Former Nottingham Forest forward Gary McSheffrey would have liked to have moved to the City Ground permanently, he told Birmingham Live.
The 37-year-old, who retired from playing football in 2018, only played four matches during the 2008/09 season before returning to his club Birmingham City after suffering tendinitis in his knee.
So his time at the City Ground was rather forgetful, to say the least. Had he not had his injury, it could have been so much different.
Speaking with Birmingham Live, McSheffrey said that manager Billy Davies wanted to sign him permanently in 2009 if he was fully fit – but ultimately a move did not happen and ended staying at St Andrew’s.
“I think Derby were keen, Alex McLeish pulled me and said (Nigel) Clough had phoned him about a loan,” he said.
“But I went to Forest, off the back of being injured for months with tendonitis in my knee. We were at the top end of the league with Blues and Forest were down near the bottom of the Champ and I went there to play some games.”
If signed permanently, would Gary McSheffrey have been a successful signing?
Yes
No
He continued, “I played something like four games for Forest and had a chat with Billy Davies. He said he wanted to sign me in the summer but he wanted my knee sorted. So I decided to get surgery so I was fit for the summer – I still had a year left at Birmingham but knew Forest was a good club and of the ambition of the players he was going to sign. It would have been good to have been part of it.”
Following his stint with us, he failed to impress with the Blues and with Leeds United, after making just 11 appearances during the 2009/10 campaign with the Whites. He ended up moving back to his hometown club Coventry City.
I suppose we will never know what McSheffrey would have been like for us had his tendinitis cleared up. With his Premier League experience, there is a chance that he could have been a success for us.
Lots of ifs and buts will be raised about him and what could have been. In reality, all of this will forever be speculation, in what was an honest interview from the man himself.
