Who to sign for next season?

[Iron Curtain]

17 minutes ago, onestepatatime said:

Wow! If we are after the likes of him then bril. Well dug out Iron Curtain. Let's hope DC and DF are scouting such replacements.

The bit I cant quite understand is how he went from these numbers to only playing 7 times this year and then getting released.

A bit of digging shows they they signed a 22 year old Keeper called Andrew Fisher on loan and then permanently and rate him as "One of the best keepers in the country for his age"... so it could just be a case of Steve Backley and Jan Železný.

For the younger readers Steve Backley threw the Javelin further than anyone on the planet... apart from Jan  Železný whose career unfortunately happened at the same time. I Bet Steve was gutted every time Jan turned up to a competition.

[geoff1]

12 hours ago, valiant_593 said:

Decent keeper he was just unfortunate he was behind a brilliant keeper 

your joking (arent you)?😄😲

[CambridgeDon]

After Saturday's game with Mansfield, spotted this interesting quote from Nigel Clough: “We’ve made contact with all of our targets, and no one has turned us down as of yet. We want to get a couple in early, to show other sides that we mean business.”

Competition is going to be fierce out there - let's hope we're in a similar position.

[Joe B]

25 minutes ago, Iron Curtain said:

The bit I cant quite understand is how he went from these numbers to only playing 7 times this year and then getting released.

A bit of digging shows they they signed a 22 year old Keeper called Andrew Fisher on loan and then permanently and rate him as "One of the best keepers in the country for his age"... so it could just be a case of Steve Backley and Jan Železný.

For the younger readers Steve Backley threw the Javelin further than anyone on the planet... apart from Jan  Železný whose career unfortunately happened at the same time. I Bet Steve was gutted every time Jan turned up to a competition.

Bit like Neal, who was outstanding for us, got injured, we signed Alnwick to cover just before the season, and Alnwick kept him out of the side for good.

It's these situations that clever clubs can take advantage of; good players who can improve us are everywhere.

[Wrex]

1 hour ago, Joe B said:

I am being genuinely serious here, because I want to understand.

Can you articulate exactly what you don't like about Clarke?

It can't be his managerial ability as he won 8 and drew 1 with a team that had won 3 in 23, going from one of the worst defences to one of the most formidable, with 4 promotions under his belt.

Is it a personal thing? I find him a tad abrasive at times too but have reconciled to the fact that I can't moralise anymore; we need wins and promotion, at any cost.

Seriously; you're in every thread making snarky comments, refusing to ever praise him. I'm trying to figure out what the issue is.

It's a personal thing for toyah yes.

Personally I'm not much for Clarke but I have accepted him unceremoniously <ovf censored> off the current squad as this lot got Askey the sack by downing tools, and Askey was a decent chap and a local man. So if any of the current squad feel hard done by then well, we tried the nice guy approach and they weren't having it, so Mr Nasty it is.

[ValeCW]

I am expecting him to sign some players he has previously worked with. No problem with that. 

[mbycars]

14 hours ago, wotsyobeef said:

But surely if you have done enough to earn your place but aren't picked because of something in a contract that you were offered it isn't very honorable.

Its a bit like a car salesman getting a commission if they sell 10 cars in a month but every time they get to 9 their manager asks them to give the mechanics a hand instead of greet customers.

I agree if you are left out of the squad purely on the basis of not triggering a contract extension then its not great, At the time when Legge was close to triggering his extension his form had been really poor and i think he had been sent off twice. The general view then would probably been is he worth a place in the side and is he worth a contract extension. The answer then was probably no.

[Danish Valiant]

47 minutes ago, CambridgeDon said:

After Saturday's game with Mansfield, spotted this interesting quote from Nigel Clough: “We’ve made contact with all of our targets, and no one has turned us down as of yet. We want to get a couple in early, to show other sides that we mean business.”

Competition is going to be fierce out there - let's hope we're in a similar position.

I would think we are. Still a long way from "not turned us down as of yet", which is a bit of a nothing frase, to actually signing on the dotted line though 🙂

[Fosse69]

2 hours ago, CambridgeDon said:

After Saturday's game with Mansfield, spotted this interesting quote from Nigel Clough: “We’ve made contact with all of our targets, and no one has turned us down as of yet. We want to get a couple in early, to show other sides that we mean business.”

Competition is going to be fierce out there - let's hope we're in a similar position.

Is their list as long as ours?  Club, Manager, Location, and Money all need ticks but signing is the only thing that matters.

[For Us All]

So,just 16 players required now to make up the 25 player squad DC wants.Suggestions on a postcard please.UTV

[Walka003]

Ryan Sweeney has just been released by Mansfield. He'd be a good start

[Joe B]

19 minutes ago, Walka003 said:

Ryan Sweeney has just been released by Mansfield. He'd be a good start

The dodgy account which linked us with Benning and Mullen (!) has linked us with him.

People bang on about how bad rumours are but I just think they're good fun. Will be an enjoyable summer.

EDIT: Two separate accounts have said we're in for Benning. Again, probably rubbish as he will attract loads of interest.

[wotsyobeef]

I know Clarke had a big turnover of players at Bristol. Does anyone know if he made big changes in the summer at Walsall?

Will there be differences in trying to attract players to come to Stoke rather than Bristol?

Exciting times ahead.

[Santa]

13 minutes ago, wotsyobeef said:

Will there be differences in trying to attract players to come to Stoke rather than Bristol?

Well they'll probably live further north.

[Vale1995]

All i want to see this summer is a proven goalscorer when was the last time we signed a well known decent striker for this league i cant think of one bar lee hughes. It is imperative that we do so if we want to challenge