Cod Almighty | Article

by Various

1 July 2004

In a previous life Michael Reddy twice refused to sign on loan for the Mariners, but if Paul Groves had taken a leaf out of Russell Slade's Dummy's Guide to Persuading Players to Sign for You then things might have been different. Noddy announced in July 2004 that he was pursuing a forward who, if he signed for Town, would be "the fastest player in the division by a good five yards", and a few days later, when he'd got his breath back, triumphantly paraded Reddy to the world. "The gaffer pestered the life out of me for a few weeks," said Quick Mick II. "I think he must have the worst social life in the world, because he has been ringing me at nine on Saturday night and nine o' clock on Sunday mornings." So Groves' managerial career may not have lived up to expectations so far, but at least he has some mates. 

Reddy is one of 219 strikers who rejected loan terms with GTFC between November 2002 and April 2004. While waiting for a crack in Sunderland's first team, though, he condescended to temporary deals with Swindon, Hull, Barnsley, York and Sheffield Wednesday, and despite four goals in five appearances at Boothferry Park (this was 2001) – four of which were as a substitute – Tahger types are less convinced than Russ as to the player's swiftness of foot. "I heard on radio this morning that Michael Reddy has signed for the codheads," wrote a messageboard contributor on the excellent Hull fan site Amber Nectar. "I wonder why we didn't show an interest?" To which another responded: "Micheal [sic.] Reddy and Phil Jevons up front, that surely has to be the laziest line up ever." Although if this supporter is no better a judge of a player than a spelling bee or an expert on the transfer market, there would seem to be little for us to worry about.

(Note, incidentally, that we are now being called codheads even by Hull fans: belated acknowledgment from the north bank that theirs was only ever the second greatest port in the world fishing industry.)

Up at the Stadium of Black Cats, though, they rated Reddy highly enough to slap a prohibitive price tag on his head, without which those financial titans Swindon or Wednesday would probably have moved to sign him permanently, such was the impact our new man made on his travels there. Sunderland's appreciation of the player did not, however, extend so far as to actually let him play football for them. After a smattering of League Cup workouts and cameos from the bench, Roy Keane's old drinking buddy Mick McCarthy concluded that Reddy, now 24, had not fulfilled enough of his potential to warrant a new contract.

And potential there had been, as Reddy is the proud possessor of several under-21 caps for the Republic of Ireland. (I have heard him speak and he really is Irish, so perhaps the gates at Blundell Park will now be swollen by the entire population of Graignamanagh, since the Irish, for reasons best known to themselves, will support any football club with an Irish player on the books so long as the club itself is not Irish). So, admittedly, is Daryl Clare, but we're all in the fourth division now, where the grounds are crumbling and the defenders are lumbering – so it's a perfect, belated chance for both Bungle and Michael to paint the whole world with a rainbow.