The Rise of Regan


When the Scottish Premiership season began, many had Ross County down as relegation candidates. After all in 20/21, the Staggies finished third from bottom as they narrowly evaded a dreaded relegation play off by just three points. 

However in the 21/22 campaign, new boss Malky MacKay has got Ross County playing highly attractive, attacking football - the Highland club are the highest scorers in the league outside the top three, Celtic, Rangers and Hearts. 


It is fair to say the Staggies have been one of the surprise packages in the Scottish Premiership this season and they are well within the mix for European football with just six league games to play. County currently sit seventh in the table, just three points away from fourth which would give them a continental place. A fifth place finish may even provide them with this with the way the Scottish Cup is shaping up however if they do not get top six this weekend, they can kiss Europe goodbye. Nonetheless, one of the salient positives of this campaign for County has been the form of Regan Charles-Cook. 


Charles-Cook has turned into a somewhat talismanic figure for his side in recent months. He is the club’s top scorer yet also impressively leads the charts in the Scottish Premiership with 13 in 31 matches. Charles-Cook also has 2 assists to his name in this time frame. 


It has not always been as rosy as this for Charles-Cook in Scotland though. He joined the club in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic on a free transfer from Gillingham in English League One. He made 32 appearances in his maiden season at Ross County, managing to net just twice. He was limited to numerous substitute appearances and it never really seemed to click for Charles-Cook in his first campaign in Scotland. 


However, he has really upped is game in the 21/22 season and part of his renaissance can be put down to Malky MacKay’s aforementioned allowance of free-flowing football. 


As a player, Charles-Cook is predominantly a left winger and most effective when cutting back inside on his right foot. His goals this season have been a combination of sweet strikes and clinical finishes. 


Charles-Cook has also struck up a congenial partnership with Joseph Hungbo in recent times. Hungbo is a twenty two year old Watford loanee and when the pair are in full-flow, they can cause problems for any defence with their line-splitting passes and deceiving combination play. 


On the international front, Charles-Cook, despite being born in London, has elected to represent Grenada. He’s made 4 caps for the Caribbean nation with 2 of them coming in the CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament against Qatar and Panama. This, combined with his receiving of the SPFL Player of the Month award for January where he netted 4 goals in 3 games against Motherwell, Dundee United and Rangers would’ve surely helped his stock to rise even further and catch the eye of several clubs. 


However, one hesitation teams may have should they pursue a move for Regan Charles-Cook could be the issue of over-performance. The twenty five year old has scored 13 goals from an xG of just 7.4 (FotMob). Moreover, Charles-Cook has one of the best goals per shot ratios in the Scottish Premiership which may suggest that he’s clinical in front of goal yet also connotes that a slice of fortune may be involved in his highly impressive 21/22 campaign. 


In spite of this, his contract at Ross County expires at the end of the current season thus the prospect of signing the top scorer of an extremely competitive league such as the Scottish Premiership who is still only twenty five years old will be an attractive one for any team. It wouldn’t be astonishing to see Charles-Cook turning out for a team in a division such as the English Championship or possibly even a side such as Celtic or Rangers, next season. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Celtic Player Ratings v St. Mirren

Image
Celtic bounced back from their goalless draw with Hibs at the weekend with a 2-0 victory over St. Mirren on Wednesday evening.   After a frustrating first half, the Hoops were on song in the second to make sure they came away with all three points against a St. Mirren side who had lost just one game in 2022 going into this one.  Here are my player ratings from the match.  Joe Hart - 6/10 The Englishman was relatively untroubled in the Celtic goal this evening apart from an instance in the first half where he had to be sharp off his line to collect a low cross. Hart racked up another clean sheet as he continues to play his part in the soundest defence in the league.  Josip Juranovic - 7/10 Juranovic constantly got down the right hand side and was tidy in his overall play. The twenty six year old is certainly Ange Postecoglou’s right back of choice after playing ninety minutes in the last three consecutive league matches.  Cameron Carter-Vickers - 9/10 Celtic’s loanee centre back had an
Read more

SPFL December Team of the Month

Image
In spite of the fact two whole rounds of fixtures were postponed, there was still a plethora of action in the Scottish Premiership in December. A total of thirty three games were played and today, I’ll putting the best performers from those matches into a starting eleven.  As ever, there will be no restrictions over specific positions, tactics and the like. Let’s begin.  Goalkeeper - Allan McGregor  Under Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Allan McGregor has really nailed down the number one spot at Rangers. The thirty nine year old played ninety minutes in all of Rangers’ six Scottish Premiership games in December, keeping a clean sheet in each of them. Admittedly, McGregor has not had much to do in these matches, averaging just 2.2 saves per game however, the Scot did put in a man of the match performance when Rangers traveled to Tynecastle. McGregor made several salient stops, mainly to deny Liam Boyce. Rangers have their keeper’s performance to thank for the fact they came away with all thr
Read more

Celtic Player Ratings v Hibs

Image
Celtic were very much off the boil in a goalless draw with Hibernian today. The Hoops gave up some vital ground in the title race as they dropped points in the league for the first time since December.     There were very few standout performers in the Celtic team today nonetheless I present to you my player ratings from the match.  Joe Hart - 6/10 The Englishman was sparsely called into action and had a nervy moment late in the match when he conceded a corner whilst trying to play out from the back. In spite of this, Hart was able to keep yet another clean sheet for Celtic.  Josip Juranovic - 7/10 Josip Juranovic was back in at right back after Anthony Ralston deputised there against both Bodo/Glimt and Dundee. The most notable involvements in the match from Juranovic were his two free kicks which evidently came to nothing.  Cameron Carter-Vickers - 7/10 The American centre back was calm and composed when defending and persevered in building up attacks from defence for Celtic. Carter-
Read more