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 Tuesday at 16:04 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.

[swedish dave]

On 03/06/2026 at 04:42, chiknsmack said:

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.

On closer examination you can see that (Dom) was 21 in May, and already had 20 games for Young England

sides (U17-U20) between 2022-2024.   His 3 loan-outs saw him get game time on 45 occasions before those

two unfortunate freak injuries.   At two of those clubs he was used as a sub. for one of their regular strikers. 

 

Also he is not "so short" as we have been led to believe. He was listed at 5' 10" tall when signing for Orient.

who used him as their first choice striker and scored 23 times in 40 games last season.  I don't see him as a

front line striker, but alongside / behind a Stewart, or Larin, he could be a useful addition to our strike force, 

much as Adam Lallana was when paired with Rickie Lambert back in the day.  Orient's survival was entirely

due to his goal tally, and they will be glad of the income when he eventually signs for a higher level club.

 

As I noted in my opening post, I believe that in the chaos of last summer, he was simply " overlooked" by

the people who called the shots, and who had no knowledge of his record with the club, and saw him as

" a recovering young player "  who might not contribute to the cause. I'm glad that he had such a good 

season, but would be mindful that he might be a force to reckon with (in the Championship) - if we don't 

get him back - someone else will.

 

[Pip]

You are aware we sold him to Orient aren’t you?

[hypochondriac]

I'd consider him as an Archer replacement. Stewart and Larin will be rotated, leaving Ballard as another option. Would probably make a small profit signing him and selling Archer.

[spyinthesky]

Archer has never justified his relatively high transfer cost, in my opinion.
Having said that, I reckon that if he was playing in League One, he would likely be one of the top scorers.

[BarberSaint]

2 hours ago, swedish dave said:

On closer examination you can see that (Dom) was 21 in May, and already had 20 games for Young England

sides (U17-U20) between 2022-2024.   His 3 loan-outs saw him get game time on 45 occasions before those

two unfortunate freak injuries.   At two of those clubs he was used as a sub. for one of their regular strikers. 

 

Also he is not "so short" as we have been led to believe. He was listed at 5' 10" tall when signing for Orient.

who used him as their first choice striker and scored 23 times in 40 games last season.  I don't see him as a

front line striker, but alongside / behind a Stewart, or Larin, he could be a useful addition to our strike force, 

much as Adam Lallana was when paired with Rickie Lambert back in the day.  Orient's survival was entirely

due to his goal tally, and they will be glad of the income when he eventually signs for a higher level club.

 

As I noted in my opening post, I believe that in the chaos of last summer, he was simply " overlooked" by

the people who called the shots, and who had no knowledge of his record with the club, and saw him as

" a recovering young player "  who might not contribute to the cause. I'm glad that he had such a good 

season, but would be mindful that he might be a force to reckon with (in the Championship) - if we don't 

get him back - someone else will.

 

His decision-making, eye for goal and runs are very good. He's too good for the third div.

[macca155]

Ship has sailed sadly, he needed game time and Saints weren't prepared to guarantee that. He's hot property now, and will end up at another Championship club as a starter.

Really feels like a major error letting him go 

[Toadhall Saint]

1 minute ago, macca155 said:

Ship has sailed sadly, he needed game time and Saints weren't prepared to guarantee that. He's hot property now, and will end up at another Championship club as a starter.

Really feels like a major error letting him go 

Hindsight is a wonderful thing 

[macca155]

2 minutes ago, Toadhall Saint said:

Hindsight is a wonderful thing 

Normally I'd agree but I said all this before he was sold. Having seen him play a number of times, he's a real goal machine. Not unlike Steve Moran in some ways, just has impeccable timing.

Just so obvious that he could have been our back up striker. Would have allowed us to cash in on Archer. Saints put all the effort into developing him, and mending him, and then let him go.

[Toadhall Saint]

4 minutes ago, macca155 said:

Normally I'd agree but I said all this before he was sold. Having seen him play a number of times, he's a real goal machine. Not unlike Steve Moran in some ways, just has impeccable timing.

Just so obvious that he could have been our back up striker. Would have allowed us to cash in on Archer. Saints put all the effort into developing him, and mending him, and then let him go.

I take it all back scout. 😉

[Lighthouse]

54 minutes ago, macca155 said:

Normally I'd agree but I said all this before he was sold. Having seen him play a number of times, he's a real goal machine. Not unlike Steve Moran in some ways, just has impeccable timing.

Just so obvious that he could have been our back up striker. Would have allowed us to cash in on Archer. Saints put all the effort into developing him, and mending him, and then let him go.

He needed to leave and play regular football at a lower level to kick start his career. He’d have had neither of those things if he’d stayed. The fact that he got exactly what he needed and it’s working for him doesn’t mean we were wrong letting him go.

[swedish dave]

16 hours ago, Pip said:

You are aware we sold him to Orient aren’t you?

I guess you missed my opening post. The entire situation was created BECAUSE we sold him to Orient

when a more sensible solution would have been to loan him out (as we did with several others). 

OK ...so we go back to Orient and see if he wants a return, and then smile and pay them a fee. 

We see what he can do, and it's better than buying "another unknown " .....like Downs. 

[egg]

22 minutes ago, swedish dave said:

I guess you missed my opening post. The entire situation was created BECAUSE we sold him to Orient

when a more sensible solution would have been to loan him out (as we did with several others). 

OK ...so we go back to Orient and see if he wants a return, and then smile and pay them a fee. 

We see what he can do, and it's better than buying "another unknown " .....like Downs. 

Nobody would be saying a word about Ballard if we'd got promoted. He was completely unproven in men's football and looked like a league 1 player. We needed proven and were looking at a return to the PL. He was literally leagues away from what we were looking for this season.

Now that we're still in the championship, and he did well at Orient, the people with 20/20 hindsight are telling us we should have kept him on the books. The club, however, wanted better (sure, Downs was/is monumentally shit), and were looking at the PL.

Moving him in was the correct decision at the time imo. 

[ally_uk]

Any chance we exchange Diaz or Downs for him ? Haha 

[macca155]

9 minutes ago, egg said:

Nobody would be saying a word about Ballard if we'd got promoted. He was completely unproven in men's football and looked like a league 1 player. We needed proven and were looking at a return to the PL. He was literally leagues away from what we were looking for this season.

Now that we're still in the championship, and he did well at Orient, the people with 20/20 hindsight are telling us we should have kept him on the books. The club, however, wanted better (sure, Downs was/is monumentally shit), and were looking at the PL.

Moving him in was the correct decision at the time imo. 

You're probably right, football is a hard business, and the move has turned out well for Dom. Just speculation from me really. 

Good luck to him in his career, it could have easily been over.