Blues manager Mick McCarthy says new midfield loan signing Richard Chaplow’s ability was never in question, despite the 30-year-old having been out of favour at struggling Millwall. The Town boss says it’s important to look beyond a player’s situation with their current club and that he has benefited from doing so throughout his career as a boss.
"I knew he could play, that wasn’t a question,” he said of Chaplow, who spent the week training with the club before having an initial one-month loan with an agreement to extend to beyond the play-offs if required was formalised yesterday.
"I know about his ability and if you get the opportunity to get them under your roof and see what they’re like with the rest of the lads and mix in and interact, that’s great.
"He’s one that is out of contract at Millwall, they’re not going to keep him. I think they’ve got a few more players than we have and sometimes it’s not great to have them around the place, although he strikes me as a really good lad.
"Ollie spoke highly of him, he’s come in, he’s trained, he’s fitted in and I know he’s got good quality. And he’s got a goal in him as well.”
McCarthy says he pays little heed to where players are currently playing - or not playing - their football and says he has made good but perhaps unexpected signings throughout his time as a manager.
"That’s probably why I’ve been in this game for 20-odd years as a manager - I don’t look at it like ‘my dad’s bigger than your dad, he can fight him, so he can fight him…’. It doesn’t work like that.
"They don’t want him so why should we want him? Actually, look beyond all that. How many times has that happened and you’ve had egg on your face? Managers, players, have a look at them and see.
"We had Balint Bajner and Kevin Bru walk in the door in the summer, nobody had ever heard of them, me included.
"Balint didn’t work out, but Kevin Bru’s just signed a new four-year deal and has been different class.
"But why the hell would we want him when he’s been freed from a club that we can’t even pronounce in Bulgaria? That’s just stupid even looking at him!”
He reflected on his time at his previous clubs: "I could go through all my career, have a look at them.
"Neill Collins comes down from a club in Scotland [Dumbarton] when I was at Sunderland, we paid 20-odd grand for him and we got promoted with him. We got promoted with him there and got promoted with him at Wolves.
"We took a reserve player, Andy Welsh, from Stockport - a reserve at Stockport, God forbid! - and we got promoted with him playing on the left wing.
"Have a look at them. It’s so easy, we’re so quick to dismiss everybody, ‘He can’t play, he can’t do this’.
"Well I’ve found to my credit that it’s worth having a look because you look a twat if somebody else takes them, let me tell you!”
Photo: ITFC