The last few weeks have seen an influx of loan players making their way through the entrance door at the Daggers. No fewer than three loanees donned the Daggers jersey in the recent games against Accrington and Rochdale.
This method of plugging the gaps with outsiders has not been a path John Still has trodden on a regular basis as Daggers boss, preferring instead to use squad and youth players in times of crisis. But with Ogogo suspended and Antwi, Arber and Spiller all absent through injury, John has been forced to seek reinforcements.
While we may not have offered such a revolving door policy as say Hereford United in recent years, who seem to field a different eleven each week, there have been a few colourful characters that have had spells with the Daggers over the years.
The Good
Matt Ritchie. Arguably the finest loan player seen at Victoria Road in recent years, perhaps ever. The blonde-haired, diminutive Portsmouth winger arrived with a big reputation, having featured in Pompey’s squad in a UEFA cup game earlier in 2008. His impact was immediate. Starting initially as a substitute it didn’t take Ritchie long to make his mark. A string of mesmerising performances demonstrating classical wing play contributed massively to the Daggers eighth place finish last year. Credit must go to Mr Still who worked a minor miracle to keep this talented youngster for the duration of the 2008/09 season after what was originally only a one-month loan deal. Credit also to Ritchie himself. He didn’t arrive with a Premiership-sized ego and commuted daily from Hampshire to play for the mighty Reds. In truth, we’ve still yet to replace him. Ritchie now plies his trade on loan at Munto Finance Allstars.
John McGrath. Another left winger, McGrath spent the majority of the 2002-03 season on loan at the Daggers. Just as credit must go to Stilly for bringing in Matt Ritchie, so too we must doth the proverbial re Garry Hill’s acquisition of the Irish winger’s services from Aston Villa. A truly brilliant opening to his Daggers spell saw McGrath torment opposition full-backs and offer a genuine outlet for the team on the left flank. However, a dip in form and confidence was evident towards the end of the season, particularly visible in a tough game away at Morecambe when he seemed to run out of gas. Hardly surprising though given his lack of first team opportunities at Villa Park before arriving in East London. Overall, a highly impressive loan signing. McGrath is currently at Burton Albion having signed in 2007.
The Bad
A tad more tricky to talk at length about players who had brief, unmemorable stints at the club but here are a few names that may make you wince. Rob Gill arrived on loan from Doncaster in November 2003, after scoring in both games against the Daggers and making the England National Game squad the previous term. This was seen as quite a good piece of business, but 5 goalless games later and Rob was sent back.
Matt Harrold seems to arouse dislike (unfairly in my opinion) among many Daggers fans. He scored a very good headed goal at Accrington Stanley in 2004 when on loan from Brentford but his presence in a subsequent four winless games didn’t endear him to the fans, including a woeful exit at the hands of Bishops Stortford in the FA Trophy. His recent appearances against the Daggers have not received a warm reception from some quarters.
You would think signing a Wales U21 international when in the Conference would be a good move, but it didn’t quite go to plan when Matt Rees came in from Millwall in January 2004. With a defensive crisis on our hands, Rees came in for a game against Exeter which was lost 2-0 and then put in two awful performances as we were knocked out of the FA Trophy against Arlesey, conceding 7 across the two matches. He actually scored one in the replay but that isn’t enough to save him!.
The Ugly
Jim Rodwell. How did this move ever happen?! It’s hard to think that a figure who conjures up pure contempt in many Daggers fans actually played for ourselves before joining Boscum. It was admittedly a brief stint; Jimbo only played one game in 2002 before heading up to brown-paper-envelope FC. He would go on to play an integral role in the Pilgrims’ promotion to the Football League that year. After a couple of years away from York Road, much like a bad smell, Rodwell returned and couldn’t be shifted for quite some time, taking on a caretaker manager role before becoming a Director of Football and eventually the club’s chairman.
