Tom Newey is an absolute waste of space, money and time. As a left-back, he should be a competent defender, but alas he cannot defend, makes horrendous mistakes and has a bad attitude. And he’s got big ears too.
Newey is one of the finest crossers of the ball in League Two. Best when bombing down the wing with abandon, he is fast, determined and confident. And his ears really aren’t that big.
Now if you take all the information in those preceding two paragraphs, mix it up a little, switching bits around, you might get something close to an actual, believable description of Tom Newey, the left-back who’s signed on loan from Grimsby Town until the season ends. He’s apparently idle, hard-working, careless and dependable all at the same time. As it stands, it probably won’t even matter, Newey has been signed as back-up to Tom Kennedy to prevent a repeat of last season’s player shortage which left us weak at Wembley – we probably won’t even see Newey play unless worse comes to worse. And if the Grimsby message-boards are anything to go by, it really will be the worst of times if Newey gets a look-in.
Newey arrives as Dale look towards a visit to Chesterfield’s Saltergate tonight, and a win would see Dale consolidate their 2nd place position in Division Four as Bury only drew at Rotherham 1-1 last night. Ex-Dale loanee Reuben Reid scored late on for the Millers but bandana’d saviour Efe Sodje headed Bury’s equaliser in the 93rd minute. Still, if Dale win tonight they will go four points clear of our local friends and will be three ahead of Gillingham in third.
Chesterfield have been doing decently of late, even if they did get battered 3-0 on Saturday by the carefree Rotherham. In four of the last six matches they’ve faced Brentford, Dagenham, Wycombe and Bury – and not been defeated by any of them. Realistically a draw tonight would be a decent result, as it would halt Chesterfield’s late push towards the playoffs whilst stretching us just slightly more ahead of the Gills. I’m saying nothing of predictions though, last time I was confident of an away win was at Barnet a few weeks back… the less said the better!
As far as injury concerns go, Gary Jones remains sidelined with a gammy leg, but Will Buckley should be available after recovering from malaria, or tonsillitis or something. Nicky Adams has gone back to Leicester City to sit on the bench while his team wins Division Three, so Adam Rundle should make a return to the starting lineup following an impressive subsitute appearance against Wycombe Wanderers. Rory McArdle, who went to Rotherham General on Saturday following a knock on the head, is “totally over it and focussed” according to Dave Flitcroft, but might sit the game out anyway because both he and Nathan Stanton are only one yellow card away from suspension. Chesterfield will play tonight without Drew Talbot, who was sent off on the weekend, and have doubts over Peter Till and defender Aaron Downes.
Whatever the result tonight, things may go to plan anyway on the weekend – Brentford host Gillingham in one of those fixtures that cannot possibly have a bad result from a Dale perspective. Wycombe also play Shrewsbury, another clash between top seven sides, and even Bury have a tough fixture against the resurgent Bournemouth. Depending on tonight’s and Saturday’s results we could mathematically be top of the league on Sunday morning… now how’s that for optimism?
Written by Matt Boothman on 25th March 09
There's Always Next Year 
Hi Matt, enjoyed your somewhat frustrated account of Tom Newey even though I haven’t seen him play! I agree that it certainly is optimistic to think you’ll be top come Sunday! Although I do think Dale have timed their assault on the top 3 perfectly! As a Bees fan I think we’ll hold on for that top spot, but with 7 games to go there’s a lot to be decided. Do you think Rochdale will be able to hold their own in League 1?
Without a doubt yes – if you look at Stockport, which were a similar side to us last year, they’ve performed well for most of the season. Only Hereford have been poor from the promoted sides, and that’s because half their team aren’t on loan like last year.