After difficulties in the goalkeeping position last season, a key priority for the club this summer has been to recruit a new, first-choice goalkeeper. On the face of it, the signing of Simon Moore – who has only really had two seasons in his career as a first-choice goalkeeper, the most recent one being five years ago, in League One – is more than a little underwhelming. As someone who will be familiar to the club’s goalkeeping coach, Aled Williams, it seems a lot of trust is being put on a recommendation rather than the player’s track record.
One of the key reasons why Simon Moore has played such little football over his career, is that he has found himself second-choice to some very good goalkeepers. From Wojciech Szczesny at Brentford, to David Marshall at Cardiff City, then Dean Henderson and Aaron Ramsdale at Sheffield United, Moore has worked alongside some of the best in his position. However, it is a little concerning that when he was promoted to the Championship with Sheffield United, they moved quickly to bring in a new goalkeeper ahead of him.
More than anything, Moore is a signing that suggests that club have had a hard time in the transfer market this summer. Clearly not the club’s preferred target in goal, it seems to have been decided that going with someone the coaching staff are familiar with is a better bet than waiting until later in the window for someone with more of a track record to become available. The hope is that Moore can be a steady pair of hands while the club conducts a longer-term search for a goalkeeper over the next year or so. The risk is that the team ends up repeating last year’s situation of having to switch between two goalkeepers, neither of whom are quite good enough to command a starting place in the side.
Sideways Sammy 