Rivals benefited greatly from Ipswich Town’s loss: Opinion

admin | March 29, 2024 | Other Clubs | No Comments

Following a strong start to the 2012/13 League One season with Coventry City, David McGoldrick was promoted back to the Championship.

The striker had 16 goals in 22 league appearances for the Sky Blues that season, leading Ipswich Town, the tier above, to take over his loan deal that winter.

At Portman Road, he scored four league goals in 13 games, and the Tractor Boys extended his stay there permanently that summer.

McGoldrick’s Ipswich Town career

David McGoldrick went on to make 159 appearances for Portman Road, scoring 45 goals and assisting 25 times.

However, the attacker was never fully prolific, with his finest season coming in 2013/14, when he scored 14 league goals and assisted six teammates.

Those efforts that season almost resulted in a move to Leicester City, with the Foxes apparently willing to pay £8 million for the forward that summer.

McGoldrick stayed and eventually left the club on a free transfer in the summer of 2018.

Sheffield United sign David McGoldrick

McGoldrick had no trouble finding a new club, joining Sheffield United on a free transfer that summer.

Ipswich Town’s loss was clearly the Blades’ gain, as McGoldrick went on to help the team win promotion that season.

During the campaign, for example, McGoldrick was back to his form, scoring 15 league goals in the Championship, his greatest total in the second division.

On top of that, the striker provided four assists.

Most notably, McGoldrick appeared 45 times and was eligible for selection in every match that season.

Sheffield United finished second in the league that season, allowing them to return to the Premier League for the first time since 2006/07.

McGoldrick in the Premier League

Unfortunately, McGoldrick’s goals did not follow him to the Premier League, where he scored only twice in 28 appearances in 2019/20.

However, as evidenced by his 28 appearances, he remained a regular for Chris Wilder’s side, which went on to have a very successful first season back at the top of English football.

Not only did the Blades avoid relegation, but they fought for European qualification for the most of the season. They ultimately fell short, but McGoldrick and his teammates’ ninth-place finish is not to be taken lightly.

It is worth mentioning that, although finishing ninth that season, the Blades’ top Premier League scorers, Oli McBrunie and Lys Mousset, only scored six goals.

The following season, McGoldrick scored a more respectable eight league goals, but the Blades were relegated from the top flight, ending in 20th position.

McGoldrick stayed despite the decline, but injuries caught up with him, and he left the club in the summer of 2022 to pursue new opportunities.

Overall, McGoldrick’s time at the club will be remembered fondly, and the Blades’ decision to sign him was clearly astute.

McGoldrick cost them nothing and went on to play a key role in propelling the Blades back to the Premier League for the first time in well over a decade, as well as contributing to that exhilarating first season back there.

Relegation eventually crept up with the Blades, and McGoldrick couldn’t stop it, but when it came to strikers, Ipswich Town’s loss was undoubtedly Sheffield United’s gain in the summer of 2018.