He Put In A Good Shift

If you have been directed to my blog via Scott's then you may have seen that I am not a big fan of Paul Dickov. I'd like to take this opportunity to explain my hatred.
I have nothing against Dickov personally but surely there can't be any other player who has spent as long playing in the premiership with so little talent. When he played for Scotland it used to annoy me intensely as he just wasn't good enough. I admit Scotland aren't blessed with great striking talent but to play an ageing dwarf rather than a promising youngster who may actually have some talent just seemed to beggar belief. However this was the Berti Vogts era so maybe it's not that much of a surprise. This is the same McVogts who substituted Gary Holt in the second half against France despite only bringing him on at half time as he "got confused and meant to take someone else off" Brilliant.
Anyway the one thing you always hear about Dickov is that he put in a good shift. Surely this is the worst thing you can say about a striker as loosely translated it means "he doesn't have any talent but he ran about a lot" This is not what I want for a striker, especially one playing for Scotland. Bizarrely he does seem to be rated in the Premiership although I'm beginning to think that he inspires sympathy due to his stunted growth and lack of footballing ability. That is why teams sign him instead of someone who may actually be effective.
I'm sure he is a nice person though....