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Currently we have the following players out on loan:

Cameron Lancaster – Dagenham and Redbridge (21st April)
Nathan Byrne – Brentford (21st April)
Jake Nicholson – MyPa (July)
Paul-Jose M’Poku – Leyton Orient (season)
Harry Kane – Leyton Orient (season)
Tom Carroll – Leyton Orient (season)
David Button – Plymouth Argyle (season)
Adam Smith – Bournemouth (season)
Kyle Walker – Aston Villa (season)
Kyle Naughton – Leicester City (season)
David Bentley – Birmingham City (season)
Ryan Mason – Doncaster Rovers (season)
Jamie O’Hara – Wolverhampton Wanderers (season)
Robbie Keane – West Ham (season)
Giovani dos Santos – Racing Santander (season)
Andros Townsend – Millwall (season)
Dean Parrett – Charlton Athletic (season)
Jonathan Obika – Yeovil Town (season)
Jake Livermore – Leeds United (season)
Bongani Khumalo – Preston North End (season)
Simon Dawkins – San Jose (December)

Now returned:

Oscar Jansson – Northampton Town
Dean Parrett – Plymouth Argyle
Ben Alnwick – Leeds United
Ryan Mason – Doncaster Rovers
Andros Townsend – Ipswich Town
John Bostock – Hull City
Kyle Walker – QPR
Jonathan Obika – Crystal Palace
Jonathan Obika – Peterborough United
Jake Livermore – Ipswich Town
Danny Rose – Bristol City
Andros Townsend – Watford
Jonathan Obika – Swindon Town
Steven Caulker – Bristol City
Ben Alnwick – Doncaster Rovers

Cameron Lancaster made another cameo appearance for Dagenham and Redbridge yesterday, and has now made four substitute appearances since joining. A fortnight ago, Cameron was interviewed about his move:

New Daggers striker Cameron Lancaster is backing the squad to prove successful in their battle to avoid relegation.

The 18-year-old made his debut in Saturday’s draw with Sheffield Wednesday, before coming off the bench again in Tuesday’ night’s defeat to Brighton.

The hectic fixture schedule has limited the club’s time to train together, but Lancaster has been impressed with what he’s seen so far.

“The squad’s got more than enough quality in it to stay up, definitely,” he said.

“They can push for a higher place in the league next season. They’ll stay up.”

The Tottenham Hotspur loanee has initially moved to Victoria Road for one month, but would be content to stay at the club for the duration of the season.

His time with the Spurs Academy has been blighted by injuries, but Lancaster seems to have overcome those problems and feels settled at Dagenham already.

“It feels like a good place to start off. It’s really homely and hopefully I’ll get lots of chances to prove myself to this club and to Spurs,” said Lancaster.


“The manager and the coaches have been really encouraging to me and told me what I should be doing and shouldn’t be doing, so it’s been good.


“I think I’ve done alright so far. I’ve put in as much effort as I could; I’ve just got to wait until that effort pays off with goals.


“I want to start week-in, week-out, that’s my target. I’m here for a month; if the opportunity comes up to stay longer I’d be happy to stay, definitely.”

Manager John Still also added midfielder Oliver Lee to the squad before last Thursday’s deadline.

The 19-year-old has joined from West Ham, also for a month, and Still feels both players will be important to Daggers during the run-in.

“Cameron will do fine for us. He’ll give us a bit of extra pace and liven us up I think,” said Still.

“Ollie’s come in and between now and the end of the season I’m sure he’s going to get a chance to show what he can do.

“Both of them will be important players for us, absolutely.”

Nathan Byrne has been in and out of the Brentford team since my last update, which is slightly strange as he played a key role in their 3-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday at the end of March. In that game he got an assist for the first goal, and went on a brilliant run before being brought down for the free-kick which put them 3-1 up. Their results since then have been very patchy (three defeats but a win yesterday), with Nathan coming on as a late sub in just one of them. Sadly this means that he didn’t get to step out at Wembley for the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy final. Once again, he was an unused sub this weekend, although I would expect him to be back in the line-up over the coming weeks.

Jake Nicholson and Kudus Oyenuga are both currently at Finnish side Myllykosken Pallo –47 (known as MyPa), whose league starts on 2nd May. Nicholson arrived there on 14th March, and was joined by Oyenuga on 11th April. They have been taking part in pre-season games, and the early signs seem to be that they have impressed.

Since my last update, Paul-Jose M’Poku, Harry Kane and Tom Carroll have had mixed fortunes for Leyton Orient. Carroll has started five matches, being substituted in each of them. He has also been an unused substitute in five, but missed this weekend’s game due to an ankle injury. Kane has been in and out of the side too, starting five of the last eleven, and coming off the bench in four others – in this time he has scored once. M’Poku scored a glorious winner off the bench in the Oldham match and was handed a start in the next game, although has found himself on the bench since then.

David Button has regained the goalkeeping berth at Plymouth Argyle, ending a run of six games on the bench. He has started their last three, keeping one clean sheet in that time. The Plymouth fans seem to think that he is “at his level” at the moment, with the following comment from a forum seeming to sum up the general consensus:

“I don’t think Button will be getting near the Spurs first team any time soon. This is the highest level he has ever played at, and although he had done ok, he has hardly stood apart from the other keepers in this league.”

At 22, he is still very young for a goalkeeper and, if he retains the number one jersey, this will be the most games that he has played in a season – all good experience.

Adam Smith continues to start week in, week out for Bournemouth, and scored a late equaliser in the 3-3 draw with Peterborough, his first goal for the club.Smith’s contract at Spurs expires at the end of the season, and this article suggests that a number of Championship clubs are monitoring his progress.

Kyle Walker has suffered a slight dip in form at Aston Villa, which has lead to some controversial Twitter comments (“One bad performance and one just below average and people start questioning u typical!!! I’m 20!!!”) from the full-back.

Houllier came out and backed him this week:

KYLE Walker has been given a positive pep talk by Gerard Houllier following his slight dip in form.

Walker fell below his usual high standards during Villa’s draw at Everton and victory over Newcastle.

The on-loan Tottenham defender used his Twitter page this week to respond to his critics.

And Houllier agrees that the 20-year-old right-back should not be judged on the strength of two games.

Walker was coming to terms with personal issues during the run up to the draw at Goodison Park.

“Because of the mistake he made at Everton, people seem to forget that he saved a goal in the first minute,” he said.

“You can see the bad and good side, but since he’s been here he’s been spot on.

“You need to help people when their heads are down.”

Villa have still not given up hope of extending Walker’s stay beyond the end of this season despite Harry Redknapp’s insistence that he will return to Spurs.

Walker, as we know, has had a good season, and has made the last two England squads.

Kyle Naughton has recently had an injury but continues to start every game for Leicester City when available, and many of these fans will not only be voting him their Young Player of the Year, but their full Player of the Year too. It will be absolutely fascinating to see what happens to Naughton in the summer – potentially his performances in pre-season could dictate his future.

David Bentley has missed some football due to injury, but seems to be down the pecking order at Birmingham City now, with Larsson performing well on the right. He was an unused substitute in this weekend’s game against Sunderland, and a substitute in his previous two outings.

Ryan Mason has not started a game for Doncaster Rovers since early February, with O’Driscoll usually opting to bring him on around the 60-minute mark. Whilst these appearances are better than nothing, I can’t help but feel that we should have done what we have done with Parrett and Obika – sent him to a League One club and ensured regular football, rather than 30 minutes here and there in the Championship.

Jamie O’Hara continues to be central to the Wolverhampton Wanderers team, but they have lost heavily in consecutive games – 4-1 at Newcastle and 0-3 to Everton. He is expected to sign for them in the summer if they stay up.

Robbie Keane scored for West Ham in their 2-1 defeat to Villa yesterday, and was particularly influential in the first half. Their fans seem to think that he was one of few who worked hard during the game:

“At least Keane showed some spirit. But was it just me or did he end up playing just in front of the back 4? He’s a striker FFS.”

“No fight, no passion – except perhaps Keane who ran his legs off I thought.”

Keane will stay with West Ham if they are not relegated.

Giovani dos Santos has started the last three matches for Racing Santander, scoring in two of them (against Real Sociedad and Espanyol). Both were poachers’ goals from inside the six-yard box, and both were winning goals too. I can’t see him coming back to Spurs now, so it’s good to see him do enough to hopefully secure a permanent transfer.

Andros Townsend continues to impress at Millwall, and has now started seven games for them, scoring twice and also getting two assists. Andros has spoken sensibly about his expectations for next season:

Millwall’s brand of attacking football has won them many plaudits, not least 19-year-old Townsend, who recently joined the Lions on loan from parent club Tottenham until the end of the season.

Having taken the corner that led to Liam Trotter scoring the home side’s second goal and playing a key role in Millwall’s ability to stretch the play, the promising young winger declared his satisfaction at the performance: ‘‘Since I’ve been here, we’ve got 13 points out of 15 so things are going well and we’ve got to continue it for the remaining six games and see where it takes us.

‘‘Next season — in August, I’ll sit down with the manager [Harry Redknapp] to evaluate the options and see what’s best for me. Obviously, things are going well. Hopefully, next season, if this is still an option, then I’d like to stay here.


I don’t know if there are any openings for me [at Tottenham]. I’m just looking forward to playing the rest of the season with Millwall. They’re my fourth club of the season, so hopefully I’m now settled here and can help them get into the Premiership. I’ve been able to relax here and be confident from the off.’’

Before Townsend had assisted Millwall’s second goal of the afternoon, James Henry had put the Londoners ahead with a free kick to give them a 2-0 lead at half-time.

Dean Parrett was an unused substitute for Charlton Athletic this weekend on his return from injury. Prior to that, he had started the six games that he was available for, and had been impressing their fans, particularly in the Leyton Orient game. Here are some comments and ratings from a forum:

“Parrett – 7 – good performance, we should defo try and retain him for next year”

“Parrett – 7.5 Look like he’s going to be a good player – Great corners”

“Parrett- 8 excellent, good all round midfielder. Will play at a higher level for sure.”

“Parrett – 8 Hope we get him next season , although I fear CCC clubs may take note of his performances”

“Parrett 8 Has a great future and hope Harry lets us have him next year”

Jonathan Obika started his seventh consecutive game for Yeovil Town this weekend in a 1-1 draw with Oldham. He didn’t score this week, but he got scored a fantastic goal in the Hartlepool game last weekend – well worth a watch. Obika seems to have a bit of his confidence back after some difficult loan spells this season, and it’s nice to see him getting plenty of games.


Jake Livermore has made three appearances for Leeds United – two starts, and a sub appearance – but was an unused substitute this weekend.

Bongani Khumalo has made five starts for relegation threatened Preston North End, and their fans were particularly impressed with his performance in the weekend’s 3-1 home win against Sheffield United. Fan comments from a forum:

“Bongani Khumalo – This man is solid. if treacy didnt score two i think it was him a defo for MOM. to round it off i seen him in train station and got a picture with him. Him and his agent are so nice, if only all footballer are like this eyy!”

“Looked like a class player today.”

Simon Dawkins has made a great start to his loan at San Jose Earthquakes, scoring two in five games (four starts).You can see Dawkins’ latest goal if you go here and follow the link to the goal (‘GOAL: Dawkins evens the score’).

Earthquake’s coach, Frank Yallop, on Dawkins and short interview with Dawkins himself:

SAN JOSE, Calif. — For the first time in nearly a full year, there’s a second name alongside that of Chris Wondolowski at the top of the San Jose Earthquakes’ goal-scoring leaderboard.

With two goals in his last two matches, Simon Dawkins has matched Wondolowski’s brace from San Jose’s 2-0 win in Dallas on March 26.

The last time Wondolowski had any competition for the Quakes’ scoring crown, it was April 24, 2010, when both he and Ike Opara had a pair of goals. Wondolowski scored in four of San Jose’s next six matches to firmly establish himself as the Quakes’ leading scorer and eventual league Golden Boot winner.

And while coach Frank Yallop wouldn’t mind having Wondolowski repeat his 18-goal haul from last season, there’s something to be said for having a second option that might be just as dangerous.

“A lot of stuff goes through him,” Yallop said. “[It’s] not just his goals, but a lot of the stuff goes through him when we’re playing well. I thought he tired a little bit in the second half [last Saturday against Toronto FC], so he’s not 100 percent game-fit in the way we want to play, but Simon’s very good.”

Dawkins gives the Quakes two such specimens, alongside the self-effacing Wondolowski, and the sum of that pairing might be worth more than its parts – as seen in the former’s 38th-minute goal against the Reds.

Dawkins began the play on the left sideline with an incisive cut between three Toronto defenders, then played the ball square along the top of the box to Wondolowski, who one-timed a return dish that set up the 23-year-old loanee from Tottenham Hotspur to jab an eight-yard shot past Stefan Frei to the far post.

If the 1-1 tie had been scored on the merits of each goal’s aesthetics, the Quakes would have won on all cards.

“You try to do it in training, so once you practice good habits like that, you’ll take them into games,” Dawkins said. “Thankfully, it came off.”

Though Dawkins had precious little experience with MLS before coming over from England just before the Quakes’ season opener, he’s needed an equally small adjustment period.

“He was able to fit right in,” Wondolowski said. “Sometimes good players take a little bit of time to adjust and fit in, but we knew that he had quality from the start, so it’s hard to say [we’re] surprised. We’re definitely just very pleased with it.”

Dawkins, who grew up in the Spurs youth system, credits his new professional family for the smooth transition.

“It’s my teammates; they’ve made me feel really welcome here,” Dawkins said. “I feel like I haven’t left anywhere. I feel like I’ve been playing with the team for a while. Hopefully this can continue.”