So, we're left with: Steve Mildenhall, Michael Smith, Tom Parkes, Matt Harrold, Lee Brown, Alan Gow, Ellis Harrison, Conor Gough, Jake Green, Ollie Clarke, Ryan Brunt, Mark McChrystal, Tom Lockyer, John-Joe O'Toole, Alefe Santos and Jamie Lucas. Out of that lot I would imagine JJOT and Smudger will go for a bit of cash. Clubs may well start sniffing around Parkes and Brown too and I really can't imagine Gow hanging around and Ellis will probably go. That doesn't leave us with much. There's one hell of a rebuild this summer. I would've kept Elliot and maybe even Clarkson depending on the money he was on. f**k knows who we're going to get in to dig us out of the brown stuff.
gough has been released mate nothing said on green. not sure what his deal was with us anyway. brown and santos may not sign new deals. gow may not prove his fitness. smith is already under contract but he has been offered another contract by us. if he signs that then i reckon he will stay with us which will be cracking. harrison wont be involved even if no one will sign him. o'toole will be gone for sure. brunt will have fitness issues. mildenhall and mcchrystal strikes me the type who will want to stay. parkes may leave if an offer comes in. harrold obviously took up the clause in his contract to stay with us. clarke and lockyer signed new deals during the season and this season has turned them from boys to men and they both love the club. lucas i really dont know much about.
If we can keep Mildy, Mac, Parkes Smudger and Brown at least we'll have a decent defensive unit for the Conference. They were pretty sound for most of the season. It's the other end of the pitch which needs major surgery. We could do worse than try and entice James Norwood from FGR - he's a nippy little striker who netted 19 times for them last season. The good thing about him is that he's only 23 and has scored more goals each season than the previous one.
out of the players who we have left and lets say gow if he proves his fitness and both brown and santos signs a new deal, this could be our line up.... ------------------mildenhall------------------ smith----parkes----mcchrystal----brown --------------------clarke--------------------- gow--------------o'toole------------santos -------------harrold-----brunt--------------- subs: lockyer lucas harrison
apart from brown who hasnt signed his new contract yet, our defence is quality. remember they got us relegated but we had a good defensive record in league 2. if brown re-signs for us then i would be feeling pretty good about our back line and keeper. we will have im sure the best keeper and defence in the league. also lockyer can cover any of these positions if there is an injury and i have confidence in lockyer. im sure we will get back up defenders as well. i think we will be defensively sound. brown and smith loves getting forward. no way o'toole will stay but if he does and gets his head down and fight for us then he could play a massive part for us. but i dont have faith in him. santos is a little too light weight. i think mohamed would rip the conference apart. be good to try and get him. just an opinion. we now what gow could do. but we need pace up front for him to put through balls into. its keeping gow fit all season which is a worry and a gamble. clarke knows we lack pace. he said it enough times when he took over. i expect to see a lot of pace come into the club this summer. the right service would get harrold a lot of goals. brunts fitness maybe an issue. he missed all of last season!
