Viking Supporters Co-operative
Viking Chat => Viking Chat => Topic started by: keyser_soze on May 07, 2025, 05:26:02 pm
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Out soon according to Ricky Charlesworth on X..
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The way he’s worded that sounds like tonight?
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Yeah, imminently. He had posted earlier saying it was later in the week.
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If Big Tom and Sharp are released and Joe Olowu has ‘been offered a contract’ I’m going to lose my buzz pretty quickly!
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Woody announced retirement on X
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Richard Wood announced his retirement on DROS.
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If Big Tom and Sharp are released and Joe Olowu has ‘been offered a contract’ I’m going to lose my buzz pretty quickly!
10000% this… Can see him being ruthless though
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What a tremendous guy. I hope there’s a position somewhere in the Club that we could offer him. He would/will be a fantastic asset to our younger players, for example.
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Nobody released as such... Bizarre
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Ben Close - not sure he will feature next season
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Aside from Woody just a few of the kids and junior pros released then. I would imagine all the ones offered contracts will sign, Olowu the biggest risk we’ve expected all along.
Interesting Faulkner gets a new deal.
I guess as the summer rumbles along the likes of Close, Hurst, Westbrooke may well find themselves surplus and end up transfer listed.
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https://www.doncasterroversfc.co.uk/news/2025/may/07/retained-list-confirmed/
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Doesn’t really tell us anything we didn’t already know !
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I feel we must have a vast improved budget if McCann believes he can keep everyone plus go after his new targets
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Aside from Woody just a few of the kids and junior pros released then. I would imagine all the ones offered contracts will sign, Olowu the biggest risk we’ve expected all along.
Interesting Faulkner gets a new deal.
I guess as the summer rumbles along the likes of Close, Hurst, Westbrooke may well find themselves surplus and end up transfer listed.
Either listed or available for loan. No doubt McCann will talk to them individually about their futures either with or away from the club.
I guess the next step is sorting the contract offers and setting a deadline for them to be finalised, if there's any dithering.
Only then are we likely to see any inward movement.
Last seasons first incoming signing was confirmed around 20th May.
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I am surprised, Grant is very to the point and ruthless in his pursuit of achieving.
I thought he would move a few on, but maybe it’s a waiting game, if he gets what he wants, one leaves and so on…
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I feel we must have a vast improved budget if McCann believes he can keep everyone plus go after his new targets
Or no budget other than a replacement for Woody and a few more loans! (Jokes)
Maybe if the team spirit is that strong he thinks it’s worth just a couple of additions and running with what we have for the start of the season. Be a shame to rip the side up and change the dynamic.
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Depends on the contract offers to other players. We might think Sharp for example is still worth reduced terms vs what we could get elsewhere for the same money.
Maybe the petrol money savings on away trips is worth a few signings this year without releasing anybody!
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The others are contracted so would be on the transfer list if there's no place for them.
Not sure if the club would release that information though.
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I am surprised, Grant is very to the point and ruthless in his pursuit of achieving.
I thought he would move a few on, but maybe it’s a waiting game, if he gets what he wants, one leaves and so on…
The players we all expect to move on are under contract. That has nothing to do with the retained/released list.
Some of the questionable ones, Close, Hurst, Westbrooke etc would have to be dealt with through transfers not released list.
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The others are contracted so would be on the transfer list if there's no place for them.
Not sure if the club would release that information though.
Just searched back to 2023 retained list and there was a section “senior players made available for transfer”.
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Kyle Hurst has something to offer.
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I like the continuity - Grant clearly has faith in the spine of the team.
Olowu is a big one for me.
Crew on loan again would be useful.
Unlikely, I know, but i'd throw a huge chunk of the budget on Street.
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The others are contracted so would be on the transfer list if there's no place for them.
Not sure if the club would release that information though.
Just searched back to 2023 retained list and there was a section “senior players made available for transfer”.
GM will want to see how incoming go before he allows outgoings.
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The others are contracted so would be on the transfer list if there's no place for them.
Not sure if the club would release that information though.
Just searched back to 2023 retained list and there was a section “senior players made available for transfer”.
GM will want to see how incoming go before he allows outgoings.
Yeah, that's what I think.
Already seeing meltdowns on X about the retained list.
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Don't start on the budget again the club have run that subject out of town and gone as far as they needed to, and no doubt if it is within their ability to do so will do it again.
Next season will be different in as much as a handful of clubs will be able to blow us out of the water as far as finances go, it helps but doesn't guarantee anything.
Looking at the line up we are a young side that will get better and with the addition of a few good signings could do well.
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We need a striker as a priority. I can see 1 or 2 permanents and rest loans. Squad is masst
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I would try and get teddy, crew and kelly back on loan id have street but don't think that's going to happen.
Try get lowe from stoke.
A new CB and forward or 2
If we got that I'd say we are set
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I would try and get teddy, crew and kelly back on loan id have street but don't think that's going to happen.
Try get lowe from stoke.
A new CB and forward or 2
If we got that I'd say we are set
Definitely need a mobile talented midfielder. The lad at Salford, Fornah I think, would fit the bill.
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With exception of Olowu who imo will leave, the 5 loans and Woods = 6 players missing so Grant has got his work cut out if he is to compete with any certainty next season and loans are often the last players to be recruited ..
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In Faulkner and Flint the club have two very good young players who have smashed two loans and are attracting a lot of interest from other clubs.
They will both have careers as professional footballers and have the ability to save and could go on to make the club money as they progress, and hopefully contract talks with Faulkner can be agreed with his agent.
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Acvording to Sky on talks with Lawlor???? Anderson, Olowu, Faulkener and Sharp
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If all the players that have been offered new term accept we will already have a squad of 25 players
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I do believe that a good team is one that have been together for sometime, so it’s looking good, with I would say 3 new players in and 3 loan players, Lawlor is a big surprise, I would have got rid
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I would try and get teddy, crew and kelly back on loan id have street but don't think that's going to happen.
Try get lowe from stoke.
A new CB and forward or 2
If we got that I'd say we are set
Definitely need a mobile talented midfielder. The lad at Salford, Fornah I think, would fit the bill.
He's on his honeymoon, he's just married the Gremlins actress Phoebe Cates, he's hyphenating his name so he's now Fornah-Cates.
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Lawlor is obviously happy to be a number 2 which is good to have. He is our Scott Carson
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With exception of Olowu who imo will leave, the 5 loans and Woods = 6 players missing so Grant has got his work cut out if he is to compete with any certainty next season and loans are often the last players to be recruited ..
Not necessarily, we could bag some decent loans sooner. Also, GM hasn’t done too badly with recruitment in his 2 spells here has he.?
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Lawlor is a great character and by all words a fantastic pro. I know he's happily settled in Donny so if he's happy on the bench why not keep hold of him, saves us signing 2 keepers in the summer or having somebody thrown in the deep end in the worst case scenario
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Almost certainly it will be built into contracts of players we already have that wages will go up on reaching League 1 so wage bill will probably go up regardless. I'm not sure we will get a replacement for Wood as such as Faulkner will be in the squad. We might sign an experienced defender, but a lot might depend on what Olowu does.
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We're light a top keeper, two strikers, a league one midfield maestro a la Ben Whiteman, and cover for creative width. If Olowu goes we'd need a League one level centre half - although McGrath and Tom can always do a job and Bailey can cover in there no messing.
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I think Billy Sharp will sign, it’s not about money for him, he’ll have earned plenty in the last 20 years as a professional
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I'd be looking to get rid of Close , Sbarras a good pro but not good enough for L1 , Clifton similarly but a decent squad player maybe?
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Lawlor is obviously happy to be a number 2 which is good to have. He is our Scott Carson
More like Frank Carson
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We're light a top keeper, two strikers, a league one midfield maestro a la Ben Whiteman, and cover for creative width. If Olowu goes we'd need a League one level centre half - although McGrath and Tom can always do a job and Bailey can cover in there no messing.
I think we need someone out wide with more goal output than Gibson to push him for a starting place. Always remember McCann saying 4-3-3 meant 3 strikers.
Unfortunately, I don’t think there’ll be 2 new centre forwards if we’ve offered Sharp a new deal. A sentimental decision.
Olowu won’t be easy to replace if he goes we need to know if he’s staying ASAP as everyone wants a quick centre half nowadays. And with Anderson and McGrath they need a speedy partner.
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I think Billy Sharp will sign, it’s not about money for him, he’ll have earned plenty in the last 20 years as a professional
It could be his last year as a pro so conversely he might be looking to maximise his last payday.
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I think there is a misconception that Billy is on mega bucks. He's well worth keeping on what we're paying. Presumably a slight uplift in League 1 but I think he scores more in League 1..
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I think there is a misconception that Billy is on mega bucks. He's well worth keeping on what we're paying. Presumably a slight uplift in League 1 but I think he scores more in League 1..
I think he’s well quoted as saying it was a family/geographical/sentimental decision to return to DRFC rather than a financial one. I expect another 1 year deal will be relatively easy negotiation/decision for all involved if we’ve not taken the piss with wages.
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Billy has already stated he wants to stay, so unless the contract offer is very insulting, then i think its pretty certain he stays
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Well, nothing surprising there.
Except Selby plugging Bobby Faulkner for the 1,000th time.
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Billy has already stated he wants to stay, so unless the contract offer is very insulting, then i think its pretty certain he stays
I think Billy Sharp will sign, it’s not about money for him, he’ll have earned plenty in the last 20 years as a professional
It could be his last year as a pro so conversely he might be looking to maximise his last payday.
So let’s say Billy’s earned on average £5,000 a week for 20 years he’ll have earned £5.2 million before tax, it’s not about money for him
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Looks like good sound business to me. I would have offered contracts to all who we’re in talks with also.
The biggest quandary to me is a handful of players still under contract. Sbarra, Clifton and Close are just not good enough. Weren’t good enough in league 2 never mind league 1. Get rid.
There’ll be question marks over Zain, Hurst and Ironside too. I think Zain is a baller myself and is a bit of class that we need. Hurst has had many chances to prove himself and keeps falling short. Is it time to get rid? And Joe. I love him to bits but we’ve had a taste of what a quick, strong, mobile striker can do for us. We need 2. A starter and a back up.
Do we want to go back to slow and ponderous? Personally I’d get rid of both Hurst and Joe.
Can or does Grant want to move these along remains to be seen.
I love this speculation period.
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Looks like good sound business to me. I would have offered contracts to all who we’re in talks with also.
The biggest quandary to me is a handful of players still under contract. Sbarra, Clifton and Close are just not good enough. Weren’t good enough in league 2 never mind league 1. Get rid.
There’ll be question marks over Zain, Hurst and Ironside too. I think Zain is a baller myself and is a bit of class that we need. Hurst has had many chances to prove himself and keeps falling short. Is it time to get rid? And Joe. I love him to bits but we’ve had a taste of what a quick, strong, mobile striker can do for us. We need 2. A starter and a back up.
Do we want to go back to slow and ponderous? Personally I’d get rid of both Hurst and Joe.
Can or does Grant want to move these along remains to be seen.
I love this speculation period.
You can’t just get rid of players under contract unless you pay them off, so may as well keep them
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Billy has already stated he wants to stay, so unless the contract offer is very insulting, then i think its pretty certain he stays
I think Billy Sharp will sign, it’s not about money for him, he’ll have earned plenty in the last 20 years as a professional
It could be his last year as a pro so conversely he might be looking to maximise his last payday.
So let’s say Billy’s earned on average £5,000 a week for 20 years he’ll have earned £5.2 million before tax, it’s not about money for him
I would imagine he would have got a bucket full of dollars for his short stint in the US plus his contract when playing in the Prem would have been very lucrative. As others have said I don't think he will be wanting much but Rovers must be respectful when offering a new contract to him.
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That's all very well Draytonian and it may be accurate. But there is another, equally likely possibility: when one earns more, one spends more. Commitments are made, expectations are raised. Mortgages, private schools, private health care for example. When I left BT I doubled my wages and halved my tax bill. But I continued to not have enough money..... Going back to BT now would be a financial impossibility.
None of us know what Billy's commitments and familial expectations are. He could agree to play for buttons. But equally, he may not.
BobG
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That goes for all them that we are in talks with BobG and at least two of them have offers from other clubs on the table.
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Looks like good sound business to me. I would have offered contracts to all who we’re in talks with also.
The biggest quandary to me is a handful of players still under contract. Sbarra, Clifton and Close are just not good enough. Weren’t good enough in league 2 never mind league 1. Get rid.
There’ll be question marks over Zain, Hurst and Ironside too. I think Zain is a baller myself and is a bit of class that we need. Hurst has had many chances to prove himself and keeps falling short. Is it time to get rid? And Joe. I love him to bits but we’ve had a taste of what a quick, strong, mobile striker can do for us. We need 2. A starter and a back up.
Do we want to go back to slow and ponderous? Personally I’d get rid of both Hurst and Joe.
Can or does Grant want to move these along remains to be seen.
I love this speculation period.
You can’t just get rid of players under contract unless you pay them off, so may as well keep them
if you read the penultimate sentence it says can he move them along? Loans could be arranged or they could be told they’re not in plans and encouraged to look elsewhere. 4 of the 6 would be in demand I would imagine.
And if we’re in position where we ‘may as well play them’ when some are clearly not good enough then we could be in for a rough ride.
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Looks like good sound business to me. I would have offered contracts to all who we’re in talks with also.
The biggest quandary to me is a handful of players still under contract. Sbarra, Clifton and Close are just not good enough. Weren’t good enough in league 2 never mind league 1. Get rid.
There’ll be question marks over Zain, Hurst and Ironside too. I think Zain is a baller myself and is a bit of class that we need. Hurst has had many chances to prove himself and keeps falling short. Is it time to get rid? And Joe. I love him to bits but we’ve had a taste of what a quick, strong, mobile striker can do for us. We need 2. A starter and a back up.
Do we want to go back to slow and ponderous? Personally I’d get rid of both Hurst and Joe.
Can or does Grant want to move these along remains to be seen.
I love this speculation period.
You can’t just get rid of players under contract unless you pay them off, so may as well keep them
if you read the penultimate sentence it says can he move them along? Loans could be arranged or they could be told they’re not in plans and encouraged to look elsewhere. 4 of the 6 would be in demand I would imagine.
And if we’re in position where we ‘may as well play them’ when some are clearly not good enough then we could be in for a rough ride.
Not sure where I’ve said “may as well play them”
Anyway, my point is, if we were to pay their contract off, it’s money wasted when we could just pay them and keep them in the event of a horrendous injury crisis
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It depends on who Grant wants in first and foremost! There will be players coming available that may well be of particular interest to us and if he can get them in, I think he will. Only then he can tell who will be surplus and whether they can be listed.
I can see Close going back Sarff. Westbrook not sure, but he’s done little to cement a place and it was noticeable that Grant brought in 2 midfield loans! Question marks over Hursty also. He’s not really set Scotland ablaze!
It’s going to be an interesting few weeks.
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Looks like good sound business to me. I would have offered contracts to all who we’re in talks with also.
The biggest quandary to me is a handful of players still under contract. Sbarra, Clifton and Close are just not good enough. Weren’t good enough in league 2 never mind league 1. Get rid.
There’ll be question marks over Zain, Hurst and Ironside too. I think Zain is a baller myself and is a bit of class that we need. Hurst has had many chances to prove himself and keeps falling short. Is it time to get rid? And Joe. I love him to bits but we’ve had a taste of what a quick, strong, mobile striker can do for us. We need 2. A starter and a back up.
Do we want to go back to slow and ponderous? Personally I’d get rid of both Hurst and Joe.
Can or does Grant want to move these along remains to be seen.
I love this speculation period.
You can’t just get rid of players under contract unless you pay them off, so may as well keep them
if you read the penultimate sentence it says can he move them along? Loans could be arranged or they could be told they’re not in plans and encouraged to look elsewhere. 4 of the 6 would be in demand I would imagine.
And if we’re in position where we ‘may as well play them’ when some are clearly not good enough then we could be in for a rough ride.
Not sure where I’ve said “may as well play them”
Anyway, my point is, if we were to pay their contract off, it’s money wasted when we could just pay them and keep them in the event of a horrendous injury crisis
never suggested we did
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If Grant wanted to move on any under contract players there’d be a ‘listed for transfer’ section on the retained list, no?
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Looks like good sound business to me. I would have offered contracts to all who we’re in talks with also.
The biggest quandary to me is a handful of players still under contract. Sbarra, Clifton and Close are just not good enough. Weren’t good enough in league 2 never mind league 1. Get rid.
There’ll be question marks over Zain, Hurst and Ironside too. I think Zain is a baller myself and is a bit of class that we need. Hurst has had many chances to prove himself and keeps falling short. Is it time to get rid? And Joe. I love him to bits but we’ve had a taste of what a quick, strong, mobile striker can do for us. We need 2. A starter and a back up.
Do we want to go back to slow and ponderous? Personally I’d get rid of both Hurst and Joe.
Can or does Grant want to move these along remains to be seen.
I love this speculation period.
Can’t for the life of me fathom out what you’ve seen in Westbrooke to call him ‘class’.
He’s under contract so unless another club come in for him we’re stuck with him. If he can’t get a midfield spot in front of Sbarra & Clinton forget it.
We can get better.
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Looks like good sound business to me. I would have offered contracts to all who we’re in talks with also.
The biggest quandary to me is a handful of players still under contract. Sbarra, Clifton and Close are just not good enough. Weren’t good enough in league 2 never mind league 1. Get rid.
There’ll be question marks over Zain, Hurst and Ironside too. I think Zain is a baller myself and is a bit of class that we need. Hurst has had many chances to prove himself and keeps falling short. Is it time to get rid? And Joe. I love him to bits but we’ve had a taste of what a quick, strong, mobile striker can do for us. We need 2. A starter and a back up.
Do we want to go back to slow and ponderous? Personally I’d get rid of both Hurst and Joe.
Can or does Grant want to move these along remains to be seen.
I love this speculation period.
Can’t for the life of me fathom out what you’ve seen in Westbrooke to call him ‘class’.
He’s under contract so unless another club come in for him we’re stuck with him. If he can’t get a midfield spot in front of Sbarra & Clinton forget it.
We can get better.
opinions eh?
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Looks like good sound business to me. I would have offered contracts to all who we’re in talks with also.
The biggest quandary to me is a handful of players still under contract. Sbarra, Clifton and Close are just not good enough. Weren’t good enough in league 2 never mind league 1. Get rid.
There’ll be question marks over Zain, Hurst and Ironside too. I think Zain is a baller myself and is a bit of class that we need. Hurst has had many chances to prove himself and keeps falling short. Is it time to get rid? And Joe. I love him to bits but we’ve had a taste of what a quick, strong, mobile striker can do for us. We need 2. A starter and a back up.
Do we want to go back to slow and ponderous? Personally I’d get rid of both Hurst and Joe.
Can or does Grant want to move these along remains to be seen.
I love this speculation period.
Can’t for the life of me fathom out what you’ve seen in Westbrooke to call him ‘class’.
He’s under contract so unless another club come in for him we’re stuck with him. If he can’t get a midfield spot in front of Sbarra & Clinton forget it.
We can get better.
Would that be Bill or Hillary?
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Looks like good sound business to me. I would have offered contracts to all who we’re in talks with also.
The biggest quandary to me is a handful of players still under contract. Sbarra, Clifton and Close are just not good enough. Weren’t good enough in league 2 never mind league 1. Get rid.
There’ll be question marks over Zain, Hurst and Ironside too. I think Zain is a baller myself and is a bit of class that we need. Hurst has had many chances to prove himself and keeps falling short. Is it time to get rid? And Joe. I love him to bits but we’ve had a taste of what a quick, strong, mobile striker can do for us. We need 2. A starter and a back up.
Do we want to go back to slow and ponderous? Personally I’d get rid of both Hurst and Joe.
Can or does Grant want to move these along remains to be seen.
I love this speculation period.
Can’t for the life of me fathom out what you’ve seen in Westbrooke to call him ‘class’.
He’s under contract so unless another club come in for him we’re stuck with him. If he can’t get a midfield spot in front of Sbarra & Clinton forget it.
We can get better.
Hadn’t Westbrook been injured for a long spell and was back in the squad towards the end of of the season as he was regaining fitness?
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Both Close and Westbrooke are the best in our midfield options to control and retain possession. That’s not really our game but it is good to have that option. Whether it needs two of them both on good wages presumably is another question.
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It will be needed much more in league one
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It will be needed much more in league one
Not necessarily.
The correlation between high possession based styles and league position in League One isn’t that linear.
Compare Peterborough and Crawley to Wrexham and Charlton for example.
https://www.fotmob.com/en-GB/leagues/108/stats/season/23745/teams/possession_percentage_team/league-one-teams?page=1
The game is quicker and more physical than it was 10/15 years ago. Or even since we were last in League One.
Close will still struggle.