Best Of

It is possible to acknowledge a player's importantance and state that they're replaceable. Most players are, even more so with the advancements in data-led recruitment. I want to get Morley permanently, but we're not going to descend into oblivion without him.

Does anyone honestly think we'll wave him off back to Bolton and not bring in a replacement?

As I’ve reiterated a few times this season, Morley is our most important player. Not our best, although he’s not far off the best either. He’s so vital to our playing style. Bakinson’s attributes are not comparable. Butcher’s are not comparable. Nobody in the squad has comparable attributes. I suspect we either pay up or we bring in Arthur Read from Col U or we bring back Lewis Wing or we bring in a loanee. Perhaps a combination of all these options.

Even without "should haves" that is 12 points in 6 games, or 2 points per game, or 92 over the course of a season!

I hope we sign Morley and I think there's a decent chance we will, but I wouldn't see it as a disaster if he goes go back to Bolton. With Scowen (still our best player in my opinion returning from injury) we'd still have a very strong midfield and that's before any signings we might make.

The way Evatt has put out that message really tells us all we need to know about him. Bolton are well within their right to recall Morley - I've long assumed they would - but he's basically recalled him while publicly telling the lad he's not really wanted and up for sale. A more classy manager would've just said that he's being recalled and being brought back into the squad, whilst carrying out negotiations with WWFC in private behind closed doors.

I'm slightly surprised that so many people here are downplaying the importance of Morley to us this season. He's been utterly superb and won't be easy to replace at all if we can't do a deal. He's one of the greatest passers of the ball we've ever had and has been integral to the attacking fluency of the last few months. That said, maybe the data says differently and the club aren't too worried. I'd be very concerned about our chances of finishing top 2 without him though.

I hope Ian Evatt gets dysentery for Christmas.

After the earlier post, I am increasingly confident that we can do a deal for Morley. £100k plus add-ons if we get promoted and maybe a sell-on fee, thanks Evatt.

I'm sure we'll let the data guide our decision. We'll finish January with either Morley or a Morley-like player - I'm not worried.

Marc lles is one of the best (local) journalists out there. Others include James Heneghan (Northampton Town), Jon Colman (Carlisle United and Jon Palmer (Cheltenham Town).