A wild rover ready to put down roots
Nomad Sammon wants a club to call home
CCraving a place to put down roots following loan spells at Ipswich, Rotherham and Sheffield United, a three-year contract penned at Hearts last summer was a chance to finally end his nomadic existence.
However, his big move to Tynecastle saw the 30-year-old put out on loan again as he worked under five different managers in just over a calendar year.
Initially signed by Robbie Neilson, then overlooked by his successor Ian Cathro, the Republic of Ireland international completed the season at former club Kilmarnock under the stewardship of Lee Clark and then Lee McCulloch.
After he reported back to Hearts for pre-season, Cathro was sacked and Sammon found himself featuring as a substitute under interim boss Jon Daly in a 4-1 opening-day thumping at Celtic Park.
Now, in a bid to reignite his career, he has joined Partick Thistle on loan until the end of the season. Sammon’s aim at the 10th club of his itinerant career is to play regular football and finally find a place to call home.
‘Do I envy the one-club guys? I do, definitely,’ he nodded.
‘It’s been five or six years of new surroundings and fresh starts. It can be quite daunting, going into a dressing room for the first time and getting to know the lads.
‘But I’m becoming a bit of a pro at it now. You get used to it. As you get a bit older you learn how to deal with it a bit better.
‘But my aim is to find a home where I can get settled for a solid period of time. In football, that’s quite difficult to do. But I’d love to have a three or four-year stay at a place. Hopefully, that can come from hitting the ground running here and being successful with Partick Thistle.
‘I’m looking at this move as a huge opportunity for me to have a good season.’
The sacking of Cathro before the league season began did not give Sammon hope of a fresh chance at Tynecastle. Regardless of who was in charge, the arrival of Kyle Lafferty meant the writing was on the wall.
‘To be honest, I didn’t think things were going to change much for me’ he admitted.
‘The club made some signings during the summer, so I knew what my position was and that my future lay elsewhere.
‘Am I surprised Hearts let me go out on a season-long loan? No, because I know how football works. It can be quite ruthless at times.
‘But I respect their decision. I’m at the stage of my career where I want to play regularly rather than be a squad member or a bit-part player. It’s very frustrating when you’re training solidly through the week and then find you’re lucky to get 10 or 15 minutes of game time at the weekend.
‘That is not what I am after, so I’m looking to make the most of this opportunity with Thistle.’
Sammon, who arrived in Maryhill at the same time as fellow striker Miles Storey joined from Aberdeen, made his debut in last Friday’s 1-0 home loss to Celtic.
He will be hoping to get off the mark when the Jags face St Johnstone in the Premiership at McDiarmid Park on Saturday.
In the longer term, he would like to rediscover the form with Kilmarnock that saw him score 18 goals in 2010-11. That earned him a £600,000 move to Wigan Athletic followed by a £1.2million switch to Derby County.
‘This is an opportunity for me to get back to that level. But I need to be playing regularly in order to do that,’ said Sammon.
‘When you get a run of games under your belt, that’s when the match sharpness comes. You can work as hard as you like away from the pitch, but it’s just not the same as competitive action.
‘So I’m looking to score some goals and get the confidence coursing through my veins again, which every striker needs.
‘I couldn’t wait to get stuck in to life as a Partick Thistle player with a home game against Celtic.
‘Although the result didn’t go our way, it was nice to get out there and get 90 minutes and just get back to that competitive action that every player loves to have every week. The Premiership is going to be a really competitive division this season.
‘It will be tougher because Hibs have improved the league since they have come up and they have started strongly.
‘But this club had a really good season last season and I’m looking to come in and add to the group and have a very successful season on a personal and team level.
‘The onus is on us at Partick Thistle to claim another top-six finish.’