If anything, I’d say you are underestimating the number of new players to come in, I think we may need as much as ten newcomers.
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Here's how we are shaping up for next season:
Players currently in or around the senior squad:
GK
Phillips
CB
Nelson
McGuiness
WB/FB
Ng
Bagan
CM
Wintle
Sang
Bowen
AM
Colwill
Evans
FW
Moore
Harris
Collins
Davies
Watters
Then there are a few in the u23s who could make the step up
GK
Ratcliffe
CB
Denham
Connoly (although I think he's also out of contract)
Bakare
WB
Semenyo
CM
Patten
King
D'Almeida
CF
Zimba
Well we have a LOT to do.
I'd say we need:
1 Gk
2 CB
2 WB/FB
1 CM
1 AM
possibly less depending on if any of the other youngsters can step up.
thats a massive transition, you'd expect we would be looking at a couple of loans again, and frees and good prospects in the lower leagues.
I see some teams have started picking over the bones of Derby already - I wonder how much they'd accept for Bird, Sibley or Knight
If anything, I’d say you are underestimating the number of new players to come in, I think we may need as much as ten newcomers.
One rather sobering thought - if we let the contracts of Morrison, Flint, Bacuna, Pack, Vaulks and Smithies all run down, we'll have paid over £20m in transfer fees for those 6 alone and have got not a penny back in transfer fees.
And when you consider all those extra matches in the Papa John’s Trophy it’s looking even bleaker.
I think dropping down a division could be the making of these young lads. Could be a case of one step back, two steps forward.
1 new central midfielder? We'll be losing 4 and there's no guarantee that Bowen or Sang are good enough
I don’t expect many to as people want instant results but if this summer is going to be another window of austerity and we have to go into another season with the youngsters I think it would be more beneficial long term if they were winning some games, which we are more likely to in League 1.
Even if we survive this season, another relegation fight beckons next year. We are fortunate this year Reading and Derbyhave had points deducted. No good for their development being in a relegation scrap constatnly losing games imo. We need to be giving this group 2/3 years of football experience to make them ready for Championship football. That may need to take place in league one for a season or two.
Probably a good thing especially in midfield which has been an issue for so long. I would try and keep Ralls but let the rest go.
I don't have much of a problem with us going down. I would hope the drop in income might bring about a reality check for Tan. Relegation didn't work out too badly for Norwich, Southampton, Leicester etc. It's true that Bolton and Portsmouth struggled and there is a fear we could end up as we did in the mid 80s, but we're not a club in huge trouble like those. It took Slade to sort out the mess from Solskjaer and it's taken 3 managers to sort out the mess from Warnock. Sometimes you need to take a step backwards to make bigger steps forward.
I missed this from a few days ago in WOL about George Ratcliffe:
Smithies: Ratcliffe 'needs to be playing'
Cardiff's Alex Smithies believes youngster George Ratcliffe is getting to the stage of his career when he needs to start playing first-team games.
The 21-year-old is yet to make his first-team debut, but is a fully-fledged member of the senior setup.
With two top stoppers in front of him in Smithies and Dillon Phillips, chances are few and far between. However, with Smithies' contract up in the summer, the Wales under-21s keeper might get his shot next term.
"For George, he’s getting to that stage where he’ll need to be playing games, stepping up when he gets the opportunity," Smithies said.
"He has been working hard with me and Dillon, which I’d like to think is helping in bringing him along in his development as a young player with potential.”
It's a bit of a surprise to me that Ratcliffe hasn't at least been given a cup game, we may need to rely on him as second choice next season
I hope the club re-sign Smithies, Morrison and Ralls.
Face it folks, if we don't get relegated this year, we're nailed on certs for next. Unless of course Uncle Vinny gets his mojo back.
I honestly can't believe you can find any positives in relegation. It would be an unmitigated disaster. For one we do not produce home-grown players of the calibre that Southampton in particular do. Even a club far bigger than ourselves such as Sunderland are not finding it easy to bounce back. As for Portsmouth and Bolton, both similar size clubs to us, well they won't be getting promoted any time soon.
I think a mass clear out will be a tonic for the club, and we need to focus on bringing in fresh faces to mesh with our current crop of youngsters.
Since we dropped back from the Premier last time the club has been in free fall on and off the field. If we don't make radical changes soon we will continue to drift.
Few points. We could field a starting eleven with a majority of u-23 players. We are starting, as a club, to realise the importance of this.
Portsmouth and Bolton were in shit street when they went down to League 1. We're not. Sunderland were a total mess when they suffered two successive relegations. They clung on to life in the top flight when they should have gone down sooner and their problems just mounted.
Completely agree. In order to be self supporting we have to make bringing players through from the academy our focus. Some of the daft wages, transfer fees and contracts we've thrown around should be reserved for really special players or gaps we can't fill from home grown talent.