Gilbert played under Sturrock at Plymouth when they won the League Two title
No, no, not his actual favoured son; young Blair is applying his trade at Mansfield Town in the Conference, if two goals in 19 games is actually applying anything, though daddy Sturrock did sign him for Swindon once!
Anyway, the real question is if new Shrimpers boss Paul Sturrock is aiming to get his League Two Championship winning Plymouth side of 2001/02 back in south-east Essex?
The first member of that squad that could be on their way is the left back Peter Gilbert from fourth tier rivals Northampton Town.
Sturrock signed him again when he brought Peter to Sheffield Wednesday, then in the Championship, during 2005, first on trail then permantly until he left by 'mutual consent' four years later after the new Blues boss had joined Swindon Town.
No reunion that time around and there followed a couple of years in the wilderness where he had a trail with a few clubs including.......Southend United!
Blimey, was this when we were giving a chance to every left back in the country; still, didn't impress Tilly, and he ended up at Oldham Athletic.
The saga started yesterday on the Cobblers official site that reported they had parted with the defender after he 'refused to meet several club deadlines to return the paperwork.'
www.ntfc.co.uk continued: 'Gilbert agreed terms on a new deal with the club left back in May, but has left the club to pursue a contract elsewhere after boss Ian Sampson ran out of patience with the excuses of the player.'
The Cobblers manager Sampson told www.northamptonchron.co.uk: "Terms were agreed on his contract in May when Peter was back home in the north east and about to go on holiday to America. We posted the contract out to him as he requested but the paperwork has not been signed and returned to us. We have asked for the outstanding items on numerous occasions but have been misled time and time again with excuses ranging from illness to blaming his agent and various other things."
Oh-err, and no mention of Southend other than the paper's headline, but the Northampton boss was obviously not a happy bunny, and he's obviously off somewhere.
Sampson continued: "He is now holding out for another club and so we have taken his contract away. He cannot chase a deal with another club while having our contract as a back up. I am not allowing him to do that to me, the club or the supporters and I feel very let down. He has gone back on his word. He reported for pre-season training last week but still did not bring the paperwork so I set him a further deadline which he failed to meet. We gave him an opportunity last season when he was out of work. We took him off the scrap heap, we put him up and did everything he asked of us and we helped him get his career going again but we have been repaid by him jumping ship at the first opportunity despite agreeing terms with us."
Well, if the rumours prove true, and it does make sense Sturrock would return to players he's managed and been successful with at this level, let's hope he shows a touch more loyalty to us, if he's any good!
Of course it's fair to point out that of the nine players we do have, in Johnny Herd we have a more than capable left-back! Poor Johnny, what has he done in a previous life?!!
The Gilbert Files
 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Peter Gilbert | ||
| Date of birth | 31 July 1983 (1983-07-31) | ||
| Place of birth | Newcastle upon Tyne, England | ||
| Height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) | ||
| Playing position | Defender | ||
| Youth career | |||
| - | Birmingham City | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2002-2003 | Birmingham City | 0 | (0) |
| 2003-2005 | Plymouth Argyle | 78 | (1) |
| 2005-2006 | Leicester City | 5 | (0) |
| 2005-2006 | → Sheffield Wednesday (loan) | 7 | (0) |
| 2006-2009 | Sheffield Wednesday | 34 | (0) |
| 2007 | → Doncaster Rovers (loan) | 4 | (0) |
| 2009 | Oldham Athletic | 6 | (0) |
| 2009-2010 | Northampton Town | 29 | (0) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2004-2005 | Wales U21 | 8 | (0) |
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 11:58, 5 July 2010 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). | |||
(Player information supplied by Wikipedia, for the full article go here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Gilbert)