Cellino has taken a lot of stick on here, and often for the right reasons. One thing that rankles with me is when people blame him for the squad we have, and how it’s poorer than previous squads. He had horrendous debts to sort out & IMO has done a good job by ridding us of a huge list of overpaid dross & introduced a more affordable pay structure. We even find ourselves with some saleable assets now! It’s not been a perfect process, but that’s football! So here’s a question. Who has Cellino got rid of that you would being back into our squad, and who would they replace? To save column inches, let’s leave out McContract, Smith & Lees from the conversation, as they would probably be the most common choices & are therefore a bit of a no-brainer. For ease, I've listed our departees over the last 2 seasons plus our current squad to save you some time. Hopefully, I won’t have missed anyone out (I've not listed the departing kids & loanees). Released 2013/2014: Kenny, Ashdown, Drury, Peltier, Pearce, Lees, Warnock, Zaliukis, Pugh, Green, Brown, Stewart, Norris, Hunt, Poleon, Smith, McCormack, Diouff, Varney. Released 2014/2015: S.Taylor, Thompson, Tongue, White, Ajose, Austin, Sharp, Morison Current Squad: Silvestri, Turnbull, Bailey-Peacock, Byram, Berardi, Bamba, Cooper, Bellusci, Taylor, Wootton, Adayemi, Cook, Dallas, Botoka, Bridcutt, Bianchi, Murphy, Sloth, Mowatt, Phillips, Wood, Antenucci, Doukara, Erwin The floor is yours, gentlemen - and I use this term loosely!
2013/14....... would have kept Lees only 2014/15....... good riddance to this lot, although Ajose is knocking em in at Swindon Current........ Doukara, Sloth, Wootton and maybe Murphy even just to lighten the wage bill.
You have already skewed the debate by already nailing three to the list. But I would add Browm and Austin, Warnock and Morrison. We have no bite and experience so that explains the first three. and whatever Moro wasn't he was a trier and I would still prefer him and ant up front compared to Wood and nobody. With our small squad I am not sure they would have need to replace anyone, but sloth and doukara are just a waste of wages... If more need to go and of our none playing central midfielders could go and not be missed
Taylor first choice at LB but when he isn't selected Berardi and Warnock are better than Wootton. Lees gave us more strength in depth and Ross and Smith far better than Wood and Antenucci. The rest is seriously flawed because you have included loan players and you haven't included previous season loans Bridcutt isn't ours and probably never will be. Byram has been destroyed by a combination of playing out of position and poor management handling. I didn't like Brown but how we need him now, yes I wouldn't take him back due to age but we never replaced him with like for like. Like I said though, for a fair comparison you can't leave out loans in one scenario and include them in another. In Cellino's time here, who has been our star purchase, which player are you so impressed with who has made a difference from average mid table Championship team to.... Well the same?
You've ruled out two of the three I'd have said and Smith wasn't one. Can't find anything on that list. Saw Brown mentioned somewhere. Would he not be near forty now
I was talking the Brown of then. What we needed was like for like tough tackling mad man not some brycreamed lightweight nancy boy.. Edit: I read Ristacs post after posting this. . As usual I agree with Ristac.
Having watched a fair share of footie over the weekend due to **** weather, I'm beginning to think unfortunately, there may not be a place in football for tough tacklers anymore. It's gone very Nancy boy stuff. Even winning the ball first doesn't guarantee not getting a yellow card. The likes of Norman hunter must cringe watching the modern game, if they do at all
Sometimes its enough to have a tough tackler in the side when playing other nancy boys... The threat can be enough....... At the moment we lose out in midfield nearly every week because of our poster boys lack of bite......
2013/2014 - Lees only. McContract I wouldn't touch with a Barge pole, plays for money and not the team and spits the dummy too much; I'd have Smith before McContract. Sharp and Morison can't find the goal so no, strikers need to score goals regularly. I'd only consider Austin if they moved the back of the stand to behind the goal posts. I'd sell Murphy, Mowatt and Cook, midfield's not been any good since they joined the team, 2 are still young, but been playing long enough to know what's required. We need midfielders who can finish and know how to make defence splitting through passes as well as help out our defence. Wood, get rid, he plays like and reminds me of Sharp. Wootton, nuff said. The likes of Bianchi, Sloth and Erwin need to be given game time to show their stuff. We know what Bianchi can do, after his injury is another story though but apparently he's doing well in U21's, so too is Sloth, and scoring goals. U21's and 1st team are different, but they deserve a chance to show their wares; couldn't make our midfield any worse, could it? The Duke I'm in 2 minds about, was playing well, and scoring goals under Hock, then things seemed to change as we changed managers. For me, Silvestri, Berardi, Bellusci, Bianchi, Antenucci and Cooper have impressed me. Bamba's semi impressed me, was good as loan player, but makes lots of mistakes since going perm, Bellusci and Cooper seem to be the best pairing. Dallas is coming along fine, and Botaka is slowly climbing ladder. Hard to pick one player, but being an ex keeper I'd have to show a little bias and go for Silvestri......
Yep Eire, got to agree over the nancy boys, Johnny Giles would have been sent off every week, he put more people on the treatment table than any of the other players around him. Watched both matches last night, and its like watching Subbuteo, the game is ****ed.
Just to clarify again and LL the title is a little misleading, who would you have back, poorer squad. I am not saying I would take any of them back, I am saying when they played for us they were better than what we have now. I am not saying I would actually take Ross back, but the Leeds squad with him in it was stronger than the Leeds squad with Wood in it.
Spot on Ristac As for people calling him a money grabber, I dont know of any footballers playing on the cheap
The 2013/14 Leeds squad had scored 39 goals between them by 29th December - this seasons squad as at 14th December have scored 19 goals between them - now you can compare all you like, but that stat speaks volumes to me
The only one I would bring back for set pieces is Matt Smith.We don't score enough from corners or free kicks
Interesting debate WJ. Simple answer for me is I wouldn't take any of them back. My question is have we replaced them with much better? Younger certainly but results suggest there's not a great deal more in quality.
