The question about McGarry isn't his talent, it's whether he can go very long without getting hurt. He would have played more for the Nix if he was fit more in sure.
"Sadly that European excursion won’t include James McGarry. His contract was due to expire at the end of the 19-20 season anyway and it seems the club weren’t prepared to offer him a new one, hence he negotiated an early release so as to allow him to return to Aotearoa rather than buggering around at a club he had no future at when there was zero football to be played. According to one of the Dutch papers McGarry’s been back in NZ for ages having left as hastily as he could to avoid the locking of the borders. His contract termination was only announced this week but apparently the call was made back at the very start of April and he’s (thankfully) been home every since.
Willem II Official Website: “James McGarry's contract was terminated immediately. The New Zealander recently received news that the option in his contract will not be picked up. McGarry then asked the club to contribute to a faster return to his homeland. Willem II decided to comply with that request. McGarry joined the Tricolores in July 2018, but his stay in Tilburg was not what both parties expected. McGarry: "I want to thank the supporters, staff and players for the past two years. Because of you I have felt very comfortable at the club. I wish Willem II every success for the future”. James, good luck with the continuation of the career!”
In two seasons with Willem II, James McGarry featured in six Eredivisie games totalling 178 minutes of action (two starts, four as a sub). Only one of those games, and six of those minutes, came this season though. Instead McGarry was an unused sub on 40 occasions over his two years (they have extended benches to include extra youth players in the Netherlands so that benchwarming was more of a formality rather than a continued snub, to be fair). Not quite how things might have gone. He got stuck between a couple other left-backs in his time in Holland and never really got the opportunities.
The obvious thing to say now is that he’d be a great signing for the Wellington Phoenix... and for once that shout would actually make a lot of sense here. Liberato Cacace is destined for greater things than the A-League. European clubs do currently have bigger things to worry about than scouting prospective left-backs from the other side of the world so who knows how all that’ll come out in the wash... but if Cacace were to leave then McGarry is a ready-made replacement who does have an interest in playing A-League footy, whether with the Nix or elsewhere. His first stint with the Welly Nix ended on weird terms as he never quite got the first team chances he perhaps should have (back then he was often used as a striker too) but everybody’s a little older now and there’s a different coaching regime in charge at the Nix these days. It’ll be one to keep a watch on."
James McGarry: “If I got another opportunity to go back to the Phoenix, absolutely I’d love to grab it with both hands and finish some unfinished business. If it comes up, the door’s definitely not closed on my end.”
Surely this makes sense for everyone involved. Would love to us get him back, look how well Elliott has transitioned over the last two years. I would back Uffie to get the most out of him
I missed that he'd gone to CCM permanently? Thought he was under contract at the Jets and still on loan. Regardless, good move for him and good to see he's hit good form even if that means scoring against us
I missed that he'd gone to CCM permanently? Thought he was under contract at the Jets and still on loan. Regardless, good move for him and good to see he's hit good form even if that means scoring against us
Yep, got mutual with 18 months left on his Jets deal cuz he wasn't being played & took up a 6 month CCM deal. Glad to see him backing himself paid off.
What an amazing 3 months for former Jets defender James Mcgarry. New club, new contract, new bub on the way and a chance for the biggest prize in Australian football. @newcastleherald @NewcastleJetsFC @CCMariners
good on him. I said a while back he had to get out from Phoenix it was holding them back and i copped some backlash. More young players should seek greener pastures. I'm sure he will go well. a hard worker that lad.
Potential Kiwi matchup 27th August. St Mirren host Aberdeen. Couple of Dutchmen at the Dons, so McGarry can dig out some of his rusty Dutch from when at Willem II a few years back.
Great to see. Has always been such a natural and while he’s not the complete defender he’s really started converting his attacking talent into goals. I don’t know enough about Aberdeen but hope he’s not expected to play as a full back - needs to be in a wingback role to flourish.
Interesting that he completely ignored his move to the Jets in his first interview, came from Nix to CCM :D Great to hear him wanting to test himself and trying to reach the top. Welcome to the Dons
Aberdeen manager Barry Robson: “The acquisition of James is an excellent piece of business by the club. He’s athletic, physically strong and has the winning mentality, all of which are important if you want to be a successful Aberdeen player. He becomes our ninth signing in what has been a busy summer and adds another piece of the jigsaw as we look to build a squad that can compete on both domestic and European fronts this season. That said, there is still some work do and I would expect some more signings before the end of the transfer window.”
It gets even better because he’s not joining any relegation battlers here. Aberdeen are coming off a third-placed finish. Only Celtic and Rangers finished above them in the 2022-23 campaign. As a result they’re about to embark upon a Europa League playoff round against either Žalgiris (Lithuania) or BK Häcken (Sweden) – Häcken won the first leg 3-1 so they’re the faves. Should Aberdeen win that tie then they’ll make the Europa League group stage. Should they lose then they’ll drop into the Conference League group stage instead. Continental footy awaits.
This will be McGarry’s second stint in Europe following his days at Willem II in the Netherlands. Back then he was a youth team player seeking that next step. Now he’s an A-League champion following after so many other A-League players heading to Scotland these last couple years, doing so for a rumoured six-figured fee and everything. Aberdeen lost 3-1 to Celtic most recently, after a 0-0 draw with Livingston to kick off their season.
Not sure how long it’ll be until McGarry is in consideration to play but after those Europa qualifiers and a Scottish League Cup tie their next Premiership game is away against Alex Greive and St Mirren. That could be fun. The Buddies just beat Dundee 2-1 (Greive played the last twenty mins) which means that they’re the only club aside from defending champs Celtic to have won both their first two league games. Greive had a close range shot cleared off the line in that match, highlights here if you’re curious.
He'll be undergoing a 2 week pre-season, so first game is likely to be against the Paisley junkies. A few of our fans would like to see Baccus up the road to replace Rama who left to Lecce on the eve of the new season. Can't say Grieve has done much against us (from memory).
Made his debut tonight in the EL playoff away leg. Came on for the last frantic 15 mins or so and he was good. Was part of the momentum shift that changed the game for us 👌have no doubt he’ll be starting on sunday / Monday.
Yipe Mcgarry came on with the Dons 2-0 down at Häcken in Sweden. Finished 2-2 draw. Not a bad result for the SPL team with Häcken currently 2nd in the Allsvenskanand 20 games into their season. SPL has only just got underway.
As far as club debuts go, this was a good one. James McGarry has only been with Aberdeen for two weeks and it wasn’t immediately clear how soon they’d unleash him into the action. He wasn’t in the squad for a 2-1 League Cup second round win over Stirling Albion last week... but he did make the bench for the Europa League playoff against Häcken of Sweden. First leg, away from home. Winner advances to the Europa League group stage while the loser drops into the Europa Conference League group stage. It’s been 15 years since Aberdeen last made the Europa group stage.
That was the situation, that was the aim... yet as the game progressed things weren’t looking great for the Dons. The Swedish side caught them on the break after 35 minutes with Amor Layouni finishing off the move. Häcken were proving the better team, owning much more possession and getting plenty more shots away, and midway through the second half that spilled over into a second goal after a VAR-awarded penalty for handball. Ibrahim Sadiq did the honours (69’). Thus it was at 2-0 down away from home that James McGarry was summoned. Not only James McGarry but also fellow new signing debutant Jamie McGrath was brought on at the same time in a double switch. McGrath played in the midfield. McGarry went to left wing-back.
Skip forward to the final whistle and Aberdeen were celebrating a famous comeback, having gotten out of there with a 2-2 draw. What’s more is that one of Häcken’s defenders was sent off for a second yellow near the end and will therefore miss the second leg. Bojan Miovski (75’) and Nicky Devlin (79’) got the quickfire goals and in fact it could have been even better had McGrath’s late strike not been disallowed.
McGarry wasn’t directly involved in either goal but he did impress after he came on by giving plenty of energy to the cause with his workrate up the wing and also holding his own on the physicality front. No surprises there. His first major involvement was a crunching shoulder-to-shoulder tackle down by his own corner flag that dropped his opponent to the turf. There was also a very tasty cross whipped in later on in search of a possible winner. Decent way for him to say g’day.
A few days later McGarry followed this up with his league debut for the club, subbed on for most of the second half’s action in another thrilling late 2-2 draw. But for the Flying Kiwis sake we’ve gotta give that game to a different headliner...
