Quote Originally Posted by Stoke_Arab View Post
When we were promoted back to the Premiership one or two were surprised when I said we needed 7 or 8 new players as a minimum to be competitive. We all know what then happened, we got 13, even I was surprised. But with some failures in that (Meshak Odada....), injuries to key first team players and terrible January recruitment we ended the season very stretched.

So given that even Goodwin admits we were stretched as a squad how many new players are you guys expecting this time?
It's huge task, that's how I wouldn't have been too averse to Gallagher or docherty being kept on for a year, just to provide squad cover and a safety net if the transfer window is disastrous. Although in isolation, I'm not totally against those decisions to let them go, but it puts a huge pressure on us to get it right, because it feels like we are recruiting for a first team as well as squad players, with the number of outgoings.

Only 3 stick on starters I'd say are strain, ferry and sjvel. Graham and Sam CL will Def be playing games, and trapinoski and Middleton if he stays will be in and around the first team. Sibbald, maybe recency bias due to form, I don't really want to see him as a regular, just squad back up. Stirton will be challenging for more game time, but he is the extent of our attack right now. Back up keeper should be fine as back up.

Success past couple seasons was built on a good spine - Walton - Holt/Gallagher - docherty - moult-dalby. The Gallagher for denheim swap was a pivotal sliding doors moment potentially for utd a couple seasons ago.

Goodwin seems to have quite a good eye for players, and enjoy that side, but he's had his share of misses too - a nightmare spine of signings to prove a point could be denheim, odada, van de sander. So huge pressure to get more hits than misses this season. Suspect we will raid loan market again this season as you can get top quality we can't otherwise afford, but generally these come late in the transfer window.

I think any provincial club should be nervous when a big squad revamp is required, as you are only one bad window away from trouble. Guess other clubs will be in similar boat.