Dale fans of a certain
age have always carried a certain trepidation when it
comes to signing players who have spent some time on
loan at the club before then making the move permanent.
Memories of the likes of Paul Williams have inbuilt a
fear of a player only being any good whilst on loan
whilst attempting to secure a permanent switch to
Spotland.
And it would be easy to stick Muirhead into that
category. For when he joined the club in 06-07 on loan
from Bradford City, he was simply magnificent. He
was a right winger who could terrorise the opposition
non stop, yet still come back and make the odd crucial
tackle.
Not only that, he
weighed in with more than his fair share of goals, with
three goals coming from twelve appearances - a very
healthy return for a winger, and it was hardly
surprising that fans were clamouring for Keith Hill to
go out and get Muirhead's permanent signature, which
Hilly promptly did.
But as a permanent
signing, it just didn't click. That spark which had been
there the season before was sadly missing, and he looked
a shadow of the player that he'd been before. Rumours of
issues outside of football may well have contributed to
his disappointing season, but he just wasn't the same
player that we'd had on loan, and it was hardly
surprising when he lost his place in the side to an 18
year old kid from Oldham who had never played out on the
wing before.
It wasn't completely
doom and gloom. He left fans scratching their heads when
he was head and shoulders above anyone when we took on
Championship leaders Norwich City, and it was Muirhead
who scored the winning penalty to take Dale to Wembley
for the very first time.
But it was not
enough, and he was transfer listed by Keith Hill at the
end of the season. Whilst at the club, he'll always have
the opportunity to prove people wrong and reproduce the
sort of form we saw from him back in 2006-7 where he
must have been the most feared winger in the division.
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