Goalkeeper Cameron Dawson discusses making the move from Sheffield Wednesday to Rotherham United and how he is determined to gain promotion from League One again ...
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00I just wanted to ask, you played for Wednesday in League 1, former Premier League club with
00:11a big grout, you play with a target on your back. Rotherham don't have that Premier League
00:16history, that massive stadium, but do you think the fact that you've got Steve Evans
00:19as manager, got this record in League 1 and you made all these signings means you will
00:24be a team that has a target on its back this season?
00:28Yeah, look, I'm not sure about target on the back and I think as a professional footballer
00:32you have to have high standards and you have to perform week in, week out. I think it doesn't
00:38matter where you are, what football club you play for, I think professionally it's important
00:43that we give our all every day and we try and put our best on the pitch. I think at the end
00:48of the day, whatever club you're at, football is about winning games and it's about winning
00:51and when you don't win it becomes tough and in my opinion, so it should, that's what it's about.
00:57A lot of people go out and spend the hard-earned money coming to watch it, so it's about winning
01:03games of football. But yeah, look, I think with the signings the manager's made already,
01:08everyone's taking note and everyone will be taking note of Rotherham, so I think, yeah,
01:13we might have a few people wanting to turn us over, but hopefully we can get the upper hand.
01:18Yeah, and you've got, as I say, not just yourself, not just Rhys James, you've got the
01:23Pompey lads, you've got lots of players who've been in that position and hopefully we'll all
01:26relish it and rise to it. Yeah, I think as footballers in general, you want to be competing
01:31at the top end of the league. I think that was one of my conversations with the manager,
01:36that I want to play in those games, I want to play in those top-of-the-table clashes, those
01:40ones where you need to win, those games that really mean something, that's what is my driving
01:46force as a player and yeah, I want another medal up on the wall from the end of the season,
01:51of course I do. I mean, when you were weighing things up at the back end of last season,
01:55the start of the summer, did it boil down to a choice of the safe, comfortable option of staying
02:01or the option of pushing yourself and challenging yourself by moving on?
02:05Yeah, look, it's funny you say that because that's a conversation I have with myself regularly. I
02:09think it would have been really easy for me to stay in Sheffield Wednesday and take that road
02:14and stay there and be really comfortable around a lot of people that I've known a lot of years
02:19and got really good relationships with, but I think people that know me know that that's not
02:24really in my make-up. I'm someone that wants to push myself, wants to do it in the right way with
02:30a smile on my face, but wants to really be that man that's out on that pitch and putting in
02:34committed performances. So, that was a big driving force behind me stepping away from
02:40Sheffield Wednesday and moving on with my career. Was it ever in the process a difficult decision
02:46because it was your club, regardless of the fact that you weren't playing every week?
02:51Did you have to sort of reconcile yourself to it along the way and how quickly did you if that was
02:55the case? Yeah, of course it's a difficult decision. I've been there a long time, but
03:01I knew and I think when you know as much as you go back to it, I knew that it was the right time
03:06and I was convinced it was the right time and I believe in my ability that I can get back there
03:12with the right club and the right people around me and I can get back to being a championship
03:17goalkeeper. I really do believe that. So, for me, it was about finding the right fit for me,
03:22which I think I've got in Rotherham and yeah, try and do the hard yards now,
03:28but get back to being a championship goalie where I believe that I should be.