Richie Towell admits his avalanche of individual awards is causing problems for his mother who is struggling to cope on the shelf space front after a week in which he added the PFAI Player of the Year and now another Airtricity/Soccer Writers Association of Ireland Player of the Month Award to go with the rest of his haul from 2015.
“My ma,” he says, “is trying to move things around, so I can fit everything up on it.”
Having become as big a fish as he could have hoped for back here at home since returning from a stint in Scotland, Towell says he has still not settled on where the next stage of his career is set to unfold.
“I’m still just weighing up everything,” insists the midfielder who has been very heavily linked with a move to Brighton in recent days. “They are one of the clubs that is interested and they are a good club, with a good pedigree and a lovely stadium and things like that.
“But it’s not just one club; Dundalk are still in the picture and I’m not ruling anything out because it’s not done until it is signed on the dotted line. I just have to weigh everything up and see what happens.”
There has been interest, he says, from as far afield as Turkey, Poland, the United states and Canada but with his girlfriend due to have their first child over the next two weeks, he seems likely to go for one of the safer options and a deal with Chris Hughton’s club by the end of the week still seems like the frontrunner with the former Spurs and Ireland defender essentially confirming his interest in an interview with Newstalk radio on Wednesday night.
“Richie’s had a wonderful season so he’s one that yes, of course, we are aware of but we’re conscious that lots of other clubs are also aware of him. His performance and what he’s been able to achieve in that season, I think he’s done very, very well for himself but he’s a player that, yes, we are aware of.”
Much will depend, though, on the 24 year-old, who picked up his latest award pretty much exclusively on the back of his performance in the FAI Cup final, being convinced that he is part of his next manager’s first-team plans.
“I want to go straight in and play,” he says. “The manager, no matter what team it’s at, will have his team and his players but I don’t think he’ll be bringing me in to play reserve football. I’m 24 now and I’d like to imagine that I’d be in contention straight away.
“I want to go straight in and play,” he says. “The manager, no matter what team it’s at, will have his team and his players but I don’t think he’ll be bringing me in to play reserve football. I’m 24 now and I’d like to imagine that I’d be in contention straight away.
“Obviously I’d have to play a few games in the reserves to get some football. I haven’t played for a couple of weeks so if it was a case I moved over I’m sure I’d have to play some reserve games or some bounce games to get my match sharpness back. But hopefully then I can push my way into any team that I do go to.”
