2 hours ago, kevin_struggles said:

Lets put it this way Matty Taylors goals total since January is higher than any of our strikers have managed since the start of the season, including willo who has only scored 8 in two seasons. I don't think many of us wanted us to sign him last season but with the benefit of hindsight we would have been far better off signing Taylor than anyone we did sign which just goes to show how poor our recruitment has been.

But there were a few posters on OVF who wanted to sign him as Rob says so it wasn't just hindsight. When he was at Vale Taylor was like a wasp, in your face, he was just trouble for the opposition and a goal scorer.  To be balanced Vale could also have done with keeping a few  out at the other end!!  It's all water under the bridge now.

2 hours ago, Raveninblack said:

how can we give two goal loft a contract as he is awful and his contract should be paid up and got rid of likewise to jones and sang and even smith and ojo have been awful all season 

I agree on all except Sang who had a whole season being shoehorned in right back / wing back /centre half and he a midfielder. He deserves at chance in midfield as he done what’s asked of him in a strange positions 

21 minutes ago, Rockape99 said:

I agree on all except Sang who had a whole season being shoehorned in right back / wing back /centre half and he a midfielder. He deserves at chance in midfield as he done what’s asked of him in a strange positions 

He hasn't played the whole season being shoehorned in at RWB, he's played a few times in central midfield.  He's just been poor when he's had the opportunity.  His best game by far was as a right centrehalf.  Despite someone recently changing his Wikipedia page Sang has played over 75% of his games at rightback or right wingback.

Initially I had thought his problem in midfield and on the right was a lack of pace. He actually isn't that slow running forward. He is that slow running backwards in defence.  He also just doesn't read the game defensively in either position. Whatever decisions he makes defensively end up being wrong. His general passing is just hit and miss. His only attribute this season has been his crossing at times. 

He'll still he here next season but he's in danger of falling out of the league for good thereafter.  He's never held a regular position at either of his loans, Cardiff or with Vale. He's 25 in a couple of weeks and should now be at his peak. With the exception of the one game at right centrehalf his peak has looked several leagues below league 2. 

1 hour ago, Rockape99 said:

I agree on all except Sang who had a whole season being shoehorned in right back / wing back /centre half and he a midfielder. He deserves at chance in midfield as he done what’s asked of him in a strange positions 

He has had a chance was was rubbish there. And at other times we’ve desperately needed another midfielder and he hasnt been trusted there. If we are going into next season with the idea that sang will be one of our centre mids then we are in trouble. 

I remember it being said that our policy was to go for Quality rather than Quantity. Did I miss something ? Ok we all know strikers aren't cheap especially ones who actually do their day job and score goals. Every team wants a 15/20 goal a season striker and they attract a  wage premium. Surely the  combined wages of Uche and Loft could have being better spent on the wages of 1 quality striker whose goal return might have made the crucial difference between relegation and staying up.

Edited April 25, 20242 yr by man in the pub

Think people will be disappointed by the retained list. There just isn’t much room for manoeuvre. I can see absolute hell up on Monday morning.

I don’t think we will ‘pay off’ anyone - a potential waste of money if someone is willing to loan them/take on most of their wages later on. It’s hundreds of thousands of pounds up front, to pay off the number of players some are calling for. 

I think Massey and Wilson will be released, the loanees sent back, Uche and Wynne offered terms (which Uche will reject), and maybe 3-4 put on a transfer list. I’m not for one second saying I’m happy with any of this, just a prediction.

Like it or lump it, I think 15ish of this squad will be here next season, including Sang, Loft, and the other maligned lads. 

11 minutes ago, JoeB2 said:

Think people will be disappointed by the retained list. There just isn’t much room for manoeuvre. I can see absolute hell up on Monday morning.

I don’t think we will ‘pay off’ anyone - a potential waste of money if someone is willing to loan them/take on most of their wages later on. It’s hundreds of thousands of pounds up front, to pay off the number of players some are calling for. 

I think Massey and Wilson will be released, the loanees sent back, Uche and Wynne offered terms (which Uche will reject), and maybe 3-4 put on a transfer list. I’m not for one second saying I’m happy with any of this, just a prediction.

Like it or lump it, I think 15ish of this squad will be here next season, including Sang, Loft, and the other maligned lads. 

Happy Mondays! 😁

1 hour ago, JRC said:

He hasn't played the whole season being shoehorned in at RWB, he's played a few times in central midfield.  He's just been poor when he's had the opportunity.  His best game by far was as a right centrehalf.  Despite someone recently changing his Wikipedia page Sang has played over 75% of his games at rightback or right wingback.

Initially I had thought his problem in midfield and on the right was a lack of pace. He actually isn't that slow running forward. He is that slow running backwards in defence.  He also just doesn't read the game defensively in either position. Whatever decisions he makes defensively end up being wrong. His general passing is just hit and miss. His only attribute this season has been his crossing at times. 

He'll still he here next season but he's in danger of falling out of the league for good thereafter.  He's never held a regular position at either of his loans, Cardiff or with Vale. He's 25 in a couple of weeks and should now be at his peak. With the exception of the one game at right centrehalf his peak has looked several leagues below league 2. 

Sang is a serial ball watcher whose  lack of pace and defensive awareness has cost a goal a game over recent weeks. Opposition managers target him every week as the weakest link in our defence. His only contribution in the other half seems to be  to lob a sort of cross field chip from just past the halfway line down the centre halves throat.

Sang is in my opinion one of our worst performers of the season.  The fact that he replaced Dave Worral says it all about Flitcroft’s transfer policy.

Edited April 25, 20242 yr by BlytheValiant

48 minutes ago, JoeB2 said:

Think people will be disappointed by the retained list. There just isn’t much room for manoeuvre. I can see absolute hell up on Monday morning.

I don’t think we will ‘pay off’ anyone - a potential waste of money if someone is willing to loan them/take on most of their wages later on. It’s hundreds of thousands of pounds up front, to pay off the number of players some are calling for. 

I think Massey and Wilson will be released, the loanees sent back, Uche and Wynne offered terms (which Uche will reject), and maybe 3-4 put on a transfer list. I’m not for one second saying I’m happy with any of this, just a prediction.

Like it or lump it, I think 15ish of this squad will be here next season, including Sang, Loft, and the other maligned lads. 

I think you are spot on. The problem with placing under performing players on the transfer list is you can't really replace them until they move. The seasons we've listed a few players have tended to end badly. Having 3 or 4 unhappy players inside the club doesn't seem to end well in general. Short-term the focus needs to be replacing what we can. We must have spent a reasonable amount on the loans, so there's some money there. 

They also need to revisit the quality to quantity argument.  Last season there was a lack of quality, yet when injuries hit there was a lack of quantity.  My own opinion is our best 11 was good enough to stay up. 2 or 3 injuries and we were miles off. I don't think we had more than average injuries. 

58 minutes ago, man in the pub said:

I remember it being said that our policy was to go for Quality rather than Quantity. Did I miss something ? Ok we all know strikers aren't cheap especially ones who actually do their day job and score goals. Every team wants a 15/20 goal a season striker and they attract a  wage premium. Surely the  combined wages of Uche and Loft could have being better spent on the wages of 1 quality striker whose goal return might have made the crucial difference between relegation and staying up.

Personally I dont think we will make the mistake in this window of not bringing in a decent striker

41 minutes ago, BlytheValiant said:

Sang is a serial ball watcher whose  lack of pace and defensive awareness has cost a goal a game over recent weeks. Opposition managers target him every week as the weakest link in our defence. His only contribution in the other half seems to be  to lob a sort of cross field chip from just past the halfway line down the centre halves throat.

Sang is in my opinion one of our worst performers of the season.  The fact that he replaced Dave Worral says it all about Flitcroft’s transfer policy.

Watched him closely from the Railway Stand in the second half against Exeter. Time after time he was on his own against two men. People were screaming at him to get closer to the winger, but that just meant the midfielder with the ball could pick his pass at leisure. Seeing as no one ever did help couldn’t work out who was supposed to.

Personally I dont think we will make the mistake in this window of not bringing in a decent striker

We said that last year

19 minutes ago, werstayinup said:

Personally I dont think we will make the mistake in this window of not bringing in a decent striker

Hopefully Moore also sees the value of having actual fullbacks especially on the left too. Be nice to get some idea of what a Darren Moore team is meant to be as am still not sure now, hopefully this window will give us a better clue.

1 hour ago, man in the pub said:

I remember it being said that our policy was to go for Quality rather than Quantity. Did I miss something ? Ok we all know strikers aren't cheap especially ones who actually do their day job and score goals. Every team wants a 15/20 goal a season striker and they attract a  wage premium. Surely the  combined wages of Uche and Loft could have being better spent on the wages of 1 quality striker whose goal return might have made the crucial difference between relegation and staying up.

We never had enough strikers anyway. If we had one decent striker but not Uche and Loft we would basically have Wilson, Dipepa and someone decent. That was not enough. 
 

This season was a story of us not having a budget to compete. We saw that clearly, when despite not having enough strikers, we decided to let the only one who had played a full pre season go to MK Dons. The fact he wanted to go to a league 2 team in the first place tells us all you need to know. 
 

Then, in January, Uche plays one decent game and he is allowed to chat to Charlton for a rumoured 10k per week! 
 

He only came back because Charlton thought they had got Clarke Harris instead. At the time, Charlton were our closest relegation rivals and we sought to buy…nobody. 
 

After all that despite having no players to mention, March comes round and we decide to give Deklan Wynnne free money for a month. 
 

We now know that was a total waste, as not only has he not played, he can’t influence anything as we are relegated anyway. 
 

For a club that had a tight budget, we still seem to be failing to learn the lessons of running a tight ship where possible  

 

1 hour ago, werstayinup said:

Personally I dont think we will make the mistake in this window of not bringing in a decent striker

The goalkeeping was a prime concern and almost sent us down last season. That warning caused the recruitment team to earmark and secure a first choice goalkeeping target in the summer. I think something similar will happen this season and we’ll see a striker target secured early. Well put it this way, if we don’t start the season with decent striker options in 24/25 after the way this season’s gone then nothing will convince them to fork out for a striker.