You do kind of wonder if his confidence has been shot to pieces as a result of this season.
When he came in, it was safe to say he was that #2 keeper for FGR. A 22/23 year old in behind an established 35/36 year old, and they look to maybe grow Searle into the #1 role over the next couple of years or so. Benefit of that is he'll get the cup games and maybe a sprinkle of league games owing to injury or suspension. That seemed to be the case earlier in the season, and for all intents and purposes it was working out well for all involved.
Since then FGR have used 5 keepers in league play this season. 5!!! I'd hazard a guess that would be a record across the EFL for this season. So essentially the #2 is really a #5. Appearances in brackets (League Two matches only).
- Luke Daniels (19)
- Jamie Searle (1) 26 minutes off the bench to replace Daniels due to injury
- James Belshaw (10) Signed on a 7 day emergency loan....
- Tommy Simkin (1) Signed on loan from Stoke (around the time Scott Morris was announced at Stoke) made one poor appearance and hasn't been seen since.
- Vicente Reyes (12) Signed on a 7 day emergency loan too....
Now I've seen some comments about professionalism and poor training effort and what not. I really don't know how much I read into that to be honest, purely because he still seems to be the #2 - He's still riding the pine week in week out, even after a blip where he was out of the squad altogether earlier in the season. Surely if he was consistently not training well or doing what he's paid to do, then you send him down to the reserves or get him training with the age grade sides, but maybe that's just me. Don't know what it is exactly, maybe he's pissed in the gaffers morning coffee or something, but it's been a really odd season to say the least.
Wouldn't surprise me if he's somewhat jaded by the whole experience, but it would be good to see him find another gig and get a whole season at #1 under his belt, even if it is at lower level - Conference or Conference North/South.
Don't even get me started on 7 day emergency loans either.