David McGoldrick explained his decision to return to Notts County after 19 years as he spoke about expectations for his role within Luke Williams’ team. The 35-year-old agreed to a two-year deal to return to Meadow Lane from Derby County after a successful 21/22 with the Rams in which he scored 25 goals and was named Fans’ Player of the Season.
The former Ipswich Town and Sheffield United forward’s decision to drop down to the fourth tier after such a season surprised some, but there were deeper reasons for McGoldrick to return to County. He said: “This is the team I support and I’m a Nottingham boy so it was perfect in that sense but also I’ve looked at the club and the direction they’re going in with the football they play and the buzz around the place.
“I think they’re onto something here and I want to be a part of it, I had other options in higher leagues for more money, but making decisions based on just that doesn’t always make for a successful career sometimes you’ve just got to look at what’s right for you. I didn’t want to look back in the future having not made the move and I wished that I had done it and thought that I’d wasted an opportunity, so I’m really excited to have committed to the club moving forward and I look forward to meeting the players, the manager and all the staff.”
Now that they have got their man, Williams can look towards how he will deploy McGoldrick into his County team with a prolific goalscorer in the form of Macauley Langstaff already present in the team. McGoldrick explains however that his game is not limited to finding the back of the net, with his experience and versatility as a forward likely to make him a useful addition to the team.
He added: “I’m not just a number nine and I’m sure people that have seen me play will know that, I can play various positions and there is a fantastic striker [at Notts County] at the moment scoring lots of goals which hopefully he does next season as well.
“I’m just coming to play my part, I’m sure I’ll still have to fight to get into the team in the first place, and I’m not coming in expecting to walk in there as the main man, I’ve got to fight and impress to get that shirt.
“[Signing now] was important because I didn’t really have one last year. I joined Derby towards the end of July and I got an injury soon after because I was thrown straight into action and I ended up being a bit sluggish in general to start with.
“I wanted to get my body fit and firing for the start of the league with a good pre-season at Notts County but all pre-seasons are tough and if you don’t like it, then you won’t succeed in football.”
