Neither Omar Daley nor Kevin Ellison will play against their respective parent clubs when Bradford City take on Rotherham United in Peter Jackson's first home game as City manager tonight, under the terms of the loan deal. By the time City play again, however, Daley may well be back available for selection. Despite the fact Jackson himself might not be manager after tonight - depending on the progress of interviews - he has already set the wheels in motion to recall Daley from his loan.
Daley arrived at City in 2007 just as that other flying winger Jermaine Johnson was heading out of the door. It was too easy to make comparisons between the two, but Daley has proved to be an exciting, dangerous and formidable opponent. He is capable of goals of outstanding quality and often done so, he has torn defences apart and scared the living daylights out of opponents. All to the extent he earned the plaudits of his peers and selection in the 2008-09 PFA team of the year.
Yet Daley is a precocious talent, not to everyone's taste who doesn't always perform. The goals don't always come often enough - especially when he's pushed up front - and for all his trickery, he has never been a huge creator of chances. And there will always be the accusations of laziness especially when things don't go his way.
Yes, Daley is the epitomy of a mercurial winger, who can torment his own fans and manager as much as the opposition. Trying to get the best out of him isn't quite so simple. Just as one of England's most gifted midfielders, Glenn Hoddle, failed to find a place for the equally talented Matt Le Tissier when he became the country's manager, Peter Taylor - a winger himself in his day - struggled to get the best out of Daley and his denouement was to allow the Jamaican to leave.
Daley may not yet return, and with his contract up at the end of the season, his way out of City may be the ringing of boos in his ears as he trudged off against Lincoln. Others have suffered the same; Nicky Summerbee supplied the ammunition for Dean Windass yet received more than his fair share of snipers in the crowd; Joe Colbeck picked up the fans' player of the year before becoming another hate-figure, exited stage right and suffered more abuse on his first return; even Windass himself, after becoming the club's third highest all-time goalscorer received death threats.
Ellison, however, made a thrilling start - scoring the winner on debut - but has since flattered to deceive. A man more for the fight apparently. Jacko believes not.
No comments:
Post a Comment