IT wasn’t quite a wake-up call but John-Joe O’Toole was glad he didn’t have his phone switched off late into the night on February 1 when he received an unexpected offer.
O’Toole, 35, thought his transfer window chance had gone and he would be spending the rest of the season at Mansfield Town but on the outside looking in as Nigel Clough’s side challenged for automatic promotion from League Two.
O’Toole had only made two league appearances in the first half of the season – both from the bench, the second against AFC Wimbledon – and his phone was hardly hopping in January.
But just four days after that appearance at Plough Lane, the Dons came calling as Johnnie Jackson aimed to bolster his play-off chasing squad with experience.
“It was a late call. My agent doesn’t ring me up too often and when he called me it was 10 pm at night,” O’Toole explained on the Dons’ website. “I’m guessing I probably wasn’t the first-choice!
“I was ready to go to bed, but I got a call out of the blue about the move, so next thing I was having a chat with my missus about it.
“The move was on, but then it was off. I don’t think the manager at Mansfield was quite sure, but he changed his mind, so then it was up to me to get it done. It was certainly worth it – I’m glad that I stayed up!”
O’Toole has made eight appearances this season, starting five times, and is set to play an important role in that promotion challenge with the Dons in the last play-off spot with seven games left, though teams behind them have matches in hand.
O’Toole had no doubt about committing to the eleventh transfer – including loan and permanent – of his career.
He said: “I jumped at the chance to come and play here. I wasn’t playing at Mansfield after suffering with injuries for the last year or so. It was hard getting back into the team, especially when they were doing so well. They have a strong squad, so I found myself not even on the bench some weeks.
“I needed to go out and play and when I got the call to come here I jumped at the opportunity. I’ve had to wait a little bit to get my chance and now I need to hold on to my place in the team.
“As you get older you get to know your body better and you learn what works and what doesn’t. You have to adapt over time and try to perfect your approach to staying in peak shape. I tried to keep myself as fit as possible, so that I was ready to perform at my best when the chance came along.”
Wimbledon missed the chance to increase their advantage over the chasing pack when they lost 2-0 at home to Newport County last weekend.
But O’Toole, who has made 475 Football League appearances in his career, has every faith that Jackson can lead the side to a second promotion from League Two.
“The gaffer has to take a lot of the credit,” O’Toole said. “He picks the team and the way he sets us up has been brilliant. We are doing very well at the back, but we’re scoring goals and winning games as well. The feeling we’ve got is that if we keep a clean sheet we will nick a goal or two. Clean sheets will win games. It’s not just the back three or back five, the lads up top have been doing very well and it starts with them. They make our job a lot easier.
“We have not achieved anything yet though, so we just have to keep going.”
The Dons travel to Crewe on Saturday.
