I saw on the last post about quality of players someone wanted a debate about which players would leave, so I decided to start one. I've written down players from the main team, but left out most of the youth players as i don't think many of them will leave. Players that will stay: Rendell, Beavon, Pittman - All 3 will be up to league 1 standard I think. Montrose, Lewis, Bloomfield, Betsy, Ainsworth - I would have said at the beginning of the season Ainsworth may call it a day now, but he still has the tenacity to carry on Johnson, Winfield, Sandell, Mccoy Bull, Arnold Players that will leave: Strevens - Too ineffective for league 1, as Brentford found out Green, Murtagh - Haven't made the cut at Wycombe and will probably have to go Westwood, Bennett, Foster - Westwood may not want to play league 1 football at his age, and Bennett and Foster are simply not good enough.
I think Green, Foster and Bennett will definitely go. Strevens is on a 2 year contract so he will be around, but agree is not good enough for L1 if we go up. Murtagh is interesting because on early season form I would agree, but his time at Woking has sharpened him up and although he was only on for a short time yesterday he looked really good, but on balance he would probably go. He will need to let 2 or 3 others go as well if he wants to strenghthen to squad and complete at L1- Our strike force needs freshening up - Beavon works his socks off, but hasn't found a natural position. Pittman doesn't get on the pitch as much as he should so, so I think one of these will go. Wouldn't be suprised if he let Johnson or Bloomfield go, which would be a real shame. I would look at getting a new left back and let Sandell go. Thoughts?
May sound harsh, but I think this debate is happening far too early - so much can happen in these last 7 games in particular. I don't know why it's suddenly being speculated upon now of all times, when there is the most important part of the season left for players to prove their value or not. At this stage last year many of these debates were happening and by the end of the season minds had changed with regard to several players because of our late run of form. Incidentally though, if we are going to look at the squad now, whilst I agree with some of your verdicts there are others I don't. For instance, where do you get the impression that our 3 main strikers will be up to the challenge of league one? None of them have a proven record at that level and I thought that yesterday brought more questions than answers about our strikeforce judging by the number of easy chances we missed. I'm still to be convinced that we have a true goalscorer in our side because we should have had 4 or 5 goals yesterday imo. Also, I don't think Murtagh 'hasn't made the cut' and it's a little ironic that you put him alongside Green when he came on yesterday and I thought was really impressive, making one particular excellent pass to send Betsy through. On that note, fantastic game from Kevin yesterday! It's clear that Murtagh, though he wasn't ready at the start of the season, went out on loan, got some experience and has come back to us a better player. Westwood's age is mentioned a lot on here but he's actually 34, so has 2 or 3 years in him yet. I don't see why he'd actively decide not to play league one football when he's arguably been our most consistent centre half this season. He may not play most games if we go up but could do a solid job for us. And I think you're harsh on Foster, who has filled in out of position at left back gamely over recent weeks. I think he's good enough for league two and could be used as a back up in league one. As long as Ainsworth stays though, I'll be happy. What a player he is. Time and time again he outpaces much younger full backs and was a driving creative force yesterday, being instrumental in our first goal. I think he is absolutely in our top 3 most crucial players and hopefully he'll have another season in him next term. Again though, all of this is pretty much mere conjecture atm as things could alter sharply, even over the remaining games. How many people at this stage last season would have wanted Montrose and Bloomfield to go for example? Many did at the time.
maybe mutragh should stay and go out on loan for a few months again next season if we go up, he is still young and yesterday he proved he has got talent ,maybe he deserves a second chance. get rid of bennett ,green,strevens,ainsworth should stay and get more involved with coaching our youngsters because he has so much to give back to football and our youngsters could learn a lot from him.foster if we go up should stay as cover.westwood is slow and coming to the end of a good career but he uses his football brain to make up for lack of pace ,so maybe it would be worth giving him a 1 year contract if he wants it
