99 league starts in 15 years, he doesn't seem our kind of player. 

Just can't see that one. They may have got one rumour right (perhaps more luck than knowledge considering the sheer number of rumours they put out) but I cannot see us being interested in him. We have a core of experienced players and are well stocked in central midfield. If anything, we want a young understudy for Joyce not an injury-prone 32 year-old.

According to the page that predicted the Devante Rodney signing, we're after ex-Utd Darron Gibson.

Given his drinking troubles, I can't see this one happening?

They were 48 hours behind the first rumour on Rodney , do not trust that twitter account

Not a chance

Ollie Palmer has always looked awful when i've seen him, all be it maybe just hasn't done the business against us, missed a hatful as well against us in December.

Maybe a good loan player may come in but they are a gamble. We will have to see, personally think we were silly to let Bennett go as he did weigh in with a few goals when he played.

If Cullen stayed fit and hopefully comes into this season fitter than he came into the last with his injury he is easily the best goal scorer at the club and is capable of 15-20, his goal ratio was superb in terms of goals to minutes, just a shame we couldn't get that many minutes out of him last term.

It's a big season, lets be honest this one is the big one, the one where we want and need to be challenging at the top after expecting to consolidate and form a base last season ahead of a push this season, barring Coronavirus maybe would have achieved it a year early. Its the first year in a long time I've been excited for the season and what is to come and we should only have the goal of promotion. No reason why we wont, it just needs the odd tweak and we should improve again and take our superb post Xmas form into the new term.

 

If anyone is expecting us to sign a player who has, in the last 3 years, scored 20 goals in a single season in the EFL, they are going to be disappointed. In fact, I can't remember us doing that this century (bar a 37 year old Hughesy).

We need to add goals throughout the side, especially from midfield, but bar Swindon none of the promoted sides had a proper '20 goal' man, mostly having top scorers around 11-14.

Edited July 14, 20205 yr by Joe B

I'm happy with the squad, I'm just worried about whether we can expect Legge to play every single minute again, whether Joyce can continue to run the midfield, whether Worrall can continue to be the fittest player on the pitch etc.

We all love him but imo Brown took a slight dip last year, a few errors crept into his game (especially aerially).

In American sports, where there are salary caps and teams can't afford to keep all their good players because they ask for too much money, teams often have 'windows' to win a championship before they have to let expensive players go, lest they fall foul of the salary cap.

I think we're in a similar boat; we have a narrow window for promotion. 1 year, 2 years tops. Top 7 would still be a good finish but then you're into the lottery of the playoffs (where teams perhaps less of quality have succeeded), and if we don't manage it you're looking at a rebuild, which can take a couple of seasons if you don't have an elite summer of recruitment. 

The way we play now doesn't particularly lend itself to a 25-30 goal a season man either as a) we rotate strikers and b) play a high press game with essentially three pronged attacks and a high pressing midfield so the opportunities get spread out by 5 or 6.

Luckily we managed to get goals from defence too, Legge and Smith got a few, Brisley and Gibbo got one a piece, oddly Monty whos been regular for us I think was the only regular defender who didn't hit the net! (could argue Clark forced one against Salford)

As long we we get goals all over the pitch like last season it isn't essential to have a high scoring hitman... our lovely neighbours down in Cheshire proved that and are probably a great example for us in terms of having a really strong second half of the season before then pushing onto automatic the next.

I still think it's crucial that we have a player like Taylor in the team - a midfielder who can get ten goals.  Only our main striker ( Pope) got double figures this year, although Cullen can also score goals. Signing a centre forward would not be my main concern, but a good midfield player.

You mention Crewe. Had the season finished they would probably have had four lads in double figures - and that's the difference between going up and staying down.

We simply have to score more goals to have a chance of going up. Neither Worrall nor Amoo are prolific so we desperately need our two midfielders (Joyce apart) to get us more.

I'm sure in my own mind that one goal-scoring, creative midfielder - to add what we've already got - could make the difference we need. Just that one player with a bit of magic in his boots.

 

2 hours ago, valefan16 said:

Ollie Palmer has always looked awful when i've seen him, all be it maybe just hasn't done the business against us, missed a hatful as well against us in December.

Maybe a good loan player may come in but they are a gamble. We will have to see, personally think we were silly to let Bennett go as he did weigh in with a few goals when he played.

If Cullen stayed fit and hopefully comes into this season fitter than he came into the last with his injury he is easily the best goal scorer at the club and is capable of 15-20, his goal ratio was superb in terms of goals to minutes, just a shame we couldn't get that many minutes out of him last term.

It's a big season, lets be honest this one is the big one, the one where we want and need to be challenging at the top after expecting to consolidate and form a base last season ahead of a push this season, barring Coronavirus maybe would have achieved it a year early. Its the first year in a long time I've been excited for the season and what is to come and we should only have the goal of promotion. No reason why we wont, it just needs the odd tweak and we should improve again and take our superb post Xmas form into the new term.

 

Lets be honest if cullen could stay fit no way would he be here or in this league

Not a surprise, but Askey says he thinks we're OK at centre half (he classes it as Crooks' best position and is 4th choice there).

Targets before the season are a GK, fullback, midfielder, and forward.

He wants Taylor and Clark but won't know till near the start of the season.

36 minutes ago, Joe B said:

Not a surprise, but Askey says he thinks we're OK at centre half (he classes it as Crooks' best position and is 4th choice there).

Targets before the season are a GK, fullback, midfielder, and forward.

He wants Taylor and Clark but won't know till near the start of the season.

Just listened to that snippet from Askey. He seems happy with the squad and it is just those 4 positions that need filling now. He also mentioned he wants the GK to provide competition to Brown, either a younger player who they can develop or an experienced keeper. 

The starting line up for next season will have a very familiar feel about it, which can only be a positive given our form during the latter part of the season. 
 

                 Brown

Gibbo  Legge  Smith  Monty

                  Joyce 
Manny/Burgess  Conlon/New CM

Amoo      Cullen/New ST     Worrall 

I hope the new striker and midfielder will have a bit of quality and can provide first team competition. Intrigued to see who we bring in. 
 

 

12 minutes ago, Boslem's Brazil said:

I hope the new striker and midfielder will have a bit of quality and can provide first team competition. Intrigued to see who we bring in. 

It sounds like if he's really keen on bringing Clark and Taylor (which is totally fair enough) back then potentially the only new faces could be the goalkeeper and the striker. 

I'd be delighted if we could get both  Clark and Taylor (I guess our chances depend on other clubs/agents) as they are proven at this level and it gives us a really settled squad for next season. 

12 minutes ago, robf said:

 

It sounds like if he's really keen on bringing Clark and Taylor (which is totally fair enough) back then potentially the only new faces could be the goalkeeper and the striker. 

I'd be delighted if we could get both  Clark and Taylor (I guess our chances depend on other clubs/agents) as they are proven at this level and it gives us a really settled squad for next season. 

It would be a real coup to get them both back, fingers crossed. There must be a cut off date, as if we can’t get them back, we need to look at other options. Taylor’s goals won’t be easy to replace. 

Happy to hear Askey say Crooks best position is CB, hopefully we won't see him at LB unless we are in a pinch