Signings set to play part in Dale’s progress
Vale ‘jumped’ at Dale chance
ROCHDALE boss Brian Barry-murphy was able to reflect on a successful transfer window having bolstered the spine of his squad with short-term and long-term additions.
Gabriel Osho was joined by fellow loan signing Jack Vale, while Conor Shaughnessy and Conor Grant arrived on permanent deals, the new boys strengthening defence, midfield and attack.
BBM did not manage to land a recognised leftback to replace Tolaji Bola, whose hit and miss form did not warrant an attempt by the club to extend his loan spell.
But the upturn in form of Matty Done lately may have played a part in his thinking, allayed to the fact that Haydon Roberts can play the role.
And in Conor Shaughnessy, he has a player who can operate as a centre half or defensive midfielder. So, even with Eoghan O’connell and Paul Mcshane sidelined through injury, BBM now has the option of playing Shaughnessy alongside Osho in the centre of defence – with Jim Mcnulty providing experienced back up – and Roberts on the left.
Of Shaughnessy, BBM said: “I think he fits the profile of what we what at the club. He’s a great age, he has skill set that is very attractive to us and he was obviously very highly regarded in his earlier career at Reading and in Scotland and at Leeds.
“We feel he is at a point in his career, probably similar to Eoghan O’connell, where he’s looking to put himself back in that high level of football that he was at and we feel we can help him achieve that. He’s the right type of character and he’s hugely ambitious about where he wants to go and he ticks all the right boxes for what we want, in that role, in our team.
“Our signings have to meet certain metrics or analytics that we use, they have to meet certain criteria within that and then they have to meet what we think we want as a club and be someone who we think will excite the supporters and when you sign him will create that buzz and be someone we look forward to seeing and working with and he definitely fits that.”
It’s a similar story with Grant, a player BBM has kept tabs on for some time.
“Despite the joking, one of the criteria is NOT you have to be Irish!” he joked. “Conor Grant is someone who I have watched from afar for quite a while and without bigging him up too much, I thought if I ever get a chance to monitor his career, let alone work with him, I thought it would be brilliant.
“He’s someone who has gone under the radar at Sheffield Wednesday because they are obviously in the height of the Championship season and they have different requirements, but he’s a very talented player who is looking to make a real impact on the English game. He played with Gavin Bazunu when he was younger so he has a connect there, but he is someone who I believe we can give a platform to, put him into league football and if he does do that and does what I think he’ll do, he’ll be hugely exciting for the supporters and for the club moving forward.
“He’s a naturally gifted player and a very talented player in the final third – I think he has all the attributes to be a top attacking midfield player. There’s no ceiling for him, he could be anything, but he knows he’s got to go and do it now. He’s been in the shadows at Sheffield Wednesday now for a while and he’ll be frustrated by that. But there are good people at Sheffield Wednesday who will have coached and educated him well and now it’s our chance to put that into practice and put him in competitive games where I believe he’ll thrive and take his game to the next level.
“It’s great for us to be able to add players who we know will be with us beyond this season. We have combined both well recently in terms of having great loan signings as well, but they eventually go back to their parent clubs.
“The combination of that, with players who are going to be with us beyond the end of the season just adds to the excitement that the group is forming. It’s taking a while to make real progress but it’s a really young squad capable of providing real excitement going forward and the continuation of that will come next season I suppose when we’ll have a core group that is getting stronger and stronger.”
Frontman Vale was a bonus for BBM – he scored one and set up another goal for Bradley Dack on Monday evening for parent club Blackburn’s under 23s before signing on loan at Dale.
“We were prepared to wait as long as we could for Jack because of his profile and what we know he can do – we were prepared to miss out on him and not be able to add to the squad, so we’re very grateful to Tony Mowbray and Mark Venus for allowing him to come and I think it’s a brilliant signing for us because I have been conscious of the fact that we’ve asked a lot of our forward players this season – partly down to finances and the fact that we didn’t add a lot of numbers in August,” said BBM.
“We’ve relied on Jake Beesley, Stephen Humphrys and Matthew Lund to really carry the workload up there and we just felt they needed a hand in terms of the amount of games coming up and how congested the fixture list is.
“But aside from all that, Jack is someone we were always really keen to bring to the club, probably in the summer but even moreso in January, so it’s very exciting for us to be able to be part of his development as he moves forward.
“I think he brings something a little bit different in that attacking area that we want, and it will be very exciting to see how he develops in what is essentially his first loan because he went to Barrow but that was for a matter of two weeks because of Covid.
“He possesses all the qualities of a top forward player.
“I’ve seen him play for Wales and again, he’s someone who has a very high ceiling and Blackburn see him as someone who is very exciting for them and we feel we can do what we’ve done for other loan players and give them a real platform to get that real action in what is an amazingly competitive league.”
JACK Vale, who completed his loan move to the Crown Oil Arena late on transfer deadline day, said Rochdale’s record of giving opportunities to young players swayed his decision to make the switch from Blackburn Rovers to Dale.
The forward has joined Dale until the end of the season.
Vale joined Rovers as a youngster, progressing through their Academy, before signing a professional contract in March 2018.
He earned a new deal last season, signing a contract that will keep him at Ewood Park until 2023, and made his Rovers debut towards the end of last season.
The 19-year-old is also a Welsh youth international, earning caps at Under-17, Under-19 and Under-21 levels.
On Monday night, shortly before signing his loan deal with Dale, he grabbed a goal and assist in Blackburn Under-23s 3-1 win over Leicester City in Premier League 2.
“It’s a great feeling to be here and I can’t wait to get started,” he said.
“It’ll be a great experience for me to play in League One and I know that it can only help with my development if I’m playing competitive football.
“I was aware that the manager, Brian Barry-murphy, gives young players opportunities and I know that the team plays good football, so that suits me. Those two reasons played a big part in my decision to come here - I jumped at the chance.
“I met the rest of the lads for the first time today and they all made me feel welcome and very comfortable. There’s a great set of players and staff here, and I’m looking forward to getting started.”