Dom Ballard

[suewhistle]

4 hours ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Poor man’s Damion Downs

We heard you the first time..

[swedish dave]

On 18/01/2026 at 11:01, badgerx16 said:

As we may well find out again next season.

Everyone's career "starts" somewhere.  Jamie Vardy started at Fleetwood when they were in L2 (or was it

National League ? ).  Oh... and (that) Rickie Lambert started at the bottom of the pile, too. and this site was full 

of people who said that 30 goals in L1 - doesn't mean he's going to succeed in the Championship...

 

If Dom isn't a starter in our "re-vamped 2026/27 squad" ... I'd have him on the bench every week.

[swedish dave]

On 18/01/2026 at 11:01, badgerx16 said:

As we may well find out again next season.

Everyone's career "starts" somewhere.  Jamie Vardy started at Fleetwood when they were in L2 (or was it

National League ? ).  Oh... and (that) Rickie Lambert started at the bottom of the pile, too. and this site was full 

of people who said that 30 goals in L1 - doesn't mean he's going to succeed in the Championship...

 

If Dom isn't a starter in our "re-vamped 2026/27 squad" ... I'd have him on the bench every week.

[Saint86]

I mean, I'd re-sign him for the money. Ballard, Larin,, Stewart is a decent from 3 for this level. Value for money, Ballard has his whole career ahead of him, is home grown, and we have a sell on fee discount.

Edited 15 hours ago by Saint86

[chiknsmack]

19 hours ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Poor man’s Damion Downs

More a poor man's Adam Armstrong. Part of the reason he was free to go was we already had an undersized, "too good for the championship but not good enough for the Prem" striker, so why would we also need an undersized striker whose good start to a League 1 loan was followed by a major knee injury and a second L1 loan where he scored 3 in 35?

As Larin and Stewart have proven (and was the arguably the case with Onuachu in the Prem too) we are better with a big targetman type striker than a relative midget like Armstrong or Archer (or Ballard).

I'm glad to see him having some success and am happy for him, and wouldn't be upset if he came back here. But recent recruiting shows that SR want big good strikers (Stewart, Larin, Onuachu), sometimes buy big shit strikers (BBD, Downs), and don't want small good strikers (Armstrong, Ballard).

[swedish dave]

8 hours ago, chiknsmack said:

More a poor man's Adam Armstrong. Part of the reason he was free to go was we already had an undersized, "too good for the championship but not good enough for the Prem" striker, so why would we also need an undersized striker whose good start to a League 1 loan was followed by a major knee injury and a second L1 loan where he scored 3 in 35?

As Larin and Stewart have proven (and was the arguably the case with Onuachu in the Prem too) we are better with a big targetman type striker than a relative midget like Armstrong or Archer (or Ballard).

I'm glad to see him having some success and am happy for him, and wouldn't be upset if he came back here. But recent recruiting shows that SR want big good strikers (Stewart, Larin, Onuachu), sometimes buy big shit strikers (BBD, Downs), and don't want small good strikers (Armstrong, Ballard).

Clearly you seemed to have missed the point of the argument.

Aside from those previous loans, it's his recent form as top scorer in League One that has drawn the attention

- and he achieved that in a team that narrowly missed relegation thanks to his 20+ goals.

 

Your comment about "undersized striker " was surely a spur of the moment comment.

We all like to see a big man up front, but a quick look at some of the " undersized " names in football 

would show you that many of the historical top names weren't " giants " either. 

[chiknsmack]

11 hours ago, swedish dave said:

Clearly you seemed to have missed the point of the argument.

I wasn't making any argument on the merits of Ballard today. I was just pointing out that he is more a poor man's Armstrong than a poor man's Downs, and that he'd been let go because of what he'd shown before last season. I even mentioned that I wouldn't be upset to see him back here on the back of what he did last season.

I also wasn't arguing the merits of undersized strikers, just pointing out that SR have primarily signed strikers over 6'1" and ditched shorter strikers like the poor prospect (as he was at the time) Ballard and the proven Armstrong, so it's unlikely he'll return.