Not fazed by the fact the summer 2023 transfer window was all but shut, Boro’ still managed to get the signing of Kane Hemmings over the line. In fact, it wouldn’t be until the morning after the night before that word got out. It seemed as if things happened quite quickly. In the morning, the forward was a Tranmere Rovers player. But, in a matter of hours, he became available for transfer; leaving Rovers by mutual consent. And it meant Steve Evans had a chance to sign the lad for the second time in his career.
The arrival of Hemmings suggested that Boro’ now had a bone fide goalscorer on their hands. Not that the other front men on our books were incapable of finding the net. Look back through Hemmings back catalogue, though, and you’ll see a man who scores goals wherever he goes. Boro’ weren’t exactly starved in the opening weeks of the 2023-4 League One campaign. The fact is you don’t really turn down goals when you can get them. And the signing had the potential to lift us up yet another notch as the winter slog approached.
Kane Hemmings: Before Boro’
It’s quite possible that Hemmings is the first, last, and only player to go from Tamworth to Glasgow Rangers in a single transfer. That was the path he took as a young prospect; moving north of the border before he’d signed a pro deal. Mind you, Rangers didn’t exactly provide much in the way of opportunity for him. Yes he did play there. And yes he did score his first senior goal there. But it was at Cowdenbeath – first on loan and then permanently – where he arguably truly learned his trade.
In 2014, Hemmings returned south; signing for Barnsley and starting to establish himself in the Football League. Not that he was done with Scottish football. On two separate occasions, he returned north with Dundee. He had time at Oxford United and Notts County in between those spells with the Dee, as well as a loan stint at Mansfield Town – the first place where he’d play under Evans. After departing Dundee for a second time in summer 2020, Hemmings signed for hometown club Burton Albion – before joining Tranmere Rovers in January 2022.
