Two former Sunderland players have signed deals this week that sees them move clubs.
Defender Darren Holloway, who played for Sunderland from August 1995 for five years, has moved from beleaguered Wimbledon to third division Scunthorpe United on an initial one month loan.
Holloway moved to the Dons three and a half years ago for £1.2m and has clocked up an impressive 102 appearances for the club, who are currently stuck firmly at the bottom of the first division and have won only five of their 32 matches this season. His last appearance for the Dons was when they faced Sunderland just before Christmas, and his contract with the club expires this summer.
Holloway was registered with Scunthorpe in time to be eligible for yesterday’s scheduled game against York City, but the match was postponed due to severe weather, so he is expected to make his debut in Scunny’s home match against Carlisle this Tuesday evening. Holloway joins another former Sunderland defender, Cliff Byrne, at Glanford Park.
Meanwhile striker Danny Dichio has made his loan move from West Brom to Millwall a permanent one.
Deech, 29, spent almost four years at Sunderland, but struggled to get a regular starting place whilst Kevin Phillips and Niall Quinn became Peter Reid’s established Sunderland frontline. Shortly after Sunderland’s second consecutive 7th-placed finish in the Premiership, Dichio went to West Brom on loan, signing shortly afterwards for £1.25m.
In January this year, the player went to Denis Wise’s Millwall on loan where he made an immediate impact – scoring two goals on his debut….against Sunderland! He’s scored six in seven matches so far with Millwall and said of his £200,000 move (which could rise as far as £680,000 depending on appearances): “It’s been a long time coming. There have been a lot of practicalities that needed to be sorted out but I’m just very glad to have finally signed.”
Baggies’ chairman Jeremy Peace said “This is an excellent financial deal in the current climate for a player whose current contract would otherwise have run out in the summer.”
Dichio had recently claimed that claimed morale in the Baggies’ camp was low and that he was surprised that the team was able to earn results with such an atmosphere, and Peace took the opportunity to condemn Dichio for what he saw as the player holding up the move. “We are disappointed that Danny chose to be so outspoken during his contract negotiations. Talks had already been concluded between Millwall and ourselves and his comments were unneccessary – particularly as he was the person who was holding the move up. The agreement we had with Millwall was only kept alive by the co-operation between the two clubs.”
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