buys us a bit more time," admits Glenn.
"But I am keen to get get Joe Cole playing the way we know he can, because when he is at his best he is an exciting young player.
"I need to pick up the phone to David Platt earlier rather than later assuming Joe was more likely to be picked for the U21s than the seniors.
"I need to put him in the picture as early as I can that it is most unlikely that Joe will be available for the game against Greece."
Amongst the high profile signings of David James, Tomas Repka, and Don Hutchison, Laurent - and to a lesser extent Sebastien Schemmel, who had been on loan at the club anyway - slipped in to the club almost through the back door this summer.
But Sebastien's consistency and now Laurent's performance against Newcastle mean that the two Frenchmen are really starting to get noticed beyond Upton Park - and prove that Glenn knows a bargain.
"Everyone came out of the game with credit, and it easy to forget Laurent Courtois because he wasn't a high profile signing," he says.
"He came to us on a free transfer on the recommendation of Fredi Kanoute; I thought he had an outstanding debut and he really contributed to the win.
"I was delighted for him because he is a lovely boy, smashing to work with.
"I signed him, but I would certainly give the credit to Fredi for discovering him if you want, because I didn't know anything about him.
"Fredi came in and asked if he could train with us for a few weeks and gave me a video of him playing for Toulouse, which I liked.
"He earned his contract on the merit of his performances in the friendly games.
"I will have to ask Fredi if there are any more - perhaps he can be a talent spotter for us as well!
"The reason that he knew about Laurent was because they were both in the same youth team at Lyon, so I guess he used to knock a few crosses in off that left peg for Fredi to score.
"It is a gamble in respect of the fact we didn't have to lay out any transfer money but it was a gamble worth taking.
"I once signed a player for £10,000 - Kevin Phillips - and for that money it wasn't a gamble.
"All we have done is given Laurent an opportunity to play Premiership football; it is up to him to take that opportunity, and yesterday he went a small way to taking it.
"He certainly didn't let himself or us down, and on that performance I would say he could certainly hold his own in the Premiership."
The bigger signings are at an end for the time being, admits Glenn, who explains:
"We have made three significant buys after all, so there probably won't be any more of those at the moment.
"But it doesn't mean we stop looking at players, and drawing up lists in all positions, because at some stage we will want to strengthen the squad as well.
"Sometimes you have to look short term but we take the view now that we want to look more long term.
"And when you do that you are looking at the age of the players you are bringing in.
"But it doesn't mean that we won't look at the occasional short term player to make sure the squad keeps going and that we are doing OK."
That will be the inevitable conclusion to be drawn as the club continue to search for a cure to Joe's niggly foot injury.
But it is not all bad news for Glenn, who admits the arrival of Laurent Courtois to the club has ensured he has a ready made replacement on the left while Joe is on the sidelines.
"Joe is having a few days off now and taking the weight off his foot that has been a problem for nine weeks," says Glenn.
"He had had five or six days away from the training ground and has rested his foot at home.
"Apparently he is feeling the same and it hasn't really improved; we will just have to wait and see.
"He is off to see another specialist later in the week to get another opinion.
"He will take the two scans with him to see if he sees something that we haven't, but we are pretty confident that what we have seen on the scans which is not showing anything untoward, and it will be the same.
"It is really a mystery that the pain hasn't come out of the foot.
"We are told that bone bruising can take a long time, though I don't think too much is known about it.
"But it is a pain he can't put up with, especially as it is on the right foot which he favours.
"It has disrupted his training to the detriment of when he plays for the team and I thought it was only right that I should bring him in, have a long chat with him, and take him out of the frame for the time being."
That will mean missing the Everton game and the subsequent international action.
The silver lining in the cloud for Glenn, however, is the 'coming of age' of Laurent Courtois following his full Premiership debut at the weekend.
"The way Laurent played certainly buys us a bit more time," admits Glenn.
"But I am keen to get get Joe Cole playing the way we know he can, because when he is at his best he is an exciting young player.
"I need to pick up the phone to David Platt earlier rather than later assuming Joe was more likely to be picked for the U21s than the seniors.
"I need to put him in the picture as early as I can that it is most unlikely that Joe will be available for the game against Greece."
Amongst the high profile signings of David James, Tomas Repka, and Don Hutchison, Laurent - and to a lesser extent Sebastien Schemmel, who had been on loan at the club anyway - slipped in to the club almost through the back door this summer.
But Sebastien's consistency and now Laurent's performance against Newcastle mean that the two Frenchmen are really starting to get noticed beyond Upton Park - and prove that Glenn knows a bargain.
"Everyone came out of the game with credit, and it easy to forget Laurent Courtois because he wasn't a high profile signing," he says.
"He came to us on a free transfer on the recommendation of Fredi Kanoute; I thought he had an outstanding debut and he really contributed to the win.
"I was delighted for him because he is a lovely boy, smashing to work with.
"I signed him, but I would certainly give the credit to Fredi for discovering him if you want, because I didn't know anything about him.
"Fredi came in and asked if he could train with us for a few weeks and gave me a video of him playing for Toulouse, which I liked.
"He earned his contract on the merit of his performances in the friendly games.
"I will have to ask Fredi if there are any more - perhaps he can be a talent spotter for us as well!
"The reason that he knew about Laurent was because they were both in the same youth team at Lyon, so I guess he used to knock a few crosses in off that left peg for Fredi to score.
"It is a gamble in respect of the fact we didn't have to lay out any transfer money but it was a gamble worth taking.
"I once signed a player for £10,000 - Kevin Phillips - and for that money it wasn't a gamble.
"All we have done is given Laurent an opportunity to play Premiership football; it is up to him to take that opportunity, and yesterday he went a small way to taking it.
"He certainly didn't let himself or us down, and on that performance I would say he could certainly hold his own in the Premiership."
The bigger signings are at an end for the time being, admits Glenn, who explains:
"We have made three significant buys after all, so there probably won't be any more of those at the moment.
"But it doesn't mean we stop looking at players, and drawing up lists in all positions, because at some stage we will want to strengthen the squad as well.
"Sometimes you have to look short term but we take the view now that we want to look more long term.
"And when you do that you are looking at the age of the players you are bringing in.
"But it doesn't mean that we won't look at the occasional short term player to make sure the squad keeps going and that we are doing OK."