Notts County Manager Shaun Derry was delighted to have brought Jamal Campbell-Ryce back to the club on loan ahead of the game at home to Port Vale.
Campbell-Ryce returned to Meadow Lane on Thursday on an emergency loan deal until the end of the season and is in line to make his return debut for the club on Saturday, alongside fellow loanee Paddy McCourt, who joined Notts last week.
Derry couldn’t hide his delight at having added the duo to his squad and is looking forward to seeing them in action this weekend, as his side look to build on two strong performances that have gone unrewarded in recent weeks.
“I’m delighted, absolutely delighted,” enthused the Notts boss when asked about the return of Campbell-Ryce. “I’ve missed ‘Jama’. I’ve missed him as a person, missed him as a player and when we had the meeting at the end of last season, there was probably four players who I would have loved to have kept and Jamal was one of them.
“So when the opportunity came that we could perhaps get him back on loan, it was a deal that I snapped up straightaway because I think we’ve missed him.
“I’m excited by the fact that we’ve got two players that can light up a game. We’ve had a season where it’s been up and downs and at the minute we’re on a down because of the results.
“I think that the performances in the last two games in particular have been encouraging, but I wanted to bring a certain type of player in. I wanted a certain type of player to excite. I wanted to become excited watching the boys from the sideline,” he added.
“You do your research and you have a look at certain players and would it be the right fit and I just think that with getting Paddy McCourt and ‘Jama’ into the building now, I think it’s the right fit and I think it’s the right time where hopefully we can put a smile on people’s faces again.”
After a difficult run of results over the festive period, Notts looked to have turned a corner with a hard-earned win away to Leyton Orient, but despite following that up with strong performances in their next two outings, both the home game against Sheffield United and the away trip to Fleetwood Town at the weekend ended in somewhat harsh 2-1 defeats.
However, Derry wants every associated with Notts to remain focused on the club’s original goal for the current campaign, which was to reach 50 points as quickly as possible and look to secure their place in Sky Bet League 1, after a relegation battle last season.
“Let’s talk about 50 points and getting there as quickly as possible, because that’s always been the aim, even when we was in third position, the aim was to get as close to 50 points as possible and nothing’s changed,” Derry continued.
“The sooner people stop getting carried away about that, the better, better for the whole football club, better for me, better for the players. We need everybody’s support, everybody’s understanding of where we are as a football club.
“How many times have we played a game where we’ve said they’ve come on form, that’s just sometimes what happens, you get people at the wrong time for you, at the right time for them,” he added.
“We’ve got to make sure that we look after ourselves and that’s what we’ve been doing all season, we’ve always tried to hold the opposition with the highest regard and respect and look at what they bring to the table, but now’s the time for us to really put our foot down and make sure that we get the right results.”
Subscribers can watch the full pre-match media session with Shaun Derry on Magpie Player.