He came down to our level with oodles of talent but an enormous caveat of having a poor attitude. Barely kicked a ball for S####horpe this season so will be miles off the pace. A player lacking fitness is not the kind of player to bring on when you’re chasing a game or when you’re defending a one goal lead, which is what we’ve done since he arrived. Until he’s fit he’s a luxury player, to bring on when we’re comfortable.
Jim said himself he was probably unfair on him throwing him straight in the side after coming in so probably wants to give him a chance to get up to scratch and show his ability rather than putting him in when he’s not ready and therefore not giving a true representation of himself.
As it happens we’re playing well enough without him at the moment, but there’s still plenty of time between now and January for him to have an impact. Whether he does or not will depend on how quickly he’s able to get up to pace in training to prove he deserves to either start, or come on as a sub. I personally hope he does.
As for Gilchrist he’s scored 3 goals in 11 appearances for South Shields according to their website, a division below the one we were at last season. Maybe he’s just not as good as he appeared to be at FCUM.