I saw that too, not totally surprising. However, I feel like a decent season in league 1 would allow him to step up to the championship. He’s seemingly got the creativity and set piece ability but whether he can do the hardworking side of the game we’ll play, I’m not so sure. I also noticed he has the number 4 on his training pictures, I know numbers can mean nothing but I’d like to think it’s an indication he’s wanted.
I don't think he's fit enough. Shame, as he is the best striker of a ball we have. We already have George as a show pony.
If it's true he wants to go home, who can blame him? He's not been given a chance with us and his career has stalled.
IMO he was given a few chances and didn't take them with enough fervour. The place was his last season if he'd worked for it.
I wouldn't necessarily disagree, but in Mallan's defence the problems were compounded by not having a single Championship quality midfielder in the entire squad. Just one older, experienced (and physically intimidating) centre-mid might have made the difference and allowed Mallan (or Potts or Moncur or Bird or....) to develop naturally instead of constantly being expected to play out of their skins just to keep their head above water. Feels to me like we worked hard to get these lads in, then let them down by an over-reliance on youth. I was looking forward to seeing Mallan develop next season at a level that might have allowed him to flourish. Oh well...
Definitely wasnt given a fair crack at it, where as williams, gardener and potts sometimes went for weeks underperforming but just carried on been selected.
Agree with that. Don’t think we’ve seen nearly enough of Mallan to judge. Or McGeehan. For different reasons. Hecky decided straight off that Mallan was to develop in the U23s until Christmas, then come into first team squad. And was promptly sacked. And I’ll not judge any player under Morais reign. He’s a young, and from what I’ve seen in his brief moments, in the 23s and the clips from his time at St Mirrent, talented player. If he wants to stay, and if Stendel wants him to stay, I think we’ll have a cracking player next year. If he goes, good luck to the lad, hope it works out. No doubt we’ll have a statement saying we’ve made a profit and retained an interest.
I think he was on the right lines, but not quite old enough. He kind of got there eventually, but didn't hit the ground running and took a while to get up to full speed (was he initially coming back from injury or have I made that up?). Also, he wasn't around long enough - 12 appearances according to Wikipedia. All history now, although I still can't help thinking "if only..."
He started 28 games for us. Signed on deadline day in August and played the next game away at Preston but was injured and didn't play again until the end of November. Took him a while to get up to speed, looking pretty poor to be honest at first, but for my money he was our most consistent player in 2018, eclipsed only by the goals from McBurnie. Williams getting injured/losing form had a big impact on his performances too and he looked so much better when partnered with a more attacking midfield player. I thought he was the perfect foil for any of those attacking midfield players, but I don't think any of them stepped up. Having said that, by the time Gardner was playing well, I don't think we had a manager capable of getting the best out of our players.
Thanks for correcting me. I shall have to stop using Wiki, it's even more unreliable than my memory!. Even while I was typing it, I thought their number sounded low. I did remember there was an injury somewhere along the way, so at least I wasn't completely wrong (just mostly wrong ). I agree Gardner looked much better in 2018, but by then we were really struggling and Morais was playing musical midfielders. It'll be interesting to see if Stendel can do better and develop these young players properly.
Yes good post but with Gardner it was unfortunate he was not fit when he arrived, because I think he is a very competent championship player , although I take it you are on about Mallen with 12 appearances as Gardner played quite a number of games for us & despite his age I think he is a very experienced at championship level
