STANLEY manager James Beattie has criticised League 2 rivals Bury for the manner in which they made a bid for Reds’ winger Kal Naismith this week.

The Shakers were among the pre-season favourites for the League 2 title having spent big this summer and on Monday they set their sights on making Naismith their latest recruit.

They offered a five-figure sum for the young Scot, who is under contract till the end of this season.

And although the bid was turned down, Beattie feels Bury’s interest may have unsettled the 22-year-old before Tuesday night’s Capital One Cup tie at Leeds.

Naismith was at fault for Leeds’ second goal, which ultimately proved decisive as the Championship outfit held on for a 2-1 win, and the former Rangers trainee was brought off at half-time.

But Beattie has backed the youngster to bounce back from Tuesday night’s setback.

“I would hope it didn’t affect him,” said the Reds’ boss. “I would hope it’d inspired him and given him a lift but if you come to a place like this and need motivation then there’s something wrong with your mindset.

“As young players, they should want to come here and try to perform well.

“As we know, some people freeze when they do go to bigger stadiums and they don’t perform to their maximum, and that’s what happened to Kal.

“But he’s a good player, he’s an integral part of my squad and he’ll be back. We’ll do some work with him, have a chat and get him back on the pitch.”

In years gone by, the Stanley board would have been eager to cash in on their prize assets.

But Beattie is pleased with the Reds’ resolve to hang onto Naismith, who scored 10 goals from midfield last season.

“I want to keep hold of all my better players,” he said. “I think the offer was way off the mark and the way it was delivered was maybe not the right way to do it.”

Asked what upset him most about how it was delivered, he replied: “It hasn’t upset me, it amused me more than anything.”

One of the Bury directors arrived at the Store First Stadium on Monday, wanting to speak to Stanley chairman Peter Marsden, who is based in London.

Bury chairman Stewart Day then had a telephone conversation with Marsden and he claims their interest in Naismith was just one of “various matters” he wished to discuss.

“I had a discussion with the chairman and made an enquiry about Kal Naismith’s availability,” said Day.

“Peter said he’d discuss it with James and come back to me. Then 30 minutes later there was a story on Sky Sports News with quotes from James.

“The story didn’t just say ‘another League 2 club is interested’, it said Bury and that we’d made a bid.

“We didn’t want it to get into the public domain. We feel we do our business in the right way and Peter himself said he appreciated the way we do business.”

Asked if they would make an improved bid for Naismith, Day said he was one of several options Bury are looking at.