Paynt by Numbers - does it all add up?

Our recent dry spell in front of the onion bag has led to a large chunk of our support worrying that we were losing our touch and goals would start to become few and far between, so the outcry for a loanee striker became increasingly bigger. Everyone had their thoughts and ideas as to who it could be, or more who it should be (in their opinion) but I bet that only a small proportion of those playing the guessing game thought the correct answer.

We all thought our prayers were answered; we’d bring in a proven Championship goal scorer who would kick-start out front-line back into action and continue the journey of the Gus Bus, but, who was the striker we got in? It was Leeds United’s Billy Paynter.

Now, I can’t be one to judge as I'm not sure I could manage 20+ goals in training at Championship level, let alone 20+ goals in competitive matches. I use that figure 20+ because it’s what we've grown to expect as supporters, every team having that one player who will guarantee the goals no matter what league they are in.

Having amassed a total of four goals in his 45 appearances in the Championship, I think it’s blatantly obvious that Paynter isn’t exactly a proven goal scorer at this level, so this got me thinking, why are we getting him in? What’s Gus doing? But after much self-deliberation, I believe I've got the idea.

Playing for Leeds, Paynter was never going to be the main striker; a plethora of talent up top for the Whites meant that Paynter would always be playing second fiddle. Being the height and weight that he is, I reckon that Billy has been brought in for a totally different reason than what we are all thinking.

Having no first-team striker above six foot means we are definitely lacking height up front, now Paynter is only six foot exactly himself, but what does offer which is definitely different to the rest, is strength. Billy’s got the ability to put himself about and definitely make a nuisance of himself where it’s necessary, a deft touch alongside that makes him a decent striker to play off. In my mind he’s a very Murray-esque player as he can get into a decent position and beat off other players with the strength to then open up the channels for others such as CMS or Nooney.

He’s not the goal scorer we were all hoping for, granted, but we shouldn’t shoot him down yet as we’ve only seen a matter of minutes of him. A sub appearance against Birmingham yesterday didn’t really show everything that he could do, I believe a longer spell on pitch is necessary to get a thorough evaluation of his talent. His report from LUFC fans might be slightly more judgemental of the bad bits, but a striker that hasn’t performed for them will always get that treatment, doesn’t mean he will be the same for us.

Any player can change under the right management, and here at BHAFC we’ve seen a number of players change their style and fit in perfectly, we will just hope that Billy can do the same for us, and not flop like he’s done in this league before.