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Matty Hayward – @MattyHayward96
Matty discusses new midfielder Brett McGavin
Torquay United’s seven-a-side team is slowly becoming a squad. One of the five marquee additions last Thursday was Ipswich Town midfielder Brett McGavin. He’s presumably a household name for most fans of National League clubs, but for the one or two of you who don’t know much about him, here’s a bit of an introduction.
Career Summary
Brett was born in Bury St Edmunds a fortnight before the turn of the millennium, but the only bug he caught was football fever. He became a Tractor Boy before his 12th birthday, and has been on their books ever since. Some fleeting formative loan spells at Bury Town, Concord Rangers and Ayr United are far less worthy of note than his six League One appearances in November and December 2020. His efforts were clearly deemed insufficient and, despite a win at Home Park in that spell, he hasn’t played for Ipswich since.
McGavin spent last season at King’s Lynn Town. He played 36 games for the Norfolk side, accruing some valuable fifth-tier experience that should serve him well at Plainmoor. Of course, that season ended in relegations for the Linnets, which I’m choosing to see as a character-building, I-vow-to-myself-that-I’ll-never-go-through-that-again encounter for the young midfielder.
Highlights
Gloriously, someone at the club has collated a highlights package for McGavin, saving me a trawl through dreadful Europop-backed YouTube videos of barely visible cross-field passes. He appears to simultaneously look ungainly and cultured; gangly and composed; new-born giraffe and elegant swan. He can pass a ball, and has a worldie in him, so that’ll do.
Stats:
POSITION – Midfielder
DATE OF BIRTH – 21st December 1999
HEIGHT – 1.83m
BIRTHPLACE – Bury St Edmonds
PREVIOUS CLUBS – Ipswich Town, Bury Town, Concord, Ayr, King’s Lynn
STATS 21-22 – National League: Played 36, Goals 3, Yellow/Red Cards 4/0
McGavin Chat:
Brett McGavin on the move to TUFC: “I’m 22 now, so this is a chance to kick on. I think it’s a great club that gives me the chance to do so. I think I’m well-equipped now to do well for this team, in this league. I always want to get on the ball, I’ll always try to create a goal or score a goal”.
Most/Least Likely To
Most Likely To:
- Feel very crowded at the base of midfield. It appears that we have him, Hall, Lapslie and new-signing Hanson who do essentially the same job. Something will have to give, there…
- Be compared to Asa Hall. He’s over six foot tall, he’s a midfielder, and people aren’t very imaginative.
- Be more of a success than our last Brett.
Least Likely To:
- It’s a crying shame, but I don’t think it’s likely that anyone will be calling him The Suffolk Morike Sako or The Ipswich Iniesta.
- Be joined by Bournemouth full back Jack Stacey so as to complete my McGavin and Stacey dream partnership.
Conclusion
Contrary to the purpose of this article, I know basically nothing about this lad, because he’s played fewer than fifty professional games. I’ve been flippant about his lack of notoriety, but we’re a fifth-tier club without much money, I’d be more concerned if we were signing ready-made superstars. It’s clear that he’s in the Gary Johnson mould of footballer: he’s young; he’s hungry; he’s ready to settle down and kickstart his career following release from a bigger club.
Like last season, it’ll probably be the case that some of these signings will flop and some will succeed. McGavin looks to have talent, and looks to have the right character to flourish, so, like good football fans, we’ll have to wait until we’ve seen 45 minutes of him in a friendly to decide whether he’s the next Michael Carrick or the next Samir Nabi, and then stick to that judgement throughout the campaign regardless of any fluctuations in form or fitness or performance.
TORQUAYTALK 
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