Pre-season assessment

[Jonathan]

So tomorrow officially sees the start of pre-season preparations, just wondered what people make of the current situation ahead of this?

I have to say I'm pleased with the two players that we've signed so far, both Spurr and Bennett represent the kind of players that we can compete for and develop to improve the team and squad. In terms of what we've brought in, I think there's some promise, but we can't hide from the fact that there's a long way to go.

The goalkeeping situation appears to have been written off and we'll go with what we've got (assuming Sullivan stays) but aside from that there are still several situations that are unclear and/or in need of resolving:

- Central defence; We released three, Martis is still injured, as is Lockwood, and Hird is yet to confirm he's staying. O'Connor is injured so we are in alarming need of reinforcements in this position. The Naylor situation is strange, no word from the club as to why this has stalled although it is known that he has fitness problems so perhaps a medical issue is a reasonable assumption? Either way, given the crippling situation we have in this position, is it wise to be looking to bring someone in with known injury problems? I wonder what, if any, other options are in the pipeline to strengthen this position. It is surely something of a priority

- Midfield; We still have the basis of a strong midfield and Bennett will bring something new with out and out pace to break forward. The likes of Oster and Gillett should still play a key role this season, with Coppinger playing in the advanced role, however we are still short of options. Burge has elected to move elsewhere and, although he didn't feature, represents one less body. As yet the situation with Mason is unclear, hopefully he'll be back. The most worrying thing is that Stock and Woods, who would both be considered as first team players if fit, are still suffering long term injuries and won't be available for a long time. It would appear that we will need to bring in a central midfield player of first team stature although there has been no particular talk or suggestion (or even speculation) on this score. Await developments

- Upfront; It's great that both the club and Billy Sharp have thus far managed to resist the offers tabled, and hopefully he will still be here next season as the focal point of the attack. In Billy we have one of the very best in the division, and obviously Hayter is always a good foil and a valuable member of the squad, however beyond that we have nothing. I'm sure we'll look to bring in at least one striker, the question being do we bring someone in purely as back up, or someone to offer something entirely different (e.g. physical presence) or someone for Sharp to link up with in the first team (Keogh?), it'll be interesting to see what we go with and what the plan is.

All in all I think we've shown some early promise but there is still a lot of work to be done and a lot of questions to be answered. Now is the time that you'd hope to see things coming together so the squad can gel. We have 5 weeks until the new season officially kicks off, hopefully the activity of the last week will continue as a trend and we'll have some more positive developments soon...

[mushRTID]

I must admit i didnt realise the state of our centre back area until i read that.

2 points from me on that.

1) By all accounts we almost had Steven Caulker tied up this time last year. For whatever reason, we missed out. If that reason was us pissing around like we normally do then I hope we dont make that mistake again if a potential loan like him comes up. Steven Caulker was possibly Bristol Citys best player last season and is now been linked with premier league sides. To say Sean has meant to have a good relationship with Redknapp, hoped to develop ties with Man Utd after the friendly and is well respected in the game, I find our loan system dealings poor on the whole. There are the odd ones (mills, JET) etc. I'l not include Mason as he never really affected our season. With our limited budget and squad size, i feel we should be looking to get 2/3 premier league youngsters a season and i dont think thats unrealistic.

2) If we get 0.5mill for any deal Matt Mills is involved in, I would like us to go and sign 2 lower league centre backs with it. Some brilliant championship defenders all started lower down the leagues. Lets go and get a couple instead of bringing in thomas/souza types when the injuries hit.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Whatever is key to making Mason's mind up...not sure if it's his future at Spurs that will determine a permanent or a loan deal, but it's a pity he can't join us from the off (tomorrow).

The Centre Half situation is still up in the air but in other areas we may be ok. Having the quality of a player like Rowan Vine on trial is also positive as I'm sure he'll suit our style of play very easily.

Good to see the youth coming in to give us that 'no fear' and enthusiasm.

Roll on.

[graingrover]

the pre season starts with us having One keeper and four fit outfield defenders ... so when SOD says we are 'in transition' ...I think he is understating the situation.

[jonnydog]

Has anyone heard if anything has yet been done to assess the big question of WHY we're experiencing the injurieswe have/are? I know it's been discussed on here since March and I'm sure I read that it would be looked at in close season. But I have heard nothing, nothing on the DROS website (although that is standard practice these days), and no official statement has been made.

It's good to see we're investing in the younger players, I'm well chuffed with the Bennett signing and IMO I reckon we will see some excellent things from Spurr. I just hope we've set a standard with last weeks activity and things will only get better from now till August.

[herouk87]

2) If we get 0.5mill for any deal Matt Mills is involved in, I would like us to go and sign 2 lower league centre backs with it. Some brilliant championship defenders all started lower down the leagues. Lets go and get a couple instead of bringing in thomas/souza types when the injuries hit.

I say we go for Exodus Geohagen. Mainly for the brilliant name, but he's about 6 foot 8 and would bring the average height up by about 2 inches

[muff licker]

Whatever is key to making Mason's mind up...not sure if it's his future at Spurs that will determine a permanent or a loan deal, but it's a pity he can't join us from the off (tomorrow).

The Centre Half situation is still up in the air but in other areas we may be ok. Having the quality of a player like Rowan Vine on trial is also positive as I'm sure he'll suit our style of play very easily.

Good to see the youth coming in to give us that 'no fear' and enthusiasm.

Roll on.

Mason doesnt know whats happening either until he returns to THFC for pre season, by all accounts would love to come back on Loan, depends i suppose if Redknapp wants him to go out to gain experience again or get him in the squad and see how he does>

[Filo]

Whatever is key to making Mason's mind up...not sure if it's his future at Spurs that will determine a permanent or a loan deal, but it's a pity he can't join us from the off (tomorrow).

The Centre Half situation is still up in the air but in other areas we may be ok. Having the quality of a player like Rowan Vine on trial is also positive as I'm sure he'll suit our style of play very easily.

Good to see the youth coming in to give us that 'no fear' and enthusiasm.

Roll on.

Mason doesnt know whats happening either until he returns to THFC for pre season, by all accounts would love to come back on Loan, depends i suppose if Redknapp wants him to go out to gain experience again or get him in the squad and see how he does>

He started pre season with THFC last week

[Kenny_Senior]

My take:

Goalkeeper - Still not a position I am entirely happy with given the erratic form of both Neil Sullivan and Gary Woods last season. Assuming Sullivan stays, it would seem likely that he will be number one choice. If he decides to leave (though to be fair, who else is going to offer him a contract), then we need to address the position immediately. With some of the GK's that were available this summer, I find it disappointing that we begin pre-season with the same two people that made many blunders last season.

Central defence - It seems that George Friend is going to be our left footed centre half next season. The signing of Tommy Spurr would suggest the ex-SWFC man will be the first choice at LB. However, we have still failed to add any central defenders to our ranks this summer and considering this was a position where we were absolutely hopeless last season, its easy to start getting worried. We need two or three additions quickly (and not the likes of Wayne Thomas who was a panic buy) otherwise we will have the same problems at the back once again and it will probably cost us our Championship status. The stakes are that high.

Midfield - A problematic area as we had a few players last season who didn't perform for us and we have also lost Brian Stock for the forseeable future. Ryan Mason's return to Tottenham is a blow and we need someone to replace him ASAP. Overall with the indifferent form of Oster, the long term injury to Brian Stock and the never predictable form and fitness of both Martin Woods and James Coppinger, we may struggle in this area too. In an ideal world we need to get Ryan Mason back here permanently and sign a direct replacement for Brian Stock.

Strikers - So we have retained Billy Sharp (so far) but what else do we have? On the positive side we have finally dispensed with the expensive diabolical liability that is Steve Brooker but we haven't signed anyone else. We still have James Hayter who is effective and Waide Fairhurst who is far less effective, but we need to add one or two players of good  quality, who can actually cut the mustard rather quickly.

Verdict: Unless we improve our squad in the next few weeks and get in some proven players, its going to be an even more difficult season than what most of us already anticipate. I fear we could be about to go down the \"Wayne Thomas\" route again... and generally that means ineffective quantity over quality. The fitness of several contracted players (Stock, Chambers, Martis, Lockwood, O'Connor) will weaken a squad which is one of the weakest in the Championship anyway...

On the whole, I really fear we may be having to plan for trips to glorious Wycombe and sunny Stevenage in 12 months time.

[Jonathan]

Verdict: Unless we improve our squad in the next few weeks and get in some proven players, its going to be an even more difficult season than what most of us already anticipate. I fear we could be about to go down the \"Wayne Thomas\" route again... and generally that means ineffective quantity over quality.

Agree with the vast majority of your post, Kenny, and it is the above scenario that I'm most fearful of.

I'm genuinely pleased and encouraged by the two players that we've signed so far and if that sets a blueprint then there is real hope that we can go on to bring in the calibre of player that can develop and improve us.

What I'm desperate for us to avoid is the annual trialists escapade. Amongst the spate of trialists will no doubt be one or two centre halves and all of a sudden you find all and sundry are salivating over an apparently dominant performance against Armthorpe Welfare or a half hearted Mansfield Town. Next thing you know we have the next Thomas / Souza / Webster signing a one year deal and another calamitous time ahead.

It's a position that is in urgent need of reinforcement and one where I really hope we don't settle for an inadequate stop gap. There must be more players of the type of Spurr and Bennett kicking around, and we've proved there that we can compete for players with ability and promise, hopefully that strategy can continue.

[Kenny_Senior]

Completely agree.

Lets just hope SO'D has got something up his sleeve and we can get a couple of proven players in at the back, even if it means paying a transfer fee.

If we end up with the likes of Richard Naylor, which seems something of a best possible scenario at the moment, then we're potentially jeopardising everything we have achieved in the past three seasons in maintaining our Championship status.

Everyone knows next season is going to be a big struggle against the dreaded drop, but the transfer activity in the next five weeks will tell us whether or not we have either a fighting chance or absolutely no chance of avoiding it.

[RedJ]

Everyone knows next season is going to be a big struggle against the dreaded drop, but the transfer activity in the next five weeks will tell us whether or not we have either a fighting chance or absolutely no chance of avoiding it.

To be fair to us, we've always done well when we were expected to flounder (especially in the first season in the CCC) and when expected to do well (relatively speaking anyway), we've not quite hit expectations (last season with Billy signing).

Just hope we continue to buck the trend and beat the odds.

[southwestexile]

all we need is the start we had last season and the end of the season before

Barnsley, Peterborough and Watford to go down anyway

and a sneaking suspicion that our friends at LUFC will have a shocker

[steve@dcfd]

We start the pre-season without a fit goalkeeper unless Sullivan has signed I suspect the junior keeper will be playing in our first pre-season game on Thursday.
Defense we have one rightback, one leftsided defender and one left back.We have two injured centre-halves one injured right back added to this we have offered contracts to Sam Hird and pay has you play to James Chambers?
Midfield central position we have Gillet, Wilson, Oster and Keegan recovering from injury trying to get a contract. Stock and Woods yet again are injured and between them have not played 46 games in the last two seasons. None of the above are a direct replacement for a Brian Stock at his best two years ago.
We have attacking midfield players Coppinger,Shiels,Bennett and Bacsendale ( one good, one not a championsip player and two young ones who are potential) we may add to these Mason (who can never be a defensive midfield player in the mould of Brian Stock).
Strike force we have Billy, Hayter and a capable division two player in Fairhurst.

So we still need three more players at least who all need to be better quality and be able to go straight in the first team. JR said the players we sign will allow us to be fighting in the top half with all the injuries and players we have signed so far, that will not happen.With the players we have signed so far we will not encourage supporters to pay for season tickets. The excuses are alreadythere from the board.

[steve@dcfd]

Quote
By all accounts we almost had Steven Caulker tied up this time last year. For whatever reason, we missed out. If that reason was us pissing around like we normally do then I hope we dont make that mistake again if a potential loan like him comes up. Steven Caulker was possibly Bristol Citys best player last season and is now been linked with premier league sides. To say Sean has meant to have a good relationship with Redknapp, hoped to develop ties with Man Utd after the friendly and is well respected in the game, I find our loan system dealings poor on the whole. There are the odd ones (mills, JET) etc. I'll not include Mason as he never really affected our season. With our limited budget and squad size, i feel we should be looking to get 2/3 premier league youngsters a season and i don't think that's unrealistic.

Sean can only bring loan players we can afford, Caulker, JET, Mutch were all to expensive for the board that's why we have to look at younger players. Caulker reputability wanted £14000 a week and we could not pay that.

[southwestexile]

we're all doomed!!:(

i think we'll be ok this year as several teams have a lot of issues - we had poor players last year, some have gone and some have stayed (as SOD has clearly noted a level of development and further potential from them due to last season's battle).  a couple of loanees and we're away.

bring it on

[Persuadle]

Whilst a lot of what has been posted is correct, I find it somewhat pessimistic from the doom and gloom brigade.

It is reasonable to assume that both John Ryan and Sean O`Driscoll are fully aware of the situation, after all they do run the club. It would be absolutely ridiculous to think that they have not got contingency plans in place. They know who needs replacing, they know who is injured.

I am confident that we will be ready come the 6th August 2011. It may be that we do take on trialists, but I am sure that the key positions will be filled by new signings or loanees of the desired standard. There is no way that they will allow us to start without ensuring that they (we) have the squad in place.

I am aware of the central defender situation, just like everyone else is, and what caused this situation. Shackel signed for Barnsley having agreed to sign for us. Having been let down at the last minute the club had to trawl for what was left. The club now feel that those players are not the ones to take us forward. Who are the possible replacements? WE will know in the not too distant future, but you can rest assured that those players will be replaced.

It is ludicrous to think that John Ryan, fellow Directors, Sean O`Driscoll and his management team are not aware of the situation and more importantly that they have not got the list of their player priorities and probable moves already in place.

[graingrover]

\"To be fair to us, we've always done well when we were expected to flounder (especially in the first season in the CCC) and when expected to do well (relatively speaking anyway), we've not quite hit expectations (last season with Billy signing......\"\"

 the above is true but in our first season in the Championship look at the strength of our back line and midfield ... we are currently at our weakest for two seasons ... except for Billy.

[RedJ]

\"To be fair to us, we've always done well when we were expected to flounder (especially in the first season in the CCC) and when expected to do well (relatively speaking anyway), we've not quite hit expectations (last season with Billy signing......\"\"

 the above is true but in our first season in the Championship look at the strength of our back line and midfield ... we are currently at our weakest for two seasons ... except for Billy.

That's true, I didn't take that into account.

[benaldo]

I think this season will be the one where money will be the downfall of many teams, including Rovers. The ludicrous wages demands of the second string footballers are getting higher while the income for clubs is shrinking. It's a model that can't last and I honestly think something big is going to happen soon - either a few clubs will go into administration, or go bust, because I just can't see how a team with 4000 season ticket holders can afford the players that a team with a sugar daddy can (ie Leicester).
It's a miracle at all that Rovers can afford any players at this level without the board constantly pumping more and more money in for zero return. God knows how long the big three are going to keep opening their wallets just so Rovers get mediocre players on free transfers, huge wages, and the club ends up scrapping for relegation again.

Tough times ahead, mark my words.

[Mr1Croft]

Last season we had a great first half of the season, in the january transfer window we made a signing that would surely bolster the defence problems in Killgallon and it back fired, along with the injuries we had a horrid second half of the season, but we did survive and that is the main point. As for the key areas of the team:

Defence:
I'm not too worried about the goalkeeping situation at the moment, you can have the best goalkeeper in the world behind a useless defence and it will be catastrophic, get a decent defence and anyone will do between the sticks (Butler had a great day the masters ). As for the back four issue itself I think it will become more clear when we find out Sam Hird's decision, he is possibly the best natural Centre back we have, but the freind-Hird will probably be catastrophic as they are both the same type of CB to use their pace to their advantage. We need strength power and a horse-type player to partner one of those two (Heskey may suit that role anyone ). We have brought in Spurr who could prove to be a very good signing.

Midfield:
Most people look at the midfield as the area of the team with no problems; although we have the players, it does need improving. Stock and Woods are spending more time on the injury table this season, and in fairness Stock was a vital member of the team before his injury, since then he has never been the same player, he hasn't got his strength and against teams like Leciester last season they out muscled him through the middle in the second half and couldn't stop attacking. Bennet brings something new to the team but with the injuries what midfield would you play? Gillet and Wilson both at CM, Oster and Bennet either wing and Coppinger through middle, what other midfielders do we have except the injured? Shiels?

Attack:
We need at least 4 strikers to survive another injury shock, we currently have 3, but one seems to spend more time away from the club (Wade). Our best season in this department was when we had Hayter, Heffernan, McCammon, Price, Elliot, Taylor and Fairhurst on our books upfront in the second half of the 08 season. Having strength in depth like that can really help a team.

In less than 5 weeks (33 days) the season will be underway, these 5 weeks will prove vital to the team and the season we have. Having said that in 09/10 season we didn't get Billy till the last day of the transfer window, so the squad on the pitch comes 6th August may not mean the end of our activity in the transfer market.

[mushRTID]

I think this season will be the one where money will be the downfall of many teams, including Rovers. The ludicrous wages demands of the second string footballers are getting higher while the income for clubs is shrinking. It's a model that can't last and I honestly think something big is going to happen soon - either a few clubs will go into administration, or go bust, because I just can't see how a team with 4000 season ticket holders can afford the players that a team with a sugar daddy can (ie Leicester).
It's a miracle at all that Rovers can afford any players at this level without the board constantly pumping more and more money in for zero return. God knows how long the big three are going to keep opening their wallets just so Rovers get mediocre players on free transfers, huge wages, and the club ends up scrapping for relegation again.

Tough times ahead, mark my words.

I completely agree with that. It is not going to last.

We need a fan to win the Euromillions or something, id buy the KM straight away if i did.

[RedJ]

Wilson ahead of... well, anyone? no thanks. If we have Keegan fit, it has to be him without Stock or Woods.