Joe Mason is the second Joe to leave Bolton this month. More on this here
One of my worst fears has been realised. Joe Mason has returned to Cardiff City. Many Bolton fans will be pretty satisfied with the news- an out of favour, injured striker has been sent back to his parent club, giving Neil Lennon more scope to work his transfer magic.
However, I’m disappointed by this. Joe Mason joined Cardiff a highly rated striker who had an impressive scoring record for such a young lad playing for his cash-strapped hometown club, Plymouth Argyle. He impressed upon arrival for the Championship club, and won their Young Player of the Year award, and many plaudits for his goals- notably his strike against Liverpool (FUN FACT OF THE DAY: that goal features on an EE ad with Kevin Bacon).
He did quite well last year on the whole, over his two loan spells, with the former Republic of Ireland U21 international striking 5 in his last 8 games for Bolton Wanderers. Upon re-signing again for this season he scored on his debut, and followed it up with a hat trick a few weeks later against Rotheram.
Unfortunately, he never really found much first team football under Dougie Freedman’s (who signed him), Neil Lennon who opted for the likes of Jermaine Beckford and Max Clayton.
Had Mason not been injured during this festive period, he’d be playing a very prominent role with Beckford out on loan at Preston North End and Clayton injured for the rest of the season.
I feel that we really need a poacher- someone who will get in behind the defence and score goals, and that’s what Mason would offer us. He has good technical ability, featuring a delightful first touch.
We know his weaknesses- his inability to play on his own due to a lack of physical presence. Imagine him alongside the likes of Emile Heskey and Craig Davies- Mason was brilliant along the likes of Lukas Jutkiewicz last season.
His departure is also annoying, since we’ve got an image of him in a Bolton shirt for this season that we won’t be able to use much…
This’ll be another case of ‘if only’, and I really wish him well for the rest of his career, and I believe that one day we’ll see him flying high in the Premier League.
Sidenote: For those who requested, here is the latest training video (uploaded today), featuring some great skill for Eidur Gudjohnsen, some quick feet from Liam Trotter, and Dean Moxey’s beard.