How SAFC can get Grigg firing
In September 2007, Micky Moore made one of the bolder calls of his managerial career.
Away to Hednesford - a side sitting two divisions above his Stratford Town outfit - Moore turned to a 16-year-old.
It turned out to be a day which helped define the career of Will Grigg.
“I asked him to come along as a 19th man,” explains Moore. “Bring your shinpads and your kit and experience the day.
“I told him it would be good exposure to have a look at a bigger stadium and the experience of it all. I named the team and I played him. He had no idea, I just threw him in.”
And neither Grigg nor Moore knew what would follow that FA Cup tie - with the striker embarking on a whirlwind rise which saw an appearance at the European Championships,a chart hit and, latterly, a £3 million move to Sunderland.
Yet from that point, things have somewhat stalled. Grigg is without a league goal since April and, while he netted in the win over Grimsby Town last week, the striker has just two goals to his name this term.
“I think if you spoke to Will he’d be honest enough to say it hasn’t quite clicked,” adds Moore .“Whether it’s the system,whether it’ s Will or the expectation on him…
“He hasn’t become a bad player overnight. He’ s a proven goalscorer at that level and he will know that himself.”
Moore, now working as head of recruitment at Cheltenham Town, knows Grigg better than most.
Having been released by Birmingham City as a teenager, Moore brought the striker into his academy programme at Solihull College. It was then he who recommended Grigg to Walsall, where his senior career took flight, and the pair remain in regular contact.
Indeed, it is Moore who tends to be consulted when the 28-year-old is weighing up his big career moves.
That was the case when he left the Saddler sf or Brent ford, and as the striker then teamed up with Wigan in 2015- where he really began to make his mark.
“We were fortunate that we were in a position where we had some money, because we still had a parachute payment ,” says Gary Caldwell, who signed Grigg for the Latics.
“We were looking for a strikerwho could get us promotion. Having looked at many, Will stood out by a mile because his goal return in League One was phenomenal and it has been since then.
“In the league, we knew that if we could supply him then he would get us the goals to get promotion.”
“To be honest, I didn’t really know who Will Grigg was,” adds Leon Barnett, a team mate of the strike rat Wig an Athletic.
“I knew him from scoring against Manchester United in the League Cup for Milton Keynes, that was the only time I had seen him at that point.
“But when he arrived, I underestimated him more than anything.
“I didn’t know his background, which was naive of me. But once I trained with him and saw the work he puts in, I was kind of surprised.”
The reference to hard work is brought up repeatedly, and such gr aft paid dividends as he ended barren runs.
“He went through a quiet spell at Wigan, but the manager kept faith in him and he kept grinding away,” reveals Barnett, who now runs a football academy in Luton.
“He stayed behind after training and did extra shooting, extra running and showed that he has the right attitude and the right mentality.
“He’ll work harder than anyone to put it right because he prides himself on scoring goals,” adds Moore.
Also present from early in his footballing career was Grigg’s relaxed persona. He rarely celebrates goals, gives few impassioned interviews and is near-mute on social media. But Moore says Sunderland supporters shouldn’ t confuse that with a lack of interest.
“He’ s horizontal. He’ ll go into work, he’ll do the work, do some extra and then go home and try and switch off.
“He tries not to get too high or too low-he wants to find that happy medium as much as he can. But don’t be fooled by that persona in terms of is he interested, does he care.”
So how can Sunderland get the best out of the striker?
Caldwell believes Wigan’s formula - which saw Grigg net 28 times en route to promotion from League One - could prove fruitful.
And key to that is finding the right men around the striker, and reverting to back to playing with a lone striker.
“When we first signed him we felt he’ d be in a two and we’ d have to play 3-5-2 to get the best out of Will,” admits Caldwell.
“We played him with Craig Davies against Scunthorpe and won 3-0 with the two of them doing well, and we thought that was the key to unlocking Will’s attributes.
“And then over time, it didn’t really work.
“For Will, to get the best out of him, he needs to play as a lone striker. I think you need two wingers who can supply him with crosses in the box and the most important thing he needs is a number ten who can link up with him and see the runs he makes.
“He makes really clever runs outside the box and he needs a number ten of real quality.”