Out of that list Punch Reeves and Chaplow should be kept. Puncheon is revived, Reeves is young and talented and Chaplow gives a lot of fight when called upon even if he's not the most naturally gifted. IMO of course.
It seemed like even when Puncheon's relationship with Cortese was at its worst the players all seemed to like him. Even when he was on loan, he was still talking about how good Lallana was and tweeting how he wanted the Saints to win and the players were tweeting him back. So it appears he's not really a bad person as much as he is immature. If it was the former, then Saints should get rid. But it appears to be the latter. Immaturity requires some special handling, but it can be handled.. and as Adkins recently alluded to, it is possible for those players to flourish and even mature in the right environment. As for resigning him, Puncheon is definitely one of our better players at the moment but I think we are seeing his best. He is a decent player who can cause weaker teams some problems but probably not a starter on a good team. If they stay up and Cortese/Adkins feel like they can make a push for the top half, I would be willing to let Puncheon walk (with no hard feelings). Puncheon seems clearly to be happiest when he gets to play and at this point he should have no problem finding a team that will let him do that. Saints probably can't guarantee a starting spot, so it seems like it might be best for all sides to let Puncheon go and everyone can part ways on good terms. Never thought that would happen, but credit to Puncheon for maturing massively on and off the pitch.
Surprised people aren't more in favour of Richardson staying! He was (IMO) one of our best, or at least better players last season, and even now, he's needed as our substitute right back. Butterfield will undoubtedly not resign a new contract, so if Richardson left, we would have no right back to call upon should Clyne get injured! Moreover, as Clyne has proven useful deputising at left back, Richardson can also fill in the hole left at right back at times.
I would want him to get a new contract but he has to prove his fitness. No point in having a back up rb that is always injured.
Thats fair enough, i just think for cup games and lower end games Chaplow could do a job. Not every player in the squad can be a worldy. But for cup games and back up he'd do a job.
I rated him until the injury, but after that he went down hill. We have better players in cm so he wont get in there and I wouldn't put it past us buying a winger in Jan. This will leave Chaplow very far down the pecking order, hence why I think he'll go.
Chaplow said after the Stevenage game he would see what his league involvement was like until January then consider his future. Anyone else read his tweets and get the feelings he wants a move next month?
Chaplow will never play for us unless the team goes down with Spanish flu. He deserves to find a decent team where he can get a game.
I think Adkins' comments after the Leeds cup defeat suggest the likes of Chaplow and De Ridder have run out of opportunities sadly.
Why do we need Reeves, he's played less than 5 games for us and never looked special, not like Shaw or JWP, and he is much older. Think he will leave to go to a League 1 or Champinship team, it would be in his best interests to get regular football.
I hope that Punch signs a new deal, but if he doesn't then it's worth remembering that we signed him for, if memory serves, something in the region of £300k! It's not like he owes us anything.
If Punch doesn't sign a new contract I would assume that we will set our sights on someone to replace him. NA & NC will obviously be looking to improve, therefore it's a gamble for Punch really. I can't see any team that are better than us taking him for anything other than backup.
I think it was less than QPR paid to have him on loan last season, which puts it into perspective a little bit!
