Matty Craig

[Padge_DRFC]

Off to Barnsley on loan. Never expected us to get him staying in league 2. Good signing for them

[Chris Black come back]

Easiest job in the world being recruitment guy at Barnsley. How many of our top players or loanees have they ended up sniffing around?

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Well that's the natural step up he needs for his development. Good that we can track his progress to see whether he's as good as we think he is. No doubt Tyke will give us his assessment along the way. 

[dknward2]

Deserved the step up to league 1 shame it wasn't with us but good luck to him at Barnsley if that's where he ends up wonder if he will visit his mates in Doncaster

[Copps is Magic]

The Dingles? You have to be joking.

[Alan Southstand]

What a sickener.

[roversdude]

Why is it a sickener they are a level above us at the moment

[ScillyRover]

I hope he manages to grow more fingers and toes before he joins them.

[drfchound]

I hope he gets to understand their language quickly.

[Alan Southstand]

Why is it a sickener they are a level above us at the moment

Sickener for us, not for him. I thought that was a pretty obvious statement? Obviously not.

[DINGLE]

Not be happening until 31/08/2024 at 22:59.

[ncRover]

Why is it a sickener they are a level above us at the moment

Sickener for us, not for him. I thought that was a pretty obvious statement? Obviously not.

Why for us? He won’t be playing against us.

[drfchound]

Why is it a sickener they are a level above us at the moment

Sickener for us, not for him. I thought that was a pretty obvious statement? Obviously not.

Why for us? He won’t be playing against us.

I think Alan might have meant it is a sickener for us because he won’t be playing for us.
Irrespective of whether Matty plays for Barnsley.

[tyke1962]

Not a fan of these type of loans , I think we should be giving our own young players the opportunity or we should be buying young players .

[DINGLE]

Not a fan of these type of loans , I think we should be giving our own young players the opportunity or we should be buying young players .

If we’d loaned Jalo from a premier league club he’d have started every game last season.

[Drover]

Not a fan of these type of loans , I think we should be giving our own young players the opportunity or we should be buying young players .

Nevertheless,A very good player Tyke,If you are going to have a loanee,he is one I would hope for,you paid over a million for Herbie,and IMO Matty has better footballing brain,and awareness around him,major cog in our winning run last season.

[tyke1962]

Not a fan of these type of loans , I think we should be giving our own young players the opportunity or we should be buying young players .

Nevertheless,A very good player Tyke,If you are going to have a loanee,he is one I would hope for,you paid over a million for Herbie,and IMO Matty has better footballing brain,and awareness around him,major cog in our winning run last season.

It's the short term solution I'm not a fan of Drover , we had Macatee on loan last season who did very well , now he's gone back to Luton we still have the same problem of finding a number 10 as we had 12 months ago .

Loan to buy agreements I can live with or loans to cover injuries that at one time were a feature of every club like our two selves were fine too .

The Academy at Barnsley costs us well over a million quid every year to run and you wonder why we bother if we aren't bringing our own talent through .

[ncRover]

Why is it a sickener they are a level above us at the moment

Sickener for us, not for him. I thought that was a pretty obvious statement? Obviously not.

Why for us? He won’t be playing against us.

I think Alan might have meant it is a sickener for us because he won’t be playing for us.
Irrespective of whether Matty plays for Barnsley.

There was no world in which a young player of that quality was coming back to this level of football. So hardly a sickener.

Tyke, you will come back to this post in a few months and smile at it. This lad is absolute quality. You would not have found a better young player available to buy permanently.

He came in to a struggling team and bossed the league in his first ever senior loan. There aren’t many who do that.

[Alan Southstand]

I don’t care what anyone else thinks, it’s a sickener for me! I was looking forward to watching the Bailey Craig partnership back together - they were absolutely purring at the back end of last season.

We simply don’t have Craig’s equivalent in our squad, currently. Hopefully, Grant has got other ideas.

[Padge_DRFC]

I don’t care what anyone else thinks, it’s a sickener for me! I was looking forward to watching the Bailey Craig partnership back together - they were absolutely purring at the back end of last season.

We simply don’t have Craig’s equivalent in our squad, currently. Hopefully, Grant has got other ideas.

I'd argue we are weaker going into the season than how we finished. Our top end looks strong but midfield is a huge void not filled by anyone currently. Close is not the answer in that position. Good footballer but better off not playing as a 2 IMO

[Butchers Red]

Not a fan of these type of loans , I think we should be giving our own young players the opportunity or we should be buying young players .

Agree 100%, it's just short term thinking, which is why I'm so pleased we signed Maxwell etc - our clubs going the right way.

[sedwardsdrfc]

I’d prefer loans only if we plan on being able to sign them permanently after. Or as last season they come in Jan to fill what’s missing. That’s where the short term nature is a benefit.

[roversdude]

Broadbent needs to step up and make that role his- been good (albeit against limited opposition no disrespect)preseason

[DonnyBazR0ver]

I don’t care what anyone else thinks, it’s a sickener for me! I was looking forward to watching the Bailey Craig partnership back together - they were absolutely purring at the back end of last season.

We simply don’t have Craig’s equivalent in our squad, currently. Hopefully, Grant has got other ideas.

I'd argue we are weaker going into the season than how we finished. Our top end looks strong but midfield is a huge void not filled by anyone currently. Close is not the answer in that position. Good footballer but better off not playing as a 2 IMO

The key is starting stronger than we did last season, then we won't have such a mountain to climb in the second half of the season, especially with another transfer window at our disposal, so do we have to be as strong as we finished? Well, if we have sights on automatic, then we do need to maintain a 2pts per game average across the whole season.

As for our midfield, we keep mentioning Close and Westbrooke when discussing Craig's absence but as they are different types of players, our midfield strength is more likely to depend on the consistency of Bailey and possibly Broadbent, who McCanns been bigging up for sometime. With having more dynamic attacking options, getting the ball quickly to our dangerous players will define how prolific we're going to be. Defensively, we've just got to avoid having more holes than Swiss cheese in transition.

Back to Craig, it's likely to be a career defining season. If he performs well in the league above, then you would expect Spurs will be keen to give him the chance to integrate into the first team squad.  On the other hand, if they don't feel he'll make the grade, then they'll have some value left in him for transfer with another season left on his contract.

[danumdon]

I think sometimes we can't see the wood for the trees.

GM knew he was never going to be coming back so don't we think he will have a plan to compensate for this?

The plan may not require a like for like replacement, when you look at some of the quality he has brought into the squad i believe he already has the personnel required.

More than one way to skin a cat!

[drfchound]

McCann will obviously have irons in the fire with regards to loans.
As we know, the incoming loans are always brought in quite close to the start of the new season so let’s wait and see who we get.

[Alan Southstand]

Just to remind you, hound, we already have an incoming loan! But, I know what you mean.

[drfchound]

I know Alan, but more to come?

[Campsall rover]

Is Clifton not going to be the man to replace Craig?

Hardly anyone has mentioned him at all. Yes a different player to  Craig & Grimsby’s best player for the last 2 seasons. I do think GM has  brought him in to start games.
We will see.

[steve@dcfd]

We will only know how our centre midfield performs when league two starts. I hope Clifton can show he’s good enough so let’s hope injuries are not a curse like Close and Westbrooke, who we should never extended their contracts. If they are not available again then that’s why we need a loan as we did last season.