There’s not enough minutes for those 6 players as I said previously. However I still think we should make a real effort to keep Neil. Obviously there’s still a decent chance that he could acclimatise and thrive in the league. However it goes beyond that for me. It’s about how the club treats the players that get them up, how they treat youth players, their commitment to a pathway. It’s not a good idea for us to leave ourselves open to being relegated with a midfield who will (to a man) expect to leave, combined with a reputation that says that your thanks for being promoted will be to be swiftly discarded. If we had another young player in the youths ready to make that step up I’d feel more confident in letting Neil go, but there isn’t one. Meanwhile all those posts after the final about how promotion was built on the academy start to look hollow with three of the heroes discarded and Rigg scratching around for minutes in the Carabao. I know that there’s an immediate task and I’m certainly not blind to it, but the longer term aims of the club rely on us not forgetting who we are (and how we got here) too.
Its about neil too though he could have signed a new deal in the championship but chose not to. Still doesnt seem to be sorted if he goes its because he doesnt want to sign after after having plenty of time to. maybe thats some of the reason for all these new midfield arrivals
Totally agree with the identity stuff. Regarding them all getting minutes… We know how often injuries occur. Those 6 would get minutes I reckon over the course of the season. Also (hopefully not) one of Diarra or Sidiki might struggle to adapt and Neil gets a chance that way. More than a few said that KLD wasn’t wanting to just make up the numbers and wants to compete and have a go at one of the cups. To do that you need a big squad!
Wonder if it was him https://twitter.com/als_fanzine/status/1949827527591002449?s=46&t=26DLp2oXvFO7UDfe5HEPwQ
So funny to think the richest club in the world are looking at players we deem not good enough. Massive change to the players they actually predicted they would sign when they were first taken over
Nobody will know why he has left, if he does to be honest. Could be one of many reasons to be fair. Unfair to just blame an unsigned contract on one side only.
Oh absolutely. But then it becomes necessary for SAFC to play that with an entirely straight bat and be seen to make real effort to retain their team captain and key example of the Academy. If we can do that - and Neil still leaves - at least we can tell the next cohorts that we tried our absolute best to keep him.
I wouldnt say he's not good enough for us. More of a come down after the goalkeepers we'd been linked with. If we'd been linked to Ramsdale first off, we'd have been happy enough i'd expect.
I get the sentiment but Watson had already agreed to go to Brighton nothing we could do, Jobe was off regardless again nothing we could do and we did try to persuade him to stay, Neil has had a contract offer for months and not signing it - so hard to say the club are discarding the ones who got us up