In our series of articles of looking at the progress of players we have loaned out, today we get the views from Phil Sands, who is Vice Chair of the Pompey Supporters Trust on the notable progress of George Hirst as the season progressed.
“It’s fair to say that George didn’t have the best of starts at Fratton Park. We were in desperate need of a goalscorer, so the arrival of a striker without a goal in 31 appearances at Rotherham hardly set pulses racing, with some supporters prepared to write him off before he kicked a ball for us.
His first few appearances, coming off the bench to replace the misfiring John Marquis, did little to convince fans that we hadn’t once again signed a big man who didn’t know how to find the net.
George looked a bit cumbersome, his first touch was lacking, and he didn’t appear to have the instinct of a player who was going to find the net regularly. In fairness, he was generally brought on with about twenty minutes left to go, often when we were chasing the game – in hindsight, maybe the responsibility weighed a bit heavily on him.
Things started to change for George when he capped a decent performance against Crystal Palace U23s in the EFL Trophy with a goal in the 93rd minute. This earned him his first league start, and a chance to win over the fans. Although the goals did not initially flow, we started to see glimpses of George’s strengths – appreciating his efforts, you could feel the crowd willing him to score.
It wasn’t until February that the goals started to come. In February, we went on a run of eight games unbeaten. During this time, George scored six goals in six games to establish himself as our first choice striker. He ended up scoring eleven of his thirteen league goals in the last seventeen games of the season, a run that would suggest he is more than capable of being a twenty goal a season striker at this level at least.
By the end of the season, George had established himself as the focal point of our attack. It was evident that he had worked extremely hard to get there, something the fans recognised and which led to him becoming something of a favourite.
I would say that George’s strengths are exactly what you want from a centre-forward. He is big and strong, good in the air, and displays a good touch. He is a selfless team-player, works hard to bring others into play, and runs himself into the ground. He’s also deceptively quick for a player of his size. Adding goals to his game means that he is bound to be in demand next season.
Ultimately, a striker will be judged on how many goals he scores. George’s goals have all come when he’s started games, he didn’t look good coming off the bench at the start of the season and his goals generally come in games when we’re playing well – in fact all but two of them have come in games that we won.
I guess the big question about George is what level he is capable of playing at. If you look at his season at Portsmouth, you would say that he needs to be starting games in order to score goals. Is he going to be starting games at Leicester? Probably not.
If he’s learned from his spells on the bench at Rotherham and Portsmouth, then maybe he could develop into an “impact sub” but I’m not so sure. In my opinion, the next step in his development should be at a Championship club where he’s starting most games.
Would I take him back at Portsmouth? Absolutely, I think he has potential to be one of the top strikers in League One. The problem isn’t whether we would want him, it is how we could make that happen. There’s no way we are able to pay the wages he is reportedly on at Leicester, and there’s no indication that we would be able to pay the transfer fee that Leicester would want. The only way we could get him back is on loan but. from Leicester’s perspective, I don’t see how another season in League One would benefit either the club or player. If George is to fulfill his potential, he needs to be tested at a higher level. I think the vast majority of Pompey fans will be watching with interest to see what happens next.
Have a good summer, and good luck for next season.”
You can read more about the Pompey Trust here The Pompey Supporters Trust