I have slightly edited SuperChrissy's quote to kick off a debate on this topic. I hope he agrees that I have kept to the spirit of his comments. I am going to play devil's advocate and take a contrary view, but no-one will be more delighted than myself if I am wrong and SuperChrissy comes closer to what happens next year. The main deciding factor will be our financial situation and though some posters here seem to know more than others, I haven't seen anyone who claims to know the whole picture. We don't even know who are the real owners of our club and what their medium- and longer-term plans are. We do know we are steadily losing money. It could be that we will be forced to sell all or most of our only appreciable assets just to stay afloat. Selling Solly, Wiggins and Morrison, and not re-investing the receipts in new players would certainly kiss goodbye to any play-off push. I imagine we would all agree there. The opposite situation is that new money comes in, to not only match our monthly losses, but to enable us to strengthen two to four positions. In that case I agree we would be favourites for the play-offs. But is there any real chance of that happening? My further comments assume not. I therefore will assume a realistic/optimistic picture. That somehow our backers are willing to make good our losses each month and also that we sell two non-critical players and re-invest all the money in strengthening the team. I reckon we might get 500,000 for Stephens (though if I were running a club I could find better uses for that money) and 100,000 for Green. For that we could perhaps buy a 300,000 player and get in a couple on frees, and be able to pay them Championship wages. If CP & Co acquired shrewdly, we could strengthen the first team like that. But against that are the following factors: 1) We have let the contracts of Harriott, Evina, Devite, Haynes, Wagstaff, Taylor, Fuller, BWP, and Cort run down. They can all leave on frees. (Maybe we would get something for Harriott as we developed him? But it would only be trivial.) Now some of these we wouldn't miss too much, but at least some of them need to be replaced if the squad is not to get too thin. 2) All our bright u19s' contracts have expired (Cousins, Osbourne, Fox, Ajayi, Harriott, Pigott, and Azeez - not sure about Jordan). Their league and cup exploits will have made them targets for richer clubs. I am hopeful they will all re-sign but it will now cost us real money to retain them (especially Harriott). So we won't save much on wages by letting go older players, yet these u21s are not ready to fill a first-team squad place next season. Some may never make it and the rest need at least another year. Result: a squad which may be more promising for the further future, but weaker in the immediate term. 3) Our success this season, and especially in our late successful run, has been largely reliant on goals from players who will be suspect next season for age or fitness reasons (Jackson 11, Kermorgant 10, Haynes 7, and Fuller 5). Other than them our top scorers are Pritchard and Devite with 3 each. Everyone knows that the hardest player to find is a consistent goalscorer. That's why they command double the transfer fees of other players of otherwise comparable ability. That is why we signed known crocks like Haynes and Fuller. Everytime Jackson, Haynes and Fuller play I am just waiting for them to break down on the pitch. Jackson has stood up pretty well this season, but with each season's wear and tear he is slowing down and taking longer to recover from knocks. Kermorgant had one long spell out and the way he plays he is always cruising for a bruising. He too is getting older and slowing and one of the reasons he was available on a free and no-one else wanted him was that his health was suspect. We are extremely vulnerable in the goalscoring area, and we would never have the money to replace any of the foregoing with players as good, let alone the effect on team spirit if we lost Jackson and Kermorgant. I am assuming we will buy one, perhaps two, centre midfielders, as we cannot rely on Hughes and Jackson's fitness. We also need a striker and might have to rely on a loanee if we cannot afford to buy one. We need another LM as we should not push Harriott too hard. That problem would be solved if Evina would play there, but it seems he won't and he may well leave on a free . (I would in his position). So to sum up, if everything goes right next season we could end up close to the play-offs again. But I think there are too many things that could go wrong and is likely that a couple of them will do. Losing useful players on frees before the season starts, failing to sell Stephens for enough money to make a difference, and especially losing a couple of our goalscorers through long-term injuries. And of course CP could make poor acquisitions with whatever meagre funds he is given to play with. Up to now his purchasing has been his strongest asset. It needs to stay that way. But even the best managers can make poor acquisitions and his ventures into the loans market have been very feeble. I don't think we will be in much relegation trouble unless a perfect storm hits us, but a Millwall supporter warned us at the start of this season that our second season would be harder. I thought then he was right and still do. It's not all gloom. If we can survive next season in good shape we may see some of our bright youngsters start to come through into the first-team squad for 2014-15. But I see next season as one of just hanging in there. Anything better or worse than that will depend on our finances.
I think a lot of the youngsters we want to keep ie Harriott,Azeez etc will be signed up soon.I think they have been agreed in principle.There will be some transfers out for money,Stephens being the one most likely to go.We will bring in a few decent free transfers,maybe Judge.I really can't see us spending much money,unless new money comes into the club.I have also heard that Rouamba has gone,this is just what someone close to the Club has told me.Can also see Waggy,Taylor and maybe Evina going.
I think a lot of the youngsters we want to keep ie Harriott,Azeez etc will be signed up soon.I think they have been agreed in principle.There will be some transfers out for money,Stephens being the one most likely to go.We will bring in a few decent free transfers,maybe Judge.I really can't see us spending much money,unless new money comes into the club.I have also heard that Rouamba has gone,this is just what someone close to the Club has told me.Can also see Waggy,Taylor and maybe Evina going.
I don't feel able to think about next season yet because we've got no idea what sort of squad we'll have. Neither do we know if The Doctor is going to be offered a contract extension, it's all quiet. I think decisions on the playing staff will have to be made more quickly than usual this summer, due to the number of players out of contract. I guess the club's finances will be at the heart of these decisions.
Ye gods - I didn't realise that was the situation. I think the board needs to settle this sharpish. If Leicester City don't get into the play-offs, I'd guess Pearson may be on his bike, and very shortly afterwards we're going to be beating them off with a big stick and fighting to keep The Good Doctor here for all we're worth. A decent length contract should be enough to ward off even the most ardent suitors.
Ye gods - I didn't realise that was the situation. I think the board needs to settle this sharpish. If Leicester City don't get into the play-offs, I'd guess Pearson may be on his bike, and very shortly afterwards we're going to be beating them off with a big stick and fighting to keep The Good Doctor here for all we're worth. A decent length contract should be enough to ward off even the most ardent suitors.
Surely the first signature is CP's ? How could it not be... If we don't sign significant players, like 3 or 4 new prominent players we won't be certainties at all for playoffs. How come everyone seems so flat about Kermogant lately.. Has he lost a leg ?
If you are including me, I still think he is one of the best target men in the division and it was a stroke of genius to sign him on a free. My point was that we rely on him a lot and that, because of the very physical game he plays, he is always likely to get injured and will take increasingly long to recover from injuries.
That's my view entirely, eddie - he simply cannot continue to be flattened, shoved in the back and generally roughed up indefinitely - that physical aspect of the game certainly shortened Killer's career by a couple of seasons.
