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| Lifted from: watfordobserver.co.uk |
John-Joe O'Toole was born on September 30th 1988 in Harrow, London. He is a box-to-box central midfielder and at 6 ft 2 he carries an aerial presence that often means he sees a lot of the ball, whether it be with his feet or with his head. O'Toole came through the ranks at local club Watford and during the 2006-2007 season, the campaign in which Rovers were last promoted, he went on loan to Wealdstone in the Southern League Premier Division. He played 9 games for the club and scored 3 goals before returning to Watford and making his debut at the beginning of the next season in a League Cup match with Southend United. In September 2007 he signed a one-year professional contract.
He scored his first goal for the club in December, happily, against Bristol City in a game they went on to lose 2-1. He followed that up by scoring a header in the next game against Colchester United (coincidence!) and didn't leave it long before grabbing his third Hornets goal. In January 2008 he popped up with a goal against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the FA Cup. Watford played Wolves the following weekend in the Championship and O'Toole's performance was good enough to land him in the division's Team of the Week.
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| Sheff Utd - Lifted from: facebook.com |
Following a bright start to his career at Vicarage Road hopes were high for the club's new rising star. He had something of a cult following due to his energetic performances but injury was to strike and ultimately blight the rest of his Watford career. He signed a three month loan deal with Sheffield United in early 2009 and made 9 appearances for the Blades, scoring once in a Yorkshire derby with Barnsley. In his final week he picked up an injury in training and was therefore unable to feature for Sheffield United in a play-off final at Wembley. Ultimately United didn't achieve promotion and O'Toole returned to Watford.
By this point he was out of favour at the club under the management of Malky Mackay and in September 2009 he joined Colchester United on loan until January 2010. At the age of 22 he enjoyed a decent spell with the U's and scored his first goal for the club in a 1-1 draw with Tranmere Rovers. His loan went so well that the club signed him on a permanent deal in January, tying him down for the next 2 and a half years. His first goal as a permanent Colchester player came against, erm, Rovers at the Mem in a 3-2 win for the Gas. A horrible turn of fate he suffered a cruciate ligament injury in a game against Charlton Athletic that would see him sidelined for the next 9 months. In 2011-2012, persistent groin problems saw him make just 16 appearances but the following summer Colchester's then manager John Ward offered him a new 2 year deal.
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| Lifted from: eadt.co.uk |
After an unsuccessful first half to the last campaign when Ward left Colchester and Joe Dunne took over, O'Toole jumped at the opportunity to link up with Ward's new club Bristol Rovers on a one month loan on New Year's Eve. A fully fit O'Toole would not contemplate dropping to League Two, particularly one who were bottom of the division, but the opportunity to play first team football and regain fitness was too good to turn down. He made his Gas debut the next day in a 2-1 home win over Plymouth Argyle and put in a top performance. Despite losing the next game against eventual champions Gillingham, O'Toole was making the most of his first team football and put in a man of the match winning performance in the next game at Fleetwood Town. He pulled the strings in a tremendous 3-0 win against the big spenders and scored the final goal, a 20 yard strike that flew in off the post. Following another impressive display against Rotherham United at the New York Stadium in a game Rovers won 3-1, the club worked tirelessly to try and extend his loan.
The midfielder hadn't ever thought about staying for longer than 4 weeks but he enjoyed himself and when Dunne explained he wouldn't get much football at Colchester he accepted a two month extension, the maximum time allowed for an emergency loan. Rovers' great form continued into February and March and O'Toole became a real fans favourite. He was a God-send as far as we were concerned, he was the dominant midfielder we had lacked for years. Further goals against Burton Albion and at Dagenham & Redbridge in his final match meant he ended his loan spell having scored 3 goals in 18 appearances. A big send-off at the final whistle of that game from the players, management and supporters left O'Toole in no doubt as to how fondly he was thought of.
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| Lifted from: thisisbristol.co.uk |
He returned to Colchester in the hope of helping them avoid relegation from League One but despite a couple of substitute outings he wasn't given much chance to play. Rovers chairman Nick Higgs and manager John Ward both stated in the final weeks of the season that a contract offer would be made to O'Toole in an attempt to bring him to the club on a permanent basis. It was a real statement of intent from the club because a transfer for the midfielder would be a real coup considering his quality and age. I don't think anyone truly believed we would be able to convince him to sign given his desire to play at a higher level than League Two and the fact his exceptional performances for us would have attracted the attention of clubs in higher divisions. There was faint hope though because clearly his relationship with Dunne at Colchester was strained and if we could negotiate a get-out route for him he may see it as a good choice.
The early summer weeks saw the club, and Gasheads, hope that no other clubs would come in for him. Fortunately nobody did and while there was little progress in negotiations, John Ward reiterated that patience was required if we were to land our top transfer target. May ended, June passed and there was still no word on whether O'Toole would sign. There were rumours in mid-June that he was set to sign following a tweet from the man himself that said 'getting a lot of love from the Gas' but it became apparent that nothing was imminent. Pre-season began with no news and O'Toole was getting game time in Colchester's first couple of friendlies. The fear was that the influential midfielder had worked his way into Dunne's plans and a newspaper article in the east quoted the U's manager as saying the club had received no bids for him. This would suggest we did not have permission to offer O'Toole a contract and led to lots of confusion as to where the club stood in negotiations.
Recently though O'Toole was left out of Colchester's last 3 friendlies, which included games against West Ham and Tottenham Hotspur, and word was he was not going to be part of Dunne's squad for next season. Rumours arose that Gillingham wanted to sign him but it was reported a fortnight ago that he had turned down a move to a League One club be our offer was still on the table. When he was left out of their team photo for the new season reports became stronger that he was about to leave the club. Dunne confirmed this on Tuesday evening when he confirmed that O'Toole was set to join an unnamed club. There had been no further update from Rovers for a couple of weeks so there was no confirmation that the move would be to us, although local journalist Alistair Durden believed a deal was close. Then, on Wednesday 24th July Rovers fans got the news they had been waiting for - John-Joe O'Toole had joined the club on a three year deal.
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| JJ O'Toole and John Ward - Lifted from: bristolrovers.co.uk |
Ward and Higgs were understandably delighted to capture their top target and it sent out a message that despite little activity elsewhere in our camp we meant business. O'Toole was pleased to have committed himself to the club long-term to get 'out of his comfort zone' and because he thought the club was 'going places'. The length of deal is rare in the lower leagues but it showed how much we wanted him and showed that he feels his ambitions are matched here. He sported both the home and away shirt in the obligatory press shoot after signing and he took part in his first training session with the team today (Thursday 25th July).
His signing was eagerly anticipated and sent Gasheads into delirium yesterday but what exactly does John-Joe bring to the party?
Well, his seniority, despite being just 24 years old, will be absolutely vital given how young the rest of our squad is. We witnessed how good he was last season and there's no doubt he was our talisman during his loan spell in the new year. He's strong defensively, never gives his opponent a minute's peace, relieves pressure from the defence and leads by example. Going forwards he runs at the opposition, keeps the ball and has a very decent shot on him, meaning he has the potential to score goals. We've got ourselves an all-rounder who is just a nightmare to play against. All things considered it makes me even more surprised and delighted that we managed to persuade him to sign a long-term deal with us - he is the type of midfielder every manager wants in their team.
He does have a lot to live up to, especially as fans have been hyping his return, but he's the sort of character who will thrive on the pressure of being our main man. His an enigma and just having him around will provide everyone associated with the club a huge lift. He has potentially two friendlies to reacquaint himself with the club before the new season kicks off in just over a week's time away at Exeter City. Excitement levels are high and with the potential, maybe, for a loan signing or two we should go into the season with a lot of confidence.
We have our man on board and the aim this year is simple: let's give promotion everything we've
got.
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| Lifted from: @Official_BRFC on twitter.com |
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