The final installment... JOHNSON â One year left on his contract, no transfer fee paid, not sure his wages are that big. Clearly his injury is a MAJOR concern but a fit Andy Johnson would score goals in the championship, wouldn't he? Will he ever be properly fit again though? Unless his wages are massive I canât see any point in offloading, we wonât get anything for him and unless the wages are right he wonât move anyway. Not sure he is Harryâs sort of player though, personally Iâd hang on to him and see if he can still run, either way we will be stuck paying him. (KEEP) MACKIE â is contracted up to 2015 and does have a transfer value, he is a Scottish international after all (snigger). I have never been totally convinced by Mackie heâs one of those players who doesnât really have a natural position and is just not good enough to play as a main striker, BUT he is popular chap on and off the pitch, has bags of energy, will run all day and is versatile. Hopefully he will look a little less ****e in the championship and to be truthful when I see him sprinting on as sub I do get that COYRâs feeling. My hearts ruling my head here (KEEP) REMY âWell impressed with Remy, but we all know what is going to happen here, letâs just hope a few parties are interested and we can turn a profit (SOLD) (Also just to emphasize my point from yesterday Remy is 2 inches taller than Adel and a stone and half lighter, and I suspect Adelâs official weight was from when he was twelve...) ZAMORA â I probably shouldnât be commenting on Zamora so close to the Wigan game. Signed for a reported £4.5 million and still has a year left on his contract. I guess he still has a transfer value but his well reported injury will prevent any sale you would of thought. If the 8 months recovery time is also true then there is little point discussing him anyway â he might never come back (OUT INJURED) BOTHROYD â Has got one year left on his contract, maybe he will be good again in the championship but I doubt it. I donât think the following words will ever be used in the same sentence as Bothroyd - prolific, quick, top scorer, hat trick, consistent, fans favourite etc. I can see him running his contract down and then departing at the end of next season on a free to the next championship club that will pay the most. Even given our likely striker situation I think we will need better and I would like to sell him, however I canât see anyone paying a transfer fee or even covering his current wages so i guess he is going nowhere. (KEEP) CISSE â Has a year left on his contract, and if the reason he was sent out on loan was because of the arrival of Remy then when Remy leaves surely we need him again? Not at all sure Harry is fan though; you can imagine Harryâs thoughts on his attitude and discipline, but surely Cisse with the right partner would be good in the championship? He is still a quality finisher even if other aspects of his game arenât what they were. If heâs happy to play in Qatar why can he not play in the Championship , I say make the Lord of Frodsham play? (KEEP) CAMBELL â His 3 month loan to Blackburn expires in May, but his contract is up with us in July anyway so I assume after the cock up in January when he didnât sign in time he will transfer to Blackburn anyway. (SOLD) HULSE â I canât believe he is still on the list... his contract is finally up at the end of the season, assuming there are no last minute transfer bids from Chelsea or Man City I guess Mr Hulse will finally leave us on a Bosman, Iâm sure you will all join me in thanking him for his loyal service and memorable contribution to our club. (LEAVES) HEWITT - Out on loan still, can you believe his contract is up at the end of this season? Troy is now also 23. It does beg the question what was the point? I assume the club do not believe he is good enough hence why he played only once I think, so I assume his contract will be allowed to expire (LEAVES) BALANTA - Also out on loan still, Angelo is also 23 this year, has one year left on his contract and again his progress is not looking great, I would say another year out on loan followed by his contract expiring is where he is headed. (LOAN) There are a few other kids out on loan but nothing that looks promising, I think it highlights an old issue - we are still crap at progressing our young players through into the first team . Name one of our current first team squad players who have progressed through our youth system? Maybe thatâs a little unfair on the club while we are in the premier league. I guess Balanta has sort of made it through, and Ray Jones (RIP) would be the other obvious success but he stood out a mile and really our production line of players is piss poor. Our Youth system seems only able to produce players good enough to go out on loan to the lower leagues. Everything seems to stop then, maybe we should take more of a chance with some? So in terms of strikers we could end up with Johnson, Cisse and Mackie... A has been, a nutter and someone who isnât even a striker.... Very little depth and all of them have had major injuries in the past. It looks a little desperate to me. Oh I forget Bothroyd â but i donât really want him any way. To summarize the 3 threads from this week, Defense - is not too bad but if Samba goes we need a CB replacement. We will be relying on Bosingwa at RB and something tells me we will need some cover here also. Midfield â depends on the clear out, potentially we will need to buy. Strikers â Christ on a bike, we need to strengthen here, if Johnson isnât fit and Cisse starts licking the walls we have got nothing really. Even if we keep Bothroyd i donât fancy relying on any of them to score the goals we will need. We need a youngish fit fast finisher, someone like ummmmm - Loic Remy. (It's a cruel game) Harry will want to buy and if he canât I donât think he will be happy to run with what we have got, and I suspect the current posturing in the press between Harry and Tony revolves around what Harry is going to be allowed/able to do with the squad.
Something that comes across heavily is the number of staff that have only one year left on their contracts - including some high earners. So this counters all the lumbering wages we have to deal with. The parachute payment will help support this. There are natural 'leavers' and do opportunity to sign 'shining lights' that could fill the gaps that will occur, without the heavy chains of high salaries. Good set of pieces Cannock; bringing about good debate.
Something that comes across heavily is the number of staff that have only one year left on their contracts - including some high earners. So this counters all the lumbering wages we have to deal with. The parachute payment will help support this. There are natural 'leavers' and do opportunity to sign 'shining lights' that could fill the gaps that will occur, without the heavy chains of high salaries. Good set of pieces Cannock; bringing about good debate.
Something that comes across heavily is the number of staff that have only one year left on their contracts - including some high earners. So this counters all the lumbering wages we have to deal with. The parachute payment will help support this. There are natural 'leavers' and do opportunity to sign 'shining lights' that could fill the gaps that will occur, without the heavy chains of high salaries. Good set of pieces Cannock; bringing about good debate.
Cisse into his clothing brand more than football ... really surprised if he comes back as he got a load of stick by our fan base ... he didn't like that
It's going to be an interesting summer. I suspect there will be a lot of ins and outs, Nothing Arry likes better than a wheelin and a dealin. Biggest concern is upfront but there must be players out there.. more Jordan Rhodes and Charlie Austins and Brett Pitmans... hope we can get a few more decent Spurs loans too. You're quite right about the youth set up - it has to be a long term priority. The last player we got through was Sterling, of course.. but he never played for us and is the exception to the rule.
Christ, we go from Zamora, Cisse, Remy and talks of signing Crouch,Odemwingie etc to the possibility of signing the likes of Brett Pitman. How depressing....
It's funny, I was really looking forward to this part and now I'm disappointed; I hasten to add that not with what you've written Cannock, but with the options we will have. I guess we must try to remember that AJ actually looked pretty good for the 20 minutes that he played for us, DJ knocked in a good number of goals for Ipswich on loan and Rhodes will surely be readily available if Blackburn go down. I'd be very happy to have Cisse back, but I can't see that happening. I don't imagine that he would want to play in he Championship and I can't see Redknapp wanting him back. As stated elsewhere it is going into be an interesting summer.
I think DJ could be very useful for us next season. He never really got fair chance with us. We want players who really want to play for us not just turn up for there wages.
Interesting to look at the squad in detail, but depressing as well. Samba, IMHO, holds the key to whether we do make a go of it next season. If we can keep him and build a team around him we have a decent chance, without him that defence starts to look suspect and the bedrock we need to instill confidence won't be there. My only difference of opinion is concerning Hill & Derry, I just don't think they can compete as they did three years ago, by all means have them as squad players but we need better quality if we are planning for the future and not making the same mistakes as before...
Cheers Cannock....3 good threads.... So we could be looking at something like this: GK's - Green, Murphy, Defence - Bosingwa, Traore, Ned, Samba, Hill, YS Young, Ben Haim, Harriman, Ehmer Midfield - Diakite, Derry, Mbia, Jenas, Hoilett, He who can't be named!, Faulin, (Whisper it) Barton Up Front - Johnson, DJ, Betty, Mackie Is there the same 25 man squad in NPC or is there an restriction at all? Off course, the other thing is that we could win the last 5 games, stay up and all this becomes irrelevant!!!!!!
No restrictions but Bosingwa will hopefully be off, as will Haim who cant even get a game ahead of Hill, DJ is out of contract and Bettys wanted by Cardiff I think.
A great read cannock. I think this one broke my heart. Harry really has got a good squad together now and it is all going to be pulled apart.
Harry didn't put it together. And it does look a good squad - on paper. Look at the league table.. this squad will be pulled apart and (sad as it may be) a new one built with Harry's name on it.
Good analysis Cannock. Leaves me to conclude: - uncertain keepers; - inadequate defence; - characterless midfield; and - front men firing blanks. Got a feeling our troubles are far from over tbh...
sorry Harry has made us into a good team. i hope he does stay i think he can get us back to the premiership and playing better than ever
