It’s a big rebuild because we’ll want somewhere around 18-22 or so first team players. I wouldn’t assume those with options to extend will be kept on or that no one under contract won’t be sold/loaned out either.
Now we might have made a mistake and given some of those players big contracts, I don’t know what they’re on. There’s no doubt though that we’ll have around 20 first team players even if some of them are cheap unknowns on very low wages.
I’d consider needing to sign around 10 players (or more) a big rebuild as that’s at least half a squad.
It’s a big rebuild because we’ll want somewhere around 18-22 or so first team players. I wouldn’t assume those with options to extend will be kept on or that no one under contract won’t be sold/loaned out either.
Now we might have made a mistake and given some of those players big contracts, I don’t know what they’re on. There’s no doubt though that we’ll have around 20 first team players even if some of them are cheap unknowns on very low wages.
I’d consider needing to sign around 10 players (or more) a big rebuild as that’s at least half a squad.
We have used 31 players, so far, in the squad for league games.
Is exactly what we should have done in September. Almost zero chance Pearce or Oshilaja will be here next season.
But its not just hindsight it is/was obvious.
Since the takeover we had 10 days etc etc fine but since then we have signed 7 players, 6 of them have multiple year, or options to extend, contracts. We are up to the salary cap.
Unless something drastic happens, either we get promoted or the salary cap gets abolished our squad for next season is
Gunter Innis Purrington Morgan Watson Maddison Gilbey Schwartz Bogle Davison Washington
Plus the league 1 average that would be freed up by Aneke, Williams, Amos, JFC, Pearce, Oshilaja and Pratley to spend. Add in what ever Matthews is on and it still doesn't give you much to work with.
I don't see how you have a massive rebuild next season, as things currently stand?
But as it's so obvious can someone explain it to me?
the easiest way around this is to invest in the best younger players from League 2 and premiership loans.
The chap at Exeter fits the bill because he would be in the correct level for wages. We can't underestimate the appeal we, as a club, still have. Many people want to live in and around London and we are still very much a big fish in this pond. We CAN still attract the better players from L1 and L2 so we have to use that to our advantage.
Lincoln have had a fantastic season thus far. I would hope they run out of steam but their recruitment has been very astute. They have concentrated on younger players and have forged a great togetherness and that's critical to getting out of this division. We could do a lot worse than looking at their model.
If we don't go up we need to act immediately at the end of the season. For so many years we are chasing the leftovers and clearly we don't get best value with them. We need to clear the decks of the unwanted players and we need to make signings straight away so that when we start pre season we have a full squad from day one that is young and bristling with potential with a few older, wiser heads thrown in.
Is exactly what we should have done in September. Almost zero chance Pearce or Oshilaja will be here next season.
But its not just hindsight it is/was obvious.
Since the takeover we had 10 days etc etc fine but since then we have signed 7 players, 6 of them have multiple year, or options to extend, contracts. We are up to the salary cap.
Unless something drastic happens, either we get promoted or the salary cap gets abolished our squad for next season is
Gunter Innis Purrington Morgan Watson Maddison Gilbey Schwartz Bogle Davison Washington
Plus the league 1 average that would be freed up by Aneke, Williams, Amos, JFC, Pearce, Oshilaja and Pratley to spend. Add in what ever Matthews is on and it still doesn't give you much to work with.
I don't see how you have a massive rebuild next season, as things currently stand?
But as it's so obvious can someone explain it to me?
the easiest way around this is to invest in the best younger players from League 2 and premiership loans.
The chap at Exeter fits the bill because he would be in the correct level for wages. We can't underestimate the appeal we, as a club, still have. Many people want to live in and around London and we are still very much a big fish in this pond. We CAN still attract the better players from L1 and L2 so we have to use that to our advantage.
Lincoln have had a fantastic season thus far. I would hope they run out of steam but their recruitment has been very astute. They have concentrated on younger players and have forged a great togetherness and that's critical to getting out of this division. We could do a lot worse than looking at their model.
If we don't go up we need to act immediately at the end of the season. For so many years we are chasing the leftovers and clearly we don't get best value with them. We need to clear the decks of the unwanted players and we need to make signings straight away so that when we start pre season we have a full squad from day one that is young and bristling with potential with a few older, wiser heads thrown in.
That's sounds perfect, and exactly what I think we should do, but we can't just get rid of the deadwood if they are under contract. The that's the double wammy of the wage cap.
There is also the consideration of the 3 relegated teams and the fact it looks unlikely that more than 1 of Sunderland, Ipswich and Pompy will go up (we keep getting told that they got all there business done before the cap came in) so they will have considerably more head room.
The fact we don't seem to have any 18-20 year olds looking likely to make the step up.
Add in the fact that due to the fixture congestion we are unlikely to know what divison we will be in until at least late April, maybe even late May. That doesn't give you much time to get 20 odd (ins and outs) pieces of business done.
I honestly think that if we don't go up, or the wage cap gets abolished, it's going to take 3 or 4 transfer windows to rebuild.
Is exactly what we should have done in September. Almost zero chance Pearce or Oshilaja will be here next season.
But its not just hindsight it is/was obvious.
Since the takeover we had 10 days etc etc fine but since then we have signed 7 players, 6 of them have multiple year, or options to extend, contracts. We are up to the salary cap.
Unless something drastic happens, either we get promoted or the salary cap gets abolished our squad for next season is
Gunter Innis Purrington Morgan Watson Maddison Gilbey Schwartz Bogle Davison Washington
Plus the league 1 average that would be freed up by Aneke, Williams, Amos, JFC, Pearce, Oshilaja and Pratley to spend. Add in what ever Matthews is on and it still doesn't give you much to work with.
I don't see how you have a massive rebuild next season, as things currently stand?
But as it's so obvious can someone explain it to me?
the easiest way around this is to invest in the best younger players from League 2 and premiership loans.
The chap at Exeter fits the bill because he would be in the correct level for wages. We can't underestimate the appeal we, as a club, still have. Many people want to live in and around London and we are still very much a big fish in this pond. We CAN still attract the better players from L1 and L2 so we have to use that to our advantage.
Lincoln have had a fantastic season thus far. I would hope they run out of steam but their recruitment has been very astute. They have concentrated on younger players and have forged a great togetherness and that's critical to getting out of this division. We could do a lot worse than looking at their model.
If we don't go up we need to act immediately at the end of the season. For so many years we are chasing the leftovers and clearly we don't get best value with them. We need to clear the decks of the unwanted players and we need to make signings straight away so that when we start pre season we have a full squad from day one that is young and bristling with potential with a few older, wiser heads thrown in.
Easier said than done though.
If there's a decent young player in league 2, and we can afford him, then a championship side can also afford to buy him as a 'project', offer him a bit above the league one salary cap and then loan him out.
Same as Huddersfield did with Sorba Thomas.
Given the choice, is that player going to sign for us on 2-2.5k a week or the championship side for 4k a week? He gets an extra 250k over a 3 year deal and possibly ends up in the same league as us on loan anyway.
Is exactly what we should have done in September. Almost zero chance Pearce or Oshilaja will be here next season.
But its not just hindsight it is/was obvious.
Since the takeover we had 10 days etc etc fine but since then we have signed 7 players, 6 of them have multiple year, or options to extend, contracts. We are up to the salary cap.
Unless something drastic happens, either we get promoted or the salary cap gets abolished our squad for next season is
Gunter Innis Purrington Morgan Watson Maddison Gilbey Schwartz Bogle Davison Washington
Plus the league 1 average that would be freed up by Aneke, Williams, Amos, JFC, Pearce, Oshilaja and Pratley to spend. Add in what ever Matthews is on and it still doesn't give you much to work with.
I don't see how you have a massive rebuild next season, as things currently stand?
But as it's so obvious can someone explain it to me?
the easiest way around this is to invest in the best younger players from League 2 and premiership loans.
The chap at Exeter fits the bill because he would be in the correct level for wages. We can't underestimate the appeal we, as a club, still have. Many people want to live in and around London and we are still very much a big fish in this pond. We CAN still attract the better players from L1 and L2 so we have to use that to our advantage.
Lincoln have had a fantastic season thus far. I would hope they run out of steam but their recruitment has been very astute. They have concentrated on younger players and have forged a great togetherness and that's critical to getting out of this division. We could do a lot worse than looking at their model.
If we don't go up we need to act immediately at the end of the season. For so many years we are chasing the leftovers and clearly we don't get best value with them. We need to clear the decks of the unwanted players and we need to make signings straight away so that when we start pre season we have a full squad from day one that is young and bristling with potential with a few older, wiser heads thrown in.
Easier said than done though.
If there's a decent young player in league 2, and we can afford him, then a championship side can also afford to buy him as a 'project', offer him a bit above the league one salary cap and then loan him out.
Same as Huddersfield did with Sorba Thomas.
Given the choice, is that player going to sign for us on 2-2.5k a week or the championship side for 4k a week? He gets an extra 250k over a 3 year deal and possibly ends up in the same league as us on loan anyway.
But dependant on his age the cap won't apply to him so we should in theory be able to compete. Rather than being loaned straight out he could get some gametime with us.
Going back to this transfer window or how much is left to spend on wages of new signings under the wage cap ....... we can take into account that there's only half a season left and therefore may be able to pay more per week/month on a short contract or loan?
Going back to this transfer window or how much is left to spend on wages of new signings under the wage cap ....... we can take into account that there's only half a season left and therefore may be able to pay more per week/month on a short contract or loan?
The honest answer is no body knows because Bowyer said we were right at it then we signed 2 more players.
He said Lapslie didn't count, Doughty didn't and Smyth hadn't gone back.
It would be a big gamble going over it hopping you can then off load someone wouldn't it?
Going back to this transfer window or how much is left to spend on wages of new signings under the wage cap ....... we can take into account that there's only half a season left and therefore may be able to pay more per week/month on a short contract or loan?
The honest answer is no body knows because Bowyer said we were right at it then we signed 2 more players.
He said Lapslie didn't count, Doughty didn't and Smyth hadn't gone back.
It would be a big gamble going over it hopping you can then off load someone wouldn't it?
So it would appear.
But to me, something appears to be cooking behind the scenes with another signing at least to come.
The cards are being shuffled. I wouldn't be surprised if a couple of the squad leave before the window shuts.
Is exactly what we should have done in September. Almost zero chance Pearce or Oshilaja will be here next season.
But its not just hindsight it is/was obvious.
Since the takeover we had 10 days etc etc fine but since then we have signed 7 players, 6 of them have multiple year, or options to extend, contracts. We are up to the salary cap.
Unless something drastic happens, either we get promoted or the salary cap gets abolished our squad for next season is
Gunter Innis Purrington Morgan Watson Maddison Gilbey Schwartz Bogle Davison Washington
Plus the league 1 average that would be freed up by Aneke, Williams, Amos, JFC, Pearce, Oshilaja and Pratley to spend. Add in what ever Matthews is on and it still doesn't give you much to work with.
I don't see how you have a massive rebuild next season, as things currently stand?
But as it's so obvious can someone explain it to me?
the easiest way around this is to invest in the best younger players from League 2 and premiership loans.
The chap at Exeter fits the bill because he would be in the correct level for wages. We can't underestimate the appeal we, as a club, still have. Many people want to live in and around London and we are still very much a big fish in this pond. We CAN still attract the better players from L1 and L2 so we have to use that to our advantage.
Lincoln have had a fantastic season thus far. I would hope they run out of steam but their recruitment has been very astute. They have concentrated on younger players and have forged a great togetherness and that's critical to getting out of this division. We could do a lot worse than looking at their model.
If we don't go up we need to act immediately at the end of the season. For so many years we are chasing the leftovers and clearly we don't get best value with them. We need to clear the decks of the unwanted players and we need to make signings straight away so that when we start pre season we have a full squad from day one that is young and bristling with potential with a few older, wiser heads thrown in.
With a manager much derided on here for his appearance and ability.
Not sure if derided is the right word. He's essentially a meme and it's not just on here - I've seen it elsewhere. All of that said he is a very well qualified coach - albeit perhaps a little quirky (hence the memes)
But you have to look at the squad they have at Lincoln - most of them are unknown but that's the beauty of them flying under the radar and their togetherness. That cannot be underestimated
Is exactly what we should have done in September. Almost zero chance Pearce or Oshilaja will be here next season.
But its not just hindsight it is/was obvious.
Since the takeover we had 10 days etc etc fine but since then we have signed 7 players, 6 of them have multiple year, or options to extend, contracts. We are up to the salary cap.
Unless something drastic happens, either we get promoted or the salary cap gets abolished our squad for next season is
Gunter Innis Purrington Morgan Watson Maddison Gilbey Schwartz Bogle Davison Washington
Plus the league 1 average that would be freed up by Aneke, Williams, Amos, JFC, Pearce, Oshilaja and Pratley to spend. Add in what ever Matthews is on and it still doesn't give you much to work with.
I don't see how you have a massive rebuild next season, as things currently stand?
But as it's so obvious can someone explain it to me?
the easiest way around this is to invest in the best younger players from League 2 and premiership loans.
The chap at Exeter fits the bill because he would be in the correct level for wages. We can't underestimate the appeal we, as a club, still have. Many people want to live in and around London and we are still very much a big fish in this pond. We CAN still attract the better players from L1 and L2 so we have to use that to our advantage.
Lincoln have had a fantastic season thus far. I would hope they run out of steam but their recruitment has been very astute. They have concentrated on younger players and have forged a great togetherness and that's critical to getting out of this division. We could do a lot worse than looking at their model.
If we don't go up we need to act immediately at the end of the season. For so many years we are chasing the leftovers and clearly we don't get best value with them. We need to clear the decks of the unwanted players and we need to make signings straight away so that when we start pre season we have a full squad from day one that is young and bristling with potential with a few older, wiser heads thrown in.
With a manager much derided on here for his appearance and ability.
Not sure if derided is the right word. He's essentially a meme and it's not just on here - I've seen it elsewhere. All of that said he is a very well qualified coach - albeit perhaps a little quirky (hence the memes)
But you have to look at the squad they have at Lincoln - most of them are unknown but that's the beauty of them flying under the radar and their togetherness. That cannot be underestimated
Not totally under the radar.
I predicted them top six at the start of the season, although I did get a couple of LOL’s.
Is exactly what we should have done in September. Almost zero chance Pearce or Oshilaja will be here next season.
But its not just hindsight it is/was obvious.
Since the takeover we had 10 days etc etc fine but since then we have signed 7 players, 6 of them have multiple year, or options to extend, contracts. We are up to the salary cap.
Unless something drastic happens, either we get promoted or the salary cap gets abolished our squad for next season is
Gunter Innis Purrington Morgan Watson Maddison Gilbey Schwartz Bogle Davison Washington
Plus the league 1 average that would be freed up by Aneke, Williams, Amos, JFC, Pearce, Oshilaja and Pratley to spend. Add in what ever Matthews is on and it still doesn't give you much to work with.
I don't see how you have a massive rebuild next season, as things currently stand?
But as it's so obvious can someone explain it to me?
the easiest way around this is to invest in the best younger players from League 2 and premiership loans.
The chap at Exeter fits the bill because he would be in the correct level for wages. We can't underestimate the appeal we, as a club, still have. Many people want to live in and around London and we are still very much a big fish in this pond. We CAN still attract the better players from L1 and L2 so we have to use that to our advantage.
Lincoln have had a fantastic season thus far. I would hope they run out of steam but their recruitment has been very astute. They have concentrated on younger players and have forged a great togetherness and that's critical to getting out of this division. We could do a lot worse than looking at their model.
If we don't go up we need to act immediately at the end of the season. For so many years we are chasing the leftovers and clearly we don't get best value with them. We need to clear the decks of the unwanted players and we need to make signings straight away so that when we start pre season we have a full squad from day one that is young and bristling with potential with a few older, wiser heads thrown in.
With a manager much derided on here for his appearance and ability.
But you have to look at the squad they have at Lincoln - most of them are unknown but that's the beauty of them flying under the radar and their togetherness. That cannot be underestimated
Togetherness.
It's usually the difference between a squad achieving - or underachieving, if it's missing.
Just look at Charlton in recent years, Chris Powell built a whole squad built on this ethos - players who would run through brick walls for him and each other. They also found themselves forming good friendships and socialising together.
That team won the title by a street.
Even Bowyer himself built a togetherness in the squad that won him promotion 2 years ago. It's the essential ingredient of success.
Looks like signing that 6th striker was much more important than proper defensive cover.
Season is over.
Essentially he is saying Pearce and Oshilaja are good enough quality backup players.
I disagree, we might have numbers at CB but they're not good enough to get us promoted. We need to be able to replace Innis and Famewo with similar quality and we can't.
When Inniss and Famewo are fit, we could well have sufficient cover - if they stay fit. But the games we play before they get fit, given where we are now are key to the season. Even if it is a loan, we need to address this issue urgently. Even if it is only needed for a month.
Loans are now full season or half season (aren't they?) How many good centre halves are going to want to join Charlton with the notion that they may only play half a dozen games and then sit on our bench for a couple of months?
The centre half we bring in just has to be better than what we have now. If they play well enough they keep their place.
Is exactly what we should have done in September. Almost zero chance Pearce or Oshilaja will be here next season.
But its not just hindsight it is/was obvious.
Since the takeover we had 10 days etc etc fine but since then we have signed 7 players, 6 of them have multiple year, or options to extend, contracts. We are up to the salary cap.
Unless something drastic happens, either we get promoted or the salary cap gets abolished our squad for next season is
Gunter Innis Purrington Morgan Watson Maddison Gilbey Schwartz Bogle Davison Washington
Plus the league 1 average that would be freed up by Aneke, Williams, Amos, JFC, Pearce, Oshilaja and Pratley to spend. Add in what ever Matthews is on and it still doesn't give you much to work with.
I don't see how you have a massive rebuild next season, as things currently stand?
But as it's so obvious can someone explain it to me?
the easiest way around this is to invest in the best younger players from League 2 and premiership loans.
The chap at Exeter fits the bill because he would be in the correct level for wages. We can't underestimate the appeal we, as a club, still have. Many people want to live in and around London and we are still very much a big fish in this pond. We CAN still attract the better players from L1 and L2 so we have to use that to our advantage.
Lincoln have had a fantastic season thus far. I would hope they run out of steam but their recruitment has been very astute. They have concentrated on younger players and have forged a great togetherness and that's critical to getting out of this division. We could do a lot worse than looking at their model.
If we don't go up we need to act immediately at the end of the season. For so many years we are chasing the leftovers and clearly we don't get best value with them. We need to clear the decks of the unwanted players and we need to make signings straight away so that when we start pre season we have a full squad from day one that is young and bristling with potential with a few older, wiser heads thrown in.
With a manager much derided on here for his appearance and ability.
But you have to look at the squad they have at Lincoln - most of them are unknown but that's the beauty of them flying under the radar and their togetherness. That cannot be underestimated
Togetherness.
It's usually the difference between a squad achieving - or underachieving, if it's missing.
Just look at Charlton in recent years, Chris Powell built a whole squad built on this ethos - players who would run through brick walls for him and each other. They also found themselves forming good friendships and socialising together.
That team won the title by a street.
Even Bowyer himself built a togetherness in the squad that won him promotion 2 years ago. It's the essential ingredient of success.
Togetherness, or the perception of, comes from clarity and belief in what your being asked to do.
This is the formation we play, this is the style we play, this is plan B. If you don't perform x takes your place and you have to earn it back.
Bowyer had all of that in 18/19, in fact Bowyer had it until November 2019. Powell had it in spades. Klopp has it, Pepe has, Jose currently has it. Lampard had it then had to shuffle it to fit all the expensive summer signings in.
Everyone has injuries, suspensions and loss of form to deal with. But if you don't have belief in what your being asked to do that's when the effort drops, the silly red cards creep in, the arguing starts, people get more niggles because they don't want to play.
IMO Robinson lost it the minute the players stopped believing than 1 up top was the best way for us to win football matches.
It’s a big rebuild because we’ll want somewhere around 18-22 or so first team players. I wouldn’t assume those with options to extend will be kept on or that no one under contract won’t be sold/loaned out either.
Now we might have made a mistake and given some of those players big contracts, I don’t know what they’re on. There’s no doubt though that we’ll have around 20 first team players even if some of them are cheap unknowns on very low wages.
I’d consider needing to sign around 10 players (or more) a big rebuild as that’s at least half a squad.
We have used 31 players, so far, in the squad for league games.
Doesn’t change my point - we know that’s because most of our signings had to come after the season had started. Oztumer, Lapslie and Bonne were replaced rather than being additional members of the squad. Vennings and Barker are u23s who have made a few first team appearances, I wouldn’t count them as part the main first team squad.
Having to sign 10+ players every summer is a big job and something we’ll hopefully move away from over the next few years by signing more players for the longer term.
Is exactly what we should have done in September. Almost zero chance Pearce or Oshilaja will be here next season.
But its not just hindsight it is/was obvious.
Since the takeover we had 10 days etc etc fine but since then we have signed 7 players, 6 of them have multiple year, or options to extend, contracts. We are up to the salary cap.
Unless something drastic happens, either we get promoted or the salary cap gets abolished our squad for next season is
Gunter Innis Purrington Morgan Watson Maddison Gilbey Schwartz Bogle Davison Washington
Plus the league 1 average that would be freed up by Aneke, Williams, Amos, JFC, Pearce, Oshilaja and Pratley to spend. Add in what ever Matthews is on and it still doesn't give you much to work with.
I don't see how you have a massive rebuild next season, as things currently stand?
But as it's so obvious can someone explain it to me?
the easiest way around this is to invest in the best younger players from League 2 and premiership loans.
The chap at Exeter fits the bill because he would be in the correct level for wages. We can't underestimate the appeal we, as a club, still have. Many people want to live in and around London and we are still very much a big fish in this pond. We CAN still attract the better players from L1 and L2 so we have to use that to our advantage.
Lincoln have had a fantastic season thus far. I would hope they run out of steam but their recruitment has been very astute. They have concentrated on younger players and have forged a great togetherness and that's critical to getting out of this division. We could do a lot worse than looking at their model.
If we don't go up we need to act immediately at the end of the season. For so many years we are chasing the leftovers and clearly we don't get best value with them. We need to clear the decks of the unwanted players and we need to make signings straight away so that when we start pre season we have a full squad from day one that is young and bristling with potential with a few older, wiser heads thrown in.
With a manager much derided on here for his appearance and ability.
But you have to look at the squad they have at Lincoln - most of them are unknown but that's the beauty of them flying under the radar and their togetherness. That cannot be underestimated
Togetherness.
It's usually the difference between a squad achieving - or underachieving, if it's missing.
Just look at Charlton in recent years, Chris Powell built a whole squad built on this ethos - players who would run through brick walls for him and each other. They also found themselves forming good friendships and socialising together.
That team won the title by a street.
Even Bowyer himself built a togetherness in the squad that won him promotion 2 years ago. It's the essential ingredient of success.
I do wonder how much the summer without a proper squad together hurt the team's togetherness. The 18/19 team that made it to the playoffs had the summer training camp etc which not only is a good preseason warm up back to fitness but is as a good team-building event. This squad were playing games togethers barely knowing each others names, some must have barely been involved in a training session before playing together. You have to wonder how much that affected the squad gelling not only on the football side, something that I think was missing once we hit our bad patch and games became tougher.
We do seem to have reclaimed some of that fight in recent games, hopefully that continues
It’s a big rebuild because we’ll want somewhere around 18-22 or so first team players. I wouldn’t assume those with options to extend will be kept on or that no one under contract won’t be sold/loaned out either.
Now we might have made a mistake and given some of those players big contracts, I don’t know what they’re on. There’s no doubt though that we’ll have around 20 first team players even if some of them are cheap unknowns on very low wages.
I’d consider needing to sign around 10 players (or more) a big rebuild as that’s at least half a squad.
We have used 31 players, so far, in the squad for league games.
Doesn’t change my point - we know that’s because most of our signings had to come after the season had started. Oztumer, Lapslie and Bonne were replaced rather than being additional members of the squad. Vennings and Barker are u23s who have made a few first team appearances, I wouldn’t count them as part the main first team squad.
Having to sign 10+ players every summer is a big job and something we’ll hopefully move away from over the next few years by signing more players for the longer term.
Sorry I was highlighting what a massive job it would be. I think we have got 12 players contracted for next season, including the 3 options.
Is exactly what we should have done in September. Almost zero chance Pearce or Oshilaja will be here next season.
But its not just hindsight it is/was obvious.
Since the takeover we had 10 days etc etc fine but since then we have signed 7 players, 6 of them have multiple year, or options to extend, contracts. We are up to the salary cap.
Unless something drastic happens, either we get promoted or the salary cap gets abolished our squad for next season is
Gunter Innis Purrington Morgan Watson Maddison Gilbey Schwartz Bogle Davison Washington
Plus the league 1 average that would be freed up by Aneke, Williams, Amos, JFC, Pearce, Oshilaja and Pratley to spend. Add in what ever Matthews is on and it still doesn't give you much to work with.
I don't see how you have a massive rebuild next season, as things currently stand?
But as it's so obvious can someone explain it to me?
the easiest way around this is to invest in the best younger players from League 2 and premiership loans.
The chap at Exeter fits the bill because he would be in the correct level for wages. We can't underestimate the appeal we, as a club, still have. Many people want to live in and around London and we are still very much a big fish in this pond. We CAN still attract the better players from L1 and L2 so we have to use that to our advantage.
Lincoln have had a fantastic season thus far. I would hope they run out of steam but their recruitment has been very astute. They have concentrated on younger players and have forged a great togetherness and that's critical to getting out of this division. We could do a lot worse than looking at their model.
If we don't go up we need to act immediately at the end of the season. For so many years we are chasing the leftovers and clearly we don't get best value with them. We need to clear the decks of the unwanted players and we need to make signings straight away so that when we start pre season we have a full squad from day one that is young and bristling with potential with a few older, wiser heads thrown in.
With a manager much derided on here for his appearance and ability.
But you have to look at the squad they have at Lincoln - most of them are unknown but that's the beauty of them flying under the radar and their togetherness. That cannot be underestimated
Togetherness.
It's usually the difference between a squad achieving - or underachieving, if it's missing.
Just look at Charlton in recent years, Chris Powell built a whole squad built on this ethos - players who would run through brick walls for him and each other. They also found themselves forming good friendships and socialising together.
That team won the title by a street.
Even Bowyer himself built a togetherness in the squad that won him promotion 2 years ago. It's the essential ingredient of success.
I do wonder how much the summer without a proper squad together hurt the team's togetherness. The 18/19 team that made it to the playoffs had the summer training camp etc which not only is a good preseason warm up back to fitness but is as a good team-building event. This squad were playing games togethers barely knowing each others names, some must have barely been involved in a training session before playing together. You have to wonder how much that affected the squad gelling not only on the football side, something that I think was missing once we hit our bad patch and games became tougher.
We do seem to have reclaimed some of that fight in recent games, hopefully that continues
I’ve thought the Covid impact on squad togetherness/cohesion is definitely a factor. I’d use an example of Steve Brown mentioning the other day how he only got to know Scott Minto when they went out for Minto’s birthday bash. Hopefully this summer will be a little different.
Is exactly what we should have done in September. Almost zero chance Pearce or Oshilaja will be here next season.
But its not just hindsight it is/was obvious.
Since the takeover we had 10 days etc etc fine but since then we have signed 7 players, 6 of them have multiple year, or options to extend, contracts. We are up to the salary cap.
Unless something drastic happens, either we get promoted or the salary cap gets abolished our squad for next season is
Gunter Innis Purrington Morgan Watson Maddison Gilbey Schwartz Bogle Davison Washington
Plus the league 1 average that would be freed up by Aneke, Williams, Amos, JFC, Pearce, Oshilaja and Pratley to spend. Add in what ever Matthews is on and it still doesn't give you much to work with.
I don't see how you have a massive rebuild next season, as things currently stand?
But as it's so obvious can someone explain it to me?
the easiest way around this is to invest in the best younger players from League 2 and premiership loans.
The chap at Exeter fits the bill because he would be in the correct level for wages. We can't underestimate the appeal we, as a club, still have. Many people want to live in and around London and we are still very much a big fish in this pond. We CAN still attract the better players from L1 and L2 so we have to use that to our advantage.
Lincoln have had a fantastic season thus far. I would hope they run out of steam but their recruitment has been very astute. They have concentrated on younger players and have forged a great togetherness and that's critical to getting out of this division. We could do a lot worse than looking at their model.
If we don't go up we need to act immediately at the end of the season. For so many years we are chasing the leftovers and clearly we don't get best value with them. We need to clear the decks of the unwanted players and we need to make signings straight away so that when we start pre season we have a full squad from day one that is young and bristling with potential with a few older, wiser heads thrown in.
With a manager much derided on here for his appearance and ability.
But you have to look at the squad they have at Lincoln - most of them are unknown but that's the beauty of them flying under the radar and their togetherness. That cannot be underestimated
Togetherness.
It's usually the difference between a squad achieving - or underachieving, if it's missing.
Just look at Charlton in recent years, Chris Powell built a whole squad built on this ethos - players who would run through brick walls for him and each other. They also found themselves forming good friendships and socialising together.
That team won the title by a street.
Even Bowyer himself built a togetherness in the squad that won him promotion 2 years ago. It's the essential ingredient of success.
I do wonder how much the summer without a proper squad together hurt the team's togetherness. The 18/19 team that made it to the playoffs had the summer training camp etc which not only is a good preseason warm up back to fitness but is as a good team-building event. This squad were playing games togethers barely knowing each others names, some must have barely been involved in a training session before playing together. You have to wonder how much that affected the squad gelling not only on the football side, something that I think was missing once we hit our bad patch and games became tougher.
We do seem to have reclaimed some of that fight in recent games, hopefully that continues
BUT we had a great run of results when the new players had only just arrived. It all started going pear shaped when they had been together for longer
Is exactly what we should have done in September. Almost zero chance Pearce or Oshilaja will be here next season.
But its not just hindsight it is/was obvious.
Since the takeover we had 10 days etc etc fine but since then we have signed 7 players, 6 of them have multiple year, or options to extend, contracts. We are up to the salary cap.
Unless something drastic happens, either we get promoted or the salary cap gets abolished our squad for next season is
Gunter Innis Purrington Morgan Watson Maddison Gilbey Schwartz Bogle Davison Washington
Plus the league 1 average that would be freed up by Aneke, Williams, Amos, JFC, Pearce, Oshilaja and Pratley to spend. Add in what ever Matthews is on and it still doesn't give you much to work with.
I don't see how you have a massive rebuild next season, as things currently stand?
But as it's so obvious can someone explain it to me?
the easiest way around this is to invest in the best younger players from League 2 and premiership loans.
The chap at Exeter fits the bill because he would be in the correct level for wages. We can't underestimate the appeal we, as a club, still have. Many people want to live in and around London and we are still very much a big fish in this pond. We CAN still attract the better players from L1 and L2 so we have to use that to our advantage.
Lincoln have had a fantastic season thus far. I would hope they run out of steam but their recruitment has been very astute. They have concentrated on younger players and have forged a great togetherness and that's critical to getting out of this division. We could do a lot worse than looking at their model.
If we don't go up we need to act immediately at the end of the season. For so many years we are chasing the leftovers and clearly we don't get best value with them. We need to clear the decks of the unwanted players and we need to make signings straight away so that when we start pre season we have a full squad from day one that is young and bristling with potential with a few older, wiser heads thrown in.
With a manager much derided on here for his appearance and ability.
But you have to look at the squad they have at Lincoln - most of them are unknown but that's the beauty of them flying under the radar and their togetherness. That cannot be underestimated
Togetherness.
It's usually the difference between a squad achieving - or underachieving, if it's missing.
Just look at Charlton in recent years, Chris Powell built a whole squad built on this ethos - players who would run through brick walls for him and each other. They also found themselves forming good friendships and socialising together.
That team won the title by a street.
Even Bowyer himself built a togetherness in the squad that won him promotion 2 years ago. It's the essential ingredient of success.
I do wonder how much the summer without a proper squad together hurt the team's togetherness. The 18/19 team that made it to the playoffs had the summer training camp etc which not only is a good preseason warm up back to fitness but is as a good team-building event. This squad were playing games togethers barely knowing each others names, some must have barely been involved in a training session before playing together. You have to wonder how much that affected the squad gelling not only on the football side, something that I think was missing once we hit our bad patch and games became tougher.
We do seem to have reclaimed some of that fight in recent games, hopefully that continues
BUT we had a great run of results when the new players had only just arrived. It all started going pear shaped when they had been together for longer
I think the loss of Inniss and Famewo are to blame for this. They gave us a solid foundation and the team wasn’t worried about persistently conceding like we are now. If you don’t have that stability at the back I don’t think a team will ever be right.
Is exactly what we should have done in September. Almost zero chance Pearce or Oshilaja will be here next season.
But its not just hindsight it is/was obvious.
Since the takeover we had 10 days etc etc fine but since then we have signed 7 players, 6 of them have multiple year, or options to extend, contracts. We are up to the salary cap.
Unless something drastic happens, either we get promoted or the salary cap gets abolished our squad for next season is
Gunter Innis Purrington Morgan Watson Maddison Gilbey Schwartz Bogle Davison Washington
Plus the league 1 average that would be freed up by Aneke, Williams, Amos, JFC, Pearce, Oshilaja and Pratley to spend. Add in what ever Matthews is on and it still doesn't give you much to work with.
I don't see how you have a massive rebuild next season, as things currently stand?
But as it's so obvious can someone explain it to me?
the easiest way around this is to invest in the best younger players from League 2 and premiership loans.
The chap at Exeter fits the bill because he would be in the correct level for wages. We can't underestimate the appeal we, as a club, still have. Many people want to live in and around London and we are still very much a big fish in this pond. We CAN still attract the better players from L1 and L2 so we have to use that to our advantage.
Lincoln have had a fantastic season thus far. I would hope they run out of steam but their recruitment has been very astute. They have concentrated on younger players and have forged a great togetherness and that's critical to getting out of this division. We could do a lot worse than looking at their model.
If we don't go up we need to act immediately at the end of the season. For so many years we are chasing the leftovers and clearly we don't get best value with them. We need to clear the decks of the unwanted players and we need to make signings straight away so that when we start pre season we have a full squad from day one that is young and bristling with potential with a few older, wiser heads thrown in.
With a manager much derided on here for his appearance and ability.
But you have to look at the squad they have at Lincoln - most of them are unknown but that's the beauty of them flying under the radar and their togetherness. That cannot be underestimated
Togetherness.
It's usually the difference between a squad achieving - or underachieving, if it's missing.
Just look at Charlton in recent years, Chris Powell built a whole squad built on this ethos - players who would run through brick walls for him and each other. They also found themselves forming good friendships and socialising together.
That team won the title by a street.
Even Bowyer himself built a togetherness in the squad that won him promotion 2 years ago. It's the essential ingredient of success.
I do wonder how much the summer without a proper squad together hurt the team's togetherness. The 18/19 team that made it to the playoffs had the summer training camp etc which not only is a good preseason warm up back to fitness but is as a good team-building event. This squad were playing games togethers barely knowing each others names, some must have barely been involved in a training session before playing together. You have to wonder how much that affected the squad gelling not only on the football side, something that I think was missing once we hit our bad patch and games became tougher.
We do seem to have reclaimed some of that fight in recent games, hopefully that continues
BUT we had a great run of results when the new players had only just arrived. It all started going pear shaped when they had been together for longer
I think the loss of Inniss and Famewo are to blame for this. They gave us a solid foundation and the team wasn’t worried about persistently conceding like we are now. If you don’t have that stability at the back I don’t think a team will ever be right.
This ^^^^plus the loss of Doughty started the rot, albeit we now have a superior player in Millar
Is exactly what we should have done in September. Almost zero chance Pearce or Oshilaja will be here next season.
But its not just hindsight it is/was obvious.
Since the takeover we had 10 days etc etc fine but since then we have signed 7 players, 6 of them have multiple year, or options to extend, contracts. We are up to the salary cap.
Unless something drastic happens, either we get promoted or the salary cap gets abolished our squad for next season is
Gunter Innis Purrington Morgan Watson Maddison Gilbey Schwartz Bogle Davison Washington
Plus the league 1 average that would be freed up by Aneke, Williams, Amos, JFC, Pearce, Oshilaja and Pratley to spend. Add in what ever Matthews is on and it still doesn't give you much to work with.
I don't see how you have a massive rebuild next season, as things currently stand?
But as it's so obvious can someone explain it to me?
the easiest way around this is to invest in the best younger players from League 2 and premiership loans.
The chap at Exeter fits the bill because he would be in the correct level for wages. We can't underestimate the appeal we, as a club, still have. Many people want to live in and around London and we are still very much a big fish in this pond. We CAN still attract the better players from L1 and L2 so we have to use that to our advantage.
Lincoln have had a fantastic season thus far. I would hope they run out of steam but their recruitment has been very astute. They have concentrated on younger players and have forged a great togetherness and that's critical to getting out of this division. We could do a lot worse than looking at their model.
If we don't go up we need to act immediately at the end of the season. For so many years we are chasing the leftovers and clearly we don't get best value with them. We need to clear the decks of the unwanted players and we need to make signings straight away so that when we start pre season we have a full squad from day one that is young and bristling with potential with a few older, wiser heads thrown in.
With a manager much derided on here for his appearance and ability.
But you have to look at the squad they have at Lincoln - most of them are unknown but that's the beauty of them flying under the radar and their togetherness. That cannot be underestimated
Togetherness.
It's usually the difference between a squad achieving - or underachieving, if it's missing.
Just look at Charlton in recent years, Chris Powell built a whole squad built on this ethos - players who would run through brick walls for him and each other. They also found themselves forming good friendships and socialising together.
That team won the title by a street.
Even Bowyer himself built a togetherness in the squad that won him promotion 2 years ago. It's the essential ingredient of success.
I do wonder how much the summer without a proper squad together hurt the team's togetherness. The 18/19 team that made it to the playoffs had the summer training camp etc which not only Dr is a good preseason warm up back to fitness but is as a good team-building event. This squad were playing games togethers barely knowing each others names, some must have barely been involved in a training session before playing together. You have to wonder how much that affected the squad gelling not only on the football side, something that I think was missing once we hit our bad patch and games became tougher.
We do seem to have reclaimed some of that fight in recent games, hopefully that continues
BUT we had a great run of results when the new players had only just arrived. It all started going pear shaped when they had been together for longer
I think the loss of Inniss and Famewo are to blame for this. They gave us a solid foundation and the team wasn’t worried about persistently conceding like we are now. If you don’t have that stability at the back I don’t think a team will ever be right.
It was also compounded by not being able to play Pratley AND Watson in midfield.
Some of the goals we are conceding are blatent errors from the center halves (mainly Pearce) or the full backs. A lot of them they are from people having to much time from the edge of the area to shoot. Which makes Amos look worse as well.
I am not convinced that Innis and Famewo are THAT good that they produce a 2 goal per game swing. They are, however, certainly better than Pearce, Pratley and Gunter.
Comments
Now we might have made a mistake and given some of those players big contracts, I don’t know what they’re on. There’s no doubt though that we’ll have around 20 first team players even if some of them are cheap unknowns on very low wages.
I’d consider needing to sign around 10 players (or more) a big rebuild as that’s at least half a squad.
The chap at Exeter fits the bill because he would be in the correct level for wages. We can't underestimate the appeal we, as a club, still have. Many people want to live in and around London and we are still very much a big fish in this pond. We CAN still attract the better players from L1 and L2 so we have to use that to our advantage.
Lincoln have had a fantastic season thus far. I would hope they run out of steam but their recruitment has been very astute. They have concentrated on younger players and have forged a great togetherness and that's critical to getting out of this division. We could do a lot worse than looking at their model.
If we don't go up we need to act immediately at the end of the season. For so many years we are chasing the leftovers and clearly we don't get best value with them. We need to clear the decks of the unwanted players and we need to make signings straight away so that when we start pre season we have a full squad from day one that is young and bristling with potential with a few older, wiser heads thrown in.
There is also the consideration of the 3 relegated teams and the fact it looks unlikely that more than 1 of Sunderland, Ipswich and Pompy will go up (we keep getting told that they got all there business done before the cap came in) so they will have considerably more head room.
The fact we don't seem to have any 18-20 year olds looking likely to make the step up.
Add in the fact that due to the fixture congestion we are unlikely to know what divison we will be in until at least late April, maybe even late May. That doesn't give you much time to get 20 odd (ins and outs) pieces of business done.
I honestly think that if we don't go up, or the wage cap gets abolished, it's going to take 3 or 4 transfer windows to rebuild.
Couple of other youngsters will come through and play next season too.
We will buy 5 or so under 21 year olds. Loan 2 or 3 more. We CAN and WILL pay more than our rivals in transfer fees to acquire them / loan them.
If we don't go up this year, I think we will next year. Or the year after.
For the first time in 10 years I have total faith in our ownership structure to approach this with football and business ideals harmonised.
If there's a decent young player in league 2, and we can afford him, then a championship side can also afford to buy him as a 'project', offer him a bit above the league one salary cap and then loan him out.
Same as Huddersfield did with Sorba Thomas.
Given the choice, is that player going to sign for us on 2-2.5k a week or the championship side for 4k a week? He gets an extra 250k over a 3 year deal and possibly ends up in the same league as us on loan anyway.
He said Lapslie didn't count, Doughty didn't and Smyth hadn't gone back.
It would be a big gamble going over it hopping you can then off load someone wouldn't it?
But to me, something appears to be cooking behind the scenes with another signing at least to come.
The cards are being shuffled. I wouldn't be surprised if a couple of the squad leave before the window shuts.
But you have to look at the squad they have at Lincoln - most of them are unknown but that's the beauty of them flying under the radar and their togetherness. That cannot be underestimated
It's usually the difference between a squad achieving - or underachieving, if it's missing.
Just look at Charlton in recent years, Chris Powell built a whole squad built on this ethos - players who would run through brick walls for him and each other.
They also found themselves forming good friendships and socialising together.
That team won the title by a street.
Even Bowyer himself built a togetherness in the squad that won him promotion 2 years ago.
It's the essential ingredient of success.
This is the formation we play, this is the style we play, this is plan B. If you don't perform x takes your place and you have to earn it back.
Bowyer had all of that in 18/19, in fact Bowyer had it until November 2019. Powell had it in spades. Klopp has it, Pepe has, Jose currently has it. Lampard had it then had to shuffle it to fit all the expensive summer signings in.
Everyone has injuries, suspensions and loss of form to deal with. But if you don't have belief in what your being asked to do that's when the effort drops, the silly red cards creep in, the arguing starts, people get more niggles because they don't want to play.
IMO Robinson lost it the minute the players stopped believing than 1 up top was the best way for us to win football matches.
Having to sign 10+ players every summer is a big job and something we’ll hopefully move away from over the next few years by signing more players for the longer term.
We do seem to have reclaimed some of that fight in recent games, hopefully that continues
Some of the goals we are conceding are blatent errors from the center halves (mainly Pearce) or the full backs. A lot of them they are from people having to much time from the edge of the area to shoot. Which makes Amos look worse as well.
I am not convinced that Innis and Famewo are THAT good that they produce a 2 goal per game swing. They are, however, certainly better than Pearce, Pratley and Gunter.
Whatever he doesn't appear thrilled
I do think he'll leave and my guess would be Exeter or Grimsby.