Pleased to hear Scott Brown will probably be staying. Very unlucky last season and seems a decent keeper. Interesting how some seem to read the article as Wycombe doing a u turn. I thought it sounds like the Cheltenham manager covering his tracks after getting ahead of himself. I'm sure Wycombe were open to offers if the price was right but that was seriously never going to happen in this case was it?
The squad wasn't good enough to get in the play offs last season so why would the same squad (minus Blackman) do any better in the coming season? Many of the squad are in the twilight of their careers so are unlikely to improve and the younger ones like Paris and Kashket are so injury prone. Fresh blood is definately needed preferably of the younger type.
@mooneyman it very nearly was and given that we suffered from an unusually hectic fixture list in Feb and march coinciding with the loss of both our experienced centre backs that was a pretty good showing.
We do have the nucleus of a decent, play-off fighting squad but if we do want to challenge we will need to have a lot of luck with injuries and it would probably help to get knocked out of the cups early (although long term a decent cup run should be in our interests
@HCblue said:
aloysius If Brown and Pierre both staying is what leads to a boring summer transfer-wise, I reckon I'd be pretty happy to suffer the boredom.
I think it's very good news that Scott Brown seems likely to "stay". What he lacks in inches, he probably makes up for in experience and consistency. Very likeable too (which is not to say that Jamal isn't!)
FAO @Malone: Scott Brown is only 6'1". Taller than Martin Taylor.
If they are happy to stay I'm with @HCblue with regard to the boredom of it all. I think a settled squad with a couple of useful additions pulling together to build on last season would be a good thing. Luck with injuries would be key though...as it always is.
@mooneyman, are you for real? There's quite a few very good reasons why we can be optimistic for the playoffs this season.
We had a ridiculous injury crisis last year, which rucked the first 2 months up
We had a severe hangover after the 2 cup runs ended
We didn't even have Kashket and Saunders available for the vast majority of the season
Weston and Hayes could barely play less than last season (!)
When you throw in that we missed the playoffs by 1 point, even with the above factors, i think we can be very confident, even if we start the season as we are now.
Pierre staying is a huge factor, as is players staying fit, but blimey, if you can't be confident in the glorious summer months, you might as well give up, save yourself the heartache pal.
I think the key to next season is Saunders, Kashket and Weston (and Paris I suppose) staying fit. If they do, there probably isn't too much we need.
This time last year we hadn't made our first summer signing (Southwell), we had 9 players. We then had 12 for the first day of training (Southwell, Weston & Paris signings).
We currently have 19 players (without Pierre & Bean), so I'm personally not panicking in the slightest yet.
Perfectly possible to make a positive case for prospects for next season, Malone. perfectly possible to make a negative one (best two players - Pierre and Blackman likely gone - Akinfenwa unlikely to have such a good season, injury concerns over Kashket, Weston and PCH, Hayes over the hill.........).
Easy to get 11/2 against promotion (middleish in the rankings). Odds feel about right to me. Hope to get promotion or at least make playoffs, expect to finish somewhere between 9th and 15th, fear could get dragged into relegation fight if get unlucky.
Lets just see what happens pierre hasnt gone yet. We dont know whos coming in either i think we will sign 4 players we normally pick atleast one of the trialists up.
'Hope to get promotion or at least make playoffs, expect to finish somewhere between 9th and 15th, fear could get dragged into relegation fight if get unlucky'
@DevC, i'd argue it's opinion about who our best player is.
Relying heavily on the "if they're fit" line, i'd expect Saunders to be our key player next season, with Bayo as important as Pierre.
Gape, O Nien and Paris have huge roles to play too.
But then you could argue that anything more than 1 injury to the defence, where Sido can slot effortlessly in, would leave us in a real mess.
I think if we win all our games we will get promoted, if we don't things may work out differently..we need all our players to stay injury free for the season and require three or four cheap but brilliant additions to the squad to ensure promotion (Not Danny Hylton).
When's richie back from his holidays???
@devc, you quite definitely stated who our best 2 players were, and that intrigues me. By your own admission you don't get to more than a half handful of games, so are you judging our best players from that? Or from what you've read?
Many would say Stewart was as good as Pierre last year.
Many would bring up the period Blackman was making a lot of mistakes.
Bayo outperformed both last season, and was our main threat,was he our best player?
Saunders clearly has the most quality in our team, and that normally makes someone your best player. Most effective? Not last season, as he arrived late and was rusty, but a good shout for being so next season.
Recognised has to be the wrong word with defenders. We have Rowe returning, who actually is a defender, despite us trying to move him to a defensive midfielder, and we also have WDH and Muller.
That'd be 8 defenders for 4 slots, surely plenty on numbers. We can debate on quality.
There you go, eight defenders should be fine (although frankly I doubt if Danny Rowe will start the season at AP.)
Best two players is subjective, that is true. OK change that to two of the best players if you wish. Not sure it changes the reality that they leave a significant hole.
As usual, your glass is half empty @DevC. @Malone's is three quarters full. I like that. If he's wrong so be it. I know you revel in devil's advocacy (which is why, years ago, I speculated that you were in the legal profession.). At the time, you said you couldn't afford it (which puzzled me but I was already wary of giving you the opportunity to "launch into one".)
I'm neither really Micra - just showing in this case there are arguments for a good or a bad season.
As said above, I hope for playoffs or above but realistically expect 9-15. I recognise the risk that if we get bad luck, we could get sucked into relegation to.
Do you genuinely expect as well as hope for better than 9-15. Do you not countenance the possibility that things could be worse than that?
So in a nutshell, you're saying the season could either be good or it could be bad depending on results and players available @DevC . An interesting take and I cannot fault your logic.
Scott Brown is still under contract to WWFC, and I assume Cheltenham were given permission to discuss contract terms with the player. Unless WWFC were prepared to tear up his contract and release him on a free transfer (which would have happened at the end of the season, not now), he was always regarded as part of the current plan and subject to a transfer fee. If Cheltenham thought differently then they were being very naive.
I rather liked the line - "They realised they had a very good goalkeeper and no other keepers available so they will keep him." I think WWFC would have known what sort of keeper we had signed, and how many we have available. He was out on loan to get game time not because he was unwanted.
I 've always liked Gary Johnson, but he does like to put his spin on things. I think this is one more case.
It's a bit early to say "there are no other keepers available" Any Premier/Championship team may sign another keeper and push their back up keepers further down the pecking order and hence available for loan. Ingram?
I think you may be struggling a bit with comprehension. "They realised they had a very good goalkeeper and no other keepers available" is saying Wycombe have no other keepers available. Which we don't.
Ring ring....
"Alright Gaz!? Johners here mate!"
"Hello Johners! What can I do you for?"
"Well Gaz, it seems I ain't got no keeper.... I had a chat with Scotty at the end of the season..... said he wouldn't mind a move back here if the terms were right.... what you think?"
"Fair play Johners, wouldn't wanna stand in his way if that's what he wants. He's a good keeper and a good bloke and was just unlucky with us last season."
A few weeks pass......
Ring ring.....
"Ello again Gaz its Johners, just a quick update.... had Scotty come down here.... we've agreed personal terms sooooo...."
"Fair enough mate.... we got a couple potential season long loan offers from a couple of big boy clubs so I guess we can arrange something.... what you guys offering?"
"Offering? What do you mean Gaz??"
"What fee are you offering Johners??"
"Fffffffee?? Er er er..... errrm..."
"You didn't think we would let a decent keeper with a year left on his contract, that you want so much just walk for free did you Johners??"
"Well.... errrm.... errrr..... yes?"
"Tut.... off you fcuk Johners...... off you fcuk....."
Comments
Pleased to hear Scott Brown will probably be staying. Very unlucky last season and seems a decent keeper. Interesting how some seem to read the article as Wycombe doing a u turn. I thought it sounds like the Cheltenham manager covering his tracks after getting ahead of himself. I'm sure Wycombe were open to offers if the price was right but that was seriously never going to happen in this case was it?
@aloysius If Brown and Pierre both staying is what leads to a boring summer transfer-wise, I reckon I'd be pretty happy to suffer the boredom.
The squad wasn't good enough to get in the play offs last season so why would the same squad (minus Blackman) do any better in the coming season? Many of the squad are in the twilight of their careers so are unlikely to improve and the younger ones like Paris and Kashket are so injury prone. Fresh blood is definately needed preferably of the younger type.
Because we have Sam Saunders for the whole season.
But don't worry, I'm sure there will be some signings before the window closes.
@mooneyman it very nearly was and given that we suffered from an unusually hectic fixture list in Feb and march coinciding with the loss of both our experienced centre backs that was a pretty good showing.
We do have the nucleus of a decent, play-off fighting squad but if we do want to challenge we will need to have a lot of luck with injuries and it would probably help to get knocked out of the cups early (although long term a decent cup run should be in our interests
If Sam Saunders and Scott Kashket stay (mainly) fit, our prospects look good but I agree with @Chris, there are bound to be two or three additions.
Hear Hear! to that.
I think it's very good news that Scott Brown seems likely to "stay". What he lacks in inches, he probably makes up for in experience and consistency. Very likeable too (which is not to say that Jamal isn't!)
FAO @Malone: Scott Brown is only 6'1". Taller than Martin Taylor.
If they are happy to stay I'm with @HCblue with regard to the boredom of it all. I think a settled squad with a couple of useful additions pulling together to build on last season would be a good thing. Luck with injuries would be key though...as it always is.
@mooneyman, are you for real? There's quite a few very good reasons why we can be optimistic for the playoffs this season.
We had a ridiculous injury crisis last year, which rucked the first 2 months up
We had a severe hangover after the 2 cup runs ended
We didn't even have Kashket and Saunders available for the vast majority of the season
Weston and Hayes could barely play less than last season (!)
When you throw in that we missed the playoffs by 1 point, even with the above factors, i think we can be very confident, even if we start the season as we are now.
Pierre staying is a huge factor, as is players staying fit, but blimey, if you can't be confident in the glorious summer months, you might as well give up, save yourself the heartache pal.
@micra, sounds plenty of height. And i don't think anyone would be unhappy with him starting for us. Certainly cuts down a bit of recruitment!
I think the key to next season is Saunders, Kashket and Weston (and Paris I suppose) staying fit. If they do, there probably isn't too much we need.
This time last year we hadn't made our first summer signing (Southwell), we had 9 players. We then had 12 for the first day of training (Southwell, Weston & Paris signings).
We currently have 19 players (without Pierre & Bean), so I'm personally not panicking in the slightest yet.
Perfectly possible to make a positive case for prospects for next season, Malone. perfectly possible to make a negative one (best two players - Pierre and Blackman likely gone - Akinfenwa unlikely to have such a good season, injury concerns over Kashket, Weston and PCH, Hayes over the hill.........).
Easy to get 11/2 against promotion (middleish in the rankings). Odds feel about right to me. Hope to get promotion or at least make playoffs, expect to finish somewhere between 9th and 15th, fear could get dragged into relegation fight if get unlucky.
Lets just see what happens pierre hasnt gone yet. We dont know whos coming in either i think we will sign 4 players we normally pick atleast one of the trialists up.
'Hope to get promotion or at least make playoffs, expect to finish somewhere between 9th and 15th, fear could get dragged into relegation fight if get unlucky'
That's all the bases covered then.
I don't think we are far off. Think we need two defenders (assuming Pierre goes) and a replacement for Thompson.
Yep Righty, the difference between target, expectation and possible risk. Not difficult to understand surely.
@DevC, i'd argue it's opinion about who our best player is.
Relying heavily on the "if they're fit" line, i'd expect Saunders to be our key player next season, with Bayo as important as Pierre.
Gape, O Nien and Paris have huge roles to play too.
But then you could argue that anything more than 1 injury to the defence, where Sido can slot effortlessly in, would leave us in a real mess.
Not sure there is an argument to be had that who our best player is is subjective. Plainly that is so.
Your crystal ball is more effective than mine in regards to what will happen next season and who the key players will be.
I would be very surprised if we went into next season with just Harriman, Jombati, Stewart, ANO and Jacobsen as recognised defenders.
I think if we win all our games we will get promoted, if we don't things may work out differently..we need all our players to stay injury free for the season and require three or four cheap but brilliant additions to the squad to ensure promotion (Not Danny Hylton).
When's richie back from his holidays???
@devc, you quite definitely stated who our best 2 players were, and that intrigues me. By your own admission you don't get to more than a half handful of games, so are you judging our best players from that? Or from what you've read?
Many would say Stewart was as good as Pierre last year.
Many would bring up the period Blackman was making a lot of mistakes.
Bayo outperformed both last season, and was our main threat,was he our best player?
Saunders clearly has the most quality in our team, and that normally makes someone your best player. Most effective? Not last season, as he arrived late and was rusty, but a good shout for being so next season.
Recognised has to be the wrong word with defenders. We have Rowe returning, who actually is a defender, despite us trying to move him to a defensive midfielder, and we also have WDH and Muller.
That'd be 8 defenders for 4 slots, surely plenty on numbers. We can debate on quality.
There you go, eight defenders should be fine (although frankly I doubt if Danny Rowe will start the season at AP.)
Best two players is subjective, that is true. OK change that to two of the best players if you wish. Not sure it changes the reality that they leave a significant hole.
As usual, your glass is half empty @DevC.
@Malone's is three quarters full. I like that. If he's wrong so be it. I know you revel in devil's advocacy (which is why, years ago, I speculated that you were in the legal profession.). At the time, you said you couldn't afford it (which puzzled me but I was already wary of giving you the opportunity to "launch into one".)
I'm neither really Micra - just showing in this case there are arguments for a good or a bad season.
As said above, I hope for playoffs or above but realistically expect 9-15. I recognise the risk that if we get bad luck, we could get sucked into relegation to.
Do you genuinely expect as well as hope for better than 9-15. Do you not countenance the possibility that things could be worse than that?
Yes and no.
So in a nutshell, you're saying the season could either be good or it could be bad depending on results and players available @DevC . An interesting take and I cannot fault your logic.
Getting back to the subject of this thread.
Have I missed something?
Scott Brown is still under contract to WWFC, and I assume Cheltenham were given permission to discuss contract terms with the player. Unless WWFC were prepared to tear up his contract and release him on a free transfer (which would have happened at the end of the season, not now), he was always regarded as part of the current plan and subject to a transfer fee. If Cheltenham thought differently then they were being very naive.
I rather liked the line - "They realised they had a very good goalkeeper and no other keepers available so they will keep him." I think WWFC would have known what sort of keeper we had signed, and how many we have available. He was out on loan to get game time not because he was unwanted.
I 've always liked Gary Johnson, but he does like to put his spin on things. I think this is one more case.
It's a bit early to say "there are no other keepers available" Any Premier/Championship team may sign another keeper and push their back up keepers further down the pecking order and hence available for loan. Ingram?
I think you may be struggling a bit with comprehension. "They realised they had a very good goalkeeper and no other keepers available" is saying Wycombe have no other keepers available. Which we don't.
Ring ring....
"Alright Gaz!? Johners here mate!"
"Hello Johners! What can I do you for?"
"Well Gaz, it seems I ain't got no keeper.... I had a chat with Scotty at the end of the season..... said he wouldn't mind a move back here if the terms were right.... what you think?"
"Fair play Johners, wouldn't wanna stand in his way if that's what he wants. He's a good keeper and a good bloke and was just unlucky with us last season."
A few weeks pass......
Ring ring.....
"Ello again Gaz its Johners, just a quick update.... had Scotty come down here.... we've agreed personal terms sooooo...."
"Fair enough mate.... we got a couple potential season long loan offers from a couple of big boy clubs so I guess we can arrange something.... what you guys offering?"
"Offering? What do you mean Gaz??"
"What fee are you offering Johners??"
"Fffffffee?? Er er er..... errrm..."
"You didn't think we would let a decent keeper with a year left on his contract, that you want so much just walk for free did you Johners??"
"Well.... errrm.... errrr..... yes?"
"Tut.... off you fcuk Johners...... off you fcuk....."