HOWARD Wilkinson was given a stark warning last night that Michael Proctor, the striker whose recall from Bradford City on Friday infuriated the First Division club, will be a top-flight flop.

As Kevin Phillips continues his frustrating search for his first goal of the season, Bradford manager Nicky Law bluntly told his Sunderland counterpart that Proctor is not good enough for the Premiership.

Proctor, 22, scored four goals in 11 games for the Bantams but will struggle to force his way into the Sunderland first team ahead of Phillips, David Bellion, Tore Andre Flo and Marcus Stewart.

Phillips has fired blanks in all six of his Premiership appearances this season, a major factor in the Black Cats' woeful return of five goals in 11 League matches.

But while Wilkinson has promised to give Proctor the opportunity to kick-start his Sunderland career after loan spells at Halifax Town, York City and Bradford, Law was adamant the striker was not the answer to his goalscoring problems.

He said: "I don't really feel that he's ready yet for the Premiership and he needs to find a bit more consistency.

"He needs to get stronger, and I've spoken to him about that. He's got to hold the ball up a little bit better.

"When he's in a one against one situation, he's got to be able to keep the ball rather than look to flick it and get on the end of it.

"I think they're things he needs to improve on to be a good player at Division One level."

Law angrily claimed Wilkinson had made the decision to bring Proctor back to Sunderland well before he was officially informed of the intention to do so on Friday morning.

The forward's final game for Bradford was against Norwich City on Saturday, and Law feels let down by the Wearsiders' attitude.

He said: "I was disappointed by the timing of it all. I rang Howard Wilkinson at 7.40am on Friday and he told me that they were taking Michael back to have a look at him.

"I fully understand why they've done that but we'd been on to them all that week and the previous week trying to get an answer to see if Michael could stay or if he had to go back.

"We never got that answer - but my impression after talking to Howard is that he had made that decision prior to Friday morning.

"We had made contact and we had tried to find out, and I'm disappointed with the late timing of the thing.

"You're never going to be able to get a player in the four hours before the deadline at noon on Friday."

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