Cod Almighty | Article

by Mark Wilson

26 July 2005

At best Ciaran Toner could be just what we need: a high-quality attacking midfielder. Anyone who was at the second derby game with Lincoln last season will tell you what he can do. At worst, he could be the new Ashley Sestanovich: a player with enormous ability and potential but a very large self-destruct button.

Rumours abound (see Planet Imp) that Toner was released by Lincoln because he couldn't help winding up the other players by pointing out that he was a Northern Irish u21 international and too good to be at a club like Lincoln. He made two appearances in a green shirt.

The final straw appears to have been a training ground bust-up that was fuelled by Toner making an allegedly racist comment. Although both protagonists were eventually released by the Imps, immediately following the incident Toner stayed at Sincil Bank while the other guy was sent out on loan. On the positive side he must have a heart like a lion's because few of us would want to face Big Keith after allegedly making a racist comment.

The 25-year-old began his career at Tottenham but didn't make a competitive start for the senior team before going on to a succession of lower division clubs including Peterborough, Cambridge and Leyton Orient. Worryingly, he has only played a handful of games at each of the clubs he's been at, except for his two seasons at Orient, where he totalled 44 first-team appearances. He was released by Martin Ling at Orient, though, who said he was too inconsistent.

A perfunctory internet search on Toner's name brings up a number of match reports where he scored a corker or roasted a full-back (including one John McDermott, but we'll gloss over that - everyone has an off day). 

Elsewhere in these profiles I've suggested that this season is probably a crucial one for Michael Reddy and the same must be said for Toner, albeit for very different reasons. He obviously had promise as a young player because he was picked up by Spurs and made a couple of international appearances, but since then he has done the rounds of a number of lower-division clubs and not done enough to earn a decent stay at any of them. If he fails at Town (where he has only a one-year contract) it's difficult to see where he can go, particularly as the smell of trouble might just follow him.

To offer an optimistic yin to the yang above, Toner should see first-team football at Town because we need a player who can attack from midfield and support the frontline. He will probably get the fans behind him because he's a ball player and we do love one of those. And for all the criticisms of Sort It we can make, he appears to take little or no shit: witness the speed with which Sestanovich departed after being given a final warning.

Toner might be what we need. We just might be what Toner needs.