Paynter’s future in Southend

For all those who might have been holding out hope that Billy Paynter would return to Valley Parade he has today confirmed in an interview that he has a clean slate at Roots Hall.

Citing his time at Bradford City as reinvigorating his career following a lengthy injury layoff he is now looking forward to enjoying his time in Southend. Perhaps if we had avoided relegation Billy would have been one of the first targets on Stuart McCall’s shopping list.

My impression towards the end of last season was that Paynter was well appreciated by many of the Bantam faithful for the level of effort he put in on the pitch; often outshining some of the permanent members of the squad. In 15 starts Billy Paynter hit the back of net four times but playing in the circumstances he did it was far from ideal for him.

I’m sure all Bradford City fans will wish the 22 year old well for the forthcoming season and hope that our new squad will demonstrate a similar kind of commitment.

Anyone disagree?