Now that we have a manager it's hard to remember what all the fuss was about in te run up to his appointment. Now we have what is actually a great aquisition for the club in place, we have a short amount of time to reflect on who should remain in their position at the club and to look at where some of the obvious capability & talent gaps lie so that Brucie can get them filled and start to build up a pipeline of players to feed the development of the squad as, hopefully, we build a position of strength in the championship in the season coming and plan for an assault on the premier league next season! With all that in mind I wanted to share a nugget of information that I got through my familys connections with a certain Dawnson family in North Yorkshire. I am not a direct part of that link but thought that Daws had a pretty good season after a shaky start - and I think having a model professional around the club like him is an essential part of the younger players development plans. I would like Daws to be our first choice left back bringing on Dudgeon or otherwise next season but I'm told that he : - hasn't signed the contract that was offered in barmby tenure - doesn't know yet whether it is still on the table - is very worried over his own position at the club and at this stage (less than 4 weeks before reporting back) doesn't know if he'll be back. Naturally Bruce will have is own opinions as will the Allams but I think getting as much stable in the club before 2nd July is essential in order to plan a decent campaign next season as well as to embed new talent in it and make sure we are ready to get off to a flyer when the season kicks off. So..... Who should stay, who should go? Realistically what positions & cover should we be aiming for? When is the first friendly? Now that the season tickets aroe bought and the Euros in progress football is high on my mind and I can't wait for the Tigers to get stuck in again in whatever dynamic kit will be amde available to us by Adidas - hopefuly in time for the start of the season this time! UTT
I'd be happy for Dawson to stay but i wouldn't want him playing more than 25-30 games next season. He always seems to run out of steam during the run in, including this season despite Dudge playing quite a few games as well, though that won't have been helped by our March fixtures of course. If Dawson does go though it could be for the best depending on who we sign. On a side note though - and i'm unsure whether to post this through fear of the thread deviating off topic - but do we think the fact he'll be a good friend of Barmby and a big supporter might influence the decision? Not only by him on whether or not to stay but by the Allams on whether or not to keep him. They obviously won't want to go against Bruce so early on but they may tell him they'll fund a new LB so Dawson isn't worth keeping.
I think 1 more year should be good, regardless of politics within, I hope he does get it & his testimonial, if he goes then he should be allowed to leave to continue his playing career, probably in L1, but show some respect for him.
I'd keep Dawson, and have him and Dudgeon as our LB's. I'm not sure who would be my first choice, but if it is Dawson, then we still need to give Dudgeon a good amount of games with a view to him being our future first choice.
no time for sentiment here... we need a better LB, someone like rosenior. dawson is too slow for the championship plain and simple. id give him 1 more year and use him for cover and maybe for cup games... but we really should be looking at bringing in a new left back. how great was our defense last season, but it was very obvious dawson was the weak link... replace him with a better, younger, quicker player and we'll have an even better defense this season.
Daws should be kept on, no matter how many games he is going to play. Suppose its down to the man himself, hang around for his testimonial and not get many games or will he want to continue playing more regular and drop down a division. Bruce as a defender himself will be able to judge what sort of role Daws is going to have next season, and if thats here or not. But if he's not wanted then want can he do? Surely Dr Allam could use this situation to build some bridges by offering Daws one more season.
He keeps getting written off and he keeps coming back and proving people wrong. I'd give him one more year, Dudgeon needs nurturing into the position to realise his true potential
We already have a class left back in Joe Dudgeon, he just needs experience. If Bruce does his homework properly he will offer Daws another year and ease Dudge into the position during the course of the next 12 months.
I agree with giving him one more year and bringing on Dudge subject to Daws not being on a one last pay day size contract that limits possibilities to fund improvements in other positions
He does indeed. This time last year almost everyone on this board was completely convinced that Dudgeon woiuld be first choice and Dawson wouldn't get a look in any more. I distinctly remember being the only one who said there was a good chance Dawson would still play a lot of games. That said, he's never really been one of my favourites. I much prefer the all-action dynamic type full-back like Rosenior or Dudgeon to one who lacks pace and has to make up for it by pulling shirts, especially when his crossing isn't very good either. I'd keep him though, we already need enough signings, it'd be a mistake for us to choose to weaken the one position we already have totally covered. The same goes for Garcia.
I agree he was wrote off, and i think rightly so though, his pulling got even worse last year everyone around me seemed to be oblivious but if i was playing on his wing i would go down in the box every time, he gaves away at least a penalty per match by Premier League referee'ing standards.
