Thetownend.com

THE CURRENT SQUAD

UNDER CONTRACT (25)
Position - Player - Contract Expiry - Age as of 1st Aug 2023

Goalkeepers (2)
1. Jack Bycroft - 2024 (2025 Option) - 21 - GK
25. Conor Brann - TBC - 20 - GK

Defenders (9)
3. Pharrell Johnson - 2024 (2025 Option) - 19 - DC Out for the season
4. Tom Clayton - 2024 - 22 - DC Out for the season
5. Frazer Blake-Tracy - 2024 - 27 - DLC Leaving EOS
12. Tom Brewitt - 2024 - 24 - DC
17. Williams Kokolo - 2024 - 23 - D/M L
18. Reece Devine - 2024 - 21 - D/WBL Out long term with hamstring injury
22. Udoka Godwin-Malife - 2025 - 23 - DRC
24. Conor McCarthy - Loan - 25 - DC - Loan from Barnsley until EOS
31. Harrison Minturn - 2025 - 19 - DC Out for the season

Midfielders (8)
6. George McEachran - 2024 - 22 - MC
8. Saidou Khan - 2024 - 27 - MC Out for the season
12. Jake Cain - 2025 - 21 - MC
15. Sean McGurk - TBC - 20 - MRL
19. Tariq Uwakwe - 2024 - 23 - D/WB/ML - Impact Injury, out until end of April
20. Dawson Devoy - 2024 (Loan) - 21 - MC - Loaned from MK until EOS
29. Ricky Aguiar - 2025 - 22 - MC
59. Nnamdi Ofoborh - 2024 - 23 - MC

Forwards (6)
7. Zach Elbouzedi - 2024 (Loan) - 25 - FRL - Loaned from AIK until EOS
9. Paul Glatzel - 2024 (2025 Option)  - 22 - ST
10. Harry McKirdy - Loan - 26 - ST - Loaned from Hibernian until EOS
11. Rushian Hepburn-Murphy - 2024 - 24 - ST
23. Aaron Drinan - 2025 - 25 - ST
32. Charlie Austin - 2024 - 34 - ST

OUT ON LOAN (4)
14. Brooklyn Genesini - TBC - 21 - D/WBRL - Loaned to Yeovil until EOS
26. Anton Dworzak - 2025 - 18 - MC - Loaned to Hemel Hempstead until EOS
27. Tomi Adeloye - 2024 - 27 - ST - Loaned to Partick Thistle until EOS
28. Tyrese Shade - 2024 - 23 - MRL - Loaned to Solihull Moors

YOUTHS
With squad numbers

33. Joel McGregor - Wing back
34. Archie Milne - MF (Loaned to Corsham)
35. Jaxon Brown - MF
36. Sonny Hart - DF (Loaned to Canvey Island)
37. Harvey Fox - YTH- 18 - D/ML (extended scholarship for the 23/24 season, loaned to Didcot)
38. Abu Kanu - FW - Injured until EOS (ACL)
39. Kian Larkins - MF
40. Harley Hunt - DF
41. Miles Obodo - FW
42. Josh Keyes - MF (Loaned to Cirencester)
43. Fletcher Hubbard - MF (Loaned to Melksham)
45. Finlay Adams - DF (Loaned to Melksham)
46. Harry Gray - MF
47. Redman Evans - GK
48. George Alston - DF
49. Liam Hutt - MF

Cheers Nemo!

Grand, can edit this one.

Anyone know anything about what's going on with the youth teamers? Seem to have been no announcements either way outside of Minturn and Cowmeadow getting a contract.

What's happening with Parsons, strange not signed unless he thinks he can do better elsewhere?

If he does,I would suspect him of being delusional

Looks like we’re going to have a lot height in the squad this season. Hopefully a few more goals from headers. I think it was 3 last season which was pathetic.

When was the last time we had a proper right back under contract? (Rather than on loan).

Hunt and Caddis?  Egbo was under contract too.

This has all turned Reg all of a sudden..

Parsons in the squad today for the Melksham game.

Egbo isn't really a full back is he? Like Kerslake and Summerbee and a bunch of players we've played out wide, you wouldn't be comfortable with them defensively in a traditional back four.

Gas beat Melksham 6-1 last night

Sorry probably had something to do with me splitting the original post :)

Parsons and Dabre sign 1 year extensions

Do you know who else will be playing?

Team sheet is in the pre season friendlies thread

To be honest I think it’s a bit of a speculative team sheet - it’s basically just anyone who is contracted and then has “trialists” at the bottom. Probably not much research or ITK informing it.

Cheers

Was Dabre out of contract or offered new and improved terms? I don’t remember him being listed on the initial reports of OOC players.

Think Dabre was 1 year with option for another year.
Also don't forget when talking about new contracts McKirdy, Iandolo and Gladwin signed theirs before the season ended.
So in total new contracts have been offered and accepted by McKirdy, Iandolo, Gladwin, Baudry, Parsons.
We've only missed out on Egbo and Wollacott so far - who knows if Egbo can put together a full season in the EFL and Wollacott will be distracted by internations.

+ William + Reed.

Its not clear which were offers and which were "automatic" but its a financial commitment.

We also lost AK too, we did offer.

Dabre was offered a new contract - he was out of contract, he was part of the list of "offered new contracts" with Parsons

Williams Reed- automatic year options triggered - on basis we didn’t make a song and dance about announcing them.

First post update, I dropped the youth team section altogether as the club seem to have not updated anything.

Clear gaps are mostly in wide positions now. Attached a depth chart thing, which is all the rage these days.

My Plymouth supporting cousin says Massey is a wide attacker in the McKirdy mode not so much used as a striker at Plymouth youths.

Definitely need 2 x Strikers in my book. Wakeling/Massey surely not set for the lead role.

Agreed, 2 proper strikers with strength, pace, who can sometimes head a ball, have at least 2 season loan experience in first teams  in L2 or conference minimum and who know where the net is.

The problem is why would a team loan a player to a league 2 team again.
They would presumably look to loan them to someone at a higher level, unless they didn’t do particularly well.

Based on that I think we are either getting someone who is getting their first go at first team football, or who played in the National league last  season.

Absolutely hence my stating L2 OR Conference, which appears to be far more likely, like Josh Neufville from Luton or similar ex Conference loanee from last season.

we could buy one if we can find a released one, loan the other.

I take your point on it being 'first go at league football'.

we will have to get lucky to done extent. I think most of us are that a "proven ' striker is out of budget

I fear the chances of finding another Simpson, ready for the first team straight off the bat though could be rare.

I know it's probably seen as 'short termism' but I reckon Danny Hylton (there are possibly similar examples) from Luton is a superb signing for Northampton and surely one that could have potentially been within budget. It may turn out that Wakeling might turn out to be a lower league Salah and young Tyrese Simpson did well for us until January but there are 'proven' strikers out there that I reckon we could push the boat out for.

Squad churn for L2

Wonder if that includes Payne or not. He's probably 5 to 10 percent on his own.

Well he has effectively left the club at this moment in time so it should include him

Squad list seems to be missing the detail of the loaning club

Incoming -  since the transfer rumours thread has been locked

Seeing as someone seems to have (accidentally?) locked the transfer rumours thread, official Twitter has posted some teases of a new signing coming shortly. Whoever it has very skinny legs.

Looks like the liverpool lad mango mentioned from the video

Tom Clayton?

Looks like it is Tom Clayton

So assuming a back 5 (sadly) we need what 6 CB's, we now have Baudry, Brennan, Harries, Clayton & Minturn (seems i have to include youths) then we can only expect 1 further CB. Damn we need an experienced player there capable of playing most games.

Interesting that its a perm, for an undisclosed fee though. This feels like the sort of player that has a chance of turning a profit.

Scotland Under 21. Seems highly rated from a brief google. Anyone got anymore on him?

Yes, a permanent signing. That is interesting, I'd assumed this one was a probable loan. He's a CB that can play in midfield, so looks like we're heading towards three at the back.

https://twitter.com/Official_STFC/status/1546860724789645317

We've paid money for him too.

Sorry, don't know what happened with Transfer Rumours thread but it's unlocked now.

Fucking idiot

Was fully expecting this to be a loan.
The captain of Liverpool's U23's wouldn't be coming here to sit on the bench & make up the numbers.

Possibly a significant sell on included in the deal.
Is this a new tactic for Prem clubs to shift the talent in their human warehouses given the limitations on number of loans?

Got a good feeling that this will be a very decent signing.

The squad is now 20 - two keepers, seven defenders, six midfielders and five forwards (counting Clayton as a defender and Iandolo as a midfielder). Not including Hunt, Payne or Lyden.

Clayton sounds promising. He looks absolutely skeletal in the Twitter videos mind. Assuming he's a left sided CB, our squad looks something like this... (missing Cowmeadow, sorry lad)

Was it the shock of Audrey getting one right?

Just posted on the other thread, mate of mine watches the under 23s at Kirkby and likes the lad

Liverpool 23s captain. Left footed and can play midfield from what I’ve read. On paper looks a very good bit of business.

So that’s the squad up at 20 players, surely the last youngster now and remaining spots are reserved for a bit of experience?

Yeah looks much more like the sort of young signing i expected, as opposed to the Massey/Wakeling ones.

My current logic on incomings is if they get 2 year deals they are expected starters, 1 years are a bit more of a gamble for squad positions. Outside loans of course.

I've seen quite a few snarky happy clapping comments on social media about what sort of signing people wouldn't moan about and would like the look of.

Well this is what it looks like chaps.

Oh there are people still moaning. Which are who i assume the snarky happy clapping comments are about

My sarky hand clapping comments were about the ticket prices.

HTH.

If you don't think that signing a Scotland U21 and Liverpool U23 captain looks good on paper then you probably can't be pleased.

Agree mate. A few have been very meh that can't be denied but i think as someone alluded to above, the contacts probably show which ones we think are punts and squad fillers and who we rate as 1st team

100% this. Shade was the only one out of the 6 or 7 so far that had impressed me, but for me this is a proper piece of business and even better that we still have 3 loan spots left.

This is exactly the type of player that you would expect with the new model, players that could be sold for north of £1m if they live up to their potential.

The main thing now is making sure we have the team/squad around him that will allow him to realise his potential

This one is certainly a bit more Peterborough than Poundland.

Just need a few older heads to take the pressure off development.

How much longer are we giving Payne to sort his shit out?

Surely either way by the end of this week, his wage money could be used elsewhere is he isn't signing a new deal with us.

My mate...who you have met at a Town game, is a Liverpool season ticket holder and he watches all their U23 games too and he says hes a really classy defender, skinny but a good tackler and passer and can head a ball too.

Jesus, has he thought about getting out more...  ;)

Hes disabled so doesnt get out much for anything other than football.

Well that killed that conversation JJ

:D true though.

:D

Ronan Darcy being announced now on official Twitter. Assume that's the end of Payne, but hope not.

2 year deal

Another (undisclosed) fee paid.

Another day another player signed for money. Huge club.

Maybe there will be funds for a striker or is that too optimistic?

Too young
Too inexperienced
Not Jack Payne

From a Bolton fan "His most natural position is CAM, he is too lightweight to be playing as more of a conventional Central Midfielder and hasn't really got the engine to be box-to-box based on what I have seen of him. On the ball he can really make things happen with brilliant close control and good weight of pass, it's the off the ball stuff he needs to work on."

Sorry, being thick now...CAM is (presumably) Central A.... Midfield....what's the missing word?

Attacking

Attacking!

Is that known as a number 10 in modern parlance?

No. It’s known as Payne’s position!

When was the last time we made two signings two days in a row costing money.....anyone? Two decades plus I'm guessing.

:doh: Had to be something obvious  :D

You know that the world doesn't end if Payne doesn't sign right Aud?  Don't get me wrong, he's a good player, but..

I reckon Payne is as good as gone now with that signing. Disappointing as he is my favourite Town player of the last 10 years, possibly since Matt Ritchie. To counter balance that though, very encouraged that we are making permanent signings. Last season's so called 'season long loans' screwed us up big time....

I'd have rather kept Reed personally if it was a choice of picking one midfield player to keep. If we manage to keep Payne it would be fantastic but I'm 99% consigned to him leaving.

Oh, I agree. If he goes, he goes. Not holding my breath. Needs sorting now - either way.

I’d imagine the last 2 signings equate to Payne’s salary. Good business, I reckon.

Agree 100%

I'm kind of torn between the importance of both players and I'm probably just on the side of Louis Reed, I reckon he makes the team tick and never really seems to have a terrible game. Don't get me wrong, Payne is class but if Darcy can step up and be 3/4 of the player Payne is, we have a more than adequate replacement I reckon at a much lower price point and a higher potential ceiling I guess?

Closest I can find so far is six days in January 2019

18 JAN 2019    Tom BROADBENT    Bristol Rovers Undisclosed fee ()
24 JAN 2019    Taylor CURRAN    Southend United Undisclosed fee ()

Only thing with Payne is the McKirdy factor. Without Payne around keeping him somewhat in check will he same player on the pitch and behaviour wise. Get the impression Payne was a massively positive influence on McKirdy last season.

You little tinker! There is no way we paid cash money for Taylor Curran!!

Yeah i've mentioned this about McKirdy as well. In a lot of his Social Media posts it did come across that the players were tightly bonded (even the loanees) especially Jack and Harry who seemed to form a lovely bromance. I actually get the feeling that McKirdy may have matured a little based on last season, I reckon he probably now has the belief back in himself that he must have lost at Port Vale. If we can get the Mckirdy of last season firing again, we're in for a tasty season I reckon!

Are you doubting the ever brilliant swindon-town-fc.co.uk  ;)

FWIW we more than paid for Curran in lost points.  ::)

Looking at it we went on quite the spree that window as there is also

31 JAN 2019    Cameron MCGILP    Birmingham City Undisclosed fee ()

Not to Southend anyway!

Was it cash in brown envelopes or duffle bags?

I think with the fate Southend have suffered since then it’s safe to say dodgy stuff was probably going on there.

Believe it or not Adam Hart was the biggest influence on McKirdy last season 😳

The difference being Curran paid us (well his Dad did)

Interesting... Can you tell us any more?

What's his role at the club? He's not listed in the "Who's who" (although it does need updating)

My understanding is that he is just part of the fitness team but is close to some of the players which naturally you would be. He is part of the fitness company i believe. I have met him a fair few times and will always take people at face value and i can't speak highly enough of him, seems a nice bloke, polite etc.

Obviously has an absolutely horrific past but I really am not the person to judge someone on that, i like to judge people on the now and he seems to have turned his life around. Until theres evidence they are robbing us blind taking money and smuggling midgets to Karachi all we can do is trust who is in charge but still ask the questions

midgets to Karachi you say.

is that a Priti Patel sponsored policy

Sponsored by Michael Standing  ;)

What if there is evidence of smuggling regular sized people to Karachi, would that still be ok in your book?

Sick bastard

Whilst it’s Noble of you to stick up for the little people in this instance

Regular Sized Lives Matter, too

Careful, you know that people don’t like you stating things as facts, you might upset a few..

:eek:

:D

khaaaaaaaaaan!

he's arrived

"activated his release clause" sounds like a not inconsiderable fee.

Yeah. He wouldn’t have a release clause if it wasn’t fairly substantial.

Doing well with these budget cuts aren’t we!

Must have been paying Conroy 100k a week if we’ve slashed the budget & buying players…

When you consider we're most likely going to be playing 352, it's hard to see where Jack Payne fits in now. Especially as highest earner. We're stacked in midfield.

I'd still be over the moon if he signs mind.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remeao_Hutton

im still worried by the 3-5-2 especially at home. Changing to a back ultimately got us to the playoffs but not doing it sooner cost us the autos.

i genuinely think at league 2 level you cant start with 3cbs when the visiting team sits in with 1 up top. simply out numbered. we would always need an early goal to get the benefit of the formation and if that doesn't happen you end up with the shit we saw last season at home.

You can. But the two CBs on the right and left need to be prepared to play a bit wider in those circumstances. Defenders that have played CB and FB in there time help.

It worked fine in an attacking sense under Cooper/Williams in the playoff season. Just depends how you play it.

£50k I believe..

less worried in league 1. we arent the big fish so to speak. league 2 the vast majority would be happy to come and target a point. if our attacking options do indeed improve this season- especially from the bench then it may well be different. we shall see!

incoming

https://twitter.com/Official_STFC/status/1548024011451289606?t=FFj42jGzGvjYKO3xHLVi0Q&s=19

That’s Adeloye I reckon

The 3 today. Hutton is Hunt’s replacement. Khan is Payne’s replacement and Adeloye is taking up the vacant striker slot.

Sound about right?

confirmed Adeloye

I think that sounds a fair assumtion.

Experienced right back....check.
(sort of) Experienced attacking midfielder...check.
(sort of) Experienced striker.....check.

Now another striker needed, maybe a young loan to challenge Adeloye, similar style big, strong and quick to change it about when its not working and I think the squad will be pretty much there.

Plus any other additional loan slots for players.

No idea how we will line up as first choice at the moment though but Lindsey seems to prefer 3 CB's 2 wing backs and it appears to be a 3511 style formation. But, that could be due to that being the formation that the current players felt comfortable playing and with the new additions we may change that around when/if it doesnt work.

Squad shaping up nicely now. Maybe one more defender, anything else is a bit of a bonus from here.

Suspect we'll be looking to loan out two of Parsons/Cowmeadow/Massey/Dabre

Looks alright but I’m guessing Iandolo might be seen more as CM than a LWB

Whilst I’ve never seen him play I was under the impression Dabre was a winger. So not sure where he fits in with a 352 unless he could do a job at LWB

Also intrigued as to whether we get some loans in so we can loan some of the youngsters out…or…whether the likes of Massey, Wakeling, Darcy, Clayton have been bought here to be involved from the off.
I guess being able to make five subs makes blooding youngsters easier

I agree, Dolo is a much better midfielder than LB/LWB and should be utilised as such.

As for Dabre he has played LB/LWB/LW and has also played a couple of games on the right side too, flexible and is like a wasp, constantly running around irritating opposition, good close control and quite quick but will play anywhere he can even though hes just about 5 foot 6.

I think most would agree about Ian Dolo but whether Lindsey does, who knows. He might see him as a LWB or even a left sided CB?

Although from my own personal perceptive I’d swap Ian Dolo and Dabre on Nemos depth chart thingy

It was Lindsey that originally spotted Dolo and brought him to the club but yes it is where SL decides he is best.

But yes I would agree Swap Dabre and Dolo 100%.

Dabre and Cowmeadow are both proper wingers really right? Probably means they don't quite fit, I think they've both played wing back a bit but hard to know where they'd fit into a 3 5 2. Probably increases the chance of them going out on loan.

I get the feeling that our wing backs are going to be more wing than back.

I'd loan Massey, Parsons, Cowmeadow, Dabre and Minturn out. But only after the Paint Pot Trophy games are completed or whatever it's called now.

Parsons' next step needs to be National League. Dabre too if anybody would take him. May have to settle for upper end of NLS.

Massey and Cowmeadow to Chippenham would be a good first loan. Send them for a month, see how they get on.

Minturn I really like and may need to stay for cover unless we bring in another center back. Again a national league loan could do him wonders.

I also like look of Minturn, thought he was solid vs supermarine and didn’t look out of place in mens football, all accounts did really well in short stint at Chippenham last season. I’d keep him also and actually in an ideal world have 1 more centre half so we’ve got a back up for the 3 starters.

I imagine we'll sign the ex Swansea CB.

I assume our link with Villa has disappeared with the previous management team, wasn't it said when we played Man City that they said they would do something with us assume loaning players, not seen or heard anything

I saw nothing at all in writing or in the press confirming this from either club at any official level.

Only a few posts on social media from fans, so I doubt you can read anything into that as official.

All I heard was that Man City were very happy with how the club treated them.

I thought it came from Rob or Clem...maybe it didn't

If you can find that then please do post as I never personally saw that, I am happy to be proved wrong, but I heard nothing even close to that other than that Man City staff and players felt well treated by us.

Yeah they seemed impressed with the set up but there was nothing like that promised.

So what's everybody's thoughts on who we've replaced our outgoings with?

For me, when it's laid out like below, we still need a few high calibre players to come in.

Jojo = Brynn

Conroy = Harries

O'Brien = Minturn (If first team)

Egbo = Shade

Hunt = Hutton

Tomlinson = Devine

Cooper = Brennan

Odimayo = Clayton

Davison = Adeloye

Payne = Khan

East = Darcy

JML = Wakeling

Barry = Massey

A few unknown quantities in there. I think there may well be a few upgrades as well as a few down grades. Bit of a mixed bag. Will be interesting to see how these players compare to their predecessors in 6 weeks time. Be prepared for surprises (good and bad). My spidey sense says that Wakeling will be an upgrade on JML and Brynn may end up being an upgrade. I would like to think Darcy will be better than East too.

There's still some work to be done, either Payne stays and we look stronger than that or a direct replacement is brought in on a decent wage, probably not what we offered Payne himself you'd assume but a player expected to be integral to the squad. 

When I say direct replacement I don't necessarily mean his position or playing style, we may already have that pretty covered, more a player that will be one of the first names on the team sheet week in, week out.  What I mean is a player that would be as important to us as he would be were he to stay.

The money is obviously there for this type of player if we still have an offer on the table for Payne and you would assume work is being done to reallocate it promptly as soon as we know for sure his intentions.

Also, East may actually be an OK player but when you are forced to compare anyone to Reed in that position they're going to look mediocre as he's up there with peak Kasim for me, exceptional player for this level.

Quickly deleted but . ..

Am I missing something?

Yeah I don’t understand?

Is your mrs not into water sports

Really don't get how people don't understand this...

What is the significance of this with regards to the squad?

Let’s be real, we’ve all seen Harry stick his tongue out…

I understand the context of the photo, I just don’t understand why it’s been posted?

Jack Payne's nickname is 'squirt' and this is a subliminal way of saying he's signed a new contract?

Interesting…I didn’t realise this!

How did he get the name😀

Anyone on the short side used to get called Squirt in my younger days

Not sure it’s remotely true

I like how I tried to start a discussion comparing outgoing and incoming players and it's resorted to a discussion on squirting.

I made it up, but you knew that surely? :)

Johnny Leighfield reporting Payne will join Charlton later today

A shame, but good luck to him and at least we have certainty and can free up any budget we had set aside. He gave us one year more than he needed to, and for that I'll always hope he does well. Sure others will feel differently, but there you go.

I reckon we’ve already reallocated Payne’s salary on who we’ve signed.

Reading Baudry in t’Adver today it sounds like he’s going to be more coach than player.

Earlier than normal if anyone watches live😀

On The Sofa with Scott Lindsey

Scott joins Vic to discuss pre-season, transfers and a whole lot more.

Join us on Monday 18th July at the earlier time of 5pm!!!

LIVE on our Facebook, Twitter and You tube pages

I suspect he gave us one more year because he was on a lucrative contract. I doubt whether he could get anyone to match it.

This year though, he was presumably offered less by us, but more by Charlton. I suspect the reason it dragged on was to get the last dregs out of the previous contract. Then, to negotiate how much Charlton were willing to pay over how long.

So a reference from a reliable Ayr fan on our latest addition:

So Tomi, he's a bit high maintenance, but 14 goals in 30 games for a team at the wrong end of the table wasn't too bad. Played in a very isolated position for Ayr, not a lot of support most of the time.
Some of the Ayr fans had a go at him when he left, moaning about his workrate, but it comes across as sour grapes to my eyes.

I'm sure he'll do a job for you, but he's not as good as he thinks he is.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FX8vMt9X0AInjPE?format=jpg&name=small)

dead to me

Me too

Loves the club, allegedly offered more money and still left.

Good luck. No hard feelings from me

Nah mate,off you must fuck

Was disappointed with him in L1 but he was playing in a terrible side. Put heart and soul into his performances last year and seemed like a great character within the squad. Wish him the best in his career after Charlton, but as for them they can do one.

I actually thought Payne was passable in L1, that season was one to forget for pretty much everyone but in a season of shite, I thought Payne did ok. Last season he was class and will be hugely missed.

Deserves his crack at L1, huge shame it's not with us but I hope he does well. 

No melt down from me. Was consigned to it. Although if he'd signed for Crawley that really would have pissed me off.

Now don't sell Reed or McKirdy and start stringing some performances together.

^^^^ this

Lindsey just said Gladwin is 5 kilos lighter this season. Wow

Said he was too pedestrian last season

Does look very slim and a bit more mobile.

5kg causing him to be a bit slower last season or not (having lost/gained double that between 'seasons' when I was playing football regularly myself I am not convinced), he definitely looked sharper in the pre season matches compared to last season. Fingers crossed we get a Di Canio-era gladwin and not the slightly more stationary gladwin we've seen at times. I would say that he is the type of player who never appears to be moving at the greatest speed, which does lead to some detractors, but as an engine he is great.

I once saw a QPR fan tell a Blackburn fan on twitter that Gladwin is quality when he isn’t towing his caravan around the pitch. I don’t think I ever saw a more apt description of him.

I’m not convinced Gladwin’s mobility issues have ever been a consequence of his weight but what do I know?

Cant hurt I suppose

Being pedantic, because I know what you’re referring too, but the di canio era gladwin was treading the boards at various m4 corridor non league sides

I like that.

Marlow wasn't it? Everytime I think of Marlow I always say it in the voice of Boycie from Only Fools and Horses in my head!

:)

Prior to that the mighty AFC Wallingford, on old work colleague of mine played in the same team

Pedantically correct to pull me up on it, I don't know why I conflate Gladwin's time here with Di Canio, but I always do.

I was born in Wallingford.
Used to be some decent fishing down there 😎

Am i the only one who thinks we're in need of a left sided forward? in the 'Barry' type mould.

Squad seems very shaped up for 352 but we need to be adaptable and switch to 433.

I think we will see a loanee come in for that or possibly some faith shown in one of the newer lads alongside McKirdy and the new number 9

Surely Wakeling has done enough to expect a starting place? I know people were dismissive of his loan at Barrow, but they were struggling against relegation, and not interested in the finer details of pure football. He has shown a lot of energy and skill in the friendlies.

Won't know squad numbers until Harrogate, I guess?

Dunno, the line up for Eastleigh had some strange numbering (caught me eye hence I remembered and looked back) which seemed to go beyond what one would normally expect for a pre-season 1-11 + subs?

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FXyibz5VUAMpUGo?format=jpg&name=small)

If so there is no no.9 which hopefully bodes well for a 1st choice striker being expected to land?

I'm sure those will turn out to be the squad numbers. Too random not to be....

Edit: the lad from Ayr could get no.9...

If Wakeling is capable of playing off the left and cutting in then I'm fine with that.

I just worry that if anything happens to McKirdy, 433 becomes incredibly hard to play. Unless you play Shade or Hutton as a 'forward'.

Yeah probably too random not to be the new squad numbers, unless a few have just stuck with what they had last season as not been asked yet. Would have thought Ward would take up #1 if he was given the option.

I don't think Ward is No.1 - we will see who plays against Cardiff at the weekend

Would be a bit odd to serve Brynn out to sit on the bench

maybe we'll ease him in like we did the BFG

That's born out by the numbers allocated at Eastleigh i.e Brynn 1, Ward 12...

Yep, Benda obviously was brought in with an expectation of playing but wasn't number 1 until mid October. I expect Ward to be in goal against Harrogate, but Brynn to play more over the season.

Is Brynn the Big F%$#ing Teesider (BFT)?

Or as they are referred to in Smoggy Land.

BF T wo heads.

your not benching brynn. hes no.1.
player of the season award and team of the year. there you go

I just want whoever is in goal to take the pressure off the defence by coming and claiming all these corners and free kicks we kept conceding last season.

Brynn can do all that without jumping. fucking giant

The internet (which admittedly isn’t always reliable) suggests he’s 6ft.
Not sure that’s puts him in the giant category.

6'4"...still not giant but a good size for a keeper...

You wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of Khan by the look of him. New General?

Aguiar extends contact by 3 years

https://www.swindontownfc.co.uk/news/2022/july/new-deal-for-ricky-aguiar/

Ricky Aguiar signs a three year contract.

Don't see many of those at Town. Have we given one out since the Gareth Whalley fiasco?

Edit: I checked. Taylor fucking Curran got one.

Curran would've still been under contract last season, wouldn't he?

That would've been a bit awkward had he not left.

Wasn't he under contract to his Dad  :D :D :D :D

Hope I’m proved wrong but Ricky for me isn’t pacey enough for centre mid and he isn’t going to gain any more pace at his age. I understand he’s young but I also don’t think he’s good enough-particularly for a 3 year contract. Tag me in when I’m proved wrong 😃

You can get by ably in centre mid without being quick, if other attributes are there. Take Andrea Pirlo. Hardly a whippet. What Aguiar has is an eye for goal, particularly from range, and a range of passing. This could be his breakthrough season, although the sheer numbers in centre mid mean a Conference or other L2 loan could do him wonders to get game time.

Doughty was a bit of a slouch but I’d imagine most would sell their granny to have him playing back here

None of our midfield are overly quick, cost use hugely last year

Happy with this and relieved to see us tie down our young talent. He clearly has tremendous technical ability and potential.

The game at home against Walsall when we won 5-0 was when he shone and scored 2 fine goals the second a beauty arriving late to smash home. That game showed glimpses of what he is capable of. We are well stocked in midfield but its great to have options like R.A, especially as we cab use 5 subs this season.

I imagine he could be a good choice for free kicks if we don’t farm him out on loan. There were some clips on Twitter of a “control and shoot” drill poster a few weeks ago and his technique and power from the shot was excellent.

You know what, it’s just nice to have options for once.

China Red just told me we nearly signed Will Grigg according to Sandro. Is he pulling my leg?

Was this on the TalkSport interview that I asked someone to summarise because I was unable to listen?

No it was on the bbc wilts phone in. Caught the last 15mins where he mentioned this and also an unnamed midfielder which would have been a marquee signing but signed for a league 1 club instead

The midfielder sounds like Jack Payne, no?

I'd rather not know😀

That was my initial thought. I can’t think of any other midfielder league 1 signings that I would have been really impressed with

You can listen now on BBC Sounds...

https://twitter.com/bbcwiltssport

Just scroll down a little bit...

Sandro waffles a bit but I do like him.

Slightly disappointed that he only sees our budget as just above mid table given the reduction in debt, season ticket sales and attendances from last year. And any Twine money that we may / may not have seen yet.

Look, I know a bag of money has never won a football match and it's how you spend it that counts, but i'd of liked to have seen us in the top 6/7 of budgets at least. Maybe we still will be by the end of august.

Maybe we are top 6 or 7 in terms of budget, the number and quality of signings we've made suggest we could be. He's bound to play it down though...

He's growing on me though.

I suspect he's been downplaying the budget to agents and was trying to be very careful with his words as negotiations are ongoing.  We will be top 6ish but clearly Stockport, Crawley, Salford will be miles ahead of us.

Most interesting comment was that Reed and Williams both were on 2 year deals even though we were under embargo and could only sign 1 yr deals.

 Wonder if they were backloaded so £1500 last year and £4k this year as it was a shock to sign them given the state we were in.

Really like Sandro, ticks alot of boxes, let's hope the many new faces perform as well.

Actions speak louder than words and given that we appear to have made some pretty decent signings so far, I like him a lot more than I did. If those signing live up to their promise, I'll like him even more.

I don't know but would imagine Bradford, Mansfield & Northampton are also ahead of us.

Reece Brown fits the bill

There is a January transfer window too you know. 😉

Sandro interview summary:

Data:
- Trying to do what Brentford (and Brighton) have done with data. Data is a big part but not the only part. There is style of play, philosophy and letting people move on.

Simpson:
- Would like to own players like him and showcase him rather than get loan players.
- Only worth £600k is someone will pay it

Loans:
- Don't know whether we will use last 3 loans. Know what areas of the squad we want to improve. We will now get the best players to improve the team, whether that is perm or loan
- Sandro doesn't like loans at the top of the pitch as that is where the most money can be made from developing your own
- Would like to tap into the top teams' U23s and thinks we are an attractive proposition

Strikers:
- Stats last year showed we were poor finishing from 12 yards. We have identified someone we want, who is a fox in the box. If a really good, big number 9 became available, we might go for that too.
- Don't think we *have* to strengthen up top as we have options. But we may be a little light up top. We will only strengthen with the right player

Squad:
- Need a balance of youth and experience to get the best out of everyone

Data:
- Got into it through betting industry and working in odds compilation and risk management
- Moved into PR. Built relationships in the game
- Brentford and Brighton model well established, but lower clubs weren't using it.
- Geek at heart and set up a consultancy to help clubs he'd built up PR relationships with
- Opta is the market leader. AI is used to gather data for providers. Club have contracts with several data providers. Need a good team of analysts to interpret the data and provide it to the management team.
- STFC's use is innovative, but didn't want to reveal how or why.
- More emphasis placed on videos and scouting data plus GPS data. Harder to get with less experienced players. Its harder and takes a little longer to consider

Pitch:
- Looking at 'marginal gains'. Wind is one, so there is some merit in putting wind breakers in, but its not that simple.

Most exciting signings:
- Angus MacDonald is most exciting signing to Sandro. Ball playing defender who has an impressive record and outstanding credentials (In interview he said wanted to move closer to family although his partner is from oop north)
- Tom Clayton is a project and will take time to develop. Needs to put on muscle. A Lpool U23 captain and Scottish international
- Saidou Khan is technically gifted, but is robust and provides something different to last year's midfield, the way he drives forward. Exceptional in NL last year. Data is also very good.
- Tome Adeloye looks good. Scotland is an untapped area. Got international clearance today.

Hunt, Payne, Lyden & Budgets:
- Hunt: Offer put to him. He's a free agent now. Surprised someone hasn't snapped him up. Sure it won't be long before he's signed
- Payne: Wanted to play at the highest level possible. Made best offer we could
- 40% Figure: The figure, how its been previously been stated, was misleading. We have a competitive budget. That will be upper mid table. We had one of the lowest budgets last year. Would love more of a budget, but we can't compete financially
- Lyden: Not under contract, but we have duty of care to help him rehab. He has been great to have around. September/October time will be when the situation is reviewed.

Odds on Promotion?
- Models tell him that we around 5-1 or 6-1
- Salford, Bradford, Mansfield, Northampton, Stockport and Crawley are the teams to watch

Kit:
- Saw there were some shirts in the club shop today, but didn't know details

Manager Selection Process?
- Easiest thing would have to have brought his own man in
- Delayed decision to do due diligence
- Went through a full process when talked to candidates and sporting directors
- Made sure successful candidate was aligned to plans for style, philosophy etc
- Not many people out there who share the same values. Lindsay was the best candidate and at the same time offered continuity and stability
- There are a lot of people in football who would say anything to get a job. Said they were bought in, but demostrated quickly that they weren't

Marquee Signing:
- Angus MacDonald is one
- Protracted conversations with Sol Bamba. Got really close and agreed terms. But he had some family issued in Portugal, which ment he couldn't commit at this time.
- Got really close with some others, including Will Grigg and a midfielder who signed for a L1 club
- Marquee signings aren't necessarily whats not needed. Some who don't appear marquee can turn into them

Data Analysts:
- Brighton and Brentford staff are the best in the country

Aguilar:
- See him as the future of our midfield. Serious jump last year

U23s:
- A team costs a lot of money. We have U18 and then map out where we want them to go on loan
- Dabre and Parsons good example. More will likely go out this year

Cardiff & Worthing:
- Strong squad vs Cardiff
- Bit of a mix that will go to Worthing

Williams, Reed & McKirdy
- Said he thought they had signed 2 year deals before he arrived
- Everyone has a price.

Coaching:
- Might have something to announce about an addition to coaching staff next week

Cheers for that write up.

Yeah, thanks. I think this bit was my favourite:

“There are a lot of people in football who would say anything to get a job.” I wonder who he had in mind in particular?

He’s made a decent first impression. I like most of what he has to say, just Hope it works out on the pitch.

He’s spot on about leaving the striker positions to perm signings and not loans as that’s where the money is if we’re adhering to the new model.

It’s exactly what Peterborough do - almost all there big money transfers are them selling strikers. Certainly can’t think of any other positions where they’ve sold for big money.

Obviously we’re starting off from a lowish level but it’s about building year on year and us fans can’t start whinging when a player is sold. We’re already actually paying transfer fees now so that’s a start.

If ever the phrase speculate to accumulate is apt it’s this way of doing business.

I wonder why he would name Will Grigg and not the 'mystery' midfielder?

Yes but we need to get out of this shit league first before we start selling our best assets every year. League one is where the money is and that's where we need to be. No good making a quick 300k here and 400k there if it's going to be detrimental to our promotion chances. I understand the money would be reinvested but I think there's certain scenarios where I'd prefer to keep a player and he leaves on a free rather than cashing in. For example we could probably sell Reed for a few hundred thousand but replacing what he brings us will be extremely difficult.

Once you get to league one, good seasons from players turn the transfer fees from the low to mid hundred thousands to potentially the millions.

Peterborough made a lot of money on Ryan Bennett (centre back) but that was very much the exception not the rule, otherwise it's all central strikers or goalscoring wide forwards.

I would imagine once our internal debt has gone the shackles will be off a bit more.

I suppose we’ll find out soon enough if we fend off offers for McGirty and Reed.

I wonder how realistic new deals are for the pair of them.

McKirdy would probably value the security of a 3 year contract given he was struggling to even find a club last summer. Could work for both parties.

Reed would be more difficult.

Twitter reckons Pompey are all over signing McKirdy.

I am pretty confident neither McKirdy or Reed would sign extentions at this point.

I am preparing to lose at least 1 if not both before the end of the transfer window.

Well, our model is to buy cheap and sell high so both should be sold. Hence when I posted earlier about us fans shouldn’t whinge when it happens.

Our model also includes winning football matches though, right?

I get your point but late July - is not the time to be selling your squads top players - even with decent money on the table, it doesn’t give us enough time to sign any replacements and get them gelled into the team.

It’s counter productive at this point - we’d probably lose money on finishing position / tv revenue / ticket sales in the long term.

My interpretation is that the focus of the model is to develop young talent & then sell them on.

For core players it would be more a case of "everyone has their price" and then it would be at club discretion as & when values are met & if they want to move on of course.
McKirdy & Reed are established pros who would be difficult  to replace like for like and without setting us back.
So maybe a separate strategy in place to the "model" in their case.

The thing is we have ALWAYS been a selling club and always will be, so its not a huge change for us to accept.

We just have to ebrace the players we have when they have great seasons, of which we have had many through the years but not many last more than just a couple of seasons.

Well I absolutely would whinge if that happened because the pair are completely integral to how we play and any success we might have this season.

Once we are out of this shit league then we can faff about trying to flip players because it's a lot easier to not be one of the 4 shittest sides in the division and slowly progress up the table than it is to be one of the best 3 teams in league 2.

That's very true re selling club.

The days of a a player sticking around for more than 2 or 3 years on average at our level are long gone.

Would be a minor miracle for a player to reach 200 first team apps for Town these days.

#CherishEllis  !!

As Sandra said last night, 90 of the 92 Clubs are selling Clubs to a greater or lesser degree.

Re. McKirdy and Reed, all we can do is wait and see. Maybe, just maybe the current management regime will take a different view to those that have gone before and will see the longer term benefits in not cashing in now.

Mckirdy is an absolute talisman for the club. I'd definitely be looking to get him tied up to a much longer contract, with a sell on clause so the opportunity isn't closed for Harry to get a big move if he repeats what he did last season. If Harry's head is moved by Pompey's interest then we are in trouble anyway as repeatedly rejecting offers could see Harry throw in a transfer request.

There are many factors to this, I absolutely want to keep Harry, but do we risk keeping him this season and going for a free the end of this? Or of course we get promoted and he signs a new deal with us. Risk v reward.

Strategy for McKirdy & Reed, albeit to my limited mind, has to be take the risk on promotion this season & then offer much improved terms for L1.

Swindon Town head coach Scott Lindsey confirms Angus MacDonald will be the club's captain in the 2022-23 campaign. Ben Gladwin will be vice-captain. #STFC

I would sell Mckirdy tomorrow if a decent enough offer came in, and use the money to go get Simpson.  Reed would be the one that I would go all out to keep, get him on an improved longer contract ASAP.

Many will disagree I know, but we should sell while his stock is hot, it might not be this high again.

I've given this some thought and yeah...I make you right....

McKirdy having another season like last is, imo, unlikely.

But if he can contribute 15 goals that's still a very valuable player.

need to add to him, not replaced him.

but 1 year on his contract - money talks.

I have no reason to think it but i just have a real bad feeling about McKirdy, i said even last season that i just think it is going to end in tears with him throwing the toys out the pram

If we don’t start well it will get messy with him I reckon, he doesn’t take losing well. He was in a strop at half time against Supermarine as we were so poor.

I think teams might take a watching brief on McKirdy given his history prior to us to see if he is a one season wonder.

Good start and there could be offers before the end of August. Slow start and they might see what happens by Christmas.

I just think he hates pre-season, as someone else said earlier/somewhere else. Even his IG he said thank fuck pre season is over.

I do worry we're just one week away from it kicking off but I do hope we're making a fuss abkut nothing.

…I mean I’d be trying to get Simpson in anyway regardless of McKirdy.

Whilst I take your point - I don’t think many clubs are lining up to pay good money for a player with one good season under his belt particularly considering his previous season were not only poor from a footballing perspective but his attitude / character was questions a lot.

Like I could see a club coming in with a lower ball offer in January when he’s in his last 6 months and we as a club are possible at the ‘get money now or nothing in 6 months’ point…

…but…right now just don’t think the interest is there

I’m at peace to just try and enjoy Harry while he’s here.

Excellent! Championship money more than L1 money.

Same as most of you - I enjoyed watching McKirdy play. He is exciting and something different on the pitch. (I'm an old fuddy-duddy and don't care much for his 'style' and antics off the pitch). As a football fan, I want to see exciting players like him.

However, I think that conditions were right last year, he was playing with his mates, he was given freedom and license to express himself. Will that happen again? Probably not.

So, if a decent offer was on the table, yes, I would take it.

But, if we are going to be 'treated' to the Cardiff first half level of performance every week, we'd better cash in on the likes of McKirdy, Williams and Reed to get some different kinds of player that will keep us in the league, rather than enable us to challenge for promotion!

I'd be gutted if we sold McKirdy. I find it a bit puzzling that there seems to be a consensus that Harry is a "one season wonder" for us while assuming that Simpson isn't. McKirdy is a better footballer in my opinion. Maybe wrong but I'm happy to give McKirdy another shot. I'm not sure why he wouldn't be allowed to play with the same freedom,Lindsey saw the benefits of that.

Mostly agree,

I think the ‘one season wonder’ comes from the fact last season was his only good season.
His previous indicates that last season was an exception.

We’ll see - this season will be telling whether he’s just clicked or had a good season

Simpson=19 year old at the time, 1 half season in league football, looked good in 90% of games and at times looked great.

McKirdy=25 years old, 6 seasons in league football but only 1 good season, at times looked very good at times looked disinterested, hence the 1 season wonder label.

It already has and that is a fact. He has been threatening to break his contract by going on holiday during pre season. I hear he is petulant.

The Simpson obsession from so many of our fans is utterly bizarre imo.

Are we getting Simpson back? why not sell X and buy Simpson? SIMPSON SIMPSON SIMPSON.

I must be remembering a very different Tyreece Simpson to the rest of you. The way some fans go on it's like he was a Charlie Austin / Eoin Doyle.

I don't know if anybody's noticed but we've already replaced Simpson with Adeloye. Who brings a similar goal ratio from last season whilst playing in a side that almost got relegated and I'm also guessing they didn't have the quality of a Jack Payne, Jonny Williams And harry McKirdy supplying him.

If we're going to get a striker now, I want somebody who's more of a fox in the box to compliment the other skillset that McKirdy, Adeloye and Wakeling bring.

If you think Simpson looked good in 90% of games you've clearly been more effected by Josh Davison than I thought.

IMHO it is hard to disagree with what you’re saying and implying. Simpson was an enigma last season. Indeed the whole season seems so surreal. Who would have guessed looking forward twelve months that we would have had the season we did with the players we did?

So back the Simpson and by default McKirdy. You couldn’t get two opposite and different players if you tried. One untried brick shithouse of a player who we all fell in love with and one scrawny little shithouse of a player who we all fell in love with. One recalled by his parent club just as he hit real form in a team just getting into some real form. The other stayed the course and got better as the season progressed.

So do we sell McKirdy (if a decent offer materialises) to buy Simpson? No. A club like ours with ambition would hang onto the skinny one and buy the big fucker anyway. Now, that assumes we want Simpson in the squad to play alongside McKirdy in the first place. For all we know we may well be talking to the tractor boys and have given the skinny one the nod he’s coming back to help gain auto and by the way you’re going nowhere until the end of the season.

My gut is that Simpson is not coming back and the skinny one is staying. After all if the skinny one sets off at a storm then that’s to our benefit because we want that, so why sell? Equally who is to say that McKirdy does not have break clauses in his contract to leave and or we have not given him the assurance of a big bonus to stay until the end and or a promotion bonus and improved contract for life on L1?

All fun and games. I do get the Simpson, Simpson, Simpson love fest but I don’t share it.

Simpson improved a lot. We would be buying that potential, but it's not guaranteed.

But it's moot. Unless Ipswich make a massive u-turn is not happening. And if they do, surely there will be other interest.

I liked the way Simpson could score a goal out of nothing and would welcome him back but don't think it will happen.

Interest? Interesting. I have my thoughts along that line, so where do you see said interest coming from?

there's always the chance somebody like a Brighton or Brentford might buy him and loan him out for several years.

Even if he does cost 600k, it's relatively risk free for a premier league team.

Just before the transfer window slams shut, Ipswich will realise they are going to get nowhere near what they want for him and we will do a deal with them.

My own personal opinion on the player...not convinced at this point.

600k....not a chance they get remotely close to that.

To update, Harry deleted his comment back to the Luton fan.

Wise move.

Pretty sure nobody has a Simpson obsession only those who don't like him, you seem to have a Davison obsession it seems.

Simpson is a good talent who loved it at the club and played well for us, no obsession at all, there is no way he will come back and we cant afford him anyway, just stating facts as I see them, of which you blatantly dont agree but its called an opinion.

Would I like to see Simpson back, of course, will we see him back? no, I have moved on, I was answering a question not putting over anything saying I would break the bank for him etc.

FWIW I rate Simpson higher than Davison, thats it, thats my opinion which some don't agree with but its mine, I accept other people opininions I suggest you do too it makes life much easier.

No obsession from me, if there is a similar type/age player then open to that as well.  Simpson fits with the model that we are trying to follow, young potential that will get better and showed that in his time here that he is able to progress.

The only reason I named Simpson is because he is a known quantity with me, I have seen him play and I saw him improve - I am not a scout so am not party to other players that are out there and available.  In my opinion, the type of player that I saw in Simpson is exactly the type of player that can come in, bring lots of benefit, continue to improve, and will interest Championship clubs should that improvement continue at the rate that we saw in the few months he was with us.

Feel free to swap Simpson with other names of a similar ilk in your vast knowledge of under 23 strikers out there..

Spot on.

Peterborough we’re interested in signing him, but it doesn’t fit their model to sign someone for that sort of money. If he were more realistically priced I’m sure they would be interested as they could see a decent potential profit

Anyone know if Simpson has been involved the Ipswhich pre-season friendlies.

Look, it's quite common knowledge that our fan base has a thing for ex players and I'm not specifically just talking about members here, other social platforms too. My comment re Simpson is reference to the fans who keep banging the drum about bringing him back as if he was some sort of saviour. He showed promise and yes he was improving, I don't take that away from him, he will go on to have a good career but i'm judging him off what i've seen so far and he was very hit and miss. I watched every game last season, as i'm sure you did too and to say he was good in 90% of games, I have to strongly disagree and so would the people who sit around me in home games.

I'm not sure how to take your last sentence. Just because I find some fans opinions baffling doesn't mean they aren't entitled to them. There's nothing sinister going on here, I put my case forward and you do yours. I enjoy it. It's all opinions at the end of the day. I will come on quite strong when i truly believe something. Just the way I am.

I’m thinking league status rather than club. I can see L2 being interested and a smattering of L1 clubs, championship? Not really, at least not yet. If he is good enough for the championship which I have my doubts a club like Ipswich, massive in L1 should likely as not want to keep him to play this season and hopefully offer a new contract if they get promoted back to the championship for next season. However, if they are openly looking to offload him for whatever money they can get then to me that speaks volumes as to his real worth and league playing status. £600k seems to me a cover charge for his wages and development.

Yeah, Simpson wasn’t good for 90% of our games last season. He definitely lost form after January…


Simpson is a raw, young player with great physical attributes, good footballing attributes and a decent ceiling for improvement.
Exactly the type of player we should be looking to sign, get two season of 20+ goals out of then sell on for a decent profit.

I think the reason he gets mentioned a lot on here is because we know of him. They are probably loads of players like him that would fit out model just we have no idea about 19 year old strikers playing in Preston North End’s (or any other club obvs) U23s

Maybe loan him to a league one club like Cambridge, Lincoln, Franchise or Lincoln.

mainly based off media reports other teams were interested until a 600k price was slapped on him.

He wasn’t with us after January

Exactly :)

^^^

Just looked in on the Charlton forum. They’ve quoted ‘Swindon Twitter’ - whatever that is - that McKirdy is available for £150,000.

Presume that’s just some bloke who posts drivel on Twitter giving his opinion that £150,000 is his worth.

They pick up on it and requoted it as gospel.

I’m all for letting him go, but £150,000 is a fucking joke. A 24 goal striker, even in L2, is worth double that at least.

500k or cya later

Absolutely no chance you get 500k for a player with 1 year on his contract in league 2

I doubt if anyone on the Charlton forum could afford him anyway, tbh.

It's cya later than i guess.

I'd rather keep our talisman here, risk losing him on a free and try and get promoted than take 200-300k and potentially bring somebody in who might not know where the goal is.

Undisclosed fee 150,000+ would be about right now but much less In January

Charlton got £75,000 for Davison, ffs

Not that simple though i suppose, you add to the fact you could have a player offerring fuckall because we won't sell him and you can then be cutting of your nose to spite your face

Under 23

So?

3 years younger with more time to progress

I know it's easy to have a pop at Davison but to be fair he is 4 years younger and has just as good as goal to game ratio as McKirdy. I can see why a league 2 club would pay money for him

150k way too light.

But if he wanted to go, and with 1 year left, I wouldn't be surprised.

bit of a worry really. hypothetically

Come off it. Davison with 9 goals, McKirdy with 24.

Plus he would be in demand. Davison is dropping down the League, McKirdy is going up.

To be fair Aud it's only £75k which you can barely but a new BMW for that amount. If he scores 15-20 goals in a season that's money well spent.

Davison is worth £75,000, no doubt. But I’m saying if he’s worth that then McKirdy is worth way more.

Harry McKirdy scored 8 goals in total four different clubs at the same stage of his career as Davison. I am saying there is 2 different scenarios as to their values. McKirdy will not be in demand at 500k is my point, 150k then yes definetly would be  

Most definitely but only having one year left on his contract may limit the asking price or put clubs off until January.

But McKirdy has done it. Davison hasn’t but may do it. Big difference.

He’s got to be worth £300,000 comparing the 2.

Davison only had 1 year

Wouldn't disagree with that

Just wondering why a hatful of league one clubs haven't tried to buy him as goal scorers at any level are sought after.

Maybe our valuation hasn’t been met. Maybe it’s that high on purpose. If McKirdy stays and sees out his contract he’ll need to reproduce last season, or at least get somewhere near, if he’s to get his big(ger) move.

Best scenario, is he stays, we go up, he signs on again.

Suppose when you have the reputation he has alongside only having one successful season, clubs aren’t willing to take the risk until he backs it up with another good season. A high-maintenance player for someone who could easily flop in the division above - especially under the wrong manager.

Spot on with your comments. He's had a few clubs and it never worked out until last season. There's no doubting his talent but there's also a doubt with his off the field antics which some managers wouldn't let him get away with. The problem we could have now is his agent gets into his head and he starts to lose interest in playing for us.

Spot on, many will want to see if he can be managed by someone else and recreate his form, unless it is Charlton of course

Put the glass down Jim 😉

If Ipswich value Simpson with a £600k tag for a short spell with us and not much more. Against a diminutive skinny whippet with a shit hairstyle (ok the Barnet has been fixed now) who has a few seasons under his belt and 24 goals then £150k is way to low, maybe £400k plus might be fairer valuation.

I can't see anything over £200k LL with only one year left on his contract plus some managers might not want his type of personality but hey I may be wrong.

I do always find these discussions fascinating and probably why most clubs just ignore fans.

As I may be too ♥️💋

 :nerner:

Some Charlton fans expect McKirdy to be announced today!

I suspect if they are genuinely interested, mckirdy would kick the door down to rejoin Garner and Payne at Charlton.

Let’s hope the rumoured striker isn’t him or this could get very messy.

Had a quick look around their forum and twitter and couldn’t see anything. Not doubting you.

McKirdy in the current climate is worth about £250k to £300k I would think with add ons for goal targets and promotion etc probably rising to £500k.

If we get that then I think we will be doing ok, Newport lost the league top scorer telford to Creepy for free as they let his contract run out, at least we will get a fee when he does move on, which I feel could be before the end of this transfer window, just my thoughts not based on anything.

Nah, because a few on here said Garner is not raiding his former club.

I'm broadly aligned with this JJ. I think we'll be lucky to get too much up front and will be recompensed via future performance of Harry. Probably structured something like.

Up front fee: 200-275k
Fee after 50 appearances: 50k
Fee after 100 appearances: 50k
Fee if scores 20+ league goals in a season: 50k
Fee if Charlton win promotion: 100k
Sell on clause : 25% of profit

Something like that.

[captain obvious]

I can see commercial sense in letting him go if he wants out (and, obviously valuation, met). It becomes kind of inevitable.

The issue is replacing him. We'd only have 5 1/2 weeks to get 2 quality strikers in. Though presumably 1 is already being worked on.

[/captain obvious]
-----
I'd be very disappointing to lose him

I'm reasonably confident that the club has been working behind the scenes to cover the eventuality of McKirdy being sold. Sandro and Scott did say that Harry and Reedy have a price and certainly the noises seem to be getting louder that Harry is in demand. The timing is not good at all for our talisman going and if his replacement is a loan striker from a Premier league club, that's not really going to cut the mustard with the majority of the fanbase. In fact anybody to replace Harry is going to be very difficult, a hugely popular character on and off the pitch.

I honestly don’t think he will go, I think most of the talk about him going seems to be from our own fans worrying about it.
I don’t think anyone will come in and pay £300k + on a player who’s had one good season and is known to be a bit of a pain in the ass.

With regards to his pre season form, he was pretty average last pre season, and hardly set the world alight in his first 7/8 league games either. In fact, wasn’t he in and out of the team to begin with?

He's looked fatigued in pre-season ;)

Yeah, I don’t think anyone is taking the gamble on a player with one good season at 25 with a reputation / attitude that precedes him.

Now, if he carries on his good form come January when he’s kept form for a season and a half and only has 6 months left on his contract and because almost valueless to us - then I can see other clubs taking the gamble.

I mean, we didn’t even get bids for Charlie Austin after one good season (in league one) but half a season of continued form later, he was gone…

the 'news ' could just be this

https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/garner-says-addicks-will-work-within-budget-constraints-when-asked-if-aneke-knock-highlights-need-for-extra-striker/

Have the squad numbers been released yet?

Tried looking online and the squad page on the official site is all over the place

They are as there were for the Cardiff game.

OK, Cheers

Looks unlikely Harry will be off to Charlton anyway. Garner is going down the Swindon route of signing a young loanee striker and hoping for the best.

They’re not a happy bunch.

Mad if the Charlton fans can't see that he has been bought in to pretty much do what he did here just in a higher league

Echoing DiV and Quagmire here, I don't think charloon would stump the cash for a player who it is yet to be proven was not just a one season wonder (I don't think he is btw, but more sceptical peopl might), with a year left on his contract, when they could wait until Jan and pick him up with him having proven whether or not he's truly found his goalscoring boots, and only with 6 months left on contract.

I do hope we're at least starting talks with him about renewing, if for no other reason ust so we get top dollar for him if someone comes in. Players have been bought for much more money based off much worse seasons!

https://twitter.com/Official_STFC/status/1552252738146340864

Squad numbers out. Won't tell us too much, but sort of interesting that Clayton has 4 (the traditional DM number) and Reed has moved to the 5 shirt. Also Adeloye being given the 9 means there's no obviously left open shirt.

Interesting that SL sees Clayton as a centreback.
Just needs more muscle and that’s what the S&C are working on.
He also believes Reed is the tough tackling all rounder holding midfielder when someone suggested Kahn could be that.
The defence makes more sense to me now.
I thought the BBC phone in was one of the better ones for a while.

yeah it wasn't bad.

SL also acknowledged we are short of a striker, and while we are working on it we've not approached one yet

He comes across really well, describes them as strikers rather than buying another ‘forward’ player.  Hope he does well and it’s not a huge car crash

yeah, I don't see why anyone would go into the season wishing anything but that

we just don't know

Lindsey interview:

Harrogate:
- Iandalo wont travel to Harrogate - Had a negative response to training. Has a quad injury. Not the same injury as at PV last season.
- Known Iandolo since youth team coaching. Spotted him at a young age and was responsible for getting him a contract
- See him as athletic and versatile. Can play him in different positions
- Devine got through training so will be involved
- Will train locally, then travel, do a stretching session before eating
- Decided upon his team earlier this week. Keeper has been the hardest decision to make. But, this doesn't mean that the person picked is number 1 and the other is number 2. There are two number 1s and they need to fight for the jersey

Striker:
- Tyreece Simpson: Thought he was outstanding for us. Ipswich put a big price tag on him and want to loan him to a L1 club. Would love to have him back, but don't think it would happen. Things might change late in the window if Ipswich can't sort something out.
- We need another striker in. We have earmarked some, but haven't made an approach

Squad:
- We have assembled more depth in the squad than last year
- Will need to send some players out on loan to get game time

Combating the Press:
- Like when teams do that as it gives us the opportunity to take several players out of the game
- Won't apologise for playing long balls when that happens
- Happy with players that he has signed
- A lot of due diligence has been done
- Its a really competitive and hard working team that has lots of depth
- The older players (from last year) have welcomed the new people
- Saidou Khan: Watched him at close quarters. Within the first 30 mins of seeing him, Lindsey was really impressed. He reached out to someone he respects who had worked with him, who gave him a glowing reference. Normally Lindsey takes time to reach a decision, but made a quick one with Khan, as he thinks he is going to be a very good player for Swindon
- Thinks that we have enough experience in the squad and thinks we have enough to be challenging near the top. Its going to be a strong league, but we are going to be very competitive.
- Will start to look to tie down players who are in last year of contract
- Wakeling: Very aggressive Has a hammer left foot. Will score goals from nowhere. Can finish
- McKirdy: Likes to play wide, link play, score at front post
- Adeloye: Physicality, link play, run in behind and win headers. Should do well as (data wise) Ayr are playing at the same level as us in L2.
- Massey: Very quick. Finishes well. Want to progress him.
- Clayton: Very pleased to get that one over the line. He will be a top, top centre half. Need to put muscle and weight onto him. Strength and conditioning team have got him to put 2Kg of weight on him already.

Set pieces:
- Have been working on a few things on the training ground. We weren't good last year and only scored 1 goal all season from them
- Not a massive fan of the long throw, but it is another option.

Gladwin & Williams:
- Yes they can play in the same midfield together
- Gladwin was too pedestrian last year. He can drive with the ball and has done that well in pre-season

Aguilar:
- Played in number 8 position. But can play deeper in the Reed position spraying the ball about
- Think he's got a bright future

Papa John:
- Will take it serious as the prize money is good
- But will give an opportunity to give other players game time.

Management Style?
- Like to be honest with the players. Will tell players why they have been left out
- Hope that breads respect from the players. Remembers Tony Pullis doing the same to him, which motivated him as a player
- Discipline: We have a good Captain and Vice Captain plus Baudry. They will help provide discipline in the squad.

Youth:
- Parsons: Had a decent preseason. There are players in front of him. He is one that might need to go out on loan
- Doesn't want a team of journeymen. Wants young players to come in and grab their shirt

Loans:
- Brynn: Been at Boro. Good keeper. Good with his feet. Made more saves than Ward in preseason. Will get some game time for sure
- Brennan: Strong as an ox and hard as nails. Added aggression in the back line
- We have a lot of good people working behind the scenes. We are building relationships all the time

Sandro Relationship:
- Nice guy and good to work with
- Wants to make sure everything is done right. He is very methodical. Lindsey has been impressed with him

Open training session Monday 1100:
- Recovery session next week
- Passing attacks past mannequins. No contact
- Pictures and autographs after the session
- Want to build relationship with the supporters and fanbase

Harrogate:
- Defensive structure, but counter attack quickly

Lindsey as a person:
- Father played with Keegan and Clements at Scunthorpe
- Uncle played for Scunthorpe too
- Favourite player Kenny Dalglish
- Hardest opponent: Cowley brothers. Never beat them
- Father biggest influence in career
- If not in football, he would be a landlord in a pub
- Hobbies: Paddle tennis
- Car: Just bought a Jaguar
- Fav TV: Only Fools and Horses
- Fav food: Chinese food

Holding Midfielder:
- Louis Reed is one. Can't play in a 2 man pivot.
- Saidou Khan is more of a number 8 driving forward. Strong boy who will make tackles

Recruitment:
- Data: Lots of things that are thrown into an algorithm. This will throw up names. They will then be scouted and watch. Finally checked for character
- Chorley did well for us last year but has moved on
- Lindsey has the final say. He will look at the player and make the final decision. If he doesn't fancy them they are scrubbed from the list

Fitness Work:
- Strength & conditioning team are first class
- We have 25 players with only 1 niggle.
- Have to be clear with players. They have clarity and all the players know their jobs
- Talked about 4 stages of play.

And people think he was the cheap option!  :D

That's what I thought!

Gladwin on the other hand will be driving with the ball.

Let's hope so.

Thanks NMH for the write up. Much appreciated.

Does it sound as if Lindsey is waiting for the possibility of Simpson or will go for someone else in the meantime?

Be a kick in the nuts if becomes available for us and we’ve already signed someone.

Will also be a kick in the nuts if we hold out for him and end up with a similar situation to last year

I don't think you can wait. it's too risky.

In the interviews I have listened to with Sandro and Lindsey, they have both said the same:

- Simpson is the type of player that they would like to sign and improve. Ipswich have put an overinflated price tag on him - We can't afford it.

- Ipswich have also said that they would like to loan him to a L1 club to further his development/value. So, we don't have that option.

HOWEVER:
- Lindsey said that things might change at the end of the window. If Ipswich couldn't sell him for that price or if they couldn't loan him to a L1 club then we *might* be able to do business.

- Sandro said that we were primarily looking for a number 10, but if a number 9 became available at the end of the window we would take one too.


 

I was half expecting the new coach to be announced today following what SL said last night.

Great write up NMH, cheers.

All bodes well for upcoming season, looking forward to Khan and Gladwin playing together, have a feeling they could be pretty excellent as a pairing.

Nice to hear they're looking to tie down those last year of contract players too, reading between the lines that means McKirdy to me.

Apparently we turned down £350,000 from Luton for McKirdy. Probably bollocks, but I’d snap their hand off.

I would if we spent the money on a quality replacement!

I just get the feeling we aren’t going to get the McKirdy of last season.

You get the feeling he won't perform without the quality of Payne around him.

I have said this for a while, always had a feeling it's going to end messy. Heard a random rumor today that he was telling people on a golf course he is joining Cardiff

One season wonder who peaked last season.
That penalty against Port Vale was basically the end.

Biggest question is if it doesn’t go for him will he become a disruptive influence? We’ve seen what happens first hand when there’s a fractured changing room when Danny Wilson was in charge.

On the flip side the optics of selling him and the pressure that it would then put onto Lindsey and the owners doesn’t bear thinking about.

Five league games before the transfer window shuts, It should be pretty obvious by then where his head is at. However I really wouldn’t be surprised if he leaves this month.

It does neither party any favours. If he fails to reproduce anywhere near last season’s form his value plummets, equally his chance of a big money move plummets also.

Ditto Reed.

Agreed. It all seemed to click for him last year but it could go horribly wrong.

Amazing foresight!

This has appeared on the TWTD Ipswich site. God knows what it means. A random twitter account says McKirdy and Ward have put in transfer requests - the latter because of clashes with Jamie Day. McKirdy + cash for Simpson.

https://www.twtd.co.uk/forum/539174/harry-mckirdy/#26

https://www.twtd.co.uk/ipswich-town-squad/7630/harry-mckirdy

suppose if he wants to go we'd have little choice

assume Simpson plus cash.

not that this is anything but a rumour

Yeah, got it the wrong way round. Simpson+ cash for McKirdy.

The tweet about Mckirdy and Ward came from a twitter account with no followers and about as many following.

Will see what happens but, you know….

All unfounded talk at this stage obviously but...

Might be OK with that, a McKirdy style player might be easier to find from the loan market than a Simpson, yes we got Simpson on loan last term but I don't think he's as common as a Louis Barry for example.  I'm positive he's got a higher ceiling as far as profit goes than Harry does but we might be slightly worse off as far as net goals for go if this were to happen.

All told if this is how we lose McKirdy then I think it could be the best way for it to happen.  He'll always be remembered fondly this way.  I've absolutely loved Harry as a fan and would love to continue to but I don't see a world where Simpson and McKirdy can both exist in our squad where we are now.

assume you mean financially can't both exist.

clearly could on the pitch!

If we ended the window without McKirdy but with Simpson, I'd be incredibly disappointed.

If we ended up without McKirdy but with Simpson and another i'd be happy. All opinions though isn't it and very unlikely 

Jumping 2 divisions, with his playing record? Ok, we lauded over him last season as either our messiah or talisman, maybe both but as has been pointed out one season out of six is it?

The figure Aud suggested of £350k from Luton (if true) clearly was not enough to trigger a selling clause or if none exists not enough to tempt the club to unload him and bank the cash.

We know there is Circa £700k sloshing around in the system for the Twine sell on, which I’d be fairly confidant was not added into the playing budget, another, say £500k for McKirdy would also likely not be included into the playing budget if he went somewhere but his wages would, so in effect one out, one in plus the striker were looking at and we are trust me on that. There probably are a number of target options for this position we’ve not made a move on because Sandro has them identified but they’re being watched down to the colour of their boot laces right up until the deadline day to get as much data and in person match day contact on them before plunging in, which don’t be surprised involves a transfer fee. Could easily be a loan but we seem to not be shy about opening the piggy bank ATM.

I sort of hope this is all bogus.....

If McKirdy wants out I fear that he will fall out with the club. I don't think he'll recreate last season for Swindon again, so, much as I'd hate to lose an exciting player, I'd understand if we cash in. But would Simpson want to come here if all the players he played with last year have gone?

I feel sorry for Ward. I don't understand why Brynn was brought in tbh. I think Ward is a good keeper at this level and imho he should have started at the weekend.

Me too.

unless we ended up with cash that would also be invested into a McKirdy replacement. Trouble is, tick, tock

I agree, but I feel we are more likely to end up with neither IMO.

Yes, from a financial point of view, would love to see it on the pitch again.

As a comparison, Luton have just signed John McAtee from Grimsby for £500,000. He scored 16 goals in the Conference last season- the only decent season he’s had after knocking around non league for years -  he’s in the final year of his contract and is 23 years old.

Now tell me we shouldn’t be looking for similar for McKirdy.

ONE MIRRION DORRA

The fee is undisclosed and said to be a lot lower up front @ £150k up front plus add ons, also Luton have loaned him back to Grimsby for the season so they are still after a striker so don't rule out McKirdy still being a target for them.

He is also 2 years younger than McKirdy.

It won't be £500k. Closer to 250k with add-ons apparently.

Then even the up front fee should be double. McAtee has only played 46 games in league football, ffs. Age difference should make little difference - 23 or 25.

What do you mean double? You mean double the 150k up-front fee for McAtee?

I think 300k plus add-ons would be a fair asking price for Harry. Whether anyone will pay that remains to be seen!

Yep

but how do we get a decent replacement this late. again.

how much of the 300k would we invest

zero...loan striker.

Every club in L1 and L2 are looking for a striker that can score goals, no club is willing to sell for cheap so we will be looking non league or loan, thats the way it is at the moment.

Many clubs, even in L2, can easily afford a £300k up front fee if those sort of striker are out there, Crawley, Stockport, Bradford, ourselves, Orient, Crewe, Doncaster and Mansfield could probably all afford a fee of that size so the competition would be huge if that sort of player were available.

I think a loan player will be nearer the mark at this stage of the season.

https://www.swindontownfc.co.uk/news/2022/august/new-deal-for-ellis/?fbclid=IwAR3PwW5JHDsH620qEziUQNitYKoV2Mj5dxYWLpgWzKf4Bfovz0bEaCTuLM4

Two more years for Ellis - would leave him one year short of a testimonial, which must have not happened for a while!

meh

I don't wish him ill. He had a good season last season, but aside from that he's had injuries disrupting his career throughout

he only signed a new one in November
https://www.swindontownfc.co.uk/news/2021/november/iandolo-pens-new-town-deal/

I like Ellis.

I do wonder if we're holding him back a bit actually. I know he's had injuries, but if he played every week in midfield somewhere he might fulfil his potential.

At the moment, he's viewed here as a utility player rather than an essential one.

Last season he played more minutes than anyone else, and had more starts than he'd had in the previous six seasons combined. It's quite hard to shed the "pre-2021" Iandolo from our views of him, but I'd be surprised if he wasn't our first choice left wing back for much of this season. I know people want him to play CM, but the way our squad is built I can't see that being the main place he pitches up.

Always had a lot of time for Iandolo although still not certain where his best position is and that seems to be the opinion of the different managers he has played under. Never going to be a firm fans favourite but is the type of player that every club needs in that he can be slotted into various positions (apart from 'keeper and centre half) and will not look too out of place.

New loan left back signed. Announced tomorrow (Sandro)

Iandolo out for a couple of months.

Iandolo is a great player and a great servant to the club. Has played in some really awful sides and still fucking tried even when other players had given up.

Not since the Thompson not-twins have we had such a good servant.

no doubting his commitment to the club.

He's played <20 have a season on average though. Not his fault, but value for money?

As long as nobody tried to play him as orthodox left back he's useful. When fit.

Season long loan

When was the last testimonial match? I remember watching Swindon draw 2-2 with Hibernian in August 1990, that was a John Trollope testimonial. I can't think of any after that but happy to be provide wrong.

Digby vs Bristol City?

Steve White had one just before the Prem season. My first ever game. Fjortoft scored I think

Digbys was vs Man Utd. I remember going and excitedly knowing none of the players

I remember that game. Philippe Cuervo was on trial along with some geezer called Bernard Tchoutang

Christian Roberts had a testimonial, I'm sure of it.

https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/sport/4234764.zola-turns-on-style-in-fitting-send-off-for-roberts/

Can't believe i forgot all of those.

Remember Tchoutang quality player, didn't quite know what he would do, beat 6 players or trip over the ball

But he got the crowd on their feet

Believe we offered him contract but he wanted to much loney...

Fucking loney grabber..

Have been quite pessimistic on here recently about budget for this season and quality we’ve brought in. But one positive thing is the players do really seem to be getting on really well on social media etc, not the most important thing but can at least grind some results out with some character and togetherness in the squad (as last Saturday showed).

This is up there with 3 draws is a win  :D

It's good though, means they can have a nice gathering when we're relegated to the national league!

***This is a horrible joke***

I for one am slightly encouraged by this as there had been some whisperings on here that bonds and team spirit between the players weren’t quite what they were last year.

There were clear divisions between new and old players according to someone on here yesterday, a case of people seeing what they want to again probably.

Have seen Williams and Darcy integrating, McKirdy with Hutton etc. Doesn't look that bad, but I may not be as ITK as some clearly!

I'm with you, I was questioning the poster who said there were clear divisions as I've seen absolutely nothing to suggest that myself.

It was clear from socials that the team spirit was great last season with a very new squad, just can't see that the players already involved wouldn't integrate the newcomers.

I'm Total Klutz?

First post updated. Squad is pretty huge now - 28 not including Lyden, Parsons (loan) or any of the youth teamers. Need a few loan outs.

Iandolo

National League and below can carry on loaning players with no deadline so I expect a couple fo go out on loan.

minturn -> Gloucester City (loan, obvs)

Not in their match day squad today must have been completed too late, he looked decent in DMC on Tuesday TBF.

Might go and watch a few games when I get a chance as nearby. Strange choice though, they play on a 4G pitch so not where I’d personally want to send players on loan but guessing we have limited options.

We have a "good working relationship" with Gloucester City so expect more loans in the future to them.

Where do Gloucester play these days.

Back at Hempsted at Meadow Park. It’s a good 4G pitch but still completely different to grass.

Cheers theskson. I haven't followed them since they left their old ground but vaguely remember them playing at Cirencester for a while.

They are back at there old ground now but very little remains, they’ve built a stadium out of shipping containers.

was mentioned by Sandro. Don't know if it's actually gone through yet

I’ve seen a few people on here and on Twitter saying that this squad is good enough to be challenging for promotion, which I’ve taken to mean is on par with last year. Is that true?? Comparing with the XI involved in the run in last year….

Goalkeeper - Bryn is better than Ward. We’re stronger here

Centre Back - not sure i see much to suggest McDonald is an improvement on what we had last year, albeit I like the look of Clayton. Will call this a draw

Full Back - Egbo was better than hutton. FBT is essentially a left footed Rob Hunt. We were better here last year

Midfield - Khan isn’t anywhere near as good as Payne. None of the carryovers look to have improved much. We were better here last year

Forwards - shade isn’t as good as McKirdy. Wakeling isn’t as effective as Davison in the middle, but he contributes more than Barry did. Adeloye doesn’t exist. We were better last year - even if jephcot performs to expectations I’ve not seen much of the wider cast to suggest an overall improvement on 21/22

Based on first impressions, not writing players off and think they can improve blah blah blah before anyone gets too annoyed.

If on paper player for player we're not as good as last season then our results and league position are correct.

We've not seen all the new guys play yet so think it's too early to judge.   We certainly look weaker up top but that's inevitable when you lose 90% of your goals from the previous season.

Our performances on the whole have been poor.  We look very easy to play against, create little and give the ball away in our own half far too often.   Our league position reflects that and is roughly where I think we'll end up with the current management team. 

Our first 11 is way weaker than last season.

Yup. A bit of bullshit bongo here but we’ve done the opposite to last season and gone for quantity over quality. As the say, sometimes less is more.

I really don't think our starting 11 is horrific and to be fair like everyone has pointed out, a better manager wins the last 2 games and ironically would be on more points than this stage last year.

I think a more tactically aware manager gets more out of this team. I stupidly rewatched the game this morning as thought i was being harsh but i am even more confused. Genuinly feel sorry for Shade and the new right back yesterday

There is enough talent in this group to be challenging at the top end against the level of opposition in this league, there is no point in comparing them to last seasons group, that was last season playing against teams with their own different group of players.

What we are missing this season is a plan, structure, identity, whatever buzz word you want to use..  as much as Garner had his critics last year, one thing you can't accuse him of is not having a clear plan of how we would play against teams and not doing his homework on the opposition - whether you agreed with that plan or not is neither here or there, he was methodical in how he approached each game.

Our management team knows what they have to play with, they have a huge squad compared to last season so they should be able to come up with a number of team selections and formations that should be capable of beating the opposition depending on how they setup and play.  Last year we had the mechanic with not enough tools, this year we have lots of "tools" (don't be mean) and no mechanic, or at least not a mechanic that has shown that he knows how to use them to get the best out them.

A decent manager would know how to get the best out of the players we have, play to their strengths, utilise them in the best way.

Our GK is not a problem - maybe that is because of GK coach has not changed?

Our central defenders are being criticised for not being good footballers, whereas everyone was moaning last year about Conroy in the defence because he was a footballer - which one do we want?

Our full backs - everyone was criticising Rob Hunt last year for not being able to push forward, now we are saying FBT is Rob Hunt and is adequate - what do we want?  The new lad looked decent for his forst game in mens football yesterday, so I think he will turn out good.

Reed is dogshit and a stat paddler, but as RobT pointed out well, we are not playing to his strenghts and not utilising him in the right way at all - is that the players fault or the management?

Wingers/widemen - are players that are not used to being payed in that position, but are being played there to shoehorn people into the team or fill a gap - Is Williams and atacking wide player?  most people have agreed not..  Shade has been played in about 6 different positions (probably 4 different positions yesterday) how do we expect him to excel?

Stikers - Wakeling is not a striker, yet has been asked to play up front on hos own - 5' 8" and 9 stone when wringing wet, and his first season in mens football - work rate is great but he is not a striker.  Wakeling is an upgrade on Barry and should be played in the postion that Barry played.  The other strikers have just walked through the door so would be unfair to include - but reputation says that that at least Jephcott should be what we need.

That was just a longwinded way of saying - a decent management team should be able to find a way of being successfull with the toolbox that has been brought together - there is enough there to at least be in around the top end of the table.  If Lindsey isn't it, then the longer we persist with hoping that he comes good is wasting time and reducing our chances of being at the top end of the table by the end of the season.  Game by game we are reducing our chances of being successful this season.  I wanted to give him time and had significant fears on his appointment.  Yesterday took me from "well, we might come good in time" to "i have seen enough to feel that this won't come good in time".

Not your fist rodeo at not being overwhelmingly positive where it isn't warranted, it seems.

There is literally no one having a go at him for it either? You are having a dig at nobody

Decent post that and imagine most would agree with your summary.

As posted earlier I think the quality of league 2 is down on last season so when you look at Gladwin, Reed, Williams & McDonald those players are as good as anything in the league.      
                                                                                                                                                                              Where the problem lies we've got a right old mis-match of new signings (some good, others too early to tell) where the manager doesn't seem to have the motivation skills & nous to get the best of them which is off setting the balance of the team and as with most number 2 coaches who try and step up it very rarely works and looking at his body language in his post match interview it's hard to see that he is the right man for the job.

A decent guy maybe and probably everybody's favourite behind the scenes but debatable if he has what it takes to be the manger of a league 2 club where the expectations are high with the supporters.

Which of the new signings has impressed you the most Jimmy?

Hutton has a wicked cross on him, as seen second half v Salford.

What's his actual preferred  position

He said RW in his pre match interview

ah, ok. ta.

Unfortunately that has been his only attribute so far but I do agree with you. It will be interesting to see if Hutton gets much game time or he's just going to warm the bench for Lavinier. With 5 subs you can potentially switch them about as and when. Although SL only seems to want to use 2 changes on average (I've not checked that, just taken from yesterday's game really)

He does, I'm a bit surprised he didn't come on yesterday, if only for his long throws as a different option.

First 2 games he was started at LB had a bad game and got dropped 😔 confidence shot to fuck already

I had forgotten about that. I think Walsall played Shade at LWB last season so it seemed odd that he was RB and Hutton at LB. It's almost as if SL was trying to be too clever. It's almost the time to go back to basics and play the best players in their positions.

fair points above

it's been a bit odd playing players out of position at times.

What was Darcy at right back all about for instance.

Ugh the more you mention, the more you really have to question what SL is actually doing. Hutton and LB and Darcy at RB are just plainly odd decisions.

They actually swapped for Salford so only the Harrogate game, I noted straight away to the guy to my right they'd done that.

Interesting analysis. Who do you think has been better, Tomi or Adeloye?

about even

Equally terrible?

Really! That’s what your saying?

Eeerrr I thing that is exactly what he is us saying.

I honestly think we have recruited badly - like a kid playing FM who has added some money to a transfer budget of a Div 4 team and just goes around buying everyone with no plan.

We seem to have got carried away buying up possible rough diamonds and forgot we actually need a team that can win games in this Division.

I do not see anything in the following to suggest they are top of the table go getters or able to play a league above (you want some of those if you want to go up):

Hutton
Shade
MacDonald
Blake-Tracey
Adeloye
Khan
Harries
Clayton
Brennan

Now, a couple of those have some talent you can work with, like Khan.  Blake-Tracey is a good pro type of player.  Nothing flashy, not going to set the world alight, but doesn't seem out of his depth and you could have someone like him in your squad if going for promotion.  Clayton could be good enough this season - I don't think he is up to last seasons loans in central defence, but he is comfortable and hopefully continues to grow.  It's not that I am saying they are all awful, just that you'd want two or three max, not half your first team.

Wakeling and Darcy look like they could bring something to the table this season, but not where they are playing (Darcy at Right Back is nuts).  

Brynn is a good signing.

We still have holes in the first team for me.  Shade, Wakeling & Jephcott as our front three is nowhere near McKirdy, Simpson/Davison & Barry.  Not even close, and we were still a forward short last season in all honesty.  That for me is the biggest problem - at this level, a good front three would cover a myriad of other shortfalls.

It's not all about the squad though - it's got enough in it to extract more than we are seeing.  Darcy at right back makes no sense unless someone was taking bets.  Wakeling through the middle on his own is bizarre.  Williams and Gladwin together makes just about one footballers worth of working legs and Williams has no interest in supporting a striker from wide it seems.

I haven't called out Lindsey yet - know nothing about him.  While the performances have been bad, and tactics look odd, he's managed to get draws.  It's not like we are losing them all, so have given him some slack.  I just think we are being limited by naivety at all levels in the club right now.  Yet get the free pass last season for that, we should have recruited better - players, management, exec etc.

With the forward line, we do now have Hepburn-Murphy to add at some point.

I have assumed he is Barry like positionally, but don't actually know. Never heard of him before the other day.

We have brought in the Banbury winger. Assume he's for now not later but again, don't know.

Cracking post and a sense of reality.

if you think you are going to put together a promotion winning team from players recruited from the likes of Walsall, Barrow, Ayr etc. then not bolster a squad with quality loan signings to the level of KKH, Crithlow, Simpson. That added to losing the quality of Conroy, Payne, McKirdy etc  it’s a very risky business. Then put that lot together with a Manager with no experience.

After all we were told it’s a longer term plan.

Supporters are already starting to feel short changed (once again).
It’s the hope that kills us.

Where do you think Barrow and Walsall, for example, recruited from? You’d think that all the present top sides have all recruited from the cream of available players. They haven’t though. We’ve paid for players, handed out 2 year contracts and kept loans to a minimum.

The finger points at organisation, tactics and coaching. The 3 things we are so obviously shit at.

No way can you tell me this squad isn’t good enough for a top 7 finish.

We’ve just sold a player for 250k who before joining us couldn’t get a Carlisle or Port Vale ffs.

I really hope you are right but my confidence is wearing thin.
The next two home games pivotal in so many ways. At what point will the Club pull the trigger on Lindsey, that’s if they actually would do?

What we would give for 2 back to back wins right now for everyone.

it surprises me when things like this are said confidently by the average fan. How the hell can any one say that.

have we all scouted the squads for each team in the league

Right now I'd say the edge of the play offs is the upper ceiling for this squad, as they stand today.  I think Lindsey isn't a million miles off the points we should have, but he's done it in a weird way.  We were lucky to get a few of them, then he should  have got more from two games where even a shit squad should see the games out to wins.  A better Manager has 4 more points from Stockport and Gillingham, but could just as easily lost against Carlisle, Salford & Leyton Orient despite their tactical nouse.

Don’t think Lindsey knows his best team/formation.

He keeps tinkering with that to try and find it (fine understandable) but because of this, it seems everyone else has lost sight of everything else like the style of play, the tempo of play, tactics, subs, set pieces.

Garner went through a few teething problems with regards to best XI and formation but already had the other things nailed down - probably before he even rocked up at Town.

We’ll either carry on clueless till Lindsey go - or we’ll settle a bit, win a few games and start moving forward. Whether that will be far enough forward for the fans I don’t know.

Still a lot of unknowns player wise.

It's just very Sheridan like.   Move players around until you find something that works.   

We can debate the comparative qualities of this year's and last year's squads.

An obvious point, probably already made, is that we are far, far less dependent on loans this year. 

Tyreece and KKHs departures and the problems with their replacements (delay, injuries) - alongside Reed's suspension, Wollacott's internationals & Payne's injury - all combined to arguably cost us an automatic last year.

Brynn is about the only concern and, as has indeed been pointed out, it is usually possible to find an on loan keeper of competence.  Nor is there usually the same extent of a replacement having to gel with a playing style even if Ward's footballing skills didn't quite fit.

Totally agree, there is a hell of a lot of hindsight being used here. Some of our best performers last season were the exact type of player we have recruited this summer. I still absolutely believe a competent manager has us at least 4 points better of this season. As for saying signing players from the likes of Walsall etc will not get us anywhere that is laughable, our so called better players are not even getting any games this season

One we signed because we had to take who we could get on short notice, not because of anything data driven or scientifical.

More luck than judgement.

Anything wrong with a bit of luck? Even uber successful teams need a bit of luck.

Nah everything has to be perfect at Swindon or uproar.

Where is everyone getting this "250,000" info from?

Wild guess.

Interestingly i had a look at players who left and it won't be a shock to anyone to see that Akin, Conroy and also Egbo due to injuries have started a combined 3 games all season between them. Jack Payne has not started a league game yet. The first 3 would be a rough combined 10k a month we would have taken a punt on  :eek: Ryan East has played more games than them all

And up until the lad from Spurs signed, all four would have walked back into our best starting XI based on this season so far.

Payne sat out most of pre season so imagine he might be a few weeks behind, so can kinda understand him not being involved as much…

…whether that will continue or not I dunno

and not played because yet again they are injured

No option to buy?

https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/sport/football/plymouth-argyle-january-recall-clause-7549422

Seems pretty vague.

How does a loan with an option to buy actually work? And how is any potential future fee calculated? Would it be done at the time, or further down the line - perhaps on a sliding scale based on performance during the loan?

Cool, so if Jephcott goes some way to offsetting the lack of goals from last season he’ll be back at Plymouth by January

They’ve fucked it

Surely it's just a simple case of

If they recall him, we just trigger the buy option and sign him permanently. 

Which we'd be keen to do anyway if he does well.

If he does shit, they won't recall him anyway.

It'll be exactly that. Of course theres no discussion to be had yet he's played half an hour

It had better be

The way the article is written suggests to me that the purchase clause is not de-facto invokable from our side

Could well just be the way it's written, could be only active after n games, could be we get first refusal *if* they sell.

impossible to know


edit: My interpretation at the time was this was just the deal we came up with to protect us against McKirdy deal not going through and having to stump up Jephcott's fee without the MMcKirdy cash. So it would make sense we could instead buy in Jan if we choose to.

Not sure it would be fair on Plymouth. Maybe they have their own clause to protect themselves.

So the general principle on such deals according to Ryan Whelan
   - club would get first refusal to meet Plymouth's valuation/another bidding club
   - player can still refuse (or presumably not agree terms)

But that's just 'in general'. Our actual deal is obviously confidential and could be very different.

Worry about it later. He's had 30 minutes during a limp team display. Its a problem that hasn't happened yet

so from today's presser..

only personal twerms can prevent jephcott joining if we want him.

we are looking for another senior keeper as Brann not ready for first team

So we have not fucked it

No. Well yes, a bit.

let's say he bangs in loads of goals. January comes, he gets recalled.

We trigger the buy option, but his agent gets wind that another club wants him too.

Jephcott doesn't agree personal terms with us as he can get more money elsewhere.

And at this point, we'd have fucked it.

If the worst case scenario is he bangs in loads of goals for the next four months and then goes I'm cool with that.

Bangs in loads of goals would mean that we'd also have been singing "we are Lindsey's red & white army" at some stage. Shirley?

Equally the opposition could have been banging in loads of goals at the same time. Not convinced that that will be the case though, says he ahead of a 0-4 drubbing.

That is literally every single deal in the world though buddy. That's not us

true that. I thought it was good news assuming we are right and the muff chairman is playing silly buggers.

Was a little surprised at the goalkeeping situation though. Not that its wrong, just unexpected

We may not even want Jephcott yet.

I remain unconvinced that someone didn't get hold of Sandro's mythical spreadsheet and go and add the  =INT(RAND()*100) function everywhere in place of the players stats.

The point is, we should've just bought him.

Not yet 😉

But the same problem can happen then as well? Why buy someone we can have for free on trial for 6 months

Also may have needed the McKirdy money to fund it. McKirdy wasn't done by EFL deadline

because as explained above, that's now how it works.

All we get is first refusal.

If Jephcott doesn't want to join, we are back to square one.

If he does well another club will just give him more wages than we can afford Should've done the deal when we had the chance.

…but if he’s crap we have no obligation to buy a shit player we don’t want

If he's crap that says more about us than anything else. He's proven to score goals at this level and higher and is still young.

I just can't be fucked with another Doyle / Yates scenario.

The Doyle/Yates scenario where we ended up with both for the whole season and got promoted? I'd definitely take that...

Seriously though, I get wanting certainty but there never really is in football. If we bought him outright and it got to January and someone with a bit of money wanted to buy him then, there'd still be every chance of him going. McKirdy was our player under contract, it didn't stop the vultures circling. This is just our place in the football food chain right now.

My memory might be playing tricks on me but didn't we say when we signed Jephcott that we did the loan with the option due to the lack of time to do a deal permanently? I suspect this may have been down to the McKirdy income as well.

That's not what happened though is it. Both got recalled. Doyle missed 3-4 games, Yates missed a couple too IIRC.

We were lucky we got them back. Doyle practically had to kick the door down.

Aye that's what Sandro

Just a thought if Jephcott has played for Plymouth and ourselves this season - he can’t play for anyone else this season can he?

Good point. If that still stands.

Could they not sell him in January if we didn't meet their valuation

…I think not, as he’s already played for two clubs this season.

I guess they could sell his registration but the buying club wouldn’t be able to register and play him - so no one else would buy him (like when Rotherham recalled Yates played him for about 5 minutes so the only club that could buy/loan him in/from January was us)

…unless the rules have change in the last few years.

I think you're right but wasn't sure if that only applies to loan deals.

Lyden in talks with Barrow

A shame if that goes through because I'd of backed a fit and firing Lyden to do a better job than Reid has thus far this season.

A fit Lyden is a good asset, unfortunately we have never seen a fully fit Lyden.

Don't understand this at all

Really not worth keeping him is it ?

Could free up another wage.

He was OOC anyway. Think we were just letting him get fit.

I don't understand why Barrow would be interested is what I was getting at? If he's near fitness maybe we should be offering?

Sorry Adje

thing is, he and iandolo are never long fit.

can't afford to carry them, even if it's very unfortunate.

was suprised at iandolo's contact given that

Iandolo played more minutes last season than anyone else. Whilst he's had injuries, they've mostly been big impact injuries rather than muscular recurring ones, right? Lyden I completely agree, classy player but just can't rely on his body.

100ish games, 7th season. That's the facts.

Needs a few more seasons like last. if he can stay fit this season (when back) I'll retract my fitness comments

That's not (all) entirely down to injuries though is it?

He also hasn't really been at the required level in the past.

that's also true. I'm still not entirely sure what his best position is now.

But last year was by and far his best season for us, and for me he worked best in midfield. However we have a few to choose from in that position now

We had a little spell last season where Iandolo and Aguiar looked good together. We scored plenty of goals. Aguiar then faded a little bit which was understandable.

We just seemed to have a little bit more 'bite' and they were prepared to play box to box roles.

Wouldn't be against re exploring that in the future.

Iandolo's assist for a HMc goal when he was in midfield was a masterpiece, David Silva-esque.

A large portion of Iandolo’s time out was attributable to a broken leg. He’s not quite the same sick note that Lyden is.

Much moaning for our goal shy performance v Gillingham.

But credit to a far more positive approach to the problem from the fans of FC Magdeburg:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1568886506948857857

Who said the Germans don't have a SOH    :)

Dont reckon we’d get those in the Town End !.

Thanks for posting that. That’s one of the funniest things I’ve seen for a while.   :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

old but gold. happened 10 years ago! around the same time people started filling stratton bank with random cardboard cut outs as well i think!

https://www.swindontownfc.co.uk/news/2022/september/minturn-and-massey-complete-loan-moves/

Minturn and Massey out on loan to Conf North/South sides Gloucester and Hungerford respectively. Seem sensible moves, only a month initially.

Minturn is good enough to play up a league for me.

Might have been subject of a Netflix feature had that been carried out at the top level. Worthy of some lingering super slow mo attention.

Sublime.
Could conclude that Iandolo's future may lie in central midfield after that.

Just looked up where the quads are.
Must have picked up the injury early in pre season.
Such a shame for him off the back of a very good consistent season.

We have a new keeper signing on.

yeah they mentioned we would in one of the presser. Free agent (obv).

no names though (that I've heard)

Probably Idem, Idem.

Heaven forbid.

Williams to miss Grimsby game as he has been called up by the Welsh

Funny that what are generally a decent international side these days with quite a bit of young talent still need a league 2 player to fill out the squad

Brennan, Harries, Devine, Iandolo, Hepburn murphy, Adeloye, Dabre, Cowmeadow all out of the squad yesterday... be interesting to see how we integrate the first 5 of those back into first team contention.

Roughly the same team as last night (if available) with Khan starting and Darcy/Wakeling playing in the Williams role for the Grimsby game i would suspect

Cowmeadow to Slough (1 month loan, subject to approval)

cue the office jokes

So, ten games in. What are people’s thoughts unit wise in comparison to last season?

GK - no doubt Brynn has been excellent. Surely comparable to Wollacott. Behind him though we obviously need cover. Squad wise last seasons Wollacott-Ward is superior to Brynn-Brann.

RB - looked to be in a right state pre window closing. Hutton has found some form over the last few apps, and Lavinier has looked okay with lots of potential. Few weeks back I would have said Hunt walks into this team, not clear now. Think Egbo was probably the most complete RB so I guess last season shades it.

CB - Baudry was a big part of our late season winning run, so glad he stayed on for another one. Very happy with Clayton, MacDonald is good at the defending part, not great in possession, opposite complaints of Conroy. The loans last season were all pretty competent though. Not sure about our depth here this time around, seems there are one or two that won’t cut it. Leaning towards last season again.

LB - Really like FBT, really like Tomlinson last season. Think he would start given the choice. Again not sold on our depth here. Good to have Ellis back but was never my favourite position for him. Pretty even with last year.

Seems like I’m leaning towards last seasons squad having the edge iin the back line, yet wasn’t our strong suit last season. Am I being overly sentimental? Deluded? Miserable cunt? Did we just underachieve last season?  ???

Brynn is a better keeper than Wollocott and won’t miss games due to international call ups. I agree the depth isn’t as strong as last season but I guess the flip side is we shouldn’t need the depth as much.

Egbo was good and highly rated but it was an extremely small sample size. If he could consistently play as he did the back end of last season then I’d agree he’s a better player than our current right back…but…would he have lost form as some point? Got injured?

Centre back we are better off. MacDonald is a better defender than Conroy ever was, as is Clayton. Baudry was great the back end of last season but similar to Egbo could he keep those levels up over another full season? Good that he is still here *probably* also good he isn’t first choice.

Left back Tomlinson was class but was clearly only ever going to be here for the short term particularly with his parent club looking likely to drop down a division (and doing so) whilst we are weaker I don’t think Tomlinson was ever more then a short term ‘get football’ loan.

Obviously the main difference in the back line - I’m guessing is the instructions. We are definitely dicking  about less and defending more. I said on the match day thread we have defenders who defend first, play football second. It was the opposite last season and much more emphasis on the footballing part.

I think because he hit a few decent Hollywood passes occasionally people forget just how inept Conroy was as a defender.

…and that doesn’t even touch upon the fact our midfield is different and have different instructions.

Midfield protecting the defence was another one of our downfalls last season.
Reed was always in front of the defence to receive the ball when we had it but he never really protected the defence when we didn’t have the ball.

Is Tomlinson still at Peterborough as he wasn't in their matchday squad yesterday.

Yep out of favour this season and asked for a loan move before deadline day but it never happened.

Cheers, another strange scenario which isn't good for player or club.

Re GK, I hope so. Looking back Ward had 11 starts last season, I would have guessed more. Suppose barring injury you’d expect most seasons the number 2 to limited to the odd pizza cup appearance. I think I may come to agree with you at Brynn being better than Wollacott. Just seems a bit early to be that confident, but very consistent so far.

Agree on Baudry. Of course we cannot know but I suspect he is a valuable man to have around the squad for people like Clayton. We know he can’t be relied on for 30+ apps, but a good assets to have for situations like last week. I would be nervous at those coming in if Clayton was to be out for a good chunk of the season.

You also have to remember that the average age of our team is 23 ish which is ridiculously young really.

Same last year i believe

Anyone else think that Williams may not actually get on the plane to Qatar?

Average age of the 1st team this season is just 24 so a little more than you suggest but its still young.

Last season the average starting line up age was 24.5 so it has gone down a little.

By comparison Orients average 1st team squad age on Saturday was also only 24.

We are still the only team to have taken any points off leaders Orient so far.

And Grimsby’s two league defeats so far were against Orient & Us

Indeed they were.

Harry Parsons sent off for Banbury against Gloucester tonight.

Dabre on Banbury bench

Minturn started for Gloucester

Very interesting watch to see what Angus MacDonald has been through, and still manages: https://youtu.be/KKhvIPx9ZDY

Thanks for posting that. Having lived with someone with Colitis I can appreciate what he has gone through, top man.
Can't help but remember Adam Stansfield (Exeter City) who would you believe passed away 12 years ago at the age of 31.   

His son is now playing for Exeter, on loan from Fulham which is a great touch.

RHM could be out for as much as 10 weeks with his hamstring injury unfortunately.

Ouch that’s dreadful news. That’s the gamble you take with these kind of players.

that must be one hell of a tear. very disappointing all round

To caveat the news. I haven't seen anything officially, I think I read it on social media so it could well be untrue/wide of the mark. Hopefully SL might confirm in the presser tomorrow.

cheers Bob

https://twitter.com/JonnyLeighfield/status/1575502537696120832?t=IDVfrwCiZ9W3qr4ItfhleA&s=19

Scott Lindsey confirms Rushian Hepburn-Murphy out for "up to 10 weeks" with a hamstring injury. Full story on @AdverSport shortly. #STFC

Tear in his hamstring tendon!

He tried to play on with that! Adrenaline is one hell of a drug.

Signing imminent

New player or a contract extension (Wakeling?)

https://twitter.com/official_stfc/status/1575797705678503936?s=46&t=Q1opiPWX4Uxs51vK4GGvaA

Experienced keeper for backup I would have thought.

Well, any new keeper will have to be named Brenn, Bronn or Brunn

Wakeling new deal

Even better

Till 2025!

3 year extension!

Yowzer!

26! Lovely work.

June 2026

Love being wrong :)

Great bit of business by the club - kudos.

When was the last time we nailed a player down for 4 years?

Short termism is dead 💀

I hope this shuts up the naysayers and doom mongers, hell of a statement that.

We’ve either got 3.5 years of a very decent striker, or we’ve got a sizeable transfer fee. Good news, proper management. Now for Reed and Williams extensions… and Gladwin!

To be fair it's been generally positive recently, 3 wins in a row have seen to that really!

I'm not used to long contracts, now I'm worried it's too long 🤣

shut up brain

:) :) :)

…now do Clayton

Next summer contract expiries:

Harries
Reed
Gladwin
Williams
RHM (? Not sure a contract length was announced)
Massey
Parsons
Dabre
Minturn
Cowmeadow

Plus the loans (Brynn, Brennan, FBT, Jephcott)

I’d forgotten that Brennan was here. It’s almost like we’ve brought a loan in, so that our own young centre backs can go and play. I suspect Sheff Wed may pull him back if that carries on. I doubt the plan was to be backup for Tom Clayton.

The plan was to be the right centre back in a 3. With Macdonald centre and Clayton left side.

Harries and Baudry backups.

But 3 at the back was quickly ditched. And here we are.

I would only be gutted if 3 out that list maybe 4 didn't sign. Progress already

Which 3? Gladwin, Reed, Williams?

Class to extend by 4 years.

That’s how you protect an asset properly 🤝

Gladwin and RHM both on deals till end of next season

Yeah, maybe Minturn

I thought it was a 3 year extension for JW? Where did you hear about RHM and Gladwin?

That's great bit of business

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MSQ1dfPQkx0

Of course, forget Gladwin renewed in January. I actually see another contract coming soon for him. Doing is coaching badges already so have a feeling we will see him on the coaching team sooner rather than later

I hope so. The guy is switched on

smasing lad speaks well as a person and is going to be one hell of a player. :beers: :pint:

Parsons recalled from Banbury

Silly move unless there is an injury

Let’s just assume there is no injury to an existing player, why is it a silly move?

He’s playing there, if we have a full compiment of attackers available he wont be playing here will he

I’m playing devils advocate. You’re assuming he won’t. Maybe the club just aren’t happy with his situation there, maybe he’s not happy there, maybe Banbury aren’t happy with him. Could he be lined to a loan somewhere else? There could be plans to get him integrated into the first team sooner rather than later. Whatever the reason, the have deemed it the right thing to do. Time will tell. Likely to be playing some part on Tuesday I’d expect.

Great stats for the lad. Not so sure it’s quite so good for the team overall.

He does appear to have decent career ahead of him, based on what we have seen thus far.  Does the basics well and will gain experience.

Hopefully he wont get recalled to be sent on loan to a bigger club in January

I can’t quite properly explain why, but the benefits of being loaned to league 1 rather than league two feels less obvious for a goalkeeper than as an outfield player

I mean, shots on target are the same at any level, right?

Swings and Roundabouts I think.

You could argue you’d have better attacking players in L1 who create more chances and are better finishers but the reverse of that is you could argue L1 will also have better defenders - so it kinda balances it out.

Minturn to Chippenham until end of Jan. Probably a good move for him, although on Tuesday's evidence I'd have him ahead of Harries and Brennan as CB cover.

Hmm, agreed. Is Harries on a one year deal? Evidence so far suggests he is stealing a living as a league footballer.

I have high hopes for minturn. Looks a very good prospect indeed. Been a while since we had a youth player start for us for a decent period of time

Yep. Only one year. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/61972509

To be brutally honest I would send him out on loan in January if anybody wants him and reinvest on a young prospect then let his contract run out, he just doesnt seem to be of a decent enough level to warrant even a place on the bench.

I would also send Brennan back in January too and bring in another young defensive loanee.

Something I was thinking, I have no idea what Matt Smith is doing but I would make a cheeky loan bid for him as hes exactly the type of midfielder we are missing, a true box to box player who can tackle but create things too.

He seems to have not played since a poor loan to Doncaster last year where the Donny fans disliked him, and now hes 22 it could be a stepping stone getting his career back on track.

Hockaday on the radio the other night said, "Harries was a great passer of the ball when he first signed for Coventry" maybe he's playing in the wrong position!

He's a perfectly good passer of the ball now, he just looks very poor at basic defending. I wouldn't hate seeing him at LB if FBT was injured.

Harry Parsons goes on loan to Chippenham

🤔

Are they a higher level than Banbury?

One is National league North the other South.

cheers

Fa cup eligible 🤔

 :D

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FgkF5zjX0AUROP9?format=jpg&name=small)

I’d imagine a few of our squad are now worth far in excess of what we may have paid for them - which, in some cases, was nothing at all.

Wakeling, Darcy, Khan, Hutton, Clayton will all be worth a decent wedge - I’ll leave Jephcott out until we know for sure his status come January.

Hoping beyond hope Brynn and Blake-Tracey can be made perms.

If we can’t kick on from here with those making up over half the team we don’t deserve to go up.

That Mansfield game/result has heightened everyone’s expectations.

Don’t blow it now Town!

I very much doubt anyone bar Wakeling will be worth actual money.  At this level, it takes a stunning talent outside forwards for clubs in the levels above to shell out cash.

I can think of at least 3 who would get good money .