The Enigma that is Lewis McGugan


by Peter Ottaway

Ah Lewis McGugan, on Tuesday how you elated us all with those two goals.
The headlines all mentioned the man coming back in from the cold. That maybe, just maybe this is his time. All that potential could finally be realised and at last we would get the sparkling creative midfielder we always thought would appear.
And then yesterday save for a free kick he was largely anonymous.
Its typical of his career thus far. That he shines for a match or two, we all think finally he's going to come good before disappearing for a few games and then being dropped again. A lack of consistency in his game always scuppering his chance to cement a place in the team.
Even more so when Majewksi was shining last season, there was no way in for Lewis. Billy thought he was over weight, and I on several occasions have suggested he has too much ego around him.
Remember before he broke in the team, his father had been touting him to Chelsea and lamenting that Forest weren't picking him when they should have been in his opinion. A precocious talent that started to shine occasionally when he was selected but hasn't blossomed.
In that supposed conversation on the flight from Glasgow, when Billy revealed all to a fellow passenger, it was suggested that the manager believed him to be overpaid, and that if we was on a performance related pay packet, it'd get the best out of him. Forcing him to shine every match
But it's not as if he deliberately not trying. I think that often he lacks the motivation.
He is one of those frustrating players that you feel wants to shine too much. It was suggested by a friend of mine last season that he only ever seem to play his best when we were on television. That theory went out the window yesterday at Hull. And also that at times he tries to do much, to get the glory as it were, and that Earnshaw, who is a similarly headline grabber and him upfront might just scupper each other, constantly trying to show what they can do, rather the basics.
For instance, McGugan taking a shot from a ridiculous distance out, when a better pass may be on, its all to common.
I hope to be disproved in the next game, that McGugan plays a blinder and keeps himself in the team and goes on to be the player there is no doubt he can be. He just needs to be a little more about Forest and less about Lewis McGugan

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