JJ McKiernan was a player I had high hopes for, technically gifted and handed a four-year deal by the Imps.
At the time, it was my understanding he would be around the first team, but a place in the starting XI might be a challenge.
Come the first day of the season, the talented midfielder was in the team to face Burton Albion, a game we won 3-2. He has now explained that was a great start to his Imps career, but things swiftly took a sour turn, in his words.
“It was all part of a great start to life at Lincoln,” he told Burton Albion’s website. “Then, for whatever reason, things took a sour turn and I was out of the team. I didn’t really understand it, but an opportunity came up at Burton so I took it.”
As part of a long-form interview where he waxes lyrical about Burton and the Brewers, he also explains his decision to leave the Imps for the first time. It was prompted by a staff member from the Northern Ireland setup, where he was an Under-21 international.
“A staff member at Northern Ireland called me to check in on my progress, to see if I had picked up an injury. I explained that I hadn’t, so he had a couple of ideas and one of them was that Gary Bowyer was on the hunt for a midfielder.
A few days later, I got a phone call from Gary and he explained the situation. He said I would come in and play, that they train at St George’s Park and that I could make a real difference. It was an easy decision after that, and I’ll forever be grateful to the gaffer for offering me a chance to get playing again.”
It does seem strange. JJ played in matches throughout November, but was reported to have picked up an injury, keeping him out until Morecambe. When he did return against his former club, he was forced off injured after 42 minutes, so there was definitely an injury prior to his departure.
Still, he went to Burton and did well, and that prompted many fans to clamour for him to be involved more this season. I was one of those, but then a player-led decision was made. While the exact specifics were not reported at the time, McKiernan has now revealed that we did want him to stay and fight for his place, but that was a fight he did not want.
“I wanted to come back (to Burton),” he said. “Lincoln wanted me to have a go at fighting for my place in the team, get back into the swing of things, but I wanted to be at Burton.”
That might come as a slap in the face for City supporters, particularly as JJ still has two years left on his contract and could well be expected to come back and fight for his place again. The issue here is not him wanting regular football, that is fair enough, but that he was being given a chance to fight for that with the team he belonged to and decided he would rather be elsewhere.
Honestly, that is going to be a little difficult to come back from. When it was implied, fair enough, but for a loan player to say it in an interview, while still employed by us, is tough to take, especially when I backed him vehemently last season.
He also went as far as to say the job we were asking him to do was boring. He played for us in right central midfield when he did play, alongside Bayliss, with Erhahon holding the midfield. He claims that playing as a six is not something he relishes.
“I played there for Lincoln but it’s a really different discipline. I don’t like it, mainly because it’s so boring. You have to sit and wait for the ball and react to things. I like to be at the other end of the pitch, being expressive and making things happen.”
Maybe sitting and waiting for the ball, rather than pressing and harassing the opponent, was one of the reasons things went sour.
JJ has been injured for a portion of this season, but it does feel after this interview like he is dead set on remaining at Burton, working under coach Gary Bowyer, for whom he has a lot of high praise. Of course, we wish him well, as he cannot damage us playing for them, but there are elements within these recent comments that might not go down well with Imps supporters.