13 Players Released

[Bob's Orange]

I feel for some of the released ....

Brez I think is the best of our keepers .. he deserves a contract more than Smith .... Vincent has been one of our best defenders .. Jack Smith has been a good player for us over more than just this year - and of course you know how much I rate Pook

Keeping Easton ... well I think THAT is the worst of the decisions ... he has been injury prone and totally lost form

Brezovan is a good shot stopper. His decision making is poor at best, his anticipation is non-existant, for a huge guy he hardly fills you with confidence when coming to collect crosses and his kicking is worse than Steven Hawking's.

I personally would have kept Jack Smith. Easton has proved in the past how good he can be, think he'll be important in our midfield this season.

Let's hope we sign some quality in the summer.

[stfctownenda]

I feel for some of the released ....

Brez I think is the best of our keepers .. he deserves a contract more than Smith .... Vincent has been one of our best defenders .. Jack Smith has been a good player for us over more than just this year - and of course you know how much I rate Pook

Keeping Easton ... well I think THAT is the worst of the decisions ... he has been injury prone and totally lost form

Smith deserves contract much more than Brez he loves playing pro football and loves being at the club and since he has got back in he has not looked back.  Brez thinks hes better than he is, strange how his agents not in the press talking him up now he has no club, think he may struggle to find a club in England.

Jack Smith's best season was in league 2 which probably shows he found his level down there, no doubt he is great with the ball and good going forward but his actual position is defence and both his positional play and awareness are very poor so he will be no loss.

Don't get me started on Pook hes been here too long, was never good enough to make the grade and will now find himself at supermarine.

Easton showed great form last season and has maybe shown glimpses in training that he can get back to that so maybe thats why Wilson has kept him.

[SwindonTartanArmy]

happy with the people we have got rid of. Thing is, we could still do with getting rid of about half of the players we still have under contract!

[suttonred]

Up until 6 weeks ago, i rated Brez more than Smith and always have done, but credit to Smithy he's pulled out the stops and deserves to be the one who stays, only thing is can he keep up his level of performance? If he can he could fly next year.

[STFC_Gazza]

My views on the players that have now gone…

Chris Allen  - Too lightweight really, got pushed off the ball a lot. Could be a decent BSP player?
Peter Brezovan  - Appears to hit a purple patch when he got here, has been shit since his injury and never really looked confident. He also goes walkabout. As mentioned by someone else, we should have cashed in when we had the chance. Don’t understand all the dick waving about Brezovan. Phil Smith has been a far more consistent goalkeeper for us during his stay. Must say Smith plays better with competition so lets hope we get a decent keeper to challenge Smith.
Barry Corr  - Right decision to let him go, Injury record speaks for itself. If he could stay fit he would be a fantastic player at this level if not higher. He could be back if he doesn’t get a contract elsewhere, who knows? He may get a pre-season with us but I dare say someone in L2 may snap him up.
Tom Evans  - who?
Jake Hyde - meh
Ben Joyce – Never really got a look this year and from what I remembered never really did anything for the reserves.
Sam Morris – who?
Lilian Nalis  - Shame it didn’t work out for him here. His passing at times was great but the legs were gone. He is one of the nicest people I have met and wish him luck.
Michael Pook  - for every decent game he had, he had 30 bad ones, complete wanker as well. Glad to see the back of him.
Hamdi Razak  - Was told by someone he was one of the worst players he had ever seen train so not shocked to see him go, “That Shot” at Oldham made him a cult hero amongst Town fans at that game! Is one of those players who could come back to haunt us. Certainly knows where the goal is but so did Arrieta. Told me that Yeovil and Gillingham were interested in him.
Jack Smith  - Been a good servant to the club, thought he may have gotten something,. Was not too bad and was a decent enough back up player if nothing else. Would have given him another year.
Blair Sturrock  - Got a lot of unwarranted abuse. Certainly not the worst player STFC has ever had. Played the channels well and in my mind was under rated here. I don’t think he should have got a new deal though, hasn’t played enough. BSP bound I dare say?
Jamie Vincent  - I was certain he would get a new deal, and it was warranted IMO, Was one of the main reasons we stayed up. Feel he shot himself in the foot with his arrest etc and this likely prompted his release. Ady was let go due to his off the field events and it appears Vincent has been as well.

[Peter Venkman]

Pretty much agree with all of that TBF Gaz.

[Phil_S]

The surprises for be were Jack Smith, who I've always rated. I also thought that Rasak would get a chance after Danny Wilsons interview the other day, & also surprised & glad about about Easton being offered a new deal.

[Berniman]

I don't think Vincent going has got anything to do with his arrest, I think his arrest is probably to do with him going though.  He probably knew he wasn't getting anything and took it out on the bottle.

Early on in the season he made one hell of a difference, but towards the end of the season, after another injury, his legs looked like they were on the turn.  He even kept falling over in one of the last home games as soon as the ball came to him.

If we want to take advantage of all these players being out of contract, Vincent is exactly the sort of player we need to clear out.  Unfortuantley I think Peacock is the same, except he has a year left, if not he would be gone too.

We need to move forward with the personel.  A 34/35 year old left back is not moving forward.  The only loss is the leadership rather than the player, hopefully Greer and a few other new signings with remedy that as stated by DW.

[Colin Todd]

The only slightly confusing thing about the vincent situation is that Wilson has (rightly) stated that he wants 4/5 leaders in next years team, and vincent is obviously that type

[flammableBen]

I've read that Phil Smith plays better with competition in this thread a few times. That's wrong isn't it? His best run was when Brez was injured and there was none.

[suttonred]

His best run has been the last six weeks, so i would suggest it's not competition, it's the impending lack of a forthcoming contract that might have upped the ante.

[STFC_Gazza]

His best run was when Brez was injured and there was none.

This is true, however some would say given Brezovan's exploits prior to his injury, a lot of people, including most on this forum, wanted Brezovan to be given the number 1 shirt over Brezovan despite Smith being a big part of that promotion side.  Many expected Brezovan to be the number 1 choice as soon as he recovered from his injury.

Thankfully Sturrock stood by Smith and again he did very well at the start of last season. After Malpas came in, both keepers turned to shit. Since Brezovan's injury I think he had only 2 good games? One was against Swansea and the other (Nottingham Forest???), he appeared to go walk about during games and quite often changed his mind when leaving the area, leaving our defenders exposed... When Brezovan lost his spot this season however, Smith stepped up again and put in a good shift and deservedly got a new contract. I actually do beleive that Smith is a better keeper than Brezovan all around. I would have been a bit annoyed if Brez got a contract and not Smith.

[Bogus Dave]

His best run has been the last six weeks, so i would suggest it's not competition, it's the impending lack of a forthcoming contract that might have upped the ante.

I'm not sure that argument works quite so well with goalkeepers. With outfield players it obviously works - a soon to be out of contract player will tear around the pitch like a madman in a bid to impress. The goalkeeper is still by and large confined to the same patch of grass, and will still continue to make the same saves regardless of their contract status. I think more to do with smith's upturn in form is a sense of security in his place: Brezovan has been stating for ages now he wants to leave, he's hardly going to get a chance in the crucial games we've had. This security means smith has been free to concentrate on the games, rather than having the nagging thought at the back of his mind over whether he'll be playing next week. The fact many fans are no longer clamouring for brez to be included has helped also.

[flammableBen]

I believe that Smith is the better keeper too. I just don't agree that he's played better with competition.

[Peter Venkman]

I agree Dave, its much much harder for a keeper to raise his game.

For keepers its more about concentration and confidence not the amount of effort put in.

A good point.