A loan comes home

By Stephen 18
February 2 2005

Tony Craig is returning to Millwall at long last and hopefully will get a chance to show what he can do. Stephen Eighteen of the Southwark News comments on the ongoing left back saga at the club, that has had a number of twists and turns over the years.

It comes as little consolation to Dennis Wise that Robbie Ryan has not exactly set the world alight since leaving the Den last summer.

After a spell on the sidelines when Bristol Rovers manager Ian Atkins claimed that the former Millwall left back was struggling to come to terms with the league's lowest professional division, Ryan has at least returned to the side in recent weeks.

But it cannot be ignored that a first choice defender for the Lions last season is now spending what should be the best years of his career at a mid-table club competing against the likes of Kidderminster and Shrewsbury every week.

So the Millwall manager was proved right in allowing Ryan to leave - even though it was the Irishman's ultimate decision to turn down a one-year contract renewal offer.

However, Ryan was at least a natural left back, and Wise has even conceded himself that his ilk has not been replaced.

After trying to get by with rotating Josh Simpson, David Livermore and now Kevin Muscat for two-thirds of the season, Wise has now decided that he needs to bring in an orthodox left back into the fold.

With respect to the above players, it is easy to see why.

Simpson is the only player for whom you could possibly consider left back as his strongest position, but it would be wrong to expect him to adjust instantly within the English game considering he is only 21 and has come from a totally different style of football in Canada.

That is not to say Simpson is ruled out as the long-term solution. He has produced the occasional scintillating performance - most notably against Sunderland at the Den in November - and radiates an air of calmness that is sometimes lacking in Championship defences.

And with the left wing position providing its own degree of paucity, having somebody of stature is important with the season fast approaching its crucial stages.

Central midfield is perhaps an even more important position, so it makes far more sense to have David Livermore in his strongest suit.

Assistant manager Ray Wilkins is a known admirer of Livermore's full back credentials, but his showings in recent months since returning to his favoured role in the centre of the park have proved to Wise that he is best used as a midfielder.

It is also unlikely that Muscat will fill in at left back for much longer after not showing the same dominance in the past two games as he has over the other side.

So what is the solution? In terms of signings, Wise may find it difficult to come up with enough cash in wages and fees to bring in a player with Premiership experience, after spending £500,000 on Scott Dobie earlier this season.

Should this situation change or a financial compromise be reached, Wise would gladly bring in Neil Clement or Graeme Le Saux to plug the gap.

However, a player who could solve the problem at a stroke has first team experience for Millwall, has ready-made match fitness, is a born and bred left back and would not cost a penny.

Tony Craig returned to Millwall on Monday after a highly successful three-month loan spell at Wycombe Wanderers, where he played eighteen games and impressed the Buckinghamshire side enough for manager John Gorman to try and sign him permanently.

Chairman Theo Paphitis pulled the plug on the deal, and if Wise was not able to bring in a new face prior to the home game against QPR next Saturday, he must surely give the nineteen-year-old another chance.

Craig burst onto the scene with a goal and man of the match performance on his home debut against Coventry on the final day of the 2002/03 season, but after failing to maintain the promising start, his last Millwall appearance was at Rotherham in Mark McGhee's penultimate game in charge.

If Craig were to play at the Den on February 5, not only would it be an example of fitting a square peg into the same shaped hole, but it would send out a message to the many other youngsters on loan at lower division teams that a temporary move away from the club does not always have to culminate in a permanent departure.

Then we can see just how successful the loaning out tactic really is.