Shay McCartan

Towards the end of the Guiseley friendly pre-season I made my way to the exit for a quick getaway. I found myself standing next to two black guys. One I instantly recognised as Donaldson and thought how much smaller he was off the pitch rather than how he seemed on it. The other bloke was a small guy who I didn't recognise at first but then realised was Akpan. I think we sometimes forget how small footballers are. They are very fit, very fast and, sometimes, very skillful. But big they ain't. Akpan is certainly not 'built like a heavyweight boxer'.
At his peak Gordon Strachan weighed less than 10 stone. Allan Clarke, pretty tall but ten and a half stone.

 

Apart from City who did he play Premier League football with for any sort of period Birmingham 11 games and Bolton 9 games ?.
He spent most of his time in the Championship but as I said a little more application he could have played more in the Premiership.

 

Burnley

 

The two spells he had at Burnley we mainly Championship football.

 

Likes a hot shower?

 

Seriously? Akpan towers over half of our team and certainly over most of the opposition midfielders that he continually fails to tackle properly. He's 6ft tall (ie 3" above average male height) and must be at least 14 stone, if not more.
Clayton Donaldson is 6' 1". Not a giant, but significantly above average male height. Gordon Strachan was a shortarse, like many midfielders, and Allan Clarke was a whippet. Footballers come in all shapes and sizes and Akpan is definitely on the large end of the spectrum both in height and weight.

 

I don't think the guy you saw was Akpan unless you class 6ft as small.

 

Not sure that's true nowadays

 

Hey you can cringe away no problem. They were are best strikers to date. However, it was a bit tongue in cheek. I do think McCarten compares to Blake obviously atm he doesn’t have his skill level, but the Jewel did have to basically make a project out of him. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Stuart and Kenny don’t do likewise with McCarten.

 

A top form McCartan wouldnt even be close to the levels of a ‘cant be arsed’ Robbie Blake.

 

He doesn't have to be close to Robbie Blakes level. We just need him to be effective in league 2. I'm pretty sure he got us a point at Swindon and I'm pretty sure he was the most influential player on our side who secured us 3 points the other night. I guess that means he is of some use to us, whether it's starting or coming on from the bench.

 

Well I don’t think we have seen the best of McCarten yet. I agree that Blake was a brilliant footballer, and Shay wouldn’t be able to reach that level, but what I was trying to highlight he is a similar player, and a tongue in cheek comparison.

 

Blake would've played for England if he had pace. Was the only part of his game where he couldn't quite compete.

 

He's been a City player for 3 years!!! How long do you give a guy to see the best of him? A manager these days gets 6 months tops.

 

But he's never been given any kind of run in the side to get form and confidence going. Has he ever started more than two games running for us? I doubt it. It's been mostly one-offs and sub appearances.

 

Because he's rubbish

 

I would have thought so but I haven't looked. There must be some reason for this then for not having a run in the side. He had a great season before coming to us but then couldn't secure a spot in the team and 2 seasons later he still can't get a weekly spot in the side. You can't keep chasing potential in a playing after nearly 3 years, its a waste.

 

One of the worst signings in the club history at 250k.

 

Yes I know, but he is probably one of those players that needs a run in the team. Unfortunately he is not the type of player all the managers at City over the years have been able to utilise due to style of their play. Stuart will use him, so let’s see if he can grab that opportunity, if not well we can’t wait any longer.

 

Not on this message board he doesn't.