summer upheaval

[AlsagerCrewie]

Who stays? Who goes? What kind of player should we look to bring in?

I know our destination next season is uncertain but just thinking in general terms we should look for..
A back-up keeper to garratt will probably be necessary.
Perhaps a solid left back?
An experienced centre back
A midfielder who can PASS FORWARD AND CREATE (imagine!)
A mobile forward who can play alongside pogs/vadaine; I assume AJ and max will both no longer be with us.

Admittedly that list is made with more league 2 in mind.
Saying that I will continue to hope we'll survive until its no longer mathematically possible

[alexmick]

Who stays? Who goes? What kind of player should we look to bring in?

I know our destination next season is uncertain but just thinking in general terms we should look for..
A back-up keeper to garratt will probably be necessary.
Perhaps a solid left back?
An experienced centre back
A midfielder who can PASS FORWARD AND CREATE (imagine!)
A mobile forward who can play alongside pogs/vadaine; I assume AJ and max will both no longer be with us.

Admittedly that list is made with more league 2 in mind.
Saying that I will continue to hope we'll survive until its no longer mathematically possible

If Tootle does go (although pre-match on Saturday, I heard SD say that Toots was happy where he was...right back or at Crewe????), then we need one to replace his skill & character. Left back I am happy with...the lad will only improve with time, and if it is L2, he will quickly adapt. Central defence is still an issue, especially if we s

[bonehead]

OK - doesnt matter if league one or two lots to sort out

keeper - garrett + back up -

happy with guthrie - davis - ray if improves

think toots will get sold - think ellis isnt happy - duggy think might move to

so need strong full back - hopefully who can take corners - pens

midfield

grant to stay i hope - turton - nolan - waters

need free kick specialist

attack

inman - pogba - oliver - CHUCKS will be in championship i think

need winger - saunders - murdock on fringes

another forward to help oliver in centre

THINK BYRON - AJ - MELLOR - OSMAN - AUDEL -

CLAYTON - (and EVANS - not good enough)

[AlsagerCrewie]

Who stays? Who goes? What kind of player should we look to bring in?

I know our destination next season is uncertain but just thinking in general terms we should look for..
A back-up keeper to garratt will probably be necessary.
Perhaps a solid left back?
An experienced centre back
A midfielder who can PASS FORWARD AND CREATE (imagine!)
A mobile forward who can play alongside pogs/vadaine; I assume AJ and max will both no longer be with us.

Admittedly that list is made with more league 2 in mind.
Saying that I will continue to hope we'll survive until its no longer mathematically possible

If Tootle does go (although pre-match on Saturday, I heard SD say that Toots was happy where he was...right back or at Crewe????), then we need one to replace his skill & character. Left back I am happy with...the lad will only improve with time, and if it is L2, he will quickly adapt. Central

[AlexLeicester]

Let not forget we have Ryan Colclough waiting to recover. I think he'd work wonders with Inman, inside (instead of the departed Chuks and Evans) and Waters.

I rate Fraser Murdoch as a big striker; James Jones possibly alongside Inman or benched as a replacement. Callum Saunders, if he eats a whole cow, could step up.

Harry Davis will be back for dead balls and possibly penalties.

I'd look closely at Johnstone as the 2nd choice 'keeper - as long as he spends every waking minute working with Phillips.

OK, I'm trying to be positive. :-) Unfortunately the above comments work best in the basement division, not this one.

[One_Dean_Ashton]

What's the latest with Colclough? I know he's injured, but isn't he due a court appearance? Apologies if this has been put to bed elsewhere... if it has, I missed it

[Proggs]

Oooooo juicy thread :)

Regardless of division the squad will have to change. Too big now and not good enough, so it will defo come down and be padded out with home-growns and loans.

League 2 (as I think it'll be) team will be based on these.

Garratt
Guthrie
Davis
Dugdale
Ray
Turton
Waters
Inman
Grant (skipper)
Pogba
Oliver
Molyneux
Nolan
Colclough

GK may remain as SP or a loan.

Defence is already listed above, as is midfield and maybe a small quick forward and a winger - to buy or loan as needed.

It isn't a bad 11.

Garratt
Guthrie Duggy Davis Turton
Waters Grant Inman Colclough
Pogba Oliver

They need to adapt a style to get a goal and protect it.

It's a great debate this one :)

[MikeSB]

You can add Steve Davis who would have signed for Burnley or Wolves given the chance and so give him his P45 as well.

Sorry guys, this millions in the bank and us probably getting relegated is getting to me..:( :s

That should NOT happen and if we are lucky to survive, then the club needs to look at the managers performance as well as can't see much improvement either way whether its L1 or L2?

And maybe get Hassall off the board and the other Directors to show why exactly what they are there, or replace them with cardboard bloody cutouts! No ****** would know either way!

[MikeSB]

We have not exactly 'sleepwalked' into the bottom 3 have we!

[AlsagerCrewie]

Could also debate whether some players will want to leave if we end up in league 2! Players such as Pogba (considering the circumstances of how he left Wrexham for us) may push for a transfer?

[AstonAlex]

As has been discussed at length on other threads, we can't get Hassall off the board as he and his associates have a controlling interest in the club; this also impacts on the power that John Bowler, Dario and the others have on the decisions made on behalf of the club. The financial 'arrangements' that the man in question has made also mean that we do not have millions to spend, although presumably some of the stages of the payments for Powell, Westwood and Murphy will come along in the summer.

However, the long and the short of it is that SD will not have millions to spend, even if Bowler and Gradi wanted to make it available to him, nor will he for the foreseeable future so to suggest that he will is a waste of time. Frustrating I know, but that's the way it is.

Better to put this season down to experience whether we survive or not. I am assuming we won't and that Chuks will be lost to us, along with perhaps Toots. Nobody else of long term significance will leave and the money

[MikeSB]

Good points but if nobody is going to fund some decent players even if its in the bank, then it makes having an academy pointless as most clubs in L1 and L2 don't anyway and we may as well fund the first team squad directly from the gate money and other payments we get from the FA.

Its like saying each of us have 3 million in the bank but have to make do with a small semi as we may need it one day. That was exactly the same excuse used by DG for years and years.

Hassall may well control the shareholding but what are the Rowlinsons on there for? Why don't they buy him out? Could he carry on if Bowler and Gradi resigned and went public about all the goings on here?

I'm not sure he could tbh?

The point was always that we have an academy to get money to survive as a club. But if we are not going to spend some of it to get better players for the first team alongside the kids in these good years and risk relegation whereby we will lose in excess of 100,000 pounds by going back to L2, t

[sacrewebleu]

I actually fear that our younger promising players who are out of contract will leave before the seniors, let alone those second year scholars being offered who may decline.

whats the sales pitch, "sign and youll get the same opprtunity as westwood and Powell, but this time only after weve tried out those at arsenel , qpr, fulham, watford, city, middlesborough (probably forgotten one) first."

Either way, its not a compelling pitch in my view is it ?.

the added irony is our 21s sit second in a league of championship clubs with treble or more the finances we have. Ray, nolan, Waters and latterly Turton (playing midfield and right back) who hve been stand outs week after week when ive been. Others mentioned at scholar level have done well but inconsistant as youd expect and need time. Thats not a criticism and hopefully theyll get it.

2 of these are21 internationally and will be being watched by clubs. Lets get back to our business model and develop our own and stop paying other club

[TwiceInABlueMoon]

I think the reason Steve isn't playing the academy lads much is partly down to logic and partly down to the way things have panned out.

We started with Ray in defence. It didn't work out and perhaps he wasn't quite ready for L1 yet so SD, rightly, took the pressure off. Turton has been injured for much of the season. Colclough as well. Nolan and Waters are still early days. Both have had run-outs and I would like to see more of Waters this season.

There is also the logic that, if he chucks all these lads in now, when we are in the scrap, then the pressure may be too much. Getting relegated could severely dent their confidence and eventual progress.

I have a good feeling that next season, whatever division we are in, we will see more of the Alex youth get game time.

Toots and Chuks will be off. As will Evans, Moore, Uche, AJ, Audel (?), Max, possibly Duggy and Ellis, and maybe even Osman. Everyone seems to think Mellor will go but I'm not convinced. Can see him slotting in a RB next

[alexbarmy]

By the time next season starts, there may be a chance things will look better at the top - with the bad apples removed.

The club may end up poorer for it (or may not?) but it will be worth it.

[somersetcrewe]

Weve lost our business model 11 months after playing an academy 11, lets reclaim it .


If I have one criticism of Steve and Bakes, it is exactly this point. That Walsall game gave me (and surely them!) real pride. We need to restore that.

[MikeSB]

The young lads get injured easy is mainly because they are really not developed enough physically who then are OK with the academy matches against similar kids but when they come up against lots of seasoned Pro's they get pushed off the ball too easily and can't tackle the same etc etc.

So we just can't afford to have mainly academy players in the team. Its essential we have a midfield of good quality and a captain who can lead and guide the team and call the shots on the pitch when its needed. That bloke from Oldham who scored their goal was all over the pitch and was a dynamo and yet he was 29 playing for the same standard club as we are and so why can't we get players like that?

They are available but maybe they get a thousand a week more than we can pay, I don't know but we will lose 100,000 pounds by being relegated plus the bigger gates from the away sides.

Its all been said before and the club seem happy to keep repeating the same mistakes again and again. Maybe we can get ri

[bonehead]

ok - heres my views again

if we stay up - and why cant we -- same players that beat sheff utd arnt they

we will loose toots / and loanees

only chucks for me any loss at all

1/ play less friendlies - dont think it did us any favors

play 2 away and 3 home - (prem teams i cant see point of playing UTD reserves)

2/ be better at picking trialists
Sam Winall was on a free and would of signed when i spoke to him - just wanted a club


3/replace any director with under 10,000 shares

4/ use ground in summer - june -- as lots of clubs do - pitch wont get any worse - use money made to buy sky lites for stand

concert / outdoor boxing

use club for record fair on a sunday 1 a month

[DGFG]

Don't forget the lad we signed from Leek - though again more chance of him making an impact in L2 I suppose.

I'm a little concerned that Garratt, Nolan and Turton have yet to sign their new contracts despite being encouraged by SD to do so.

I'm a lot more concerned that Billy Waters appears not to have been offered a new deal to date.

[MikeSB]

With ref to using the stadium in the summer etc?

What do all these football club chairmen talk about in their meetings?

Its a hobby horse of mine but it can't make any sense finishing in the first week in May, just when its better for fans to turn out and especially evening matches which they could do even on a Saturday and people can go shopping with the Mrs and the match as well. ;)

I have never understood why they would expect anyone is happy sitting in a cold stand at the best of times in the winter when it needn't be so. I would start the season on April 1st and end on new years day which most fans enjoy. And play all through our summer and as said they could have matches in the evening if necessary?

The PL could stay as it is which would surely generate TV money in those months when the PL is not playing. At least why not give it a try for one or two seasons and go back if needed.

Can anyone see any downside with this suggestion other than people taking a holiday for a coup

[ALEXKNOWALL]

Oooooo juicy thread :)

Regardless of division the squad will have to change. Too big now and not good enough, so it will defo come down and be padded out with home-growns and loans.

League 2 (as I think it'll be) team will be based on these.

Garratt
Guthrie
Davis
Dugdale
Ray
Turton
Waters
Inman
Grant (skipper)
Pogba
Oliver
Molyneux
Nolan
Colclough

GK may remain as SP or a loan.

Defence is already listed above, as is midfield and maybe a small quick forward and a winger - to buy or loan as needed.

It isn't a bad 11.

Garratt
Guthrie Duggy Davis Turton
Waters Grant Inman Colclough
Pogba Oliver

They need to adapt a style to get a goal and protect it.

It's a great debate this one :)


I think you have it spot on

James Bailey, Saunders and Murdock might be up to the squad if it is League 2...there may be others???

I think we need to get more of our own in or near the team - they generally fit in better and give us more

[ALEXKNOWALL]

Add George Cooper now - 17 with a new deal just announced - not seen him but he must be a prospect

...and forgot we have the lad from Leek as well - he should get in or around the squad maybe???

[MikeSB]

I've just thought of another good reason for summer footy and that is all the saving of costs for floodlights which can't be cheap and would reduce global warming as well...;)

Also better and dryer pitches and less maintenance on the pitch and of course the obvious. Fewer postponements for weather..

I don't know why I'm the only one that supports this so obvious change! ;)

It was OK in the olden days when standing was allowed and we could keep warm by all huddling together but that is not possible with seating...Well some may think so! ;)

[alexmick]

Don't forget the lad we signed from Leek - though again more chance of him making an impact in L2 I suppose.

I'm a little concerned that Garratt, Nolan and Turton have yet to sign their new contracts despite being encouraged by SD to do so.

I'm a lot more concerned that Billy Waters appears not to have been offered a new deal to date.

Good news today. Billy Waters has signed a two year deal.