DANNY ROSE
Guest column from the Northampton Town midfielder
WHEN I’m old and grey and I look back at my career, I will remember this special season because I shared the pitch with two special players: Kemar Roofe and Ricky Holmes.
Kemar arrived at Oxford United at the back end of last season, with just a handful of senior games and a solitary professional goal to his name. Hardly the credentials to get too excited about.
But he scored six goals in our last seven games, and this was all but a glimpse of the potential he possessed.
He returned for pre-season in great condition and started the new campaign exactly where he’d left off.
Sacrifice
Roofey went on to score 26 goals. I have to remind myself this was his first full season playing week in, week out in a first team.
When you put that into perspective, what he has done this season is nothing short of incredible.
Did he see his first season going this well?
“In a humble way, yes! I told myself and the gaffer (Michael Appleton) when I signed that my targets were promotion and to be the best player in the league, because I know my ability, due to my hard work and sacrifice I put into it,” he said.
A young player who had been denied the opportunity to showcase his talent on the big stage, he took the mature decision to leave West Brom and ply his trade in League Two. What if it didn’t work out? Where do you go from there?
That’s the risk you take when you decide to leave a big club to go and play regularly.
But fast forward one year and he was the hottest property in League Two with an ever-growing value. In every successful team, you need those players that can do the impossible. Produce something out of nothing, that bit of magic.
Ricky missed the first four months of the season with a back injury and came back in
mid-December.
He was probably fully match sharp by the time I arrived at Northampton in late January, which was a frightening prospect as he had already scored five goals.
Game after game, he would take a match by the scruff of the neck and make something happen, often producing matchwinning moments.
I don’t think I’ve been a part of a team where one player has had such a consistent impact on a team.
In my opinion, Kemar deserved to win the League Two player of the year award.
He’s been the stand-out performer from day one. Though, to play only half the season and come second makes you wonder what would have happened if Ricky had been fit from the start.
He told me: “I would have liked to beat my career best of 14 goals, but I still managed 11.
“I’m not too fussed about the individual awards. I achieved what I set out to do and that was promotion.”
It’s great that both Kemar and Ricky will have the chance to play at a higher level next season.
They will be well worth watching.