Former Liverpool record signing endures nightmare start after making shock non-league move

Former Liverpool record signing endures nightmare start after making shock non-league move

Andy Carroll's time at Liverpool didn't prove be a success - now he is playing his football down in non-league

Former Liverpool forward Andy Carroll in action for Dagenham & Redbridge (Image: Getty Images )

Former Liverpool record signing Andy Carroll endured a nightmare start to life at Dagenham & Redbridge after his new club lost 5-1 on Tuesday.

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The 36-year-old signed for the National League South side on Saturday and made his debut against League Two outfit Crawley Town in a pre-season fixture three days later. However, Carroll was unable to prevent the Daggers from falling to a crushing defeat.

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Carroll came on as a substitute around the hour mark when his team were 2-1 down thanks to goals from Harry McKirdy and Harry Forster. However, matters got worse for Dagenham, as a Trialist scored a brace and Reece Brown netted the other for Crawley.

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It marked a second loss in three for Dagenham at the start of pre-season. They began with a 3-0 defeat at the hands of seventh-tier side Aveley on Friday, July 4 but soon after recorded a 1-0 win at Sittingbourne, who play in the eighth-tier of English football.

Ex-Liverpool ace Carroll made the move to Dagenham on a free transfer, following his departure from Bordeaux in France. He has signed a three-year contract in east London.

Speaking to Sky Sports after he was confirmed as a new Dagenham player, Carroll said: "It doesn't matter the level, or anything, as long as I get on the pitch and play football, that's all that matters.

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"Coming here and showing people I am just playing for the love of football rather than the money and the level is something I wanted to do. This is something which could be fantastic.

"We have a project to get them out of non-league and back up the leagues."

Carroll, who started his career at Newcastle United, joined Liverpool in January 2011 for £35million after Fernando Torres left for Chelsea. However, the Gateshead-born forward struggled at Anfield. In fact, he scored just 11 times in 58 appearances for the Reds before moving to West Ham in August 2012.

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His time at the Hammers was a lot more successful, even if he didn't score as many as he would have wanted, and often struggled to keep fit for a sustained amount of time. Carroll ended up spending six years at West Ham, finding the net on 34 occasions in 142 matches.

The former England international returned to Newcastle for a brief spell under Steve Bruce before then moving to Reading twice, either side of a disappointing spell at West Brom.

Last season, Carroll enjoyed a fruitful stint at fourth-tier French side Bordeaux and scored 11 times in 23 matches for them. However, he announced his departure last month to be closer to home.

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