His career is unusual as he became a full time professional very late. I think that if you were being fair you would make allowances that it took him 1000 minutes to find the net. I remember seeing him play in what I think was his full debut against Blackburn in the League Cup when he was totally out of his depth. He was dumped on his backside a number of times and he seemed genuinely shocked at the physical nature of the game. I thought he was useless. On that night he was. Testament to him and the club that he has come on so much that he could perform 3 years later against the runaway leaders of the Championship and not look out of place in such company. Further to that, to make enough of a contribution that he is picked out for special mention by Hamer and by Paul Cook. If you were being honest you would acknowledge this.
You seem fixated with League goals. His two in the play off semi at Notts County were vital to the future of this club. If we had not won that game, it is possible that we could be where County are now. Yet those two goals don't seem to figure in any of the stats that you quote. In cup games he has scored against u23 teams but he also scored against teams from our division and divisions above (MK and Blues). Why in your stats don't they count? Overall he hasn't scored a bag full of goals, but he hasn't played a bag full of games. He has really had to persist, stay patient and resilient and make his bits and pieces of time on the pitch count. Again, if you were being fair, you would acknowledge that it is harder to have consistent form and to be a consistent goal scorer when you are in and out of the team. For a cash strapped club like ours, his goals at MK and at Ipswich would have more than paid his salary I think in prize money and match receipts. He also scored vital goals in both our promotion seasons (Newport away, Bolton at home for example)
He always gives 100% and does seem to have a genuine feeling for the club, something rare these days. He is not however, just a work horse. The quality of his strikes cannot be questioned, even by you and his ability to hold the ball up and bring others into play is also very good.
There are undoubtedly better centre forwards out there and we have had many better forwards than Max in my time watching the club. Until we can manage to find someone better than him, I can see no reason to belittle him or sneer at his contribution as from what I am watching, he is doing a good job.