Steve McClaren made his first player movement on Friday by bringing in Simon Jonathan Dawkins from Tottenham on an emergency 93 day loan. After a trial with the Rams he impressed the Rams new Head Coach sufficiently to bring him in until the end of 2013.
All well and good but whom is Simon Dawkins?
And no he isn’t related to Richard!
Born in Edgware, London on the 1st of December 1987, Dawkins was recruited by Tottenham’s academy in 2004 and after showing great promise was a regular for the clubs reserves.
Despite being considered a talent by Spurs, he was unable to break into a first team that was performing better in the top flight by the season. Rather than move him on he was loaned to Leyton Orient at the start of the 2008—09 season.
Injury restricted Dawkins to 11 appearances at Orient and returned to life as a Spurs reserves player in January 2009.
Tottenham decided to release Dawkins in June of 2009 and he was taken on trial by French club RC Strasbourg. When nothing came of that trial he returned to Spurs on a non-contract basis while recovering from injury with a contract possible depending upon his fitness at start of the 2010—11 season.
In August 2010 Dawkins went on trial with Celtic and then Bournemouth in September where he was injured in a reserve game against Plymouth Argyle. Neither resulted in deals of any kind.
He continued to train with Tottenham where he impressed management sufficiently to be once again offered a contract by Spurs in March of 2011 and the very next day was loaned to the San Jose Earthquakes in the MLS where he played 53 games, scoring 14 goals (see some of these goals below).
In January 2012 he was trialled by Steve McClaren while at Dutch side FC Twente but despite impressing the Manager, according to Dawkins a deal could not be done.
On the final day of the January 2013 transfer window Dawkins signed on loan with Premier League club Aston Villa for the remainder of the 2012—13 season. On the 10th of February 2013, at the age of 25, he finally made his Premier League debut against West Ham, which Villa won 2—1. Following his debut he only managed another 3 games for the Villa first team despite them struggling at the foot of the table.
After returning to Spurs reserves this season, Dawkins stated that McClaren had been recommending him to QPR while working as a coach at the club.
It seems Steve McClaren has finally got his man and given Dawkins another chance to impress him. DCFC offered the 25 year old a loan deal for 3 months (or 93 days if you are being pedantic!). He will take shirt number 32 and is likely to travel as part of the squad who will take on Watford this afternoon.
Speaking to the Derby Telegraph - Dawkins has high hopes for the loan:
"It is a great set of players here, the ability is very high and I think we have to be pushing to get to the top. Hopefully, we can do that this year. I am really excited to join. It is a big, big club."
"I have settled in so well and the lads are great. They have welcomed me and I cannot wait to get going now. I want to get a run of games and get familiar with everything here — and when you’re happy, you tend to play well. Hopefully, I can get that opportunity and take it from there."
"I am here to do well for the three months. Anything after that, we will cross it when we get to it.”
The question now will be - can Dawkins transfer his long gestating talent from top flight reserves to the Championship. He has long been considered nearly good enough to make it at the highest level and perhaps that will be more than sufficient for the Rams and make him a valuable addition to the squad.
Dawkins himself will be hoping to not only impress McClaren but earn a full — time contract from the new gaffer who has long been an admirer of the forward / attacking midfielder.
He is at the age where it is make or break time to make an impression as a professional footballer, perhaps the opportunity Macca has handed Dawkins will finally allow him to shine and deliver on his much touted potential.
RamZone, and I am sure all Rams fans, will welcome Simon Dawkins to DCFC and wish him all the best in not just securing a regular spot in the Rams line up but perhaps proving he has finally found a place he can ply his trade with successful results!
Good luck Simon!
Simon Dawkins talks to the DCFC official site about his loan move to Derby: