I think Clare is given way too much of a hard time. An honest pro, who puts his lot in, is willing to bomb forward and back to the 90th and has a trick or two. Some defensive lapses, yes, but the same applies to the entire back four (Ness probably the least guilty) and same could be said of some of the midfielders we would be willing to keep eg Fraser, who has lost the ball in dangerous positions a few times this season. I genuinely believe that if we can strengthen the spine and its depth for that matter, Sean or Manny will be of little concern next season. Or put it another way, if renewing Clare freed up more budget to get a box to box mid better than Albie, a suitable replacement for JRS etc, I would bite their hand off.
Offering him a new deal would be a good indicator of our aim for the coming season
I hope our season isn't overly influenced by who our reserve right back is. He ended up playing 40 games because Egbo, Kane and Sessegnon all had knack of one form or another and Penny was just, more than a bit, shit.
Think this goes back to @Garrymanilow 's point. Egbo still under contract (plus IMO the better full back) so would we want our two primary right back options to be Egbo and Clare again? Probably not. Let's aim for someone better than Egbo and have Egbo be the "reserve" right back.
That was my point pages ago. Is Egbo good enough to be first choice? Clare is good enough to be second choice. He definitely isn't good enough to be 1st choice and play 40 odd games again next season.
I think Clare is given way too much of a hard time. An honest pro, who puts his lot in, is willing to bomb forward and back to the 90th and has a trick or two. Some defensive lapses, yes, but the same applies to the entire back four (Ness probably the least guilty) and same could be said of some of the midfielders we would be willing to keep eg Fraser, who has lost the ball in dangerous positions a few times this season. I genuinely believe that if we can strengthen the spine and its depth for that matter, Sean or Manny will be of little concern next season. Or put it another way, if renewing Clare freed up more budget to get a box to box mid better than Albie, a suitable replacement for JRS etc, I would bite their hand off.
So the majority of fans want Clare to sign a new contract as long as he only plays occasionally.
Not just him. I’ve read the same about Morgan, Inniss, Terrell Thomas, Blackett Taylor. Some how, the majority of the team/squad that have had such another dire season, like the season before it (albeit slightly different cast of characters), should be retained, as they are good squad players. This line of thinking for me is a bit odd, I sometimes think we reap what we sow as fans and how accepting of mediocrity we are.
So the majority of fans want Clare to sign a new contract as long as he only plays occasionally.
Not just him. I’ve read the same about Morgan, Inniss, Terrell Thomas, Blackett Taylor. Some how, the majority of the team/squad that have had such another dire season, like the season before it (albeit slightly different cast of characters), should be retained, as they are good squad players. This line of thinking for me is a bit odd, I sometimes think we reap what we sow as fans and how accepting of mediocrity we are.
It's not accepting mediocrity it's realising that no team ever has 20+ clearly first choice players.
How many players can you really sign in a window? Before you say Powell signed x number, that includes the likes of Sullivan, Bovar, Alonso and Euall that even now wouldn't improve us. Plus Pope and Smith who didn't contribute anything, at the time.
I get logic that you have to off load players to make room for the players we really need but we have already off loaded Stockley, Clayden, JFC and MacGillvray. The loans will all go back. Obviously Bonne and Gilbey will soon, officially follow.
I think what makes it worse this summer is there are at least 3 players who are under contract that are not suitable and wouldn't be in the 18 if they stayed.
Inniss, Morgan and Clare have been first team players for the last 2-3 years. In fact I don't think Inniss has ever been dropped. They are perfectly good enough to be the back ups/reserves.
If your relying on any of them playing more than 10-15 league games your going to struggle, but most teams actually keep their first team fit. But that's another issue.
I don't know if this idea that you need 20+ "superstars" comes from rose tinted glasses of years gone by, our piss poor injury record or just pure frustration.
A well run club aiming for promotion wouldn't sign any of them, but a well run club going for promotion wouldn't have 2 defenders under contract, one who has played about 20 games and one that has spent almost all season injured.
So the majority of fans want Clare to sign a new contract as long as he only plays occasionally.
Not just him. I’ve read the same about Morgan, Inniss, Terrell Thomas, Blackett Taylor. Some how, the majority of the team/squad that have had such another dire season, like the season before it (albeit slightly different cast of characters), should be retained, as they are good squad players. This line of thinking for me is a bit odd, I sometimes think we reap what we sow as fans and how accepting of mediocrity we are.
Agree with your general point. I keep reading that these players are good enough to be back-ups at a promotion-chasing club. People said the same about DJ, Lavelle, Forster-Caskey, etc. at the end of last season. Now they're playing in L2, or not even making a squad.
Strangely, no L1 clubs (and especially not promotion-chasing ones) saw fit to sign them lot as their squad players.
And now we have this batch. If they are let go, where they end up will be very telling.
So the majority of fans want Clare to sign a new contract as long as he only plays occasionally.
Not just him. I’ve read the same about Morgan, Inniss, Terrell Thomas, Blackett Taylor. Some how, the majority of the team/squad that have had such another dire season, like the season before it (albeit slightly different cast of characters), should be retained, as they are good squad players. This line of thinking for me is a bit odd, I sometimes think we reap what we sow as fans and how accepting of mediocrity we are.
Agree with your general point. I keep reading that these players are good enough to be back-ups at a promotion-chasing club. People said the same about DJ, Lavelle, Forster-Caskey, etc. at the end of last season. Now they're playing in L2, or not even making a squad.
Strangely, no L1 clubs (and especially not promotion-chasing ones) saw fit to sign them lot as their squad players.
And now we have this batch. If they are let go, where they end up will be very telling.
Promotion chasing clubs mainly sign first choice players with their current players becoming squad players, plus a few signings that don’t work out.
That’s the key, signing a good number of first choice players who improve us.
Our last two promotion winning squads featured several players who were average L1 at best. This squad wouldn’t improve if we could add Reeves, Marshall or Wagstaff to it. Those squads wouldn’t be weakened had those three swapped with CBT, Clare or an older Morgan.
So the majority of fans want Clare to sign a new contract as long as he only plays occasionally.
Not just him. I’ve read the same about Morgan, Inniss, Terrell Thomas, Blackett Taylor. Some how, the majority of the team/squad that have had such another dire season, like the season before it (albeit slightly different cast of characters), should be retained, as they are good squad players. This line of thinking for me is a bit odd, I sometimes think we reap what we sow as fans and how accepting of mediocrity we are.
Agree with your general point. I keep reading that these players are good enough to be back-ups at a promotion-chasing club. People said the same about DJ, Lavelle, Forster-Caskey, etc. at the end of last season. Now they're playing in L2, or not even making a squad.
Strangely, no L1 clubs (and especially not promotion-chasing ones) saw fit to sign them lot as their squad players.
And now we have this batch. If they are let go, where they end up will be very telling.
If we take Clare as an example, of course no promotion club is going to sign him. How many other promotion chasing clubs have 2 contracted defenders, one that has played about 20 games and one that has spent 80% of the season injured?
If we released Clare, what sort of player should we be looking at signing as a back up right back?
One that has played 40 games for a mid table league one club this season or...
I understood that Clare wants to pay further forward and not at right
back. I don't think Clare is a great right back, and when I have seen
him play, wanders out of position. In the right midfield, occassional
bits of good attacking play. Not convinced at him at right midfield either. He may been offered a back up right back role and wanted to find a manager that will play him at right midfield.
I understood that Clare wants to pay further forward and not at right
back. I don't think Clare is a great right back, and when I have seen
him play, wanders out of position. In the right midfield, occassional
bits of good attacking play. Not convinced at him at right midfield either. He may been offered a back up right back role and wanted to find a manager that will play him at right midfield.
Enjoyed watching Clare play but he does switch off far too often. Curious to see where he ends up...
I think his position should be right back. Yes he can simetimes not pick players up but as cover, there isn't a massive hole in the position when he is called upon. I think an issue which might have cost him a contract is that he can't play left back. He actually slows moves down when he plays there. He can play midfield, it being his known for position, but he isn't dynamic there or a goal scorer. I think there would have been pros and cons when making this decision though.
I would expect him to be picked up by a League One club.
We have lost a good athlete, if erratic player. Sean Clare came within a whisker of scoring a goal after running from his own half at the valley and his goal against the Champion's Plymouth was Excellent.
I said Simon Francis would play higher than Cafc when he was Slated out of Charlton.
I believe Sean Clare will play at least League 1 next season. I could see Plymouth giving him a contract.
I think a lot of the comments on here indicate the way versatility can be used in fans' minds to re-imagine a lot of footballers. It's like a non-injury version of 'we really miss x player, it'll be fine when he gets back'. We thought that about Inniss and Famewo when they both got injured, but when they came back we couldn't recapture the defensive form. We've heard it about Sessegnon all season; because he's right footed people lose their minds about him playing on the left but he'd be Cafu if he was on the right.
With Clare his best position is always the one he's not playing in. We signed him to play as a central midfielder and he was terrible. So bad. He was dropped by Adkins and then Jackson didn't fancy him at all there. In his first two games Jackson brought him on late in central midfield for Elliot Lee to help close down a game we were winning. He came in at RCB against Burton after we had yet another injury crisis; no Lavelle, no Pearce, no Matthews, no Gunter, all of whom were initially ahead of him in the CB spot. More accurately, Matthews and Gunter were the RCBs who were initially tasked with pushing out to RB in possession and pulling narrow out of it. I don't blame Clare for this but part of our stagnation under Jackson came when we stopped doing that shape change well and became rigid in our shape, which arguably was because we were no longer playing a natural RB in that spot.
Clare did well initially and kept his place from there, (though looking back at some of those matches you do have to question if Jackson had lost his mind. We lost 1-0 to Shrewsbury with a back 3 of Purringon, Pearce and Clare, with Souare and CBT at wingback. We had injuries but Jesus Christ, was Jacko ever a slave to the shape!) but the cracks started to show. We conceded so many goals in the channel between Clare and an Adam Matthews who had completely lost interest in playing football. A tough bit to patrol when you've got limited support but it did show Clare's inability to concentrate through a full move and learn from mistakes. He wasn't going to be a centre back.
Garner signed Egbo, who got injured immediately and Clare was our right back. He didn't do badly and it's where he's been most effective for us but it's still clear Clare isn't really a right back and also fairly clear he'd really rather not be there. He's better at RB because he doesn't have to be aware of threats coming from the subs' bench to his right but he still forgets that players move after the first pass or after the corner is struck. So many times an opposition player scores and it's Clare trailing behind him looking annoyed and confused because he had him covered 5 seconds ago and then decided that was job done. Not a right back.
But then you always hear that he'd be alright elsewhere. When he was playing CM for us people pointed out he'd done well at RB for Oxford. When he was at RCB people said the same thing. Now he's had a season there people wanted him to stay as backup at CM or RCB. The fact is if you have Sean Clare for an extended period in any position you're going to be dissatisfied with the result. His greatest strength is that he's managed not to catch the Charlton injury curse, but it also means you'll always see him playing multiple games and it will not be good. He would have done better if you'd played him in the other position though. Or the other one. Or the other one..
Comments
How many players can you really sign in a window? Before you say Powell signed x number, that includes the likes of Sullivan, Bovar, Alonso and Euall that even now wouldn't improve us. Plus Pope and Smith who didn't contribute anything, at the time.
I get logic that you have to off load players to make room for the players we really need but we have already off loaded Stockley, Clayden, JFC and MacGillvray. The loans will all go back. Obviously Bonne and Gilbey will soon, officially follow.
I think what makes it worse this summer is there are at least 3 players who are under contract that are not suitable and wouldn't be in the 18 if they stayed.
Inniss, Morgan and Clare have been first team players for the last 2-3 years. In fact I don't think Inniss has ever been dropped. They are perfectly good enough to be the back ups/reserves.
If your relying on any of them playing more than 10-15 league games your going to struggle, but most teams actually keep their first team fit. But that's another issue.
I don't know if this idea that you need 20+ "superstars" comes from rose tinted glasses of years gone by, our piss poor injury record or just pure frustration.
A well run club aiming for promotion wouldn't sign any of them, but a well run club going for promotion wouldn't have 2 defenders under contract, one who has played about 20 games and one that has spent almost all season injured.
If he's getting a contract the club have decided Egbo and Clare at good enough for a play-off run, reality shows we need something much better.
Strangely, no L1 clubs (and especially not promotion-chasing ones) saw fit to sign them lot as their squad players.
And now we have this batch. If they are let go, where they end up will be very telling.
That’s the key, signing a good number of first choice players who improve us.
Our last two promotion winning squads featured several players who were average L1 at best. This squad wouldn’t improve if we could add Reeves, Marshall or Wagstaff to it. Those squads wouldn’t be weakened had those three swapped with CBT, Clare or an older Morgan.
If we released Clare, what sort of player should we be looking at signing as a back up right back?
One that has played 40 games for a mid table league one club this season or...
Curb's always appreciated versatile players in his squad
Trouble was he didnt know where to start... Sorry Sean
I would expect him to be picked up by a League One club.
Sean Clare came within a whisker of scoring a goal after running from his own half at the valley and his goal against the Champion's Plymouth was Excellent.
I said Simon Francis would play higher than Cafc when he was Slated out of Charlton.
I believe Sean Clare will play at least League 1 next season.
I could see Plymouth giving him a contract.
And he is a vegan, what’s not to like?