Guitar Ray

That’s the managers job and he definitely has more options than those you suggest. Next season we need more goals so if we lose one or both players we’re already in deficit.

I think you’re off on this one Joe, depending on how far into 6 figures you’re thinking. I’d never want to sell goalscorers by choice. Obviously if offers do come in then we’ll have to consider them. Anyway, both players have completely different attributes. Garrity, a hard working battler who can win you the ball and scores goals from midfield. Chizzy a tricky flair player who creates chances and scores a few himself. I’d try and keep both and maybe hope for a stupid offer in January if we’re not challenging. As ever money will dictate, be that a better wage offer for the player or a fee we can’t refuse.

Nothing wrong with playing Newcastle, Kidsgrove and other local teams as it gives us a good base to work from as pre-season progresses and the quality of opposition hopefully improves, plus fans generally enjoy these games, especially if the weather’s good. Moore seemed to indicate we’d be playing a few more friendlies against teams from higher leagues this season so we’ll have to wait and see.

It’s not Bill. It’s some troll……potentially with a dust problem judging from some of the 💩 they’re posting. 👍🏻

Definitely special, not necessarily for the right reasons sadly.

You’re a rayt bundle of joy.

We had the V design maybe 8 or 9 years ago, on the GMB kit. A smallish V on one of the home kits around then, which I wasn’t a fan of, and that claret shirt which had a large V, which I thought was a nice top at the time. To be fair we’ve had some great kits over the years and many of the recent ones are right up there.

Folk are bashing on about being strong willed but it’s not that simple, confidence plays a big part. Also, when the chips are down if you know you’re in a struggling team that can’t score goals and leaks them like a colander it’s a lot harder than when things are going well. That said there’s no doubt we could’ve fine with, and need to recruit, a couple of players who were/are tougher, DM alluded to that the other night, kind of suggesting the players are good guys but you need a bit of nastiness in the dressing room, as long as it’s managed properly.

Exactly. These people, CoE’s, CEO’s etc, are appointed to primarily take pressure off the owners so let them get on with it. Things clearly became very toxic between the club and fans over the course of the season and the pressure on the Shanahans must’ve been intense. It’s pressure we don’t have as fans on the terraces. We have the emotional attachment but can walk home after the game and don’t have to worry about running the business, being castigated on social media and all the rest of it. Anyway, we all need a reset and Carol stepping out of the limelight just now is a natural part of that, there’s nothing stopping her from becoming more visible again once the dust has settled and I for one really hope to see her at our open day, kit launch or whatever, for my annual selfie.

We could choose any colour under the sun but quite obviously the real reason is historic, we’ve played in black and amber, or yellow, many times over the years.

Definitely one of the weaker links in that squad. For me this illustrates the gap in quality between the 2 divisions. We could allow Stone to make the errors he did and still have a decent season.

I’d always be more interested in the stuff they leave out of these videos to be blunt and I know what I’ve seen this season. All the young lads are the same in that regard, and that’s not me being negative, it’s a simple fact of life, they’re not physically mature enough to be expected to hold their own for 90 minutes, or whatever, week in week out. For the lads we manage to retain, it’ll be interesting to see how they fair next season, coming back a bit older and wiser after a break to re-charge in the summer.

Not seen him holding off many defenders thus far, but he’s still a kid. His other attributes are pretty clear to see. Primarily he appears to have an eye for goal and a bit of composure.

No idea about Facebook but on the club website Uche is having discussions about renewed terms.

Far from it, I swapped ends this season and quite enjoyed that, plus I’ve started parting my hair on the opposite side. I know what you’re thinking. Anarchist.

Have to admit I agree with this, however I’ve still not recovered from him missing that free header from 6 yards out on Saturday. We need players who will regularly hit the back of the net when they’re presented with such clear cut chances.

If you think a new stadium would cost anywhere near the cost of the outstanding jobs on the stadium I suggest you look what some of the newer league grounds actually cost. It’s an old nugget irrespective of age.

I thought the club stated fairly recently that the Railway Stand is sound. The Family Stand is simply a location for the scoreboard these days so no worries there. The Bycars is fine and we don’t actually need the extra seats that the Lorne Street could provide. Beyond any of this, there’s no way fixing the “issues” will cost more than building a new stadium so let’s put that old nugget to bed, unless of course there’s some funding from outside the club that nobody is aware of.

It won’t hurt but it hasn’t helped Forest Green who reportedly had one of the bigger budgets in League 2. Bradford must have a decent budget but they’ve floated around mid-table for years. It boils down to what you do with your money, however much that is. If you believe what Flitcroft said after the debacle of the January window it’s likely we didn’t actually spend some of our available playing budget plus clearly we wasted a good chunk on 2 shot shy forwards who found goals impossible to come by.

Agree with this. Clarke more skilful I would say and Gibbo maybe slightly the better defensively. The main debate, as you say, being which of the pair would spend more time on the treatment table.

If Carol cares to look at the plight of FGR this season she’ll see it’s not just about throwing money at it. Recruitment and stability at all levels are the key, just as they are in any business. Football's greenest club had dreams that weren't sustainable. The hope is they're recyclable THEATHLETIC.COM

Why do you need to figure out a preferred formation? Often it’s down to finding a system which best suits the players at your disposal. Anyway formations should be flexible and not too rigid. Players need to be able to move around to some degree, the main criteria being they’re at least good enough for the level and know and can perform their role in whatever system is employed. The main thing is to have decent players in each position and good cover so you’re not playing square pegs in round holes. For me the biggest question in the short term is around who we retain, how many of the players who’ve struggled this season would be good enough next in the league below. Moore may decide to smash it up and start again but then again may decide to retain a few who we don’t rate.

Any manager is only going to be as good as his players. Our squad was massively lacking and to make matters worse the former DoF was also dictating the style of play. Hopefully Moore will be able to recruit a balanced squad with strength in depth in every position before the 24-25 season kicks off. The likelihood is that it’ll take a couple of windows to do this but a bit of that will also depend on how many of our better players stay and how the rest of the retained players shape up in the lower league. One or two of the strugglers may be decent in League 2.

We had the same conversation at half time, I thought the same as you myself but someone pointed out lack of other available options today maybe got him the gig at RWB. He looked ok going forward but not much end product and didn’t look great defensively, so pretty much the same as everyone else who’s played in that position this season.

For me I’d like to see a bit more flexibility rather than just recruit for a style. One of the problems this season seemed to be we were so wedded to a system that we couldn’t deviate much. It didn’t help that we hadn’t recruited all the players we needed to play the style chosen by the DoF, but that’s another story.