Longest Serving Manager
Just wanted to point out that it’s very possible that come the Summer Gareth Ainsworth May be the longest serving manager in the football league. Wenger is leaving Arsenal, it’s been well documented that Paul Tisdale may well be leaving Exeter in the summer should they not be promoted this season, and if Barnet best Chesterfield at The Hive and Morecambe lose away to Coventry next weekend, Jim Bentley and Morecambe would be relegated from the football league.
What a manager, and more importantly what a man Ainsworth is. Congratulations to all at the club. Roll on League 1!
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Hear hear. And yet again in his interviews yesterday Gareth came across as erudite and without any kind of hubris, qualities he has so obviously instilled in his squad. We are very lucky to have him.
It'll be sad to see either Barnet or Morecambe go down and hope whoever it is bounces quickly back up, though in Morecambe's case I fear they might sink even further.
Noticed at the end of one of Gareth’s interviews yesterday he took the time to congratulate Accy and L*ton on their promotions too. So much more class than that wanker Jones.
Im happy to say Ainsworth proved me wrong but all along ive said he gets the boys playing with 100% commitment he deserves all the praise he gets. Next season will be a new challenge with our settled squad and management I think we have a chance of staying in league one providing we make the right signings esp in defence.
I wonder if I was the only one who was surprised when they took Binnom-Williams off yesterday. If he's not part of their non-league plans, I'd have him strengthening our left side like a shot. Bet he's still under contract, though.
Sorry, this has f all to do with Gareth being longest serving manager - I'm not a thread-hijacker, but my mind was turned slightly by @Aok84's comments about making the right signings.
I thought exactly the same on Binnom-Williams @LeedsBlue. Although I guess wingers won't be a priority position for us in the summer.
The massive advantage of securing promotion yesterday is that it gives us a week extra to prepare for League 1 (and a month extra over the playoff winners). Although knowing Gaz and Dobbo, the preparations have probably already begun...
Would be amazing to see Gareth emerge as number 1 long standing manager over the summer. Almost textbook "stick with your manager through the rough patches and he'll come good" stuff.
Recruitment wise, with Bayo, CMS, Tyson, Freeman and Kashket all signed on, and with Paris surely to be kept on too, could we really see a 7th player there?
Whereas in CM, Gape and O Nien are definite starters, but with Bean and Saunders potentially not staying, and only Bloomfield, who will probably be more a squad player, we definitely need some new blood there.
GK and Centre back are two key positions. Brown, however lovely a chap he is, needs upgrading, and has definite eyes on a Cheltenham return.
El Abd and Stewart could potentially do a job, but Stewart does tend to miss large spells of the season. Scarr and Sido maybe not enough to cover (Scarr being on loan anyway)
Maybe 4 signings with 2xCM?
I was surprised, and very glad when he was substituted
I think they need more than 4 signings. 1 goalkeeper. Two central defenders to replace WDH, Scarr and McGinley. Another full back possibly two if Sido not retained. Two midfielders, one defensive to replace Beano and one creative to replace Saunders. That makes 6-8.
Hopefully Sido will be retained, with a view to covering three positions.
I would imagine we will sign one or both of Scarr and Curtis Thompson, who would be a good replacement for Beanie, who I suspect will decide to call it a day. Hope Sido is retained as backup, but agree we would still need one other CB, one other CM, a GK and a proper reserve left back.
Not sure we need anymore wide forwards, but a backup/eventual replacement for Bayo is something that will need to be addressed. Whether you can even replace such a unique player is debatable, but Josh Umerah, John Akinde or Cambridge's Uche Ikpeazu are all possibilities.
I’m hoping to see about 6 new faces next season. That said, I think we’ll have to rely on the loan market again to bring in players of the right quality.
Although I think you get some cash for going up, we’ve kept ticket prices the same so there’s not going to be much extra £ floating around for us to be able to afford L1 quality players.
Whatever, I have faith in GA’s contacts and eye for a player - thank fuck that there won’t be a load of dilly-dallying around like there was the last 2 times we got promoted, we can get out there and sign the players we need.
Hopefully should see at least a slight increase in ST sales.
@PBo who could ever forget the Taylor summer! Duberry (although that looked impressive on paper), Oliver (having already released him for being not good enough), Green and Westlake.
Worst summer's business ever. Possibly worth an argue against the summer we only brought Mapes in, but probably this was worse.
Duberry's war cry of "we aren't here just to make up the numbers" was second only to Hayes' "don't worry about the money" for all time worst Wycombe quotables.
@Jonny_King - Ikpeazu has signed a pre contract with Hearts so is not an option.
Wow, that's a good move for him. Cheers @mooneyman.
@Malone , i’ve tried to forget it, believe me. The Waddock summer was no better though - I had to refresh my memory of just how bad our signings were and dear god, it was not a happy experience.
(Warning: list contains signings that some readers may find disturbing)
Ben Harding
James Tunnicliffe
Elliot Benyon
John Halls
Scott Donnelly I remember being decent but not L1 decent, and similarly we extended Stu Lewis’ contract beyond his sell-by date.
Let’s not make these mistakes a third time in a row, please.
I mentioned Binnom-Williams because, although I realised he was playing in a more advanced role yesterday, he's actually a left back (who i first remember, in that position, taking Josh Scowen out and getting sent off in our 4-1 spanking of Southend in the play-off season) - and simply because it was fresh in my mind from the game, that he seems far too good for the Conference.
@PBo , that is a dreadful summer's work wow!
Benyon I think is the only player I've ever written off from just seeing standing on a touchline.
Super short, not very fast, and looked one of those players who only got near the pitch because their dad was manager.
Amazed he ever scored any goals in league 2, but I suppose anyone up front would occasionally score through sheer law of averages.
Although Beavon turned quality, fielding him and Benyon at times seems incredible when you look at our sheer power up front now.
There was an audible gasp of disbelief / relief around me when they took Binnom-Williams off. Looked like their best player by a distance.
I think Moore will sign for us. He has a tremendous attitude and since he has joined his social media has been 'us, us, us' no sense he us just passing through. Plus if the media team needs an additional intern he proved with his coverage of Bean's goal that he has an eye for the dramatic (maybe not commentary which was similar to mine 'oooo, oooo, oooh, oooo, BBBBBBBBBBBBBEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNYYYYYYYYY'
His mum seems to genuinely love the club too.
Can his mum play in goal!
@drcongo Yes I noticed that and she doesn't miss a game either. Someone asked her on Twitter is Taff would sign permanently and she did seem to hint that he would be willing to. (Although to be fair she wasn't likely to say 'Nah, probably not mate' either).
I would happily have him next season as backup to Harriman, even though it would probably mark the beginning of the end for Sido.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who liked the look of Binnom-Williams. Looking on Wiki he signed a 2 year deal last summer. I would definitely take him, and was very surprised when they took him off
If Birmingham stay up (seems likely, but not certain), I would imagine they'd be more inclined to offload Scarr than if they go down to L1... would personally love him to stay, like his attitude and physical ability.
Scarr was only in their development team, some way of getting near their squad, let alone playing.
Is he a touch injury prone? Spent most of the second half of last season out with an injury after he moved to Brum, and he's missed a chunk of this one with injury as well. Just not sure we can afford that...
Scarr would only be a very small upgrade on WDH. Ok perhaps for a squad player but not a first choice in Division 1. Hope we could get someone better.
Think he's a bit better than WDH than that, but I'd probably agree that it'd be ideal to have him 4th choice no better.
We can;'t rely on Stewart playing a full season, so we probably need a starter to come in.
If we can use whatever money we have to invest in one quality goalkeeper, one quality central defender and one quality central midfielder and potentially one quality target man then we have a good chance of staying up. If we can get a good quality keeper on a season-long loan without paying salary, so much the better. We'll then need some enthusiastic young players around the fringes of the squad to provide competition, support in training and a dozen or so competent appearances when injury takes hold. Dan Scarr and Tafari Moore can certainly take on those roles if they're released from their parent clubs. If Barnet stay up and we can't get Akinde it would be great to bring back Umerah in the target man understudy role. Then we just need a couple of O'Nien-style midfielders released from their youth contracts and one back-up left back. And then the Blues are staying up. Simple!
Oh, and we really need to keep O'Nien. I really hope he's given an improved contract to lock him into this season at least - one year left on his deal just isn't enough.