Ipswich Town manager Mick McCarthy appears thrilled to have landed former Rangers striker Joe Garner
The positive for Ipswich Town supporters is that the club have spent some money this summer.
The concern, however, is that the 28-year-old has only demonstrated any kind of consistent quality in the division blow as he helped Preston North End claw their way out of League One.
Former Preston striker Joe Garner
Overall, manager Mick McCarthy’s assertion that Garner is the owner of an impressive Championship CV hardly rings true in the face of scrutiny.
“Joe is a proven player in the Championship and a proven goalscorer at this level as well,” the Town boss told the club’s official website.
“We tried to take him from Preston before he joined Rangers but we are delighted to have him with us now.
“He scored a lot of goals for Preston. I’m not sure it really worked out very well for him at Rangers and he became available and like I said, we are thrilled to have him here.”
Really, Mick?
Garner did score plenty at Preston – in the third tier. The old-school front man plundered 43 goals in two seasons between 2013 and 2015 but that golden touch dried up as soon as he reached the Championship.
In 2015/16, Garner managed just six in 41 games. Overall, taking in spells at Watford, Nottingham Forest and Scunthorpe United, his Championship record reads 90 games, 16 goals.
Joe Garner scored just seven league goals for Rangers
That is hardly the sign of a ‘proven player’. And the fact that Rangers were happy to get him off their books just a year after they plucked him from Deepdale, almost at a £1 million loss, may also prompt a few alarm bells.
Ipswich’s dearth of reliable goalscorers is a problem well-established at Portman Road. Though Garner will have to overcome considerable scrutiny to prove he is the man to solve the problem.
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