Simeon Jackson to Norwich with High Expectations

Canadian striker Simeon Jackson completed his transfer from League two bound Gillingham to Championship bound Norwich City last week. Simeon Jackson has always been the great hope for Canadian forwards in the future. He was highly touted by Canadian supporters through the youth ranks and as he racked up the goals playing with Rushden and Diamonds, and more recently Gillingham, but at twenty-three now Jackson is no longer a striker for the future. He needs to start producing now as he enters the prime of his career and as Canada pins their goal scoring hopes for World Cup 2014 qualifying on his shoulders.

The worry for many is that he might not get the same opportunities at Norwich in the Championship as he did in the lower leagues of English football. We’ve seen plenty of Canadians with lots of potential waste away sitting on the bench for English clubs, hopefully Jackson’s name will not be added to the list. However making the jump was a risk Jackson needed to take, a League One striker is not going to take an average team to a birth in the World Cup, no matter how much he is scoring with his club.

Norwich played a 4-4-2 with Chris Martin and Grant Holt up front last season as they gained promotion from League One. Martin scored twenty-three goals in all competitions, while captain Holt scored an impressive thirty and was voted supporter’s player of the season. So in order for Jackson to get consistent starts next season he will have to break up this duo. He will probably start as an impact player off the bench, a role he did well in with Canada at the 2009 Gold Cup. The difference being this time he will have to score goals.

Since scoring in his debut for Canada against Cyprus Jackson has played nine more times for Canada often having an impact off the bench, but he has yet to score again. The championship is a strange league, back to back promotions are far from unheard of and back to back relegations are just as possible so coming off a dominating season in League One Norwich City will want to start fast in the Champions and possibly chase after a playoff spot. If Jackson doesn’t get hot early and start finding the back of the net his opportunities could thin out very quickly with two proven strikers already ahead of him in the depth chart.

Canada unfortunately doesn’t have that same depth up front that Norwich City has so they will need Jackson to find some form playing high level football over the next two years in order to be ready for qualifying come 2012. Canada’s only real other options aside from Jackson are Rob Friend, Ali Gerba, Stephen Ademolu and Gavin McCallum. Aside from Jackson, Rob Friend is the only one currently playing at a level with his club that is anywhere near international class.

People still talk about Jackson as a player for the future. He will be twenty-five years old when World Cup qualifying roles around, and there is no one else who can match his goal scoring record at club level aside from Friend. Jackson’s time has to be now or else Canada may have more difficulty than ever finding the back of the net over the next two or three years.