Loans can lift careers but have not always worked out
CARTER, WOODROW KICKED ON FROM BREWERS SPELLS
THE real point of the loan system in football, as has often been said, is to benefit both clubs and the player.
If the loanee is young, the player gets valuable experience. The club he is loaned to, hopefully, get someone who does an excellent job for them and the parent club get back a player several steps closer to being a first team regular.
If the loanee is older, he may be coming back from injury and looking to get his match fitness back and, again, all parties can benefit.
If the older loanee is perhaps coming towards the end of his time with the parent club, it is also a chance to be in the shop window, with a view to his next job – which can often turn out to be with the club he is loaned to.
The system worked perfectly last season for Hayden Carter, the young Blackburn Rovers defender, who had an outstanding five months with Burton and has been firmly in Blackburn’s Championship squad this season.
Sometimes, ideally, loans work out like that – sometimes not.
Here’s a look back at some of the successful and not so successful loans for the Brewers in recent seasons and what the players concerned have done since, starting with a season in which the loan stars made such a huge difference as Burton stayed in the Championship in 2016-17.
Cauley Woodrow: Arriving from Fulham in January, 2017, Woodrow added some class and threat to the Brewers’ forward line, scoring four times in 13 appearances, although perhaps his most memorable moment was a sublime chipped pass to set up Michael Kightly for a brilliant winning goal against Norwich City.
Woodrow was later loaned to Bristol City, then Barnsley, and has made a career with the Tykes.
With the loan and two seasons since, he has made 135 appearances for them now and scored his 50th goal for them last month.
John Brayford: While all the talk was about Woodrow, Kightly and Lasse Vigen Christensen in the 201617 season, it was also the season Brayford came on loan from Sheffield United.
He is still here, is club captain, and has now made 287 appearances for the Brewers in two spells.
Previously, a loan from Cardiff City to the Blades resulted in a £2m move to Bramall Lane, where the fans loved him, so two loan spells have worked out well for his career overall.
Jake Hesketh: It is one of the great mysteries to Burton Albion supporters – why is Hesketh not playing a key role in midfield for either a Premier League or a Championship side?
Arriving at Burton on loan from Southampton for the 2018-19 season, he lit up the Brewers’ midfield and played a key role in the run to the Carabao Cup semi-final.
He scored a sensational individual goal in a 2-2 draw away to Portsmouth in League One and, seven days later, scored the only goal to knock Middlesbrough out in the quarter-final of the Carabao Cup.
Sadly, a hamstring injury then ended his spell and when he returned to fitness, it appears that MK Dons in League Two waved a bigger cheque and he finished the season on loan to them.
Quite why the loan fee was a priority for Southampton and not the player’s development is something most of us do not know but it was a surprise to go away to Lincoln City the following season and find Hesketh as an unused substitute on loan there.
The following season, he was loaned to Crawley Town and, now released from Southampton, has joined National League Eastleigh.
Jacob Davenport: Davenport was loaned from Manchester City’s academy in January of the 2017-18 season and, while it ended in relegation from the Championship, he looked a class act in midfield.
It was one of Burton’s better performances in that season when they won 2-1 away to Barnsley, taking the lead when they kept the ball for almost the whole of the first minute from kick-off until Jamie Allen smashed in the first goal, and Davenport doubled the lead before halftime with a sublime free kick.
Davenport was clearly a class act an it was one of the “shop window” loans. City allowed him to move to Blackburn for the following season on a four-year deal.
Since then, his first two seasons at Ewood Park have seen his career held back by a series of injuries.
The talent is still apparent, though and so, now, is the determination.
Davenport is battling his way into contention with Blackburn. His 32 appearances for them so far have only included six starts and he has been introduced from the bench in six matches so far this season.
It is easy to forget that he was still only 19 when he came to Burton and he is still only 22 now. There is time yet for a good career in the game.