Thetownend.com

Appears to be out for a lengthy spell judging by Harry Smiths latest tweet. Would guess its his acl so season ending

To state the obvious, that's a big loss. Reinforcements needed.

fuck.

our one good CB... you can't overstate the importance of that

Huge huge loss. Think DF is going to need to start looking at a few free agents.

At least he can get decent treatment over at QPR.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnJEeHND_lQ

Superb film.

Oh...

Think people are getting carried away with just how good he is. He is half decent yes but we are conceding goals either way so who knows it may be a blessing

Alex Davey is still available on a free, Power likes him and had him here on trial last season, ex Chelsea youth played at Scunthorpe, Peterborough and Crawley.

Also Sébastien Bassong is available on a free ;)

Haven't looked closely enough at the numbers, but anecdotally we seem to have a much better record with him than without him. Even on Saturday, we lost 2-1 without him (if you see what I mean?).

He's not a superstar, but the concern is the gap in quality between him and his replacement Robertson.

Massive loss. He's a very good defender and excellent on the ball.  Robertson and Lancashire are essentially the same type of centre back and don't complement each other very well.  Guess Purkiss is an option at CB.

Get Purkiss in CB see how that goes and hopefully Knoyle will be fit soon so Both Purkiss and Robertson will just become cover. Lets see what the full extent of Conroy's injury is. I think we can do emergency loans anyway and the freebie is always there.

I am pretty sure emergency loans only cover goalkeepers now, similar to how it used to be in April and May after the deadline closed.

This is what fucked Power over last season, as unlike the previous year he couldn't call for the Louis/Gladwin cavalry when the wheels fell off in autumn.
 
I'd imagine the decision was made by Flitters to gamble on only 3 centre halves... he may have even thought Conor Thomas could step in at a push, only to realise it made more sense to ship him out.  I'm not sure where the evidence is that Purkiss can play centre half  :hmmm:  Anybody got some?

perhaps Robertson will be a Devera, absolute non league donkey his first 5 games, then bloody good thereafter...

maybe.
hopefully.

Looks like the free agent market will have to be the first port of call....

Robertson has plenty of Div 4 experience... he also played under Lingy and OST at Torquay, I can't imagine that Shaun would like a stopper who was less than committed.

Played in the Boxing Day game back in PdC Div 4 winning season, when Torquay beat us. Maybe a run of games is what he needs to get up to speed.

May not be conclusive, but straight from the horse's mouth:


Sauce: https://www.swindontownfc.co.uk/news/2017/june/breaking-town-snap-up-experienced-purkiss/

Was it him that pulled Flint's shirt off at a Town corner?

I remember the Torquay defense playing well that game. Mind you Robertson was 6 years younger then and no doubt a bit more mobile....

Yes. Fairly sound evidence, although it could mean playing in a 3 Nathan style, rather than a flat 4.

Flitcroft also raised the prospect of playing him at Centre back, which was one of the reasons for looking at the right back slot.  He does strike me as someone who would fit more naturally at centre half, but that could just be because he doesn't look great as a right back.  Robertson has looked worrisome in his appearances thus far though and Lancashire is a walking free kick/penalty machine for referees at the moment.

confirmed :(

DAVE FLITCROFT 🗣️ | "Dion Conroy's injury is a cruciate knee ligament. An operation date hasn't been set yet."

#STFC

DF 🗣️ | "Dion's injury is long-term and that's how we're looking at it. There's not many free agents out there. We are looking currently."

http://www.somersetlive.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/ex-leeds-united-youngster-four-494908

Out of these, who's your pick?

Ryan Taylor could potentially be a good signing bags of experience at all levels.

Joel Ekstrand is also a free agent but I'm not sure we could pay his wages

If they don't have a club, then they're not really in a position to be picky.