Season 2017/18. RIP.

Is it too early to start talking about next season yet?
But before we do, just a few of the salient points, good and bad, from this year.

Good

The emergence and continued development of Jamal Lewis.
Signing & extending contract of Tom Trybull.
Signing, albeit on loan, Moritz Leitner - fingers crossed if Madders goes?
The rise and rise, albeit on loan elsewhere, of Ben Godfrey.
The way Mario Vrancic has adapted to life in the championship is superb.


Bad

Bringing Marley Watkins to the club - why, exactly?
Plus I think he was signed prior to DF's arrival so Farke had no say in it.
Josh Murphy hasn't kicked on - one great game and then nine anonymous ones, why is this?
Selling Cammers Jerome and not replacing him

Anyone think of any others?

 

The signing of Hanley was a big plus, the signing of Franke exactly the opposite.

Basil's constant strops have been a negative when he could have (should have) made such a positive impact.

 

ved

A pretty fair summary, except CJ - he, along with Pritchard wanted to move and SirBenny does get in the box more often (just!!!)
In the last 2 games I've seen at CR, Vrancic has improved immensely. (Sorry FML!!)

I'd add the playing of JM and how his goals and assists have ensured we're not fighting a relegation battle - would he have had his chance had Pritchard not been injured pre-season????

IF we can persuade Leitner to sign ..........

 

If Leitner signs, Vrancic continues to improve and McClean is as good as he sounds, we'll all be saying 'James who' by September, as we decide what to spend the next chunk of his transfer fee on

 

I suspect if he does sign it will be down to DF. If DF was to leave for any reason we can kiss goodbye to any chance of signing Leitner.

 

Good

Agree with others comments and would add:

• Gunn without a senior game to his name stepping up
• Matthews impressive form out on loan, may just be the answer to replacing Gunn next season
• Jarvis nearly getting fit enough to join the squad and getting a surprising amount of u23 minutes!
• Getting at least some money in from Naismith, Martin and Wildshutt loans
• Keeping Maddison in January
• What money was spent has been spent relatively well, Zimmermann to add to the list of good incomers
• Cantwell making his enior debut, not looking out of place and then also getting important experience out on loan...and tearing it up in holland.
• The academy sounds like it is going to be made much more professional and is with the Colney bond getting invested in to improve its prospects of supplying the first XI and funding the club.
• Webber, in general I agree with and think he has done most of his stuff well. Balancing of the books, more good than bad in the transfer market and communicating a little more with the fans. It is definitely reasuring to know that Delia et al are further away from footballing decisions
• Getting some money for CJ and getting him off the wage bill
• Tettey's form

Bad
Agree with others comments and would add:

• McGoven, Jarvis, Naismith, Martin and Wildshutt festering on the wage bill without meaningful contribution.
• Martin getting an extra year
• Martin when he played at the start of the season
• Management of Naismith and Wildshutt, I still believe both are decent players and could have contributed, maybe they were being puched in the hope they'd leave? But in Wildshutt I think we had a Hernandez and the manager couldn't find a way to use him.
• The home form for most of the season
• The entertainment value from most of our football this season
• A good balance to the side has been elusive and in my opinion still hasn't been found.
• Our goal shy strike force
• Selling CJ when already short of striking options, Srbeny was brought in but in effect it left us with only one recognised striker for a while, Srbeny still looks too raw and this was pretty much a sale and purchase that conceded that we weren't looking at getting promotion this season.
• The injury, minimal game time and then Selling of Pritchard, a great player who I really would have loved to have seen more of. In January we were above Millwall, Pritchard and Maddison appeared to be gelling well, could we have been the side that made a serge to the playoffs had he not been sold?
• Farke's: use (Or lack of!) of substitutes, naivete, lack of experience have all lead to a further missed oportunity. We are even more skint now and it gets harder still to gain promotion. Not saying definitely the wrong path but it effectively wrote off this season.
• The Smiths still own/run our club
• not all of the money was spent so well: Husband, Franke, Steipermann, Watkins (So bad he warrents further mention!)
• The money that had been blown and the Smiths lack of will to invest in their own club meant the fans had to help in the funding of the Colney improvements
• The most over charged fans in the Championship
• Lack of atmosphere at many home games (In part becaiuse of the football, in part because of our ongoing decline)
• Murphy's inconsistency, does Farke moving him more central with the formataion contribute to this?
• The team without Tettey
• Loaning out Godfrey in January, Surely the right time to bring him back, work him into the team, so that we are post Tettey ready with a great young prospect ready to go for a season that Farke and Webber can not so easily write off as building or transition.

Bah!

 

Great points raised GM - and I meant to include late late substitutions in my original list of minus points. How the hell can someone have a meaningful influence on the outcome of a match when they only get warmed up and ready on 87/88 minutes?
And to reward all the man-love for Tettey which permeates from your post, here's one just for you

 

For me its not only about how the player might influence the game in such a short amount of time. Its that he shows an inability to react to the game, to have other ideas about how to break down the opposition or change a game that might be going away from us (Or as is often the way drifting on in a sterile malais where we wouldn't score for 6 weeks let alone the final 30!)

Bah!

 

I’ll just pick up on a few of your points General –
Pritchard WANTED to leave and I agree that he and JM were working well together
DON’T get me started on how late DF leaves bringing on subs!!!
The MOST overpriced fans in the Championship.
Spot on re Murphy playing more centrally
Not sure re Godfrey, as he would have been on the bench a lot.

 

Won't comment on all these points, but for me Godfrey staying out on loan was a plus rather than a negative. In development terms he would have got so much more from staying out on loan with Shrewsbury than he could have possible got from being a bit part player with us.

So selling Jerome is good / bad. Nothing like making your mind up.

 

Ticket prices are based on the percentage of the ground that is filled and percentage of the ground covered by season tickets. If all clubs in the championship had the same size ground as ours then we wouldn't be the most expensive. If fans don't like the prices then they need to stop filling the ground and buying season tickets.

 

I know he wanted to leave and that to is bad. I didn' blame the club but for me as a fan it was very disappointing. As was the fee.
CC high ticket prices are bad for me as a casual fan and others as season ticket holders, not for the club. these are my opinions I take your points but I still think my point is clear on Jerome, good to get money for him but only if done in tandem with an option that could reasonably be used straight away. It wasn' like Nelson was on fire at the time! So on the whole I'd say it was bad short term ok long term if you are conceding that you are not pushing for the playoffs. Which again is bad for us fans.
Where Godfrey is concerned, could we not having conceded that we basically won't be promoted or relegated, played him for the rest of the season? playing at the level we need him next season, in the formation and with a number players he will play with next season. To me especially with Tettey looking increasingly unlikely to sign again, playing Godfrey was what we absolutely should have done. It'
not really bad, he has got plenty of game time, but I still think he should have been given that with our coaches in our team.

Bah!

 

I will add bringing Raggett back as a "bad." He's only had one minute on the pitch since coming back from loan. I don't get it.

 

The only logic I can offer is that the club felt he wasn't learning anything new on loan, and it freed up Martin from being first team cover, therefore saving some cash. It's also given Farke a better look at Raggett, and makes it easier to decide what to do with him this summer. I agree though, in an ideal world he'd either be getting first team opportunities, or out on loan in League 1 or 2.

 

But this year he's getting experience with a team chasing promotion, which is hopefully something he'll get more of next year playing for us. He'll be on a high when he returns to us having played in a Wembley final and played for a team chasing and possibly getting promoted. Either way he'd have had experience of playing for a team at a level commensurate with his current skill level. Surely that's much better than playing for a team that is in transisition and clearly being developed more with next season in mind than this.

 

He'd have been better staying Lincoln and playing against Godfrey in the Checkatrade final.

 

Good point about Martin. Bringing back Raggett allowed him go to Scotland where he might succeed and find a new team.

 

I wanted to see how he would do in the Championship league. As it's turned out, I agree, he would've been better off getting regular game time at Lincoln.

 

NOT too early to discuss next season. This one is over. The only thing left really is to try to finish above Ipswich and I’m not sure I reallycare about that.

I’d like the board to give Farke the summer - many of the problems aren’t his and I think I saw hints of positivity (not least in the cups, where we performed very well).

We need to learn to break down teams, we seem capable both scoring only when we’re the underdog with less possession.

For me, Farke gets the summer and no more than 15 games (I.e. 1/3 of a season).

 

We'll have to agree to disagree, if played at city I still maintain that is better experience for next season than playing for the Shrews in the division below. Getting acquainted with messers Hanley, Zimmermann and any midfielders who'll play next season on the pitch for half a season would both advance him but also potentially the team. Playing for the Shrews only advances him, maybe more, maybe less?

Bah!