The club had been treading water for the past few seasons in the championship before finally sinking. Mismanagement was the major cause. League 1 will be a different test for the club. Has anyone any confidence they will get it right?
These players need free transfers as we badly need them off the books. Hopeless signings. Willock , Chambers , Horvarth , Turnbull. Release all the out of contract players though I'd keep Ralls if he takes a big pay cut. Dalaand try and get some money back. I expect Salech to be sold.
One would hope the club have included some provisions within the contract to ditch these players if the club was relegated
And Horvarth, Chambers, Daland & Willock. Thankfully Meite, El Ghazi, Collins & Goutas contracts end on 30 June. I suspect they’ll keep Ralls as he’s maybe better suited to Div 3.
I also think he's not the right fit for where we find ourselves right now. A game has to go his way or he dissappears. Fair to say he's an opportunist striker who was denied a decent service from our midfield, but until that perpetual problem is addressed, Haaland would struggle. We might as well sign an aggressive grafter up top who can make and put away his own chances at this new "lower" level. I know they paid Fulham a lot of money for him, but someone like Jay Stansfield who did the business at Brum and fired them back up. There must be that sort of player not getting game time at higher level clubs, or even others coming through at the bottom of the pyramid that would be a better option than a 30 year invisible sick note. The problem I see is we neither have the vision nor the decision making expertise at the club to find them.
I'd stick with Salech and Simic up front. Davies, Robertson and Ashford behind one of them. The tricky bit is the two behind them and the two CBs. Plenty youngsters coming through in most positions as cover, but need a gnarly old head to hold things together at CB.
Relying on Salech and Simic alone could be a mistake. As good as they are or promise to be, they're too similar in style and both rely on others to make the plays. We need someone to create up front as well as get on the end of something. You could say that's just a midfield/No. 10 problem, but there are final third players who can both finish and set up particularly at League One level. We're not talking about a Cole Palmer or Jarrod Bowen here, this is about horses for courses for where we're going to be playing our football next season. The answer may come from out wide in the shape of Ashford/Davies/Tanner coming inside, but I'd like to see someone playing in and around the box who can set up or take a chance rather than just trying to hit a big man from the touchline.
Agree but can we hold onto Salech especially and Robertson? Salech is good enough for a top 6 championship team and is bound to have interest from said teams. The club should break the bank to keep him as I’m convinced he’ll get 25 or so goals with decent service. Robertson proved he was good enough for Div 3 with Portsmouth but equally any Man City product is going to attract interest from championship teams. Simic? He could be another Velonjia and don’t forget Etete CB? Tsunodo, Fish and Lawler. Forget a gnarly old guy as those 3 plus Bagan should be proficient enough at this level.
4 youngsters getting recognition from Bellamy. Bellamy will take a closer look over four players who have enjoyed breakthrough seasons in the Welsh capital; Cian Ashford, Dylan Lawlor, Ronan Kpakio and Luey Giles.
