Please log in or register. Registered visitors get fewer ads.
McGoldrick: I Was Open to Staying at Town But Hurst Said No
Tuesday, 19th Mar 2019 10:09

Former Blues striker David McGoldrick has revealed he was “open to staying” at Town last summer but incoming boss Paul Hurst “said no”.

The 31-year-old subsequently went on trial to Sheffield United and won a contract and, having remained fit throughout the campaign, has netted 12 goals for the Blades to help the South Yorkshiremen to second in the Championship.

McGoldrick, then the club’s highest-paid player, departed Portman Road in May last year after no new contract was offered at the end of another injury hit season, however, he says he was still open to extending his time with the club but was denied the opportunity by Hurst, whose short ill-fated reign began in June.

“I was open to staying there but the new manager came in and said no,” McGoldrick said at a press conference while with his former Town boss Mick McCarthy’s Republic of Ireland squad yesterday.

“That was in June, so I started to look around. I got seven goals last year and you can’t go knocking down the doors of clubs saying, ‘Sign me, Sign me!’

“There were teams saying, ‘Yeah, we like him’, but nothing was happening. I was training on my own, thinking, ‘Is this where I am at?’

“There are players I played with that aren’t playing now and they had successful Championship and Premier League careers. It’s hard out there at the minute.


“No one really wanted to give me a chance, so I worked on my fitness and improved myself. I got the buzz back just from being . . . not wanted!

“It was a kick up the arse, this was where I was at. I wasn’t a golden player at a team like Ipswich any more. I had to go and prove myself.”

Hurst has previously denied having had any say in McGoldrick’s Town departure: “McGoldrick was never on any list that I had. He wasn’t even on a budget sheet, which made me laugh considering he’d been the highest paid player at the football club. It was as though you wouldn’t know that, so that one always brought a smile to my face.”

McGoldrick, who has won six Ireland caps, is back in the squad for the first time since May 2017 but has no complaints about his absence for the last two years.

“It was pretty straightforward, my form at Ipswich over the last two years, I had a lot of injuries and wasn’t the player I was when I first came into the squad,” he admitted.

The former Nottingham Forest and Southampton man outlined some of the freakish injuries which hampered him during his five and a half years at Portman Road.

“I did a back-heel in training, tore my hamstring and was out for four months,” he recalled. “I jumped up in the air to control the ball and tore my groin and was out for three months.

“I landed on my knee, studs went and popped my knee when I landed on it. I was out for six weeks. You can’t do anything about that.”

He added: “I was playing with injuries when I shouldn’t because I couldn’t get fit. Arising from a loss of form, your confidence goes. I was the main man at Ipswich and they were always banking on me being out there.”

Having left the Blues, McGoldrick found himself in limbo in the summer and spent time training with Forest’s U23s - their coach Chris Cohen is an old friend - before receiving the call from the Blades.

“Every day you are waiting for the agent to tell you something,” he said. “As soon as he told me about Sheffield United, I was straight up the M1.

“I’ve got kids and a family, I’ve got bills to pay. I wanted to secure a contract for them. I’ve done that, but I want to keep going.”

He added: “I don’t think you realise it until you’re in that sort of situation. I maybe got a bit too comfortable at Ipswich, although I loved my time there.

"We were mid-table and there were no big expectations to win every game, like there is at Sheffield United at the moment.

“I didn’t want to stop playing football. I wanted to be back doing it every day and scoring goals.”


Photo: TWTD



Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.



Bluebongo added 11:49 - Mar 19
Just shows what a complele idiot Paul Hurst is, his main priotry should have been to keep Didzy at all costs he,s been great for Sheff United this season Under Paul Lambert he would have gone a long way to keeping us in the Championship,
-2

whosroundisitanyway added 11:50 - Mar 19
Yeah OwainG
Let's all love on!!!
Could do with a bit of a love in on here.
Peace man x
1

blues1 added 11:52 - Mar 19
Never read so much rubbish spouted by a former player. He had already made it clear last january that he had no intention of staying due to the fact he wanted to be closer to his family in Nottingham.
6

ITFCsince73 added 12:29 - Mar 19
Mr Hurst was only at the club weeks, but in that short time he noticed a lot that was wrong.
Didz I'm sure was dealt with urgently.
After all, with a 80k per month contract coming to an end, and looking how many games had been played, there was only going to be one offer made, but of course there was better offers to be had.
Shame Hurst didnt get the chance to deal with the next big issue, getting rid of proper bloke, proper crap Chambo.
2

BlueandTruesince82 added 12:32 - Mar 19
Ultimately right decision. The wrong decision was letting him stay away from Ipswich so all his rehab work etc was undone by driving, less time on the treatment table, more time in the car made things worse....

I cant imagine with our luck that we would have got more than 6 games out him.... we need a witch doctor
1

runningout added 12:35 - Mar 19
DM staying would have made no difference whatsoever.
1

RoyalAscotBlue added 12:43 - Mar 19
Why do you automatically take DM's word over PH? What PROOF do you have? Did you read the entire article?

PH had absolutely no say in whether or not we kept Waghorn, and he had absolutely no say in whether or not we tried to keep McGoldrick either.

The most interesting/damning part of this article is the admittance that DM was too comfortable at Town...

"We were mid-table and there were no big expectations to win”

THAT is the reason why we are where we are now. One man was responsible for that, with the backing of a few ‘careful what you wish for' supporters.


13

Gcon added 12:52 - Mar 19
I'm sure the same goes for Waghorn. Evans just couldn't resist a quick profit.
Well, Waghorn would have kept us up and saved him a bloody fortune. A fit McGoldrick could have kept us up.
A child could have told Evans we would be in trouble with no goal scorers left at the club.
3

TR11BLU added 13:03 - Mar 19
Typical of todays overpaid snowflakes, motivated by one thing only....
Now answer that txt from MM
1

Saxonblue74 added 13:08 - Mar 19
Ask yourselves this nay sayers, would you have him in the team right now? A resounding yes I would say!
0

TimmyH added 13:12 - Mar 19
So much for the theory that McGoldrick wanted a move closer to his family...puts all the other moves into question and it was about cutting the wage bill, people forget though McG was the highest player at the time he had a good first half to the 2017/18 season and got back to near his best before further injuries.
2

Len_Brennan added 13:14 - Mar 19
I think it's probably the case that both Hurst & McGoldrick are telling the truth here, or at least the truth as they understood it. As @management suggests earlier, it obviously fell to Hurst as manager to ultimately confirm to McGoldrick that there would be no new contract, but that decision had already been made before Hurst came to the club. So Hurst said "no", but it was Evans who had already made the call to get McGoldrick's considerable wage bill off the books. To be fair, given his injury record over the last few seasons & his admitted apathy in playing for the club (too comfortable), it was probbaly the right decision for both club & player.
All of that would have been well & good had the club been determined to hold on to proven goalscorers in the Championship such as Waghorn & Garner; it would also have allowed for Jackson to be signed (remainder of Webster money & much lower wages) as a replacement and given time to settle in to the side, without the huge expectation on him and the critical need for him to start banging in the goals. But that's all history now.
Funny that he was sitting beside Mick McCarthy, his new Irelad manager, when he admits that he was "too comfortable ... with no big expectations to win every game" while at Ipswich, under the management of Mick McCarthy. Very reassuring I would think.
10

SmithersJones added 13:15 - Mar 19
Shades of Jack Marriott here. Player has disappointing last couple of seasons, leaves on a free, no one bothered, player signs for another club and does well. But both players have admitted that being released was the kick up the backside they needed. All points to the fact that clubs (especially the manager) need to use more than the carrot of the next contract to motivate players. As was said earlier, interesting that McGoldrick makes these comments next to the guy who was manager at the time.
3

ChrisFelix added 13:16 - Mar 19
This bloke was always injured, just like Hewes.
How many people would offer the latter a new contact ?
4

TimmyH added 13:43 - Mar 19
Yep! good post @Len_Brennan...you certainly cottoned onto something there under the MM management and 'comfortability' whilst here.
4

herfie added 13:50 - Mar 19
As much as anything, McG's comments - if accurate - provide a telling insight into the workings of the Club at that point. Decision making, internal and external communication flaws and a dysfunctional ‘vertical' command chain, with nobody seemingly able to offer ME sound, unbiased, advice. Ptretty sure PL rapidly identified that we were not being run as a professional club, and were stuck on a road of relentless decline. It was not just down to money.

Having almost single-handedly taken on the task of stopping, then turning around, that corrosive decline trajectory - both on and off the field - PL's efforts mean the gloom is slowlty lifting, with optimism now starting to show its smiley face! Long way to go, but by grabbing the club - and ME - by the ba**s, and squeezing hard, PL will hopefully achieve both his and our aspirations of making us a proper football club again.
5

senduntd added 13:52 - Mar 19
Well said Clint, the bloke was a bloody disaster.
-1

tractorollson added 13:58 - Mar 19
As a few have said, hindsight is a wonderful thing but dependant on his wages too, not sure I would of kept him
3

braveblue added 14:26 - Mar 19
The big mistake was Webster. That was down to Evans in my opinion.
4

dirtydingusmagee added 14:36 - Mar 19
its history, it cant be changed and is irrelevant now , With his fitness problems i wasnt too sad to see him go.Doubt anyone honestly thought he would do as well as he is now .We move on .
2

blueherts added 14:40 - Mar 19
20 goals in his first 44 games

25 goals in next 102 games

Became an expensive item

2

ThaiBlue added 15:00 - Mar 19
slot of very fair and honest comments on this story.what I cannot understand I'd how he was always injured at Ipswich but has been playing injury free at Sheffield utd.seems we were doing something wrong our end,shame as on his day a handy player.
3

Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 15:03 - Mar 19
I don't think you ever need or needed to worry too much about paying the bills, Didz.
3

ArnieM added 16:13 - Mar 19
Sorry, but this is a complete load of BS by McGoldrick. He had left the Club BEFORE Hurst even arrived. He didn't want to stay and wanted to move bank to midlands: north.


Anyway I doubt his wages would have been renewed in a new contract he was in a hefty whack each week.

Utter BS Didsy !
3

warktheline added 17:21 - Mar 19
@doseofreality, spot on post, forget the rest of interview, massive issue that's been eroding this club for a long time! Division 1 has been beckoning and now has arrived! Again tell me Evans isn't responsible for scenario!!!!!
2


You need to login in order to post your comments

Blogs 295 bloggers

Ipswich Town Polls

About Us Contact Us Terms & Conditions Privacy Cookies Advertising
© TWTD 1995-2024