Why we’re happy to bet £15 Craig Davies won’t score 15 goals
The 2009-10 season will be a big season for Craig Davies. In all likelihood, it will go one of two ways. He will either score a few goals and win Brighton and Hove Albion fans over. Or he will be left to rot in the reserves until a League Two club comes in for him in January or next summer.
For us, it’s unfortunately going to be the latter. The striker couldn’t have asked for a better start to his Albion career, scoring on his Withdean debut against Peterborough United back in February. Since then however, his time in Sussex has gone spectacularly down the pan.
A costly miss in the closing stages of the Seagulls’ game against Northampton Town was the first in a series of wasted chances from Davies, the majority of which have come from inside the 12 yard box.
When he blazed over the bar what was approximately his 367th miss of the afternoon during that dreadful 2-0 defeat against MK Dons in April, he was booed by frustrated supporters who sung “What a waste of money” as the forward once again held his head in shame in front of 2000+ Albion fans.
He earned the nickname ‘Barndoor’ after that in view of the fact that frankly, he couldn’t hit one that was 36 feet wide, let alone a particular mammal’s body part with a certain musical instrument.
Russell Slade seemingly agreed with the assessment, dropping him for the rest of the season as the team pulled of their unlikely escape from relegation.
Despite all this, it is remarkable how message board opinion seems to suggest that the majority think he’ll actually come good this season.
Reasoning for this includes: “He just needs a good pre-season”; “He hit the crossbar from 30 yards against (worst team in the league) Hereford”; “He just lacks confidence” and “Give him a chance.” Ignoring the fact that he’s had plenty of chances and spanked most of them over the bar from six yards.
How have some Albion fans come to this conclusion? How does a striker who scored on his debut lack confidence? And what will having a good pre-season by scoring goals against non-league opponents in meaningless encounters actually achieve?
Contrary to popular belief, he DOESN’T have a proven scoring record. His first touch isn’t special as some like to say, he doesn’t have much in the way of skills and he certainly doesn’t have a footballing brain.
Missing a game for your country because you forgot your passport doesn’t read too well on a CV either. Pace is, by and large, his only strong asset. But one attribute is not enough to make up for all those flaws.
Point out the fact that Davies is rubbish and some supporters think you WANT him to fail. Nobody wants that. We’d all love it if he scored the goals that fired us to promotion or a play off place.
It would be fantastic to see kids at Withdean with ‘Davies 25’ on the back of their shirts in honour of their hero, another goalscorer wearing that famous number.
But it just isn’t going to happen. That’s why we’ve taken a bet which means we’ll owe £15 if Davies scores 15+ goals this season.
We’ll be delighted to pay up as if we end up doing so, it means he’s banged in the goals and we won’t have wasted God knows how much money travelling the length of the country to watch a striker who can’t finish as well as many Sunday League players.
Let’s hope that come the end of the season we’re eating our words and that ‘Barndoor’ is no more. But if he nets against Worthing, Stevenage and AFC Wimbledon in the next few weeks, please don’t think too much of it.
Judge him on the games that matter, in the league. As things stand, from what we’ve seen so far of him as a League One striker, he just isn’t up to the job.
