Thetownend.com

I think we are expecting the retained list today.

Any shocks on the horizon?

I think there may be a shock or two as there usually is (but I am unable to offer any guesses as to what those shocks may be). I expect Harries, Parsons and Massey to be released. Anyone know what time we can expect this list? I have been checking the club website quite frequently!

Not sure...

Hopefully we take up our options on RHM, McEachran and Brewitt if they haven't triggered them already.

Harries looks to be out of the door.

Genuinely feel sorry for any player at any club who gets jettisoned. Must be a worrying time.

Especially when someone you have probably never met (Flynn) is pulling the trigger.

Of those out of contract I would keep McEachran, RHM and Brewitt, all of them being decent squad members who can be used when needed but I would prefer not to rely on them all for the whole season.

I wouldnt actually mind if Harries, Iandolo, Khan, Massey, Baudry, Parsons, Dabre, Aguiar and Adeloye were all offloaded.

I would also like Lavinier, Austin, Williams and Hutton to be offered new terms.

Gunning was in charge of releasing the players who are not wanted apparently he said pre game on Monday.

Offer Williams and Austin new deals, the rest that are out of contract can fuck off.

I think that was taken from an interview before Flynn was named manager. probably the pre match press conference.

it still makes sense from one of the old guard to do it though

Posted this in the other thread but for information, those definitely OOC are:

Baudry (Retiring), Brewitt (Option), Harries, Minturn, McEachran (Option), Williams, Parsons, Dabre, Cowmeadow, Austin, Massey, RHM (Option)

Then we don't know contract lengths for Brann, Roberts and Lavinier, but we think Lavinier and Roberts probably have another year.

Cheers Neems :) I have seen many posts on FB and other places contradicting those contract lengths and the club seemingly unwilling to discuss lengths of contracts upon signing lately.

I would keep all the ones you marked as options plus extend Austin and Williams stays, I would offer Minturn another year too.

I think Minturn has done more then enough to warrant a new contract. Will only get better, a nice down to earth lad and his dad is top drawer

I think he's shown enough in the few chances he has had, moreso than Parsons for example.

The other thing, I can't imagine he would be expecting a lot of money

I first saw Minturn play for the youths about 3 years ago and he was a big lad back then and impressed me, I know many people who are close to his Dad, I think he can progress but will need more game time, I would like to think we could possibly get him a 6 month loan at maybe Conference level to build him up to be ready for the frst team.

He has made a few errors when he has played but thats expected in a play of such young years and he has done very well in games too but I dont want to need to rely on playing him as a couple of poor games could ruin his confidence and put him back in his development.

I would already say he is a better prospect than Kadji was.

Kept in bold the ones that I'd want. We do have some dross on our books, even though not on much money seems such a waste of wages.

I couldn't agree more with you. He has made errors but haven't they all this season.
He was brilliant at Orient, came on for Brewitt at home and was very good.

Parsons and Dabre have had chances and don't look at the level, but unless you're a PJT/Wiltshire Cup specialist, I'm not sure we can judge the potential of young players like Cowmeadow and Massey.

I thought Massey was signed for the future, was never getting near the first team this year.

Unless they've seen in his loans that he just hasn't progressed you might think he's got another year

Massey is one for the future as is Roberts, neither signed to challenge for the first team as such but you would hope both kick on.

Massey is the same age as Minturn and Roberts being the same age as Clayton and Lavinier, I think more was expected of Roberts but his failed loan at Aldershot seems to have set him back in the pecking order.

Roberts came back from Aldershot and was never seen again. Banbury asked for a loan again and STFC said they wanted him at a higher level. Should have gone back to Banbury to get his confidence back in hindsight rather than not getting games etc

He was on duty at the OSC awards night.

Surely any game time is better than none at that point in the season.

Sorry i mean not in any squads or anything

Exactly JJ

I expect Sandro and Morris had given up at this point TBH and couldnt be fucked with anything Swindon related.

Is there any reason why the club would be 'secretive' on contract lengths? Is there anything to gain from fans/the general public not knowing how long a player is contracted for. (open and honest and all that) I can only think it's to keep other clubs from being made aware of contract situations, but surely Agents would have all that information and it would be widely shared so I just wondered why some players contract lengths were known and some not. Unless the ones with options on are complicated and are not shared as they aren't technically a specific contract length or something?

This is a general question really, not an STFC one per se.

Interesting point. Could it be that some contracts with an 'option' actually involve a pay rise or bonus when that option is taken, meaning clubs don't publicise ts? Fans could be wondering why on earth somebody has beeen let go when in reality the cost of extending the contract was too high as a result of not achieving promotion, only getting gates of 9000 in L2 etc!

Do we know if it's likely to be today?

Assume a 5pm statement like the good old days :)

Not today.

Any idea when?

Players are all on their hols now arent they according to the socials

Surely they’ve all been told, though.

I was told decisions had been made, so presumed it was out today. Might be early next week then if not today.

Could it have been delayed to give Flynn more time to access what he has here

Can’t see how he can - unless he bases decision making on watching videos.

He said on Wednesday evening that he still needed to speak to some players, I guess that would be the reason it's unlikely to be released today.

Michael is going over it for the final time today before rubber stamping it.

Ooooh! Michael!

Cheers Wayne

He means "The Mickster" obviously. :D

Errol

That was Finn, not Flynn😉

🤣🤣

Is today the day...?

Today was gonna be the day, but they'll never throw it back to you
And by now, you should've somehow realised what you're not to do

And his mate Tom Bowyer.

I'd imagine the retained list and the advisory board minutes should allow for some interesting discussion this week. My own personal thought is that whilst I think Gunning/Mildy were probably heavily involved in the retained list now Flynn is in the door he is obviously going to want some input, hence the delay from last week to this. Given there may be a few players that still have a year on their contract that we want to shift, perhaps we are trying to get a mutual release rather than having them hang around (Adeloye?)

I have no ITK about these things at all, but I imagine lots of things are happening behind the scenes at the moment.

Would be good to have the AB minutes out before Wednesday evening.

Is that the Q&A evening Batch? Do you have a link to it so I can see who is going to be there etc?

Retained list has to be shared with the FA within 7 days of he end of the season I think, which would be today

Is that the bend of the regular season or after the playoffs?

Er, see other thread. Its been cancelled because Clem has suddenly realised there's a time difference to Australia 2 days before...

(OK the Flynn argument is valid, just have another one next year - we need to do 2 anyway)

Yes, but what if Clem would have to get up at 3am to send it in? Can it wait four months in that case?

Ignore me, that’s just for the National League

Last year the deadline was the third Saturday in May

I assume as much as anything the deadline will reflect the need to give those being released some notice to get something different and alternative sorted before their contracts run out and the wages dry up, so broadly a month like the protection us plebs have.

Aren't they all contracted to the beginning of June or July, so presume it would be around that time

Yeah I think you’re right - contracts usually expire sometime mid-June don’t they (based on old Football Manager knowledge)

Thanks Batch - yeah just saw that thread. :)

Yeah think that's about right. Gillingham this week announced the signing of Connor Masterson after he had been released by QPR, but he won't officially become a Gills player until 1st of July. (I think it was)

Yeah. They run until 1st July (normally).

All contracts in football run from 1st July to 1st July unless they are 6 month deals in which case the all expire on 1st January.

So presumably a month's notice is the End of May, albeit you can let the players know before that

Makes sense.

Yes most players have been told before the end of the season from what I have heard, but circumstances can change like managers leaving etc as we have experienced. Usually though the players know around April if they are being released.

Ryan Whelan's band of merry men have a page detailing the retained lists, and it looks from that like only about half the division have released theirs at this stage, so we're not an outlier here.

https://therealefl.co.uk/league-two-retained-lists/

Here are the L1 ones if you want to go shopping for rumours!

https://therealefl.co.uk/league-one-retained-lists/

I'll be honest and say I'm not really bothered by this years. Can't see many surprises and so it'll be here when its here.

Interesting that Colchester have finally got rid of the old guard under Garner, Skuse, Sears, Eastman, Huws, Smith, Chambers etc.

Danny Johnson from Mansfield and maybe Will Randall from Sutton would be the only 2 players released I would be even slightly interested in.

As mentioned Kieron Freeman, Luke Jephcott and Louis Thompson all without a club

Would love to see LT back here

Managed the grand total of 115 games since he left us, he played 106 here before he left.

Any sign of it?

Adver have put out a handy guide to who's contract ends when

https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/sport/23523301.swindon-town-players-contracts-expire-2022-23/

Although I don't think ALL contracted players are on there. Morgan Roberts, Parsons and Dabre aren't mentioned for instance.

Is it as good as the first post here:

http://thetownend.com/index.php?topic=59328.0

Probably where they got it from

Apparently, the club has until the 20th to release the list.

Can we do a sweepstake on which player is going to claim he found out he was being released through twitter?

I’m going Brewitt.

:) :) Harries

what about the 'make noises about staying right up to the first friendly then promptly fucks off to Colchester, claiming they are a big club in interview' player

Austin?

Williams or Austin

Both want to stay down south so can't see either going to Colchester probably a bit far, not sure we have many players left that he would be interested in, I don't think Williams has drifted that far in his career

Be interesting to see who ends up at Crawley, probably Iandolo at least, maybe try and entice Khan I would not mind betting they throw some money around to try and appease the fan's who want the crypto currency owners Wagmi gone

I think Iandolo to Crawley is pretty obvious, yeah.

I hope so, Lindsey wanted him pre transfer window but couldnt get a deal finalised.

Its gone stale for him at Town and never really pushed on in his 8 years, he needs a fresh start to kick start his career.

He's under contract until 2024 so Crawley would need to pay a nominal fee - unless we agree a mutual termination to allow Ellis to sign for a new club.

Undisclosed ideally

If Crawley were willing to pay compensation for Lindsey, then we should be able to get a fee for Iandolo.

……. Millions !.

Free transfer? Doesn't have to be a fee to be let go on a free.

(https://c.tenor.com/7PqqRaWy_gwAAAAM/stuff-of-dreams-elijah-wood.gif)

Charlie Austin just got his UEFA B licence so i wonder if he will be doing coaching if he stays?

Pretty sure I heard he wanted to do coaching as part of his next contract. If thats with us or not we will see.

I may well be in the minority but personally would be happy for Iandolo to stay as part of the squad. Is versatile, experienced and has decent physicality so ticks many of the boxes that we otherwise lack. Not saying he is a  world beater but a decent top end league 2 option imo.

The problem with Iandolo (of which there are many) is that he doesn't have a good position. FBT is a better LB than him, and we need better than Iandolo in midfield. I realise you need squad players but for a club with ambition of promotion when you sign players they need to be better than your current first team and make the squad stronger (or be long term projects). Keeping a player around just because they average just doesnt cut it. We should be looking for a LB to challenge FBT not one thats noticeably worse.

We have probably 10 players in this squad who would be fine as squad players, but aren't going to be key men. Finding a home for half of them will be a real task this summer, and I suspect the ones that stay are basically going to be the ones that nobody else wants.

Given a choice between Iandolo & Aguiar, you’d keep Iandolo, because of his versatility.
Can sit him on the bench as emergency cover for LB or midfield.
Iandolo & Darcy, still probably Iandolo for the same reason.

If having him in the squad means you can get rid of 2 or 3 fringe players & sign another first choice player instead then I’d be happy to keep him.

FWIW I think we will sell him to Crawley for an undisclosed (£50k) fee

I'd be happy with Iandolo staying or moving on. I can see pros and cons for both.

What do we think as captain next season? FBT?

Would be my choice. If Austin stays and it goes to him I wouldn't argue but definitely FBT if that is the case.

Didn't Richie Wellens once say ''sign league 2 players, stay in league 2''. We need to shift have of the squad out on that basis.

Is it uncharitable to think that his versatility has set him back? As you say, he's great cover in a lot of positions... but that's probably been to his detriment in terms of starting - and we know he takes a long time to warm up form-wise.

When we got promoted to League 1 yes

That and you only get 16 games a season.

A fit Iandolo easily trumps Aguiar.

The problem was we signed league 2 players the season after

His wife has confirmed that Charlie Austin has passed his UEFA B licence.

FBT has said he doesn't want to play left back and prefers to play LCB. This is an issue in our squad as we have invested a lot into Clayton who can only really play LCB.

FBT seemed very coy on staying next season BUT all of this was said whilst Morris was manager and can very easily change.

If we're going to play three at the back (and Flynn seems to) FBT in the three makes sense as he can carry the ball forward. FBT, Clayton and a monstrous RCB would work well I imagine.

"... Clubs have to confirm released and retained lists to EFL by May 20 (Saturday). No guarantee clubs will publish those lists on their channels by then, however. #STFC"

The advers JL.

FBT and Clayton together in a back three would just not be balanced, both far too left sided

With the way communication at the club is a shambles it will probably be announced in the match preview for the first game of next season.

Will probably be announced at the fans forum

as LSP quip "Still in negotiations with Rob Hunt".. Sums us up.

Cancelled again. Ran out of milk for Clem's Latte.

Clearly I have no clue about why it's taken so long to announce, (I think other clubs haven't either so i'm chilled about it) but you wonder whether players that weren't in the clubs plans now are in Flynns, and vice versa and this is taking time to sort out and go through. Maybe he's trying to convince Jonny Williams to stay and he'll build a team around him (for instance)




Yeah I think I kind of agree with this. I know many hate 3 at the back but if that is what Flynn likes to do then I think FBT as the LCB might work. Not sure about Clayton but we definitely need a proper bit of beef at RCB.

I admire that you think it's not just typical STFC ineptitude Bob

Looking at the list, you wouldn’t imagine there would be too many surprises. Multiple people have said Austin signed weeks ago, Williams looks to be off but is the only one I’d see Flynn possibly delaying this to try and convince first. The rest are either on contracts with extension options that we hold or players I’d be surprised if we offered deals to.

We probably have the personnel for 3 at the back. Brewitt, Clayton, FBT. Hutton & Lavinier as wing backs (Devine too?) Any three of our CMs and 2 from Austin, Wakeling & RHM.

Not a fan of 352 though. Always feel it either leaves you very short of attacking players or leaves massive gaps out wide when defending. I guess it can work if you’re always on the front foot and you can push the WBs up and basically be a good enough team that they can bin off the defending.

Any game where the ball can and will go back to front really quickly it leaves you massive exposed unless you’ve got premier athletes playing there.

Devine slips my mind every single time. Was he a Flynn signing at Walsall?

The internet would suggest Devine joined at the end of Jan 22 and Flynn took charge mid Feb 2022.

So, Devine joined about two weeks before

No

Edit- DV beat me to it

To the average fan it doesn’t matter a jot when the retained list is published. It’s just something else to moan about.

it's fairly irrelevant this year, we kind of already know what the score is and I'd imagine don't really care that much.

only things of interest I can think of are of Austin stays and if we sell Hutton. Neither of which will be resolved by a retained list

I guess the release of the retained list is when we can put the memories of this sorry season behind us, and look forward to the next chapter, hopefully a brighter one!

I doubt it.
Considering how few players are out of contract - really we just need to know whether Williams is going (highly likely) and if Austin is going (hopefully not)

Other than that it’s pretty much just Baudry & Harries

Unless we get some ‘mutual consents’ or ‘is free to find another clubs’

This.

I guess those don’t need to be done with the retained list, but would be surprised if there aren’t a few who are still under contract moved on at some point over the summer

Even then for the retained list it'll boil down to
  "contract offered" or
  "contract not offered"

Suspect it'll be the first one and we'll not know the result until later. If Austin has signed not sure why the club would keep its powder dry during a season ticket sales period.

Pah. we'll see when we see.

If we get a ‘has been offered a contract’ then the cynic in me suggests that player is 95% off because if they were planning on staying they’d have signed that contract.

Hopefully they have deadlines on them as well.
I don’t think any of us realistically expected Jack Payne to resign last summer but having that offer out their on the table on the off chance for what felt like about 3 months probably restricted what we could do in the summer just in case he did sign it

Which begs the question; why didn't we just set Payne a strict deadline and stick to it.

Fair.

Need a hard deadline. Thing is if its a key player then you don't won't to cut your nose off to spite your face too early.

Because they were desperate for him to stay or possibly too nice/loyal to a player?

100% this, I would hope that will include Harries, Iandolo and Adeloye.

It may also include 1 or more of the following Roberts, Aguiar, Dabre, Parsons, Cowmeadow and Massey.

Isn't Harries OOC anyway?

Also thought that was true of Dabre, Parsons, Cowmeadow & Massey.

Would make sense to move on from Adeloye (unless somehow Flynn can turn him into a footballer), Aguiar, Devine (because he's made of glass) and Darcy (assuming we are signing others).

Also have a feeling Hutton & Iandolo will be leaving, but probably not for a month or so

Yes you are right about Harries he only signed a 1 year contract, the youngsters I don't know, even though the Adver suggests random contract lengths sometimes, the club seem to keep all contract lengths close to their chest for whatever reason.

Think it's fair to say both those things will happen. Hutton has wanted out since January and Austin will stay

I'll be sad to see Hutton go. He's handy in attack.

I'll also be glad to see Hutton go. Average defender and his crosses are inconsistent.

On balance I think we'll miss him. But we'll be fine.

I think we should keep Hutton.

If he goes our fans will be happy but we will replace him with a steady Rob Hunt type and in 6 months time people who were glad to see the back of Hutton will be complaining the replacement offers nothing going forward.

Never happy.

It's what many Town fans do. Retrospective reassessment

Only if he wants to stay, otherwise we end up with Louis Reed mark 2

Fans moaning like fuck after getting exactly what they wanted?
Never happen.

Hardly.

Reed was crap.
Reed looked even worse second season because he didn’t have McKirdy & Payne to come and get the ball off of him and stop his monotonous passing back and forth with Conroy. He just showed us how limited and one dimensional he was - nothing to do with his attitude or commitment or wanting to be here - just a massively overrated player.

Depends, if we're playing 3 at the back then both are pretty useless to us as one can't defend and the other can't attack. If we're going 4 at the back then a Rob Hunt is miles better than Hutton and Hutton would have to play in midfield or not at all.

I like Hutton, but I'm a bit of a sucker for a wingback that can deliver a great cross. (Nicky Summerbee anyone?) I think in league 2 you can probably just about get away with him not being that great at defending. Hopefully we have enough ammunition at the other end of the pitch to be able to counter it.

That said, if it's true he's wanted to leave since January then it makes sense to cash in now as he's on a few clubs' shoppings lists.

Keeping Austin will be just as important. A 20 goal striker in this league really does help.

Him staying and a half decent defender at right back will be enough for me. His assists were great i get all that but let's try and get that from midfield and not leave us drawing 4-4 with rochdale but iy's ok because our RB got asists.

Most teams that do well are primarily solid at the back. We aren't doing that well and are far from solid at the back! So, an obvious area to address.

Ours GA tally this year would suggest not, albeit might be assisted with a more settled and composed back 3.


Indeed, but will, I suspect, entirely depend on his fitness, he is likley to hoover up a fair chuck of the wage budget and do we want to be spending that on a player who cannot last 90 mins* nor manage 2 games in a week meaning he would likely miss a fair few immediately?

No idea whether the issues related to a poor preseason in Oz or age catching up, albeit he ain't that old (Shearer managed 22 goals in 37 games in the PL at the same age and he had his own fare share of pretty shitty injuries over his career) and pace was never his thing, but I suspect these are all issues the staff will be looking at.

* This might be offset a bit if they set the team up to play to his strengths and he stops trying to play centre midfield.  

Not according to old Reg it didn't matter :) the number of times I said exactly what you said and Reg would counter that argument with we need more goals all over the team.

In reality almost every team that has a 20+ goal a season striker wins promotion or gets at least into the play offs, get 2 on 20+ and you win the title.

Look at this season in league 2.

3 strikers scored 20+ Cook - Bradford, Hoskins - Northampton, Dennis - Carlisle.

But to counter that, champions Orient only had 1 player score double figures and Stevenage only had 2 in double figures.

I would like Austn to stay and we play to his strengths, if we get balls to him and crosses in hes easily a 30 goal a season striker in L2 with the poor standard of keeping at this level.

He will not be on that big a salry believe it or not so that is good. I know the year fucked him over last year with no pre season and also moving twice. I think him staying is massive as it's the experience in the squad and if we can use him properly and manage the game time i think he showed that even half fit he added goals.

List today apparently

Which,I think proves my point about retrospective reassessment. I agree with what you say and the departures of Reed and Gladwin in Jan
were the reasons given by many fans for our ultimate failure

Don’t expect too many surprises and expect “contract offered.”

And contract signed

And “still in negotiations with Rob Hunt”

I reckon Austin has already signed a contract and that's why the retained list has taken as long as it has needed to so we can announce some positive news.

Rumours were strong that Austins extra year was agreed a long time ago, despite Morris not wanting him. So who knows.

Can't say i'm overly bothered if he does or does not stay. I think his limitations (mobility) place a real burden on the rest of the team and affects how we can play. While i still recognize as a finisher he clearly is miles better than others in this league.

Would take him back tbh.

That would be nice

sky sports will run the news first, right?

Jody Morris wanted to play a game that involved pressing hard from the front. That was never going to suit the way Charlie plays. Flynn's style apparently is more pragmatic with 2 out and out forwards and I assume plenty of delivery into the box. See how Danny Johnson did for Flynn at Walsall. If he can get a tune out of Charlie he should be good for 20+ goals in his swansong season(s).

of course!

They already have ;)

The Twitter account bio is now “sorry we kept you waiting” so guessing it’s today

And now a picture.....

Austin confirmed, on the official site

Its not 5pm.  Have they no respect for tradition.

Chaz Austin confirmed for next season.

https://www.swindontownfc.co.uk/news/2023/may/austin-signs-contract-extension/

Great news. Shame about the typos!

An “inlustris career” indeed

I've enjoyed his 'Inlustris career'.

Good news though - happy to have him on board for next season to play for a manager that seems to get the best out of goalscorers - Amond, Johnson etc

Signed an 11 year contract too, according to that

haha - I was about to post the same.

"forthcoming 2023/34 EFL Sky Bet League Two campaign" It's a pretty long season isn't it?

If someone could volunteer to write press releases please that would be great.

I mean in the grand scheme of things it's minor but there are some glaring errors in both the main online press release and now on Twitter 'Here's here to stay'. 4 or 6 eye check anyone?

Nice. A Positive. Good to have him around players as well him scoring goals- he’s a clear leader. Hopefully he’s fitter this season and can get going right from the off. One area of the pitch already sorted.

Also- brilliant bit of business to help flog STs- club needs to get as much Austin content out as they can for the next week or so imo, Austin encouraging you to buy a ST is good content for all

"Speaking to the club’s Media Team, the 33-year-old says, “It was a no-brainer, but as things move on in football, my decision come clearer when the direction of the football club changed.”

“They brought the new manager in, Michael Flynn, who is someone I’m really looking forward to working with and when they offered me the chance to stay another year, it was one I had to take.”"

There's a revelation of what we already knew...

 :crash:

It's a spin on our badge motto.

errors corrected now.  :toocool:

Indeed. Charlie would never have been wanted in Jody Morris' team and it was clear that they probably had a clash of personalities. Water under the bridge now - must hunt out the Top Scorer price for League 2 for next season.

I only scanned it, but didn't see any mention of coaching, plus why would it need FL approval?

Every new contract/signing needs approval.

good news. Pleased with that because while it's not 'the Charlie Austin show' I don't think he's as finished as some think.

All our transfers have been 'subject to' - but I'm not reading that as anything other than they've not dotted the i and crossed the t

Let's hope he puts the effort in.

Yes you may not get on with the manager, but at least show commitment for the fans sake. Hands on hips doesn't work for me.

Works both ways Sippo.When you are being treated like a cunt by management and other senior authority style staff you probably do look like you don't give a fuck. I would read more into the games where he bust a bollock off dropping deep to help the team or dropping his wag to stay here than a few games he had his hands on his hips fucked. There were alot more we should be pointing fingers at last season

9 goals? and turned down 2 penalties since January

imagine how many he'll get when 'arsed'

Having seen what happened this season when he was playing in a system where the ball was crossed in to him, I'm hoping he'll get about 2.5 per game under Flynn.

Keep him healthy and he'll be breaking records.

Swindon Town can confirm their retained list following the conclusion of the 2022/23 campaign.

The club would like to thank the departing players for their contribution and wish them success in the future.

The following players, Ricky Aguiar, Conor Brann, Jake Cain, Tom Clayton, Ronan Darcy, Reece Devine, Marcel Lavinier, Harrison Minturn, Tyrese Shade, Jacob Wakeling, Tomi Adeloye, Frazer Blake-Tracy, Remeao Hutton, Ellis Iandolo, Saidou Khan and Charlie Austin remain in contract for next season.



Young talented midfielder Anton Dworzak will join the first-team ahead of our next campaign after he signed his first professional contract in April.

Cian Harries, Mo Dabre, Harry Parsons, George Cowmeadow, Oscar Massey, Jonny Williams and Morgan Roberts will leave the club this summer having not been offered new contracts, while Mathieu Baudry has retired from professional football after 17 years at senior level.

The club have also offered a new contract to Tom Brewitt, whose current deal expires on 30th June 2023.

The Robins have, meanwhile, triggered an extension to the contracts of George McEachran and Rushian Hepburn-Murphy ahead of the 2023/24 campaign.

Following the conclusion of their loan spells, Sol Brynn (Middlesbrough), Luke Jephcott (Plymouth Argyle), Ciaran Brennan (Sheffield Wednesday), Joe Tomlinson (Peterborough) and Dylan Kadji (Bristol City) have returned to their parent clubs.

Swindon Town would like to thank all our loan players for their contribution and dedication to this season with us and wish them all the success in their next chapter.

Guess Williams was just too expensive.

Not sure why Brewitt has been offered a contract - very poor defender and I'd be worried about him even as a squad player.

There's a lot of very average players amongst those left. Darcy, Iandolo, Adeloye, etc.

at least Williams is confirmed early.

Brewitt, meh.

As expected really

Says we didnt offer him one so can assume he didnt want to stay after January anyway

No surprises. Austin signed, extensions on RHM, McEachran and Williams departing.

A large amount of “meh” in that list of contracted players. Hope they’re shiftable.

Might well be work going on to get them shifted, but it won't look good if we annonce that now and it doesn't work out.

Oscar Massey is a strange one. Bought in with an eye for the future, was never going to make the 1st team this year and then released after 12 months. There was an excellent point raised on one of the pods of not seeming to have a planned pathway for youngsters at times with loans etc and just a scatter gun approach to loaning out our youngsters. I wasn’t sure if clubs at our level had loan managers but the point was raised and think it’s valid. With someone like Massey, if you think he’s got enough potential to sign then you’d expect to sign and then map out a development path for the next 18-24 months with review points along the way.

Although with budgets at this level as tight as they are, perhaps there just isn’t room to invest that amount of money and time with little guarantee of a return.

I think if we kept with the model of a larger squad like we have now then more "players for the future" can be kept on and nurtured but the model next year will be more quality and a smaller squad so unfortunately that does mean not as much room for a good quantity of players for the future.

Amazed we’ve offered Brewitt a contract, really don’t rate him.

Relatively low earner and you could argue was our most consistent defender. Think he will be more of a squad player next season and wont start games.. Given he is a low earner makes sense as a squad player

I think that's a talented bunch with a lot to prove tbh. I don't think the off the field messings helped this year and hopefully with Flynn in charge, given a full pre season and bringing in his own players to strengthen it looks kinda positive

Everyone views football differently but I quite like Brewitt. A proper pre season and he could be a very good asset, certainly not a bad squad player at all.

It’s nice that it’s not a total rebuild this year even if there are a few hangers on. But on the wholes it’s positive and a decent little core in there. Add bits of quality in the right areas and we could be alright.

Jack Copland missing from the retained list which is odd as the club website confirms he signed a pro deal

https://www.swindontownfc.co.uk/teams/first-team/goalkeeper/jack-copland/

Sent from my moto g(6)

So that gives us a squad of 20 to start with.

We clearly need a first choice keeper (not Ward)
Definitely another CH (or maybe two)
A physical presence in midfield
A big lump centre forward.

Which would mean a squad of 25.
Obviously we can get a few players on loan, but think we would want to see some of the players under contract leave or out on a season loan.

Devine is an unknown, looked ok from reports in the limited time he was fit.
Aguiar, Iandolo, Shade & Adeloye probably wouldn’t be a big loss.
Hutton is the other one, I guess it depends on whether he really wants out.

It was good to get a couple of positive seasons out of Williams.
A pity that we get a midfielder into double figures for goals & it's in a nothing season.

A sprinkling of know how & experience added to the squad will benefit those that are left and we'll see improved players as a result for sure.

Another vote for Brewitt as well.

It's a nice feeling that after a retained list we could theoretically start the new season tomorrow and put out a competitive starting 11. It must've been a long time since we could last say that.

On the flip side though, we're now stuck with players that I don't think clubs will be in a hurry to sign.

Darcy, Adeloye etc.

See, I liked him. Seemed to give 100% each game. Different eyes different perspective.

Worryingly, there are only 6, maybe 7 players in contract who I actually think are good enough for a promotion challenge.
I think we have a lot to do. 

Need two keepers, at least one Centre Back. Another striker. Natsy DCM.

Need to look to be shifting a few of those retained who had contracts and replacing with better as well if we can.

A lot to do

It's basically the spine of the side we require. I suspect Flynn may look to recruit Kinsella and Monthe (see the other thread) which would be a decent start. He may also want Labadie who I think is the nasty DCM you mentioned.

Curious as to the difference between offering Brewitt a contract and triggering an extension with McEachran...?

Perhaps different terms to those we’d have to include with an extension?

McEachran's contract included an option for the club to extend for another season, Brewitt's didn't.

How long are we stuck with Aguiar?

We were told Brewitt triggered something if he played X games

Only real surprise in that - is that Brewitt has been offered a new contract rather than having an extension triggered as was expected.

Austin has signed for another year. Williams not signing. Glad that’s been sorted early doors rather than dragging on like Jack Payne last year.

Think the limbs are there. Players will be better for having a season under their belt (a first in men’s football for some) and *hopefully* better for having a *fingers crossed* decent manager rather than Lindsey and the useless midget.

Everyone deserves a clean slate under the new manager.

We absolutely definitely need a new spine. Keeper, experienced CB, nasty DCM and probably a target man ST.

Think we’d be infinitely better signing the 4 players above and having Flynn in charge.

Two more years, he signed for three last summer.

He's never had pace😀

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=anLIZuoZlF4

Don’t get the meh about Brewitt at all. He’s looked more than decent to me.

There’s a bit of ‘flab’ hanging over from last season that could do with being trimmed but at least it’s not another total rebuild which has to be a plus.

Yeah what I have seen of him seems okay. The way he takes the ball out of defence reminds me of a less good Gordon Greer (which still could be quite decent player as he was excellent).

Darcy would be the first one I’d try to shift - lightweight, shirks a tackle, gives the ball away in bad areas.
Shade is potentially much better and if he stays fit, Iandolo is a better option with his versatility.

Totally agree on Darcy. Thanks for the effort but not worth keeping.

There were several occasions when Brewitt came flying out of defence, leapt like a salmon and absolutely smashed a header forward. It really warmed my soul. He's robust in the challenge and really committed. Unlucky not to get a couple of goals too, particularly at Hartlepool.
I get that he looked a tad rusty on occasion but he's more than good enough for a L2 squad option and given a pre-season perhaps more than that. Hope he signs the deal. Considering he was sat on the shelf and keeping himself fit he more than surpassed my expectations.

Re: Darcy, he may as others have come back a bit beefed up. Part of their contracts would be a prog of fitness and conditioning during the closed season with targets set to maintain for when the return to preseason.

Well Aguiar for another possible 2 years is a bit of a drag I'm currently thinking. Bit of a waste of a place

One year on from Vale, there are now almost no survivors. Ellis and Slick Rick last men standing?
Unreal turnover of players.

My son asked the question if Ellis leaves who our longest serving player would be.
Outside of Minturn, who obviously has been here since he was a young kid but only made his first team debut recently, we couldn’t think of anyone who had been here any length of time.

Think it’s probably Aguiar

Aguiar looked good under Garner.

Maybe Flynn can get a tune out of him?

Not sure we should be making full judgements on players based on playing under Lindsey and the fraud.

It’s good that we don’t require a total rebuild. RHM and Mceachran tied down is handy. Slightly concerned at the amount of  average players in that group though, the signings need to be first team XI worthy, not squad signings like Harries etc. Hopefully we can loan out/flog the likes of Darcy, Aguiar, Adeloye (if not in plans), Brann (Mildy says he’s not ready).. not ITK on it but think Hutton and Iandolo could get sold…

I reckon 2 keepers, 4 defenders if we lose the two above, a nasty experienced defensive midfielder, Williams replacement and possibly an out and out winger or two.

Brewitt is totally lacking in pace. Really don’t see him playing at all next season. Just not good enough.

I don’t think there will be a Williams replacement - at least not in the same mode. We all want a nasty bastard in midfield so someone would have to drop out to accommodate him - looks like Williams going has delivered up a vacancy.

Agreed. I suspect McEachran, Khan and Cain can all play further forward (plus Darcy) so no need for a like for like replacement.

Jonathan Douglas 2.0 is what is required. Maybe even a couple of those!

Maybe but one good game, ironically against Flynn's Walsall dropped 4 games later never to regain his place that season and completely anonymous in every game I've seen him in since, doesn't augur well for me.  But will be happy to be proved wrong

I reckon there is a player in Aguiar. I know it was only one game but he oozed class against Walsall. On the opposite end of the spectrum, he was absolutely awful at Valley Parade and never really seen again.

Clean slate under Flynn but if it's true he doesn't utilise number 8 or 10 in his formations then it's probably a waste to have him around.

I’m pleased to see Dworzak as part of the first team squad - there’s definitely a player there.

Was he involved in the Pizza games?

Dworzak came on as late sub in Barrow in the league, Walsall in the LC and Plymouth and Palace in the AMC.

Difficult to tell from around 100 mins in total what he is like really but he seems like an energetic central midfielder, more of a box to box midfielder from what I saw.

Likes to pick the ball up and go forwards with it.

Shame we have lost Cowmeadow. All hopes on Taank to make it now in the uncommon surnames stakes.