Originally Posted by
Nesta99
I think the expectation of Towell from fans (and probably himself) was that he would have the impact returning to the league that he had first time with Dundalk. That was the bar and anything else, no matter how good, was going to cause some grumbling. The league changed as had the player. I dont think Towell was ever a tidy player, could be sloppy, but he had both O'Donnell roaring at him and he he had the tenacity and physicality to work after a sloppy ball. You'd hear him being instructed at times at Dundalk to play it safe, probably give it to a real baller and delay those runs in to the box. Put him beside Byrne and he'd have looked like an Offaly hurler, he'd a big hole to fill in midfield when he arrived and he did try to hard and looked too often caught out of position, was poorly timing his runs. When he reverted to being a spoiler, getting around to put himself in the way, which is what Rovers needed when they werent playing well, he showed his value again imo.
If its anything of a guage, I was obviously very disappointed if unsurprised considering the messing at Oriel, that he didnt sign back. After a while that disappointment had ebbed away. He would have had a bigger impact returning to Dudalk than Rovers in relative terms but I dont think he'd have been the game changer that we needed or that we'd have expected. The context being the Mad Bill era, and that his roll with the leading side in the country wouldnt stand out as much. When he settled in to the side and accepted rotation he was arguably worth his wage in title winning squad. Id have him in a heartbeat now again!!!