Tag Archives: Aberdeen

A Cardiff fan’s view of Kevin McNaughton

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Other and tagged with , , , ,

Soccer - Pre Season Friendly - Cardiff CIty v Celtic - Cardiff City Stadium

It has been announced that  32 year old Kevin McNaughton has signed for Wigan Athletic on a one year contract, following a trial period at the club.

Given the youthful nature of his squad Gary Caldwell will be looking for some more experience and McNaughton can certainly provide it, having played more than 450 games in his career. McNaughton made his debut for Latics in the pre-season match at Southport and subsequently played against Dundee and Blackburn Rovers.

The 5 ft 10 in McNaughton was born in Dundee, but came up through the Aberdeen youth system. He made his debut for the Dons as an 18 year old and was to make 175 appearances over 5 seasons.

McNaughton signed for Cardiff City in summer 2006 and manager Dave Jones used him regularly as a left back in the 2006-07 season. The following season saw him switched to right back and he played in all six matches in Cardiff’s run to the 2008 FA Cup final. His following season was dogged by injury but he reclaimed his place in the 2010-11 season when he was voted Player of the Year.

In September 2013 McNaughton went on loan to Bolton Wanderers, making 13 appearances during a three month stay. He went back to Cardiff in January and played in a handful of Premier League games by the end of the season.  Last season saw McNaughton return to Bolton on loan, where he made 8 appearances. He had made 254 appearances for Cardiff before being released this summer.

In order to learn more about McNaughton’s time at Cardiff we reached out to Benjamin James of the View from the Ninian fan site.

Here’s over to Ben:

What to say about Kevin McNaughton?

A player who most, if not all Cardiff fans, would have gladly kept. A player who came in unheralded and went on to become one of the most revered players of recent times. The very definition of a club legend.

The image of him on the pitch after our promotion to the Premier League is iconic – he, out of all those players in the squad, deserved it more than most. Near misses and play-off disappointments were felt most by him.

It looked as if for all the years he had given us, he was going to miss out on some Premier League action; a loan to Bolton looked to signal the end of his career at Cardiff City. But he returned and I was so happy that he got to play in the Prem for us.

Wigan have signed a player who will build an incredible rapport with the fans. You’ve signed a player who will leave it all on the pitch. You’ve signed a player who will be invaluable to the dressing room – if you want someone to dress up as Dangermouse, he will be the first to do it.

I’ve seen him knock himself out in consecutive games, take out lino’s in his quest to get to the ball and outpace the quickest of players.

I can’t think of a bad word to say about him and I know I’m not alone in this. In an ideal world, Kev would have seen out his career with us. He became a true fan favourite in his nine years with the club and he will be missed.

He’s played all across the back four and even in midfield at points. He’s seen the best of times and some of the worst yet he’s stayed as consistent as ever. I really hope he succeeds at Wigan and Wigan succeed with him – he deserves nothing less.  

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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.

 

Fyvie back on track

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Player profiles and tagged with , , , , , , ,

Fraser Fyvie

In the 14th minute in Wigan Athletic’s pre-season friendly game against TSV Havelse, Fraser Fyvie put through a defence-splitting pass for young winger Ryan Jennings to get Latics’ first goal.

Wigan went on to win 3-1, but the main purpose of the match was to provide playing time for a squad that had been involved in intensive training sessions over that past week. No less than 21 players got playing time, with only one playing the full 90 minutes. That was the young Wigan-born prospect, Tim Chow. However, the player who received the next largest amount of playing time was Fyvie, who went off to be substituted by Gary Caldwell after 75 minutes.

What is significant is that Fyvie appears to be back in the Latics fold after being seemingly on his way out of the club.

Last season was a nightmare for the 21 year old Scot. Snubbed by both Owen Coyle and Uwe Rosler he had been farmed out on loans, which just did not work out.

In mid-October Fyvie went to fellow Championship side Yeovil Town on loan. He soon made his debut against Brighton, but a shoulder injury forced him to be forced off after only 22 minutes. A month later he returned to the lineup against Doncaster Rovers, but in the 11th minute he gave the ball away leading to a goal for Rovers. He was substituted after 31 minutes. Before the end of the first half he had posted a tweet on Twitter: “Everyone has given away a goal in their career – learn from mistakes!” Fyvie was returned to Wigan in mid-December after making no more appearances at Yeovil.

In late January Fyvie joined League 1 club Shrewsbury Town on a one month loan. He started in four consecutive matches and it looked like Shrewsbury were going to request an extension of the loan period. However, a knee injury suffered in training was to scupper that plan and he returned to Wigan.

It looked like Fyvie was on his way out of Wigan when he went to train with Sheffield United in April, playing a game for their under-21 side. However, the Yorkshire team was not sufficiently impressed to take things further.

When Fraser Fyvie joined Latics as a 19 year old in July 2012 Roberto Martinez said: “Technically he’s very gifted, enjoys playing in the midfield where he can cover large areas, he’s very powerful off the ball and in possession is someone who can read the tempo of the game very well”.

Despite his tender age Fyvie had made 58 appearances for his home town club Aberdeen in the SPL. He was the youngest player to play for the Dons, making his debut against Hamilton at the age of 16, winning the ‘Man of the Match’ award. He was later to score a goal against Hearts that made him the youngest goalscorer in SPL history. Fyvie has represented Scotland at schoolboy, youth and under 21 levels.

In his first season at Wigan his appearances were confined to FA and League Cup matches. It appeared that he was being groomed to step up to regular first team action the following season. With the change of management that was not to be.

With Ben Watson and Chris McCann out with long-term injuries and James McArthur and Shaun Maloney struggling for fitness, Uwe Rosler is short on midfield players. The arrival of George Saville on loan from Chelsea is likely to be announced shortly, but in the meantime the absence of the senior players might well continue to give Fyvie the chance to prove that he still has a lot to offer.

Rosler prides himself on developing young players and in Fyvie he has a player with undoubted talent. The Aberdonian still has one year left on his contract. Hopefully it will be one in which we will see his potential being realised. It is an opportunity to get his stuttering career back on track.

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