`Right offer' would pave way for English League promotion By Lawrence Trott Rotherham United would not stand in Shawn Goater's way if a club from a higher division made the right offer for their Bermudian striker, assistant manager John McGovern disclosed this week.

Goater is one of the leading scorers in the English League after netting his seventh goal of the season on Saturday as the team went down 2-1 to Bournemouth.

He's made no secret of his ambition to play in a higher division, having spent his first season in English football with Manchester United. Rotherham accept they will eventually lose their most prized asset if he continues to score consistently. And McGovern has no doubts he can make the grade at a higher level.

"Shawn is capable, if he keeps his consistency, of playing in the Premier League,'' the assistant manager said. "He has enough attributes to play in the Premier League.'' McGovern said that no firm offer had been made for Goater, which he found surprising. But he admitted that clubs often looked for consistency over a couple of seasons before making investments in new signings.

In the long run, though, it would be both in Goater's and the club's interest if he continued to score regularly as his value would continually increase.

"We'd like to get as much as we possibly could for him,'' admitted McGovern.

"We don't say he's worth three hundred, four hundred or five hundred thousand (pounds) but when a team comes in for him we would wait to see what their offer was and if it was acceptable to us then we would say yes.

"It would have to be a substantial amount of money because of Shawn's goal scoring record.

"We haven't had a written offer from anyone at all which is surprising.

"At the moment he's been consistent and I think he'll start to attract interest, but someone has to come up to us and say `yes, we're willing to pay you this'.'' By the same token any interest in Goater could cool off if he suddenly hit a dry patch, McGovern pointed out. "If he doesn't score again for the next six or seven matches then there might not be anybody who would pay anything for him at all,'' he added.

McGovern pointed to the consistency of Wrexham striker Gary Bennett who led the Second Division scoring last season with 38 goals and after a couple of impressive seasons was transferred to First Division team Tranmere Rovers.

Goater began the season hoping to improve on last season's haul of 25 goals which came despite a slow start. If he continues to score regularly then he, too, could reach the 30-goal mark by the time the season ends next May.

"If he continues to score as he is we would love for him to stay, but if someone comes up with the right monetary offer we would have to discuss it with our chairman and then see what we would do after that,'' McGovern explained.

"We couldn't say yes we would accept that without discussing it with the chairman of our club who pays our wages.'' Since Archie Gemmill and his former Nottingham Forest team-mate, McGovern, took over at Rotherham last season they have moulded the team's style to suit Goater whom they have made their main striker.

"Obviously Shawn was our top goal scorer last season and one of the top scorers in our division and obviously we're delighted for him as he hasn't scored over 20 goals in a season before,'' said McGovern.

Clearly Goater's confidence has improved with both an extended run in the team, which he didn't get under the previous manager, and the fact that he carries more responsibility in the goal scoring department, as he also takes the team's penalties.

"Shawn's role as a striker is simply and purely to get himself into goal scoring positions and take his chances,'' said McGovern. "The style we play tends to suit Shawn because we like to play the ball on the ground and not in the air, so obviously his skill with the ball at his feet is his main asset.

"We try to provide him with the ball at his feet in and around the penalty area, instead of just kicking everything up in the air to him. Once you kick a football up in the air there is a 50-50 chance of the opposition winning the ball.

"We try to play football the way it should be played and I think Shawn has benefited from that. We, in turn, have benefited from his goal scoring efforts.'' Added McGovern: "This season he has already scored seven goals and we're only three weeks into the season. We're just delighted for Shawn and it's a great benefit to the team if he can continue to score goals like he does.'' Rotherham beat Scunthorpe over two legs in the first round of the Coca Cola Cup, which earned them a meeting with Premier League team Middlesborough in the second round later this month. However, they are still without a win in the league despite Goater's goals.

"We've had an indifferent start, we've bought one or two new players in and they've taken a little bit longer than we had expected to settle in to the style that we're playing,'' said McGovern.

"But we're hopeful that once they do get a better understanding between themselves our results will improve.'' SHAWN GOATER -- With seven goals, the Bermudian is one of the leading scorers in the English League.