McLaren cancels contract

News broke today after weeks of speculation, that Paul McLaren’s contract has been cancelled by mutual consent.  While many will be delighted at the news (not least Mark Lawn) i’m not so sure it’s such good news.

McLaren was clearly a player of huge talent.  For me it was no coincidence that our best run of the season came when Lee Bullock and McLaren were in tandem in the midfield.  His ball retention for this division was probably not bettered by anyone.  His use of the ball was probably not as incisive as many were led to believe when he signed. Boasting the most assists in League 1 the season before promised much more for some, but this was mainly down to his set piece delivery which was first class.  Whenever City won a free kick anywhere around the corner of the box, you could count on McLaren to whip it into the far post, where Peter Thorne invariably lay in wait.

That said, League 2 is an unforgiving league.   McLaren lacked pace and wasn’t a great ball winner.  On occasions McLaren and his lead wellies were powerless to stop opposition midfielders launching a swift counter attack.  There were brief occasions where he threatened to take a game by the scruff of the neck (Shrewsbury at home most notably).  But these were too few.  Our hoofball tactics in the latter part of the season basically left McLaren redundant and playing second fiddle to the more energetic Law & Furman.  So it’s with mixed feelings for me that we say goodbye to Paul McLaren, but the reduced budget meant it was inevitable, and I expect him to appear against us (most likely with the winning goal)  for one of our League 2 rivals at some point next season.

Good luck and thanks for your efforts Paul.