Welcome to the final Loan Watch of the season. As Frank Sinatra used to sing; "And now, the end is near, and so I face the final games of the regular Football League season...". Well he should've done anyway, he might have had a hit with it. "...Regrets, I've had a few, but then again, not as many as Semi Ajayi who moved to Rotherham before the end of the season, thereby missing out on his best chance of picking up a trophy on Loan Watch Awards Night". Sing it fast and it could fit.
I'm not going to bang on about Awards Night, I guess most of you were there so I'd just be going over old ground. It went well though, such a relief to sort out the problem of being double-booked with a Chuckle Brothers tribute act. It turned out they were both huge Loan Watch fans (who isn't?) and said they'd postpone their gig if we gave them backstage passes for ours and let them present a couple of awards. I was happy to do that but slightly surprised when they turned up on the night in character. Well, I assume they were in character, either that or they've got some serious behavioural problems. Idriss Saadi certainly looked bewildered when they presented him with the Player of the Season Award. I don't think that type of humour travels well.
Idriss started for Kortrijk last night but it was another disappointing result as they lost 3-0 at home, it's all but over for them now in the Belgian play-offs. The play-offs will probably still be going when the next series of Loan Watch starts so I'll do an update then (the Belgians don't do two semis and a final, far too basic for them). Elsewhere, Tom Adeyemi played for Rotherham but had a quiet game in the 1-1 draw with Derby. Another man-of the-match display from Semi Ajayi here. The Sheffield Star gave him 8/10 and said 'Hardly put a foot wrong. He should be a big, big player in League One'. Emyr Huws played for Ipswich in yet another pitiful performance from them as they lost 3-0 at Forest.
When Malky Mackay said of Theo Wharton in 2012 that he had 'a big future ahead of him', he probably didn't envisage him seeing out his career as a City player by sitting on the bench for Weston-Super-Mare as they lost the final of the Somerset Premier Cup 4-2 to Taunton Town on Friday night. Disappointment too for Matty Kennedy's Plymouth as they missed out on the League Two title with a 1-1 draw at Grimsby. Matty was subbed after an hour, not the first time this has happened, but he's started every game he's been fit for and has played his part in Plymouth's promotion, always working hard even when it hasn't quite happened for him on the ball. If there has been a problem in the past with Matty's attitude and maturity then he seems to have left that behind now and put his big boy pants on instead. Also, he has two entries in Plymouth's goal of the season competition. It'll be a massive plus for him if he can carry on finding the net from here on.
Goals this weekend for Ben Turner, Stephen MacLean and Andreas Cornelius while Filip Kiss missed a late penalty in Haugesund's 0-0 draw in Norway. Guido Burgstaller will have to wait a week before he can show off his Loan Watch Former Player of the Season trophy to the home fans, Schalke lost 2-0 at Freiburg today so Guido didn't add to his total of 25 goals so far this season for Schalke and Nurnberg. He's certainly not the only former player to have done well though.
David Forde helped Portsmouth to the League 2 title yesterday as Simon Moore had already done with Sheffield United in League 1. On the subject of keepers, Joe Lewis has made 47 appearances for Aberdeen as they've made the Scottish Cup Final and lie second in the Scottish Premier League. Scott Malone has been a part of the Fulham team that's made the Championship play-offs, Andrew Taylor (along with another keeper, Mark Howard) a part of the Bolton team that got promoted from League One while Neil Harris has taken his Millwall side to the League One play-off final at Wembley. Wilfried Zaha and Tom Heaton have both had good seasons in the Premier League, Danny Drinkwater and Kasper Schmeichel made the Champions League quarter-finals with Leicester. Jo Inge Berget and Magnus Eikrem were part of the Malmo team that won the Swedish League, Andreas Cornelius has scored 12 goals for FC Copenhagen as they top the Danish League. A finally fit (for now) Mats Daehli has helped St Pauli to avoid relegation in Germany. Kevin Theophile-Catherine has made 35 appearances for St Etienne and Gary Medel 28 for Inter Milan as both sides lie 7th in their respective leagues. Cameron Jerome scored 16 goals for Norwich this season, Tom Lawrence 11 for Ipswich. In the lower leagues, Jon Parkin scored a total 17 for Newport and York, Danny Johnson 18 for Gateshead and Kenny Miller 13 for Rangers. Does all of that compensate for Solomon Taiwo's lacklustre chicken and pasta dish on Masterchef? Probably not, the jury's still out.
Ok, the final whistle has gone. Thank you for reading these over the past couple of months, thanks for the feedback too. To take from The Other Guys again, I think we've all experienced a ballet of emotions.
