I have every confidence they have already started proactively recruiting for next season. That can all start before they announce a retained list. Hopefully it gets announced today though as it will be a good indication of plans.
They don't need to announce the list to be working on the replacements. That's probably been happening for the past 3 months or so
I can understand that. I’d imagine some will already know and I’d guess some will already have agreed to go elsewhere.
Hopefully this window we will get right. We have been crying out for pace and mobility for years. No more slow plodders, and an opportunity to start again by clearing out the players that have been here and played in the 3 seasons of failure.
From the Sunderland Echo The vast majority of League One clubs have already had to submit their released and retained lists – with the EFL deadline on Saturday, May 15th – but the Black Cats were afforded extra time owing to their play-off campaign. But having seen their promotion hopes ended on Saturday afternoon, Sunderland will now have to make some key contract decisions about a number of first-team players. Clubs taking part in the play-offs have to submit their released and retained lists to the EFL four days following their final fixture. This means that the Wearsiders have until Wednesday, May 26th to let the league know who will be released and who the club plan to retain. Sunderland set for crunch contract talks with Charlie Wyke, Luke O'Nien and more as deadline set Discussions will be taking place this week between head coach Lee Johnson and the club’s backroom team before decisions are communicated to players. It’s important to note a couple of things on this front, however. Firstly, contracts do not have to be signed and sealed by this date. Sunderland simply need to indicate which players they will be offering new terms to, and then negotiations over the contract can continue for as long as is required. Secondly, the club themselves can publicly release their retained and released lists whenever they choose. This deadline is simply for when the lists have to be submitted to the EFL. Indeed, a number of others club who were subject to the May 15th deadline are yet to publicly announce their plans. Johnson and sporting director Kristjaan Speakman are going to have some big decisions to make on the contractual front this summer, with a host of players contracts set to expire. The following players all see their current deals expire in the summer, although a number of the individuals are reported to have options in their current deals which could see their terms extended: Lee Burge, Remi Matthews, Anthony Patterson, Luke O’Nien, Conor McLaughlin, Brandon Taylor, Denver Hume, Callum McFadzean, Max Power, Josh Scowen, Grant Leadbitter, Chris Maguire, Aiden McGeady, Charlie Wyke, Benji Kimpioka.
I'm honestly struggling to find a good reason to keep any of the players that were on display at the weekend. I think Hume might be turning into a sicknote, we have no midfielders who I'd class as top L1 quality, and I'm sure Wyke and McGeady won't be able to repeat their double act again, even if we decide to offer them new terms. I'd maybe keep O'Nien , Gooch and Stewart, and hope that Willis and the other defender who we've hardly seen can recover and come good, but apart from that I'd be happy to replace all the others and bring in our younger players into the first team squad. It's a massive job, but that's what Speakman has been brought in for, time for him to earn his corn.
He isn't out of contract so is staying by default (along with Gooch, O'Brien, Dobson, Embleton, Wright and Flanagan)
Certainly think we'll see a big clear out over the summer. The squad as a whole probably finished about where we should have done, ability-wise. I'm not sure about this idea that some people have that bringing through the u23s en masse is going to improve us though. If you look at Diamond, who is arguably the best of them, he's made something like 34 first team appearances and scored twice and got 3 or 4 assists. The notoriously hot and cold Maguire has made about the same number of appearances but scored and created more and Jones has similar stats to Diamond from far fewer appearances. That's not to say that they shouldn't be being brought into the first team set-up. Hawkes, Diamond and definitely Embleton should be getting chances next season but I think we're going to have to bring in a lot of new faces. I certainly hope we won't be relying on the youngsters.
Embleton proved at grimsby and blackpool he's now ready. He's a player who should be considered part of an 18 man squad imo.
Thing is those who want u23 in en masse see athletisism pace and enthusiasm as their key attributes. We may see a drop in output initially buy I'd see them all as part of squad. Denis smith has a lot of kids in and around it and it improved us imo. We'll never know how good they are unless they play meaningful games
There needs to be a balance. We need the enthusiasm pace and atheticism of the younger players but we need to blend that with experience so that the kids can learn and develop. I'd keep Leadbitter on at the club in some capacity as he lives and breathes SAFC. Possibly a mentoring type role which a lot of sports have to help keep the younguns feet planted firmly on the ground. Over here in the AFL where kids can be drafted from all over the country the younger kids are placed with host families or more experienced players so the they can learn the culture of the club and what it means to represent it. Generally they are allocated a mentor from the playing leadership group as well. Leadbitter wouold be perfect for this sort of role
Exactly. Hawkes, for example, has been tearing it up for the u23s, where at 22 he may well be stronger and more powerful than many players he comes up against, but we don't know if that will translate to League 1. I've seen exactly the same thing at non-league level and players not able to do it. So, we need to be giving these players the chance to show they can do it. They deserve to be in and around the first team squad to get their chances but it would be daft to rely on them at this stage because they may or may not be up to it.
elliott embleton is 22, its not like he's a bairn. if we keep loaning him out he'll end up moving on to a club who gives him 1st team status, and who'd blame him?
We definitely do need to keep him in the side. He's one of the ones that we know can do it. Although maybe it was daft loaning him to a side that rivalled us for promotion we do at least now know that he's more than good enough for our first team.
