Tag Archives: Yeovil Town

A Barnsley fan’s view of Kieffer Moore

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

Barnsley FC yesterday announced the transfer of the 6ft 5in centre forward Kieffer Moore to Wigan Athletic. The 26-year-old has signed a three-year contract.

Kieffer Roberto Francisco Moore was born in Torquay and came through the youth system of Torquay United. After the club folded their youth team, he played in the South Devon league for a couple of seasons before going on trial for Truro City in the summer of 2012. Moore made 22 appearances, scoring 13 goals, for Truro in the Conference South before joining Dorchester Town in the same division in February 2013. He made 17 appearances for Dorchester, scoring 9 goals, before joining Yeovil Town then in the Championship in the summer of 2013.

Moore made 50 appearances for Yeovil, scoring 7 goals, before being released as the club were relegated to League 2. In the summer of 2015 season, he went to Norway and played for Viking Stavanger, making 9 appearances, before signing for Forest Green Rovers in January 2016. He helped them reach the National League play-offs, missing the final defeat by Grimsby Town due to a ruptured appendix the night after the semi-final second leg against Dover Athletic. In November 2016 Moore joined Torquay United of the National League on a 28-day loan, scoring 5 goals in 4 appearances.  In January 2017 he signed for Ipswich Town for a fee of £10,000. Moore spent the first half of the 2017-18 season on loan at Rotherham United, scoring 13 goals in 22 appearances. In January 2018 he signed for Barnsley for an undisclosed fee. He went on to score 21 goals in 51 appearances for the Yorkshire club.

In order to learn more about Moore’s time at Oakwell we contacted Barnsley fans CraigIsRed (@CraigIsRed) and FourFourTarn (@FourFourTarn) through Twitter.

CraigIsRed commented:

He’s an absolute workhorse upfront – never stops running. He does tend to have fouls awarded against him on a regular basis due to his 6’6 stature, though, which you’ll undoubtedly come to find quite frustrating because in most cases it’s a fair aerial challenge he puts in.

I could make a case for him being unproven at Championship level, but to be honest the games he played for us in The Championship a couple of seasons ago were under a god-awful manager who changed the line-up, formation, and system every single game, so in my view he can’t be judged on that.

 He’s always been a standout player in League One, though, and definitely deserves his chance to play in a settled Championship team. I believe a big reason we’ve opted to sell him is because he doesn’t quite fit the new style of play Daniel Stendel has brought to Barnsley FC, so he would have been a little wasted at Oakwell had he stayed this season. I think he’ll do well for The Latics this season. Be excited! You’ve gained a great player and a great personality.

 Look after ‘Big Kieff’, and all the best for this season!

 FourFourTarn said:

Most Barnsley fans will be sad to see Kieffer go, he was excellent for us in our promotion season last season but the reality is he doesn’t fit the way Stendel wants to play and the £3-4mill price tag is very fair.

 Despite his size Kieffer isn’t the most dominant in the air when playing direct however he’s excellent when the ball is played into his chest or feet. He’s also very quick for a big man when his legs get going. He’s excellent at getting himself good chances but also pretty good at missing them but by law of averages he bags a fair few. The biggest criticism is probably is engine, it’s not his fault but carrying that massive frame around can’t be easy and that’s probably why he’s moving on.

 Can’t fault his work rate, always works as hard as he can, fans absolutely loved him. He had a song within a couple of weeks and I think for now this is his level, I don’t think he’s good enough technically for the prem but could be a top Champ striker in the right system.

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A Leyton Orient fan’s view of Gavin Massey

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

 

Wigan Athletic have announced the signing of Gavin Massey from Leyton Orient. The 24 year old forward, 5 ft 8 in tall, was a free agent following the London club’s relegation from the EFL.

On signing Massey, Latics manager Paul Cook commented on the club’s website that: “Gavin is a player we feel can do really well for us. He played against Portsmouth twice last season and scored a great goal at Fratton Park. He’s quick, strong and committed and can operate anywhere across the front three. For a player of his age, he has a lot of experience and has played a lot in this division. He adds great competition to the squad.”

Gavin Massey was born in Watford and is a product of their Harefield Academy. The Watford manager at the time, Malky Mackay, gave him his first team debut as a 17 year old in May 2010 at Coventry, soon after which he signed his first professional contract. In March 2011, he was loaned out to Wealdstone. He went on to make 6 appearances for the Isthmian League side in the 6 weeks of the loan period, scoring one goal. After making an appearance for Watford in mid-August 2011 Massey was sent on loan to Yeovil Town in September. He went on to make 16 appearances for the West Country club, scoring 4 goals before returning to Watford in mid-January 2012. However, just over a week later he joined Colchester United on a one month loan.

After returning to Watford he was to be released on a free transfer to return to Colchester. Massey went on to make 158 appearances for the U’s, scoring 20 goals, in four years with them. In the summer of 2016 Leyton Orient paid Colchester an undisclosed fee to sign Massey. He went on to make 36 appearances, scoring 4 goals, last season.

In order to find out more about Massey’s performance over the last season we contacted Matt Simpson of the Leyton Orient blog View from the West Stand, who put us in touch with David Thompson (@DavidTh64301889).

Here are David’s responses to our questions:

What positions has he played in for Orient? Which is his best?

He started off playing right midfield and did quite well early on, even scoring 3 minutes into his debut.  He then had a slight knock and sort of disappeared in games for a little bit.  To be honest I think that was more to do with the complete circus surrounding the club at the time and him suddenly realising what he had got himself into!  Around Christmas time he came back into the side and was playing as a number 10, off of a front man and at times as a more advanced forward.  He was superb at this point and scored some great goals (check out his goal away at Portsmouth on YouTube).

What are his strengths and weaknesses as a player?

He’s actually quicker than he looks – he’s not a jet healed type winger but is quite fast.  He can put a decent cross in and has a decent touch.   He scored a few goals for us, a couple of which were crackers from distance.  It’s hard to call him out on weaknesses, as at times he was playing in a terrible side, put together by whatever sucker / idiot / victim was selected as manager that week.  He’s not the most defensive player you will see and can go missing a bit.

How does he relate to the fans? Is he a team player? Does he show commitment?

He was popular with the fans, especially around Christmas when he was putting on a one man show at times to try and keep us up. Personally, I think losing him around April time to injury was one of the major nails in the coffin of our relegation as he had been playing so well and teams were scared of him.  His effort from Christmas on was excellent and cannot be faulted.  If I was being cynical I could say he was playing for a move as he could see the writing on the wall for Orient, but let’s give him the benefit of the doubt and say he was getting stuck in.

What kind of potential does he have? Would you have him back at the O’s?

He has a lot of potential.  He’s only 24/25 I think and could play at least Championship in my opinion.  He needs a decent run of games and a team that’s going to go on the offensive in games, allowing him to get in and around the box where he is a hand full.   Would I have him back?  Absolutely.  The rumour is we paid out around 200K for him.  On a free he’s a bargain.

 

 
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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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