Category Archives: Fan Views

A Bolton fan’s view of Craig Davies

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Fan Views and tagged with , , , ,

Davies

It was announced today that Wigan Athletic have completed the signing of free agent, Craig Davies, previously of Bolton Wanderers.

The 6 ft 2 in centre forward is 29 years old. He has played for Wales at all age levels, including five caps for the senior squad. Davies started as a youth player at Manchester City before joining Oxford United as an 18 year old. From 2004-06 he was to make 48 appearances, scoring 8 goals, while the club was in League 2.

In January 2006 he signed for Hellas Verona of Serie B for a fee of £85,000. Sadly he could not adapt to the culture change and only made one appearance, returning to England on loan with Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Championship. He was a regular starter for Wolves until they signed Andy Keogh in January 2007. Davies was to leave Wolves at the end of the season, having made 23 appearances, his only goals being one in a 2-2 FA Cup home draw with Oldham, followed by another in the 2-0 replay victory.

Curiously Davies was to join Oldham in the summer of 2007 to play in League 1. After regularly challenging for a first team place in his first season, he went through a 10 game goalless streak at the beginning of 2008-09, leading Oldham to send him out on loan to Stockport County, also in League 1 at the time. He scored 5 goals in 8 appearances before returning to Oldham. He had made 44 appearances for Oldham, scoring 10 goals before being sold to Brighton in January 2009.

Davies could not establish himself with the Seagulls and went on loan periods at Yeovil and Port Vale before joining Chesterfield in the summer of 2011. Davies’ 23 goals in 41 appearances were to help the Spireites win the League 2 title.

Davies was snapped up by Barnsley in the summer of 2012 and went on to make 60 appearances for the Tykes over the next two years, scoring 19 goals. His second season had been hampered by a  hamstring injury. Bolton Wanderers paid £300,000 for his services in January 2013 and Davies went on to make 35 starts for them with 19 appearances off they bench, scoring 10 goals.  He was loaned to Preston in January 2014, where he scored 5 goals from 13 starts and 3 substitute appearances.Last season he struggled once again with his hamstring injury and was not offered a new contract.

In order to learn more about Davies’ time at Bolton we reached out to Chris Mann  of the Burnden Aces fan site http://www.burndenaces.co.uk (Twitter @BurndenAces )

So here’s over to Chris:

Wigan Athletic today completed the free signing of Craig Davies, seven days after his contract at Bolton came to an end.

Davies joined Wanderers in a £300,000 transfer from Barnsley in January 2013 and went on to score a total of 11 goals in 58 appearances for the Trotters, prior to his release.

Whilst those statistics may not look too appetising, it’s worth noting that 31 of those outings were from the substitutes’ bench.

Davies was a hugely popular figure amongst Bolton supporters, with his never-say-die attitude and willingness to put his body on the line earning him many plaudits, although it wasn’t until Neil Lennon’s arrival as manager in October 2014 that we began to see the best of what he had to offer.

All of a sudden, Davies became a focal point of the Bolton attack and was producing arguably the best form of his career – including a Man of the Match display in a 3-1 win over Latics at Macron Stadium.

Then, in a cruel twist of fate, he was struck down by three separate hamstring injuries that restricted him to just three starts after the turn of the year.

The club weighed up whether to offer him a fresh deal, but financial restraints at the present time meant it made little business sense to take a risk on an injury-prone player and Davies was an unfortunate victim of the cost-cutting measures currently in place.

 If he can put his fitness issues behind him, Davies has the ability to be one of the Championship’s top players. However, inconsistent form and the amount of time he spends in the treatment room has stopped him from fulfilling his undoubted potential.

If you can get 20+ games out of him next season, Wigan will have got themselves a good player who is more than capable of scoring the goals to get you out of the division at the first attempt.

With all those aforementioned worries, though, it would be unwise to pin all hopes on him, so I’d be expecting Gary Caldwell to bring in at least one more striker during the summer transfer window.

A Blackpool fan’s view of Donervon Daniels

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Fan Views and tagged with , , , ,

daniels

It was announced today that Latics have signed 21 year old Donervon Daniels from West Bromwich Albion.

The 6 ft 1 in defender comes from the Caribbean Island of Montserrat, famous for the volcano that erupted in 1995, engulfing the capital, Plymouth, forcing two thirds of the population to flee. Together with Anthony Griffith, who plays for Carlisle, they are the two Montserratian internationals playing in the Football League.

Daniels joined West Bromwich as a 16 year old from Reading. He progressed through the youth ranks and became captain of their under-21 side, winning their Young Player of the Year award in 2012. In November 2012 he was loaned to Tranmere Rovers, where he stayed until the end of the season, making 13 appearances. In November 2013 he went to Gillingham for a short term loan for six weeks, playing 3 games.

In the first half of last season Daniels played on loan for Blackpool, forming a favourable impression when playing against Latics. He made 19 appearances. In January he went on loan to Aberdeen, scoring on his debut against Dundee United. He went on to make 9 appearances for the Dons.

It is reported that Latics beat several other clubs to the signing of Daniels, who could prove to be a key player with the kind of football approach that Gary Caldwell seeks.

In order to find out more about his time at Blackpool we reached out to the AVFTT fan site http://fansonline.net/blackpool/.

Our thanks to them for what follows:

Donervon Daniels came on loan to Blackpool at a tricky time with the club going through a horrendous transition and manager Jose Riga locking horns with Chairman Karl Oyston.

 However, the youngster from West Brom did well and could operate at right back or centre half and was one of the few stand out players for Blackpool. He scored one goal against Huddersfield and in defence was a strong, robust character who always looked like he had the potential to become a decent player.

 However his game was riddled with errors and at least once or twice a game he’d commit himself or make a wrong decision which lead to opposition goals. He just wasn’t quite the finished article and, if anything, deteriorated when Lee Clark arrived at the club to replace Riga.

 He was infamously involved in Blackpool being fined after his youth loan expired and towards the end of his time with the club we had so many loan players he was being dropped because he couldn’t play them all. Sadly his exit came about when he posed with Jacob Murphy on Instagram with a sign saying ‘We are going to lose .. again’ and that was effectively the end of his Blackpool career.

 May find his level at League One and is a decent acquisition for Wigan.

 

A Coventry fan’s view of Sanmi Odelusi

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Fan Views and tagged with , , , ,

Odelusi

According the Sun newspaper Latics are about to sign 22 year old  Sanmi Odelusi  from Bolton Wanderers for £50,000 on a three year contract. Odelusi is a 5 ft 11 1⁄2 in tall winger.

Oluwasanmi Babafemi Oluwaseu Odelusi was born in Nigeria but brought up in Dagenham. After being part of the youth setups at Reading and QPR he joined Bolton in 2009. Odelusi was to make nine appearances for Bolton, scoring two goals. In February 2014 he joined MK Dons on loan, where he started in six matches and made four appearances off the bench in a three month stay. For the second half of last season he played on loan at Coventry, making four starts and ten appearances as a substitute, scoring three goals.

If the newspaper reports are correct then Latics will be taking a gamble in signing a player on a long term contract who has had such little first team experience. But Odelusi clearly has talent. The question is whether he can establish himself and add consisitency to his game.

In order to learn more about Odelusi’s time at Coventry we got in touch with the Covsupport News Service at at http://www.coventrycity-mad.co.uk/

Here’s over to them:

Sanmi Odelusi, was very much in and out during his loan at Coventry City.   He could not have asked for a better debut after joining the Sky Blues on loan in January from Bolton, showing some class to finish smartly in the 38th minute of a 2-2 draw with Rochdale.    

But from then on, he was soon out injured with a hamstring injury and struggled to command a regular place in the side.  

Odelusi showed that he has good ball control and a neat touch along with a good finish especially in the win at Chesterfield and the defeat to Port Vale but could not convince Tony Mowbray, who took over from Steven Pressley as Coventry City manager that he was worth anything more than a place on the bench.  

A decent lad, if he can keep his fitness then he could thrive at Wigan.

Click here to read another Coventry fan view on Odelusi, written for a Bolton fan site last month.

A Tranmere fan’s view of Max Power

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Fan Views and tagged with , , ,
Power

It appears that Max Power is to sign for Wigan Athletic over the next few days. Power is a free agent, but Tranmere Rovers will be due to receive compensation from Latics because of his age. He appears to be a fine young prospect and could provide some genuine creative spark in Latics’ midfield.

The 5 ft 11 in tall  Power has made 108 appearances, scoring 12 goals, for Tranmere despite still only being only 21 years old. Born in Birkenhead, Power joined his local team at the age of eight, captaining the team at all playing levels at the club, turning down an offer to play at Liverpool along the way. He was awarded a professional contract at the age of 17, making his first team debut as an 18 year old in August 2011.

Sadly Rovers were relegated in April, after a 94 year stay in the Football League. Power was unfortunate enough to have given away a penalty in the vital last match at Plymouth, which the home side converted. However, he was to make amends by firing home an effort from the edge of the box, although the home team were to eventually triumph by 3-2.

In order to find out more about Power’s  time at Tranmere we got in touch with Deadly Submarine of the Total Tranmere site (total–tranmere.co.uk). Our thanks to him for his insight on this exciting young player.

A youth product at Tranmere and a lifelong supporter of the Club, Max Power, the guy with the most talked about name in football seems to have always suited a role alongside a playmaker type midfielder rather than being the guy to rely on to run a midfield game himself.
 
Capable of some great finishes and with a huge passion for the game (certainly when playing for his boyhood team), Power is a player still learning the game and learning from mistakes – a fact supported by two incidents last year where he tried to be clever and chip in a couple of penalties rather than just hit the target – something he will no doubt learn from.  He also likes to look for a killer ball which is always good to see even if not always executed.

The nicest guy you could ever meet off the pitch (I have had many personal encounters with Max from his youth days right up to his time in the first team), if he carries on where he left off at Rovers, Latics fans will certainly be getting a passionate and committed player who in he right team and with the right players around him would do a job in League One although he may initially be a substitute for Wigan in my opinion.
 
Back-to-back relegations in the last two of his three or so senior seasons is no reflection on Max alone that’s for sure!

A Walsall fan’s view of Richard O’Donnell

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Fan Views and tagged with , , , , ,

Richard-ODonnell

“Delighted to have agreed a deal to join @LaticsOfficial for next season. Can’t wait to start and help get them back where they should be….”

So said new Latics acquisition Richard O’Donnell on Twitter today.

O’Donnell is a 6 ft 2 in goalkeeper, born in Sheffield, who will sign Wigan Athletic as a free agent from League 1 club Walsall. He is 26 years old, a product of the Sheffield Wednesday academy.

As a young player from O’Donnell was sent on loan to seven clubs in the lower divisions and non-league from 2007-11. He made his Football League debut as a 19 year old for Oldham Athletic against Luton Town in March 2008. It was three years later to the month that he made his debut for Wednesday in a match at Southampton. After making 19 appearances for the Owls he was released in May 2012.

O’Donnell then signed a one year contract for League 2 side Chesterfield. Covering for the absence of regular goalkeeper Tommy Lee he made 14 starts, but lost his place on Lee’s return from injury. In January he was loaned out to Stockport County in the Conference where he made 20 starts. He returned to Chesterfield for the last game of the season in a 4-0 win over Exeter.

In summer of 2013 he joined Walsall where he was to establish himself as the first choice goalkeeper, making 90 appearances in his two seasons there. He kept 21 clean sheets last season.

In order to learn more about O’Donnell’s time at Walsall we reached out to the BescotBanter.net fan site (@BescotBanter). Our thanks to them for the fan’s view that follows:

Following the Saddlers’ acquisition of goalkeeping coach Neil Cutler, Richard joined the club in the summer of 2013 and quickly went on to establish himself as first-choice, bringing his brand of committed stopping to the side.

A player who is willing to put his body on the line, Richard made over fifty first team appearances during his debut season with the club and penned a new eighteen-month contract in January 2014.

Following his debut season Richard continued as first-choice goalkeeper and went on to make his one hundredth consecutive first-team appearance for the club as the Saddlers played host to Notts County on 3rd April.

Richard established himself as a clear fan favourite during his time with the club and went on to be named both the Fans and Players’ Player of the Season at the 2014/15 End of Season Awards.

O’Donnell also came close to single-handedly breaking a club record for most clean sheets in a season, which was held by former Trinidad and Tobago international Clayton Ince, who was unbeaten on twenty-two occasions during the 2006/07 campaign.

The record was ultimately collected by Craig MacGillivray, as he kept a clean sheet during his debut against Oldham Athletic.

 Following a lengthy spell of contract negotiations, which began in November 2014, Richard made the decision to leave the club and join Wigan Athletic on a three-year deal, the move seems to have come down to a length of contact issue, with the Saddlers either unable or unwilling to match the Latics’ three-year offering.

When the dust of his move settles Richard will go down as one of the best stoppers in the club’s recent history, and will always be welcome at Banks’s Stadium.