Benjamin and Robinson will fill Sherjill’s boots
12:46pm Thursday 13th March 2008
OUR victory at Shrewsbury prompted their then manager, Gary Peters, to be critical of our involvement in the loan system.
Later that week, I had a phone call from Gary, explaining exactly what he had said.
He felt that the difference between the two sides was our on-loan striker from West Bromwich Albion, Sherjill MacDonald.
I would not agree with that. I thought that we were a far better side, not just from Sherjill's contribution.
Gary talked to me about looking for a longer-term future for the club, wanting players who are committed for long periods.
That highlighted the fact that, as a manager, you cannot look at the long term. Results have to be today and not tomorrow.
The following week, after a defeat at Barnet, he left, as the euphemism goes, by mutual agreement' proving there is no long-term future without results.
It looks almost certain that we will have lost the services of Sherjill.
In conversations with West Bromwich Albion during his loan, it became evident that there were a number of big Championship and big League 1 clubs vying for his signature.
One big club, in particular, wanted to agree a fee and take him on loan until the end of the season. So we knew then that the likelihood of us keeping him was not too great.
Against Stockport, there must have been 12-15 prominent clubs here running the rule over Sherjill. His view was that he would like to either return to West Brom or start playing in a higher grade.
For a lad who was playing in the Champions League for Anderlecht as a teenager, it was a bit of a culture shock to him, going to Dagenham and Accrington. The fact that he finished up with us, albeit for a month, would indicate that, somewhere along the line, his career has stagnated a bit.
The impact that he made might never have happened, had he had his wish to play all the games wide on the left.
For his first match, he arrived for the pre-match meal at noon without the benefit of having trained with the players or understanding our game plan.
I probably made a mistake in asking him his preferred position and was surprised when he said wide left. He was probably surprised when I asked him to play up front, but we won five of the seven games with him in the side and that has given us a platform to continue our promotion push.
Before Sherjill's and Gary Hooper's arrival, Theo Robinson and Trevor Benjamin had done very well and Theo was only left out due to a one-game ban.
Now we will look to them to return and weigh in with the goals we require.