David McGoldrick has branded Premier League and other elite football players such as Jude Bellingham a number of robots.
And the Nottts County Striker-Die played in the top-flight for Sheffield United-say that our crown jewels of English football have become so deprived of Mavericks that you get from your feet that he doesn't bother to watch.
This weekend there is a break in Premier League football because of the international break – and McGoldrick believes that more fans are turning to the EFL because it is more exciting and less predictable.
McGoldrick, 37, played most of his career outside the top flight for people such as Southampton, Bournemouth, Nottingham Forest, Sheffield Wednesday, Derby, Coventry, Port Vale and Ipswich.
But he made the great time when the Blades were promoted in 2019 and 63 games played at the highest level for two seasons.
Asked how the game changed from when he made his debut as a teenager for the province 21 years ago, he told Sunsport: “It's like another sport.
“Twenty years ago there were not all these statistics, we did not wear GPS jackets and we were worried about all the things they are doing now.
“We used to keep meetings about oppositions, but not much of them. Much of them was 4-4-2, played in their half, you won duels.
“That is still in the game, but there are so many playing patterns, it is so robot -like, especially the top teams.
“If you watch football in the Premier League or other top divisions, it is so robot -like.
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“In my time there was Ronaldinho, Paul Gascoigne and those kinds of players who were great to watch.
“I don't watch as much football as before, not because I don't like it, but because some of the top games are no longer fun to watch because there are no mavericks.”
McGoldrick believes that top football clubs have purified the game with the way they train and spend their talent – they almost program as machines.
And he fears that the days of top stars of the cuff play and show their personality both on and outside the field, will not return.
He said: “I wish to see more Mavericks play, but I am not sure if that will be.
“The way in which children are now raised in the academies with the current statistics, how difficult they have to run and certain things, I can't see it.
“You used to have George Best and not so long ago someone like Abel Taarabt at QPR – these players were Mavericks.
“We have some great English players such as Phil Foden and Bellingham, who is a fantastic player, but even he is half a robot!
“Bellingham will set the most distance and score goals – but he will not get you from your chair and let you buy a ticket. And those are now two of our top players.
“Erling Haaland is a machine, but again not Maverick, but that is exactly how the game changed while I played it.”
The break in Premier League football fits McGoldrick Fine while, instead, he prefers watching EFL matches because they are more fun.
The Provincial AAS-Wiens Promotion hunting in fifth place in Team Host Crewe in League Two this weekend-believed that more fans are rejecting the Prem.
He said: “If you go off the competitions, you see players who are more freely lively and that is probably the reason why they are in the EFL and not at the top because they have that way. It is a bit more of the cuff.
“There are some good players in the EFL and maybe some get their step to the top and if it doesn't work, they will come back.
“We have good quality players in the lower competitions and many people tell me that nowadays they would rather watch the EFL than a top game.”
McGoldrick freely admits that he has never been an outsider, but during his two seasons in the top flight played the best football of his career.
And that includes when he went twenty-five Prem matches without scoring for the knives, but the team ended an expectation-rating ninth in 2019-20 -20 after their promotion of the championship.
He said: “I enjoyed playing in the Premier League. I was in the perfect club at the perfect moment. I was not Maverick, I was a left -wing player, but was given the freedom to express myself.
“I may have gone 25 games without scoring, but the input I gave to the team and the manager was important. The manager Chris Wilder never dropped me while the fans went to me and watched me in the time I didn't score.
“I played some of the best football I had ever played and that was because the team and the club took care of me. They made me a free spirit to go out and enjoy.”
McGoldrick joined his Boyhood Club County in June 2023 and scored an impressive 26 league goals from 52 Starts.
His two recent goals took the breath off most people. His strike in a 2-1 win in Gillingham in February won him the Skybet goal of the month Gong-and his goal at Grimsby in a 2-0 win, Boss Stuart Maynard had called him “Superman”.
Although McGoldrick does not feel that he has superhero qualities, he takes care of his body by sometimes diving out while training and working on practice bikes or instead doing gym work.
The contract of the striker proceeds in the summer, but is open to writing a new one and extending his career.
He said: “I am relaxed. It can depend on which competition we are in or finances. I am not consciously and misled.
“But the club is happy with me, I am happy that I am and want to continue to play here. I think with nine games, the main goal is to protect promotion.”
And McGoldrick will certainly not feel pressure during the business end of the season.
He said: “You have to trust yourself and play your normal game.
“Pressure is for tires. It's just a game of football. Give it all and be quite lively.”
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