Willie or won’t he as the Rob Roy legend hands in transfer request
ROB ROY have taken a huge gamble in giving the green light to a shock transfer request from legendary hitman Willie Sawyers.
The 31-year-old has fallen out of favour at the Kirkintilloch club where he is regarded as one of the all-time greatest goalscorers and last Saturday he arrived at his breaking point after coming on as a second-half substitute in a Premiership clash away to one of his former clubs Pollok.
And though not on the scoresheet, Sawyers made a typical impact in coming off the bench with the Rabs trailing 2-1 to set up back-to-back strikes for Lee Gallagher that clinched a 3-2 triumph and his side’s first league win of the season.
He insisted: “I have been a Rob Roy player now for six years other than six months spent with Irvine Meadow, so the decision to ask for a move was not one I made without a lot of thought.
“But I need to be playing games in order to attain the necessary sharpness to score goals at Junior football’s top level and I don’t see it happening for me at the Rabs as things currently stand.
“The last game I started was our 2-1 defeat at home to Clydebank and the bench has been my lot in our three outings since however I felt there was a glimmer of hope for me after I scored one of our goals when Beith dished out a 7-2 beating.
“Pollok was our next fixture and the gaffer Stewart Maxwell bravely went for it by going with a formation of three up front but I wasn’t one of the forward players and the thought of myself as fourth-choice striker didn’t sit well with me.”
“Our supporters have been great with me down through the years and they should know I will continue to give 100 per cent as long as I’m a Rob Roy player but ultimately I just want to play football.”
Boss Maxi has this week concluded the signings of a couple of youthful prospects, attacking midfielder Alberto Vezza from Livingston Under 20s as well as 19-year-old ex-Airdrie centreback Chris Lang who was thrown in at Newlandsfield last weekend.
Sure to be interested in a signing approach for Sawyers is another of his former clubs Renfrew who may be compelled to make moves if they come off second best in the bottom-of-the-table clash with Petershill tomorrow.