RETAINED /RELEASED?NEW TARGETS/SUMMER WINDOW 2024.

Season is over...and we have retained our Championship position...just by the skin of our teeth....one goal from Hull would have relegated us....but it didn't happen...and in the end 7 out of 8 teams at the bottom of the table all won....including us through the fantastic Joe Edwards...Captain Marvel.

We are waiting for the club to release its retained/released lists.....and of course we need a new Manager/Chief Coach......and already there is interest in Liam Rosenior who had done a great job at Hull....and was amazingly sacked after failing to get into the play-offs and ending up 7th.....sorry Liam we might of had an hand in that.

What do we know.....

1.....Loan players returning to their mother clubs.....Ashley Phillips...Alfie Devine...Darko Gyabi....Lino Sousa we are led to believe that Dewsnip is keen to get back Phillips and Devine from Spurs for next season and has spoken to Spurs already ?

2.....Out of contract...I think there is only four players in this category.....we are hearing that Brendan Galloway and Mickel Miller are in talks with the club.....we have also heard that Callum Burton (wife tweeted) will not be looking for a new contract and will move on.....and I'm not sure who the 4th player is.....is it Lewis Gibson ?

3.....What rumours are we hearing......Michael Cooper might be going to Celtic for £8 million....a year back he would have been worth more than that (£15 million maybe) until his serious knee injury... followed up with a lesser injury on the other knee. He finished the season strongly with a dominate display against Hull.

Lewis Gibson...talk of a £4 million offer from Luton (out of contract maybe...does someone else know if this is so)...it would be a pity if he moved on he was a strong reliable defender.

Morgan Whittaker has been a continual rumour since the new year about him moving on....a £15 million ? offer we are led to believe from Sporting Lisbon was turned down by the club and by Morgan....We will not be surprised to see him move on this summer window...but Argyle need to stick out for top dollar for his services.....our future team strengthening depends on it.

Ryan Hardie might bring in offers....we need to keep him...unless an offer is too good to refuse.

Murmurs' surrounding Marc Leonard of Brighton to be an Argyle target....anyone else heard this ?

I've probably missed a few titbits....maybe more local greens have heard comments that haven't got to 200 miles up the road in N W Kent ?

Please add your snippets of info.....but a Manager/Chief Coach and the retained/released list will take preference at the moment.

PS....that is supposed to be a forward slash in the title not a question mark.....shouldn't have depressed the button....unable to correct title error....never mind.

 

Another player that keeps popping up in conversations is.....Femi Azeez of Reading....classed as a winger/striker....but a possible midfielder.

 

There are a few basic questions to be answered first:

1. How much can we spend? As I understand it, there’s no agreement with the Premier League on redistribution of TV money as yet.
2. Will we play 3 or 4 at the back or switch between the two? That determines how many CBs we need and the type of full backs. It’s likely we need at least 2 traditional defensive FBs as well as attacking WB types.
3. Will we ever play two strikers? If so we need perhaps 4 on the books, certainly 3.
4. If on the other hand we’re going to play two 10’s, then we need another one of the standard of Whittaker and Azaz.
5. So we have to wait to get a new head coach in place before we answer these questions? Ideally, the answer is “Yes” isn’t it?

 

I thought it was Lazio for Whitaker plym.. could be wrong

 

You had me wondering there Joe....Just checked it out and I can only find an article for Sporting Lisbon.....and it was for £20 million plus £5.5 million of add on's.....although it does ring a bell about Lazio....I'll have another dig around and check it out.

 

Joe.....Have trawled around and found that...there was talk of Lazio putting together an offer.....but nothing came of it.....Argyle said that Whittaker was not for sale.

Also talk in the January transfer window of Brentford, Fulham and West Ham being interested....also talk of Atalanta having him watched as well.

The Sporting Lisbon offer is dated Apr 15th.....under Sporting CP (who are Lisbon) where putting together an offer

Well remembered Joe....seems everyone but Stoke seemed to be interested.

 

well at the moment he is still our player and until he goes , which most seem to think will be the case as withthem all .. we will see
He would probably have been worth more then than now . but clubs pay crazy prices for players

 

Can we ascertain at the moment that PAFC's No1 target is to install a new Manager/Chief Coach.

Nearly a week has passed and no official announcement regarding the release and the retaining of players.

Only four players this year out of contract....we know that at least two of them have been in talks with the club regarding a new contract or not.

Does this mean that although we're emphasising that the new man will be seen as a head coach more so than a manager his views might be important before any lists are released ?

 

Of course his views would be important - but he will be expected to fit into a system headed up by a Director of Football (which is commonplace these days) and guided by a Head of Recruitment and a couple of data analysts. So important but not dominant.

I believe a retained/released/new contract offered list is expected shortly. I guess that a new head coach's opinion is less important there than in new recruitment as those current players are well known to the existing team.

 

PAFC.....RETAINED/RELEASED LIST FOR END OF SEASON 2023/24.

1.....Under Contract.
Michael Cooper...Bali Mumba...Jordan Houghton...Julio.Pleguezuelo...Dan Scarr...Joe Edwards...Ryan Hardie...Morgan Whittaker...Callum Wright...Mustaphu Bunda...Lewis Gibson...Tyreik Wright...Adam Randell,,,Conor Hazard...Ben Waine...Saxon Earley...Adam Forshaw...Matthew Sorinola...Zac Baker...Freddie Issaka...Caleb Roberts........21 in total.

Out of Contract...Offered new contracts.
Mickel Miller...Brendan Galloway...Will Jenkins-Davies...........3 in total.

Out of contract released.
Callum Burton...Jack Endacott...Oscar Halls..........3 in total.

Loan Expired
Lino Sousa...Alfie Devine...Darko Gyabi...Ashley Phillips..........4 in total.

Moving from under 18's to first team.
Josh Bernard...Jack Matthews...........2 in total.

Callum Burton is moving on at his own request.

At present a possible 26 players....if 3 new contract are accepted.

 

Mickel Miller is very quick and a real threat down the left hand side. He's a bit rash in the challenge though and prone to picking up cards. A useful player when we're on the offensive but we need more defensive players when we're four at the back.

Brendan Galloway has been superb since he came back form injury, although I think he might have slipped a bit against Stoke or Millwall which I didn't watch in full. Can play either as CB or FB and therefore a useful squad player. A decent passer of the ball too.

I'll be happy if they both sign on the dotted line.

 

It seems that Galloway said down the Barbican Saturday night that he was staying....lets hope that is true.

 

Taking awhile to find our next Manager/Chief Coach ....not surprising after getting our fingers burnt with the last one.

Pages of it on pasoti.....names mentioned by the dozens....so obviously no one has a scooby doo who it will be.

 

It's been 2 weeks today since the Hull game decided which division we'd be in. If it follows a normal pattern, there'll probably have been first interviews and then some sort of short-list procedure and the club may have not rushed so as to see who found themselves available as other clubs changed managers. So I'm not surprised we haven't heard.

Schumacher joined Stoke on 19 December and Ian Foster was appointed on 5th January, so that's a benchmark, albeit that Christmas is in there and Schumacher's departure was unexpected.

It have stopped the Recruitment team and Neil Dewsip working on a list of players of interest and there won't be a lot of actual activity until the EPL season finishes tomorrow, holidays are over and the wheels start to move from the top down.

 

Andreas Weimann ...Attacking midfielder/Forward who has been released by Bristol C is supposed to be in talks with Argyle over a contract.

Mickel Miller who has been offered a new contract at Argyle...is drawing interest from....Portsmouth, Preston and Oxford.

 

Not sure how Weimann fits into the "young players with potential" model. He's a free agent so the price is right but he's had an illustrious career including 23 full international caps, 113 games in the Premier League and over 300 in the Championship so he'll expect a few quid in his pay packet.

I can see why that sort of experience and someone you perhaps bring on with 30 minutes to play could be useful but..................

 

Young with potential is great...but at this level you need a bit of street wise as well.....with the younger gifted player you only need one mistake and the 3pts have gone till the next game.....I think that happened a few time last season.

 

Yes but that applies mostly to young defensive players. It’s easier and safer to take risks on youngsters up front.

If he signs, I’ll wait to see him play before jumping to a conclusion. We certainly need a couple of good attacking players. It just seems an odd one at first glance, that’s all.

 

He's available ....and been in the South West awhile....so maybe why.....and when did we last have an Austrian attacker.....other than Hitler 80 yrs back.

 

Bristol Rovers are again sniffing after Joe Edwards.....they are showing interest at again trying to get him to return to his Bristol roots.