Onto next season

[tonto]

I hope Karl will stay he has got a lot of plus points on the cv they can evaporate very quickly with the wrong job move. Just need Tiger to reassure him of forward progress.

 

[tonyw]

Let's be honest - there are way, way too many unknowns for next season to make any reasonable predictions today.

When will it start?
Will fans be allowed?
If not, what will that do to everyone's budgets? And transfer fees? Will anyone fork out for Dickie & Brannagan if everyone in the EFL is having to cut their cloth?
And will there be a hard salary cap in place, and a cap on player numbers as the Telegraph reported, and will everyone be forced to adhere to it?

Hopefully we'll get answers soon, but until we do it's going to be impossible to predict what our squad's going to look like. Or anyone else's.

It's just B*****s that we're going to be playing it in League One.
Don't get me wrong - it's a fun league. It's just a season or two in the Championship was so close, it was there for the taking and we blew it.

 

[OX14]

Let's be honest - there are way, way too many unknowns for next season to make any reasonable predictions today.

When will it start?
Will fans be allowed?
If not, what will that do to everyone's budgets? And transfer fees? Will anyone fork out for Dickie & Brannagan if everyone in the EFL is having to cut their cloth?
And will there be a hard salary cap in place, and a cap on player numbers as the Telegraph reported, and will everyone be forced to adhere to it?

Hopefully we'll get answers soon, but until we do it's going to be impossible to predict what our squad's going to look like. Or anyone else's.

It's just B*****s that we're going to be playing it in League One.
Don't get me wrong - it's a fun league. It's just a season or two in the Championship was so close, it was there for the taking and we blew it.

Well if most league 1 teams voted to end the season. What chances are of the season restarting? Unless all fans are allowed in the ground by September but I can't see it. Then if we have a second wave around November it could all be stopped again.

 

[Northstandboy]

Well if most league 1 teams voted to end the season. What chances are of the season restarting? Unless all fans are allowed in the ground by September but I can't see it. Then if we have a second wave around November it could all be stopped again.

Surely all clubs need the season to restart to get ST sales, advertising income etc? Not playing = no income.

 

[Robie]

Let's be honest - there are way, way too many unknowns for next season to make any reasonable predictions today.

When will it start?
Will fans be allowed?
If not, what will that do to everyone's budgets? And transfer fees? Will anyone fork out for Dickie & Brannagan if everyone in the EFL is having to cut their cloth?
And will there be a hard salary cap in place, and a cap on player numbers as the Telegraph reported, and will everyone be forced to adhere to it?

Hopefully we'll get answers soon, but until we do it's going to be impossible to predict what our squad's going to look like. Or anyone else's.

It's just B*****s that we're going to be playing it in League One.
Don't get me wrong - it's a fun league. It's just a season or two in the Championship was so close, it was there for the taking and we blew it.

Also the day after a gutting loss is not the time to be making snap decisions and writing off players!

 

[Northstandboy]

Just imagine the players we would have attracted in The Championship. Dickie and Cam may have stayed.

 

[Concretebob]

Also the day after a gutting loss is not the time to be making snap decisions and writing off players!

100% this. Add in a lot of uncertainty about when next season will actually go ahead...

 

[Gary Baldi]

Let's not forget we have Rob Atkinson in the house, so maybe a CB is not a big need?

Realistically, for the style of play under KR, we need an attacking RB. We have had games before and after lockdown where we were crying out for an overlap at full back that understandably wasn't there.

We need at least one pacey winger too and a bit more pace across the squad. I'd be happy if Browne came back but I suspect Colin will want a long hard look at him before letting him go.

I do hope the right investment is available to whoever is our manager - I hope it's KR, but life can be funny at times.

We all know players like Dickie and Brannagan are highly likely to be off and they go with my best wishes. It's been a pleasure watching them grow as players and men!

Stepping back and seeing how far our club has changed in the past few years, largely for the better, we have to keep going and keep doing what we have been.

COYY

 

[dickwalton1964]

We need;

Another keeper, not necessarily to replace Eastwood but to at least compete with him.
A new right back, another Cadden type. Long decent back up though.
A new left back. Ruffles has great consistency but we just need that bit more.
An experienced centre back to partner Moore, a real organiser and leader.
Sign Kelly on a permanent as an option to Gorrin every game.
Brannagan will go and could be one of the hardest to replace.
A Gavin Whyte type winger. Less tricks, more pace.
A game changer in behind the striker(s)
Two strikers, one of which has to be a cast iron guarantee of 20 league goals.
The other, a bigger target man as something different. Bit like the job Ryan Taylor did.

Oh and keep Robinson but have a bit of a reshuffle among the coaching staff to freshen it up. Officially promote Mous, wave goodbye to Faz and bring in an outsider with a serious reputation as a number two.

 

[horseman]

To return to the voting issue that has been raised again,let's not forget that clubs voted for what best suited them at the time...if you have a chance of the Autos/Play offs it was carry on...Mid table not going up or down end it...fighting for relegation void the season.

Karl said there is a meeting on Wednesday ..he was saying it's time for action not words but i wouldn't expect to hear anything other than what they want you to hear at the moment. No board can promise anything right now as it's impossible to do so and deep down Karl will know this.

 

[Oxford57]

To me we have to change our playing style , our playing from the back is so dependent on getting every pass to be successful, when it works fine, but when all the build up play is always in front of the opponents defence it’s difficult to get behind them, lots of questions regarding players, we might keep Brannigan as on last night’s performance on a huge stage he didn’t deliver a great deal, Browne has obviously got ability, but i have doubts about his application, playing Taylor by himself shows that he needs help somehow, super dan agayi not sure what he offers to be honest

 

[IsleofWightYellow]

I don’t understand how we can finish 4th in the league with the second best goal difference, having won five on the bounce as the season ended, and suddenly we need to replace both fullbacks and a host of other positions? Let’s not let two poor semi final performances and a gutting final defeat obfuscate the fact that we have a team which performed well in L1 all season.

Assuming we lose Brannigan and Dickie, I see the ideal plan (taking in mind spending as little money as possible) as something like this:

• Get rid of Eastwood, he wants to go up north
• Keep Kelly and Thorne
• Get in a pacy right winger (would love Whyte on loan, he doesn’t seem to get a game at Cardiff) and a left winger plus a new keeper
• Promote youth where we can

Which would leave us with a squad of:

GK: New GK/Stevens
RB: Long/Forde
CB: Moore/Mousinho/Atkinson/Jones
LB: Ruffels/Berkoe
CM: Gorrin/Kelly/Thorne/Hanson
RM: New RM/Henry/Sykes/Hall
LM: New LM/Napa
ST: Taylor/Agyei/Mackie

Plus any youth like Goodhram, Lopez, Lofthouse, Spasov, Sole etc

If we did that and lined up for the first game of the season like:

New GK
Long Mousinho Moore Ruffels
Kelly
Henry Hanson
Sykes Taylor New LW
​

I wouldn’t be too unhappy, yes it’s weaker than last season but that’s going on reducing spend as much as possible. Obviously if you have money you can improve every single position on the pitch, but do we? If we can bring in a really decent left winger then we still have the makings of a very solid top 6 side...

 

[captainox]

It is clear from a number of interviews given by KR, that there was some form of 2 or 3 season plan, and by getting in the play-offs this season, we'd moved ahead of the plan. I imagine his point around sitting down and deciding what the approach from the football club is around does that plan now change, i.e. instead of playoff attempt in season 2, it's actually, automatic promotion attempt in season 2 or does it stay the same. I get the sense that if we remain on plan (not adjusting budget to target higher) then he will be extremely annoyed and in all honesty, I could see his relationship with the board breaking down. It was clear that he was extremely irritated by the Baptiste and Fosu sales and especially the timing of them.

 

[horseman]

I fail to see how anyone can be expecting or even hoping our board spend money and even doing so does not guarantee promotion and certainly less so starting from scratch again.....Even if crowds were allowed back the "extra fans" that "might" have popped along for championship football are still not going to be interested in watching who remains in League 1.
Most fans were aware and resigned to losing 3/4 of our players regardless of promotion so nothing has changed from that aspect, the only difference is that any funds that "May" have been invested into the playing side are very likely going to be desperately needed for other areas even more so now.

There are already a number of bigger clubs than us who are unlikely to all fail again and add to that those coming down it seems likely we will be a League 1 side on par with how the likes of Oldham use to be for a number of years to come

 

[OX14]

It is clear from a number of interviews given by KR, that there was some form of 2 or 3 season plan, and by getting in the play-offs this season, we'd moved ahead of the plan. I imagine his point around sitting down and deciding what the approach from the football club is around does that plan now change, i.e. instead of playoff attempt in season 2, it's actually, automatic promotion attempt in season 2 or does it stay the same. I get the sense that if we remain on plan (not adjusting budget to target higher) then he will be extremely annoyed and in all honesty, I could see his relationship with the board breaking down. It was clear that he was extremely irritated by the Baptiste and Fosu sales and especially the timing of them.

Well the board need to be careful here. We need to kick on next season not go backwards. Otherwise we will be back to 6k crowds (once everyone's allowed back in) I don't mind if we sell a couple of players like Dickie and Brannagan aslong as we re invest in the team. We need more depth in are squad and not just youngsters making up the numbers. Need clarification on the stadium issue it's not just going to go away, either a new lease where a 4th stand is built and the rest of the stadium is bought up to standard or a new stadium. Obviously we're in difficult times but so is every other club going through the same. Now is not the time to cash in on players and lower are wage bill for the season and blaming corona. Over to you board.

 

[unification]

We need;

Another keeper, not necessarily to replace Eastwood but to at least compete with him.
A new right back, another Cadden type. Long decent back up though.
A new left back. Ruffles has great consistency but we just need that bit more.
An experienced centre back to partner Moore, a real organiser and leader.
Sign Kelly on a permanent as an option to Gorrin every game.
Brannagan will go and could be one of the hardest to replace.
A Gavin Whyte type winger. Less tricks, more pace.
A game changer in behind the striker(s)
Two strikers, one of which has to be a cast iron guarantee of 20 league goals.
The other, a bigger target man as something different. Bit like the job Ryan Taylor did.

Oh and keep Robinson but have a bit of a reshuffle among the coaching staff to freshen it up. Officially promote Mous, wave goodbye to Faz and bring in an outsider with a serious reputation as a number two.

That's quite a shopping list. I agree that some of those options would be great, but 10 new signings - phew! We'd be relying on some loanees in that lot.

Also, you have to get rid of some players - we've already signed up Long, Hall and Stevens. Who goes? The likes of Hanson, Forde, Mousinho etc are still here. To bring in some new players, we may need to pay up a few contracts/transfer list some players.

For me, get right on the model that works for us - shop for the best young talent in unfashionable leagues (Sykes, Whyte, Marvin Johnson, Gorrin) and the PL/Champ released players looking to rebuild their careers (Brannagan, Lundstram, Dickie, Moore, Ledson). If ticket revenue isn't going to be coming in, we need cash from elsewhere and only through player trading can we generate it. Cash in on Brannagan and Dickie now and use that to see us through 2020 and invest some in bringing that talent in to develop. Even more so, why not find another 'keeper that way too?

With cash flow soon to be a problem for all clubs, we need to prepare behind the scenes first.

 

[captainox]

Well the board need to be careful here. We need to kick on next season not go backwards. Otherwise we will be back to 6k crowds (once everyone's allowed back in) I don't mind if we sell a couple of players like Dickie and Brannagan aslong as we re invest in the team. We need more depth in are squad and not just youngsters making up the numbers. Need clarification on the stadium issue it's not just going to go away, either a new lease where a 4th stand is built and the rest of the stadium is bought up to standard or a new stadium. Obviously we're in difficult times but so is every other club going through the same. Now is not the time to cash in on players and lower are wage bill for the season and blaming corona. Over to you board.

Totally agree, however, it is very easy to spend other peoples money. This summer will really show what kind of force the board have as a collective. Although equally, will they want to show their trump card when we're not in the league above?
I would hope we say to Dickie and Brannagan that we're only accepting price X and they can only go when we've inked their replacements contracts.

 

[OX14]

Totally agree, however, it is very easy to spend other peoples money. This summer will really show what kind of force the board have as a collective. Although equally, will they want to show their trump card when we're not in the league above?
I would hope we say to Dickie and Brannagan that we're only accepting price X and they can only go when we've inked their replacements contracts.

I don't mind them selling Dickie and Brannagan for the right price, but invest it either in purchasing the stadium or on the team. Not sure the rewards of the championship is there for next season. Yes more revenue from TV but there are some big teams in this league next season aswell. All depends when and how many fans are allowed I guess. But I can't see away fans being allowed for a while so the extra attendance in the championship is just not there for next season.

 

[Gary Baldi]

For me, it's about spending money smartly, not for the sake of it. Moore and Atkinson were smart buys in this season, as Brannagan and Dickie were. Cadden for a million would not be. COVID has impacted our cashflow, but equally there will be deals to be made also.

Perhaps we can move on a player like Hanson to at least reduce wage bill.

Some really tough decisions to be made!

 

[OX14]

For me, it's about spending money smartly, not for the sake of it. Moore and Atkinson were smart buys in this season, as Brannagan and Dickie were. Cadden for a million would not be. COVID has impacted our cashflow, but equally there will be deals to be made also.

Perhaps we can move on a player like Hanson to at least reduce wage bill.

Some really tough decisions to be made!

Yeh I wouldn't want us blowing a million on one player. That was silly money for Cadden, we just don't need to be so tight when it comes to a players wage demands and end up losing out. Let's get are signings in early so they can gel quick. Don't forget Rob Hall is out of contract this year too. Someone needs to do a list of what players we currently have and how much time left on contract etc.