Mixed messages from the boss

If you read the OS you would be right to think do we or do we not have a competitive budget for this season? In one article he is full steam ahead with recruitment in the next breath it is we will have to juggle the squad around to fulfill our fixtures.

This may be cagey play from the boss not wanting to make other clubs think we are interested in any of their players, but on the other hand the fans are thinking another season of mediocrity beckons with limited recruitment by my count 6 out and 2 in so far squad very threadbare 4 month needed to balance the squad.

Given that you have been saying all year that 2 of those who left aren’t worth tuppence and are the worst CH and GK we’ve had for years (and Walker played once all season) I don’t really see what you’re complaining about! Last season was hardly mediocre, even with them being first choice. An alternative way of looking at recruitment thus far is:

Garrett out, Jaaskaleinen in
Ray out, Lancashire in
Raynes out, a more mature Sass-Davies in
Bowery out, Powell in
Nicholls out (he was hardly seen after September anyway), a more mature and experienced Reilly in
Walker out, Finney/Dale/Lowery in

If we lose Miller we will need further cover up front, similarly if Perry leaves - on the other hand Offord and Johnson are waiting in the wings so loan cover my be appropriate there. Yes, another defender might give us more cover, but it’s no good having them to warm the bench or deny chances to our own young players. It can’t be denied that the likes of Wintle, Pickering, Kirk, Ainley and the others named above have shown themselves to be capable, so I reckon we should trust the coaching staff’s judgement on a few more too.

Aston Alex...... like.

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Originally Posted by AstonAlex

Given that you have been saying all year that 2 of those who left aren’t worth tuppence and are the worst CH and GK we’ve had for years (and Walker played once all season) I don’t really see what you’re complaining about! Last season was hardly mediocre, even with them being first choice. An alternative way of looking at recruitment thus far is:

Garrett out, Jaaskaleinen in
Ray out, Lancashire in
Raynes out, a more mature Sass-Davies in
Bowery out, Powell in
Nicholls out (he was hardly seen after September anyway), a more mature and experienced Reilly in
Walker out, Finney/Dale/Lowery in

If we lose Miller we will need further cover up front, similarly if Perry leaves - on the other hand Offord and Johnson are waiting in the wings so loan cover my be appropriate there. Yes, another defender might give us more cover, but it’s no good having them to warm the bench or deny chances to our own young players. It can’t be denied that the likes of Wintle, Pickering, Kirk, Ainley and the others named above have shown themselves to be capable, so I reckon we should trust the coaching staff’s judgement on a few more too.

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Bang on there Aston. Two ways at looking at everything. Players leaving have been branded a liability by some (not me) and people will always whinge about recruitment being poor etc. Well, we recruit what we can afford and under the current board and management we will always have a club to support. I suspect supporters of some clubs may not be so confident of that.

DA's two quotes are about different things - strengthening the first team squad (full steam ahead) and numbers of fringe players when we have a first team, u-23 and u-18 game close together, to get teams of sufficient quality out in the last two - u-a8 players making up numbers on Monday can't play whole match on Saturday, so u-16s have to play then. the more subs you use for any length of time on Saturday, the less you have for u-23s. So the juggling numbers follows playing decent first team squad, but if some injured, more fringe players involved on Saturday.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AstonAlex

Given that you have been saying all year that 2 of those who left aren’t worth tuppence and are the worst CH and GK we’ve had for years (and Walker played once all season) I don’t really see what you’re complaining about! Last season was hardly mediocre, even with them being first choice. An alternative way of looking at recruitment thus far is:

Garrett out, Jaaskaleinen in
Ray out, Lancashire in
Raynes out, a more mature Sass-Davies in
Bowery out, Powell in
Nicholls out (he was hardly seen after September anyway), a more mature and experienced Reilly in
Walker out, Finney/Dale/Lowery in

If we lose Miller we will need further cover up front, similarly if Perry leaves - on the other hand Offord and Johnson are waiting in the wings so loan cover my be appropriate there. Yes, another defender might give us more cover, but it’s no good having them to warm the bench or deny chances to our own young players. It can’t be denied that the likes of Wintle, Pickering, Kirk, Ainley and the others named above have shown themselves to be capable, so I reckon we should trust the coaching staff’s judgement on a few more too.

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I don’t understand your point neither Ray or Garratt were worth a Tuppence however if you decrease your squad you need to replacement irrespective of wether they were any good or not, having a look at your theory above injuries to 2 experienced players and you start to expose the inexperienced academy players and unfortunately we will lose more games than we win in that scenario, so I would rather see at least 2 or 3 more experienced players added to the squad to help the youngsters along and not expose them to have their arses handed to them week in week out which has happened in recent years.

Worried that DA is spending too much time repeatedly talking about potential arrival/non arrivals. Is HE anxious about it?

I suspect it's just that that's all he's asked about by the press at the moment - no games played or injuries reported, so if no player movements made either that's all that's left for them to question him on!

I would suspect the board have been pushing NG Kirk and Wintle’s name to anyone who will listen, failure to sell any of the aforementioned players before August could spell some very difficult times ahead for the club, if we think the budget is poor now we haven’t seen anything yet and the academy will be downgraded because there will simply be no money in the pot to keep it going. The worry for me is that if you sold all 3 I doubt you would get the million pound required to break even. Some very harsh and difficult decisions are just around the corner and I hope the board gets it right as we are a nats chuff away from oblivion.

I agree with Wartman that the sale of players is the key to the future of the club at the current time. Whether the money is to be used or to prop up the academy or bring in new players. There has to be some movement out as there is no sign of outside investment in the club under the current ownership and this situation will be there year after year until the current owner leaves.