Thetownend.com

so, dougie is gone and knight is on trial...

many goings, not many comings...

plenty of talk today on the forum, some happy JD's gone some not, some going to give knight a chance, some not happy...

there are a couple of players who've gone now that i'd have been quite happy to keep, namely JP and JD, that many are happy have left.  yes they had poor seasons last term but we know they were absolutely cracking the season before last.

now (and every pre-season) we're linked with players who have been known to have been pretty poor of late and you get people saying they'll give them a chance to prove themselves.

my point is that players who we know damn well, from first hand experience, to be really pretty good are only being remembered for last season and people saying "that the cunt can fuck off" or the like but then you get the same people saying that they'll give trialists or new signings a chance no matter how shit they've been for their previous clubs recently.

at what point should we just say it's better the devil you know and stick to what we have/had - depending on the oportunity to do so of course - rather than gambling on other clubs cast offs?

JP was a complete revelation in the play-off season after a couple of seasons of mediocrity afterall.

for what it's worth i'm very underwhelmed with our dealings at the moment, although i am actually happy with who we have brought in permanently.

i've always been one of the don't panic brigade - 'plenty of time yet' etc but we really need to step it up soon if we're to have an acceptable season ahead

What the season before last proved is that it may not be the quality of the player but the quality of the collective.

Maybe it's a bit harsh on Douglas, but the effort was only there when it was too late.

I think we would all have been a surprised nay disappointed had the new man kept last season`s players. Surely there had to be a clear out, get some new faces. Not easy to attract to the league we are in. I think we have to give the new man our whole hearted support and I am glad that we have had a much needed clear out. So no its not better the devil you know here me thinks.
Douglas is a difficult one as I think he had lost a lot in the last season. Interesting to see how he performs with Brentford, if you can be arsed to keep track.....
I am sure Di Canio will want to make a big impression as a manager...just watch us go.... :nod:

Come on the Borg !

Brian Clough didn't have the best players to work with at Derby or Forest but he got them motivated and playing as a unit, its something hardly any teams do any more, they are more the sum of thier parts rather than a whole team playing for each other.

Thats the art of being a great manager, getting the best from your individuals, but not so they improve as individuals but improve as a team, covering for each others weaknesses when needed.

Absolutely. Well said.

Something that Wilson got right in year 1 and wrong in year 2. Largely with the same set of players!  But the question was were there players that could have stayed but contributed to the new squad?

IMHO yes, Douglas, LJF and JPM  are the three I am disappointed to see go. I accept its a big IF, but IF Douglas and JPM could recapture their form then they would be massive assets to any promotion seeking side.

By not retaining them it makes PDC's job that much harder.

...or in the case of England, not even a sum of their parts. Now it takes some manager to mange that!

And that's my point in a nutshell, ok maybe them going was out of our hands but people saying good riddance etc need to realise it will be very hard to replace their quality - which i'm sure PDC could have helped them recapture.

I'm sure those three players will go on to have good seasons with their new clubs

We shall see...replace their quality? Not difficult, Lecs hardly played, new broom and all that...out with the old in with the new..mark my words.

Believe it or not, they are not the only players out there that are a bit good.

The point is that we now have to find even more quality players because these have left. Its harder to get quality replacements because competition is high and we are in div 4.

There could be some truth in the argument a good manager will get more out of an average player than a bad manager gets out of a good player. I'd rather a good manager gets more out of a good player :)

In summary it not that PDC won't get it right, but he now has more work to do and so its harder.
-----
Oh and on Lecs, yes he hardly played. We still need a squad player to fill his boots- though this could be Flint.

The players we get need to be better than the players' other teams in div 4 get.

We are all in the same boat, only we have more resources than most (if not all) others. If, with our resources, we cannot assemble one of the best teams in the league then we have problems that run much deeper than players leaving.

Agreed BR, but you also have to take into account that those teams may have spent a season or two getting their players to their club. It doesn't look like we are going to buy our way out by poaching player, so it comes down to availability.

Having said all that I do think our biggest challenge is recruiting up top. And that hasn't changed with Douglas, JPM and LJF leaving.  Even with Knight we'd need two more. As was the case when we had Benyon.

Don't forget as well we have a much larger pool of players to choose from than most

Crawley, for example, may be flashing the cash but I doubt there's many players on the continent willing to play at Crawley town for some manager whose name I don't even know.

Dodgy Steve Evans at Crawley, I imagine the wages they're getting paid at Crawley are significantly more than what they're advertised as being paid, if his track record is anything to go by.

Crawley are only marginably more likeable than the franchise.

Very good point BR.

Paul Caddis to replace JPM wide right
Simon Ferry to replace Douglas in the middle.

Job done!

Simon Ferry - the man Wilson didn't want to play last year.

Almost like a new signing in itself.

Depends if you think Ferry + Timlin will be good enough. Maybe Smith will be good enough to keep them on their toes.

Timlin has helped us out of this league before. He may be ideal for the job.

I'd have been happy to see Douglas and Lescinel here next season.  I'd have been non plussed by JPM still being here and Cuthbert (the latter dissapointed me more because he did look a real gem at the start but I did not expect the complete loss of form that occured without Greer).  Everyone else is easily replaced, and I accept that may mean a brand new useless player taking their spot, but at least i don't have to watch the same useless players every year.

I don't waste much time thinking about the season before last when wondering if I should get all misty eyed on some of the departures.  Very few players had any right to expect a place in our squad this year.

Seems to me that Di Canio got wind of a rotten core within the club and a clique as stated by Nick Watkins himself.

We all expected a clear out but I'm quite surprised by the amount of players leaving. I'm not pushing the panic button just yet but one more exit from someone like Ferry, Caddis or Ritchie then I will be very, very worried.

I just hope Di Canio's judgement is accurate because this season has the potential to go spectacularly wrong.

Tomorrow is another day though and we could all be rejoicing in some major signings.

I echo Ralphy's sentiments entirely

Adver tweeted to say that there wont be any more departures, hopefully they are correct.

People need to remember that the free agent market will really kick in to life once player contracts end tomorrow.  We could already have 2 or 3 lined up and the players in question dont want it annouced until their existing contracts run out.

Having only seen Brighten at home on the opening day I can only judge the quality of player on the year before and Fuck was one of less than a handful that looked like he was playing below his station for large parts of the season andwould have been the the best player in the division had he stayed.

By all accounts he was a shit player and a shit captain last year so probably a good thing for him to leave along with the rest.

We've got Di Canio, you've got fuck-all-up!

I liked Douglas but he was clearly no match winner or the type of player who could turn games around.  That’s not to do him a disservice he was an excellent “water carrier” and kept it simple when it mattered.  In fact I would say he was Championship standard holding player but without the rest of the players performing around him he was as much use as a chocolate tea pot.  

I am disappointed he’s gone.  He was potentially a solid foundation and core to the potential Di Canio madness.  The reality is we won’t get close to a  better holding player than Douglas  although we can  replace him with someone that can perform a similar role and create more opportunities that will win matches.

 Anyway, good luck to him...

 

Fucking mobile phones!

What Dazzza just said....

Talking of Douglas and departures, I do not want to go on to the OS only to find a fucking picture of fucking Douglas holding up his nice new fucking Brentford shirt.


FUCK OFF :crash:

.....and saying "I think Swindon will go straight back up"

I must admit I've been peeved at the sight of several Town duds proudly presenting there new jersey. It shouldn't irk...

I think I'll feel a little better when we've played a few pre season games and we've seen what the new boys are all about.

and if they played like last season Di Canio would have been lumbered with 2 useless, lazy, bottler cunts who we would have been stuck with for however long they signed, on decent wages and the possibility a new clique will form. Now he can free up the wages and take the risk that others can be bought or will step up. Not too much of a gamble in my book.

Good news is that he wont have the tired old excuses that he didn't have his own players to work with.

It sounds like he has a plan on how he wants to play and what he wants from his players.Even if we may not be aware of what these players are like we are signing fair play it's brave on his part and let's wait until we have seen a few games and see what we can expect.

Be interesting to see how the new team gels. By the look of things PDC won't have all his players in for at least another couple of weeks at the very least.

Oh not you again

Have you missed me  :girlgiggle: ;D

He's back, and this time it's personnel.

Word to DRS.

Wordrs?