no, and Hird is their boss
On some level he needs to appease the masses. Were he not the golden boy the choruses of derision from the fans would likely be much louder.
W.r.t. the players, I'm not sure you quite understand the dynamic of working for a manager, let alone what it would be like in a job where you're competing with your peers for a finite number of positions. Hird's role as senior coach is to instruct, develop and mentor, not be a fanatical dictator.
Hird's mandate is to maximise the performance of the team as a whole unit, if you don't see how giving games to someone who
may be considered internally as inferior to another individual could affect team performance, I'm not sure we should be engaging in this conversation. That's the sort of thing that can affect players both within and on the fringes of the team.
Admittedly, if there are aspects of Melksham's contribution to the team which are more intangible and seen by all players on the list, then there's no issue with his ongoing automatic selection