Another summer rebuild?

iamborome said:
Once upon a time the club was seen as being very ambitious. Gibson's rallying cry was "no more mediocrity". I really feel that Gibbo has lost that ambition and we have gradually slipped back into being an average championship side. The man is very rich, but not in the billionaire bracket. It seems his desire to use his wealth to transform us into an established prem side has its limits. All credit to the guy for what he has done for the club, but things are not going to change while he is in charge. On the other hand you could take the view that it is preferable to have one of our own in charge and stay as we are than sell our souls to some dodgy foreign power with tons of money. That can be a deal with the devil.
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The ambition was there in 1994 with the new stadium announcement then it didnt take much in to improve the team/squad but we made some solid signings in Neil Cox, Nigel Pearson and Clayton Blackmore, Alan Miller (aswell as the manager himself) we already had a squad that had just missed out on the playoffs with the quality of Hendrie, Wilkinson, Whyte, Vickers, Mustoe and Hignett

Add Fuchs, Fjortoft and (cough cough) Phil Whelan to get us over the line and the rest is history

The game has changed alot since then, but do clubs still use that model to achieve promotion or is it all down to quality loan signings which very nearly worked for us that season.

You could argue we used the same model in 1998 but with a much better squad
 
MickaelDebevePhenomenal said:
We are now a club that needs to use nous, strategy and intelligence to succeed (like 95% of football clubs) rather than throw a cheque book at it. It has absolutely nothing to do with ambition.

Throwing money at the situation for ONE window post the AK relegation literally hamstrung us for 4 years. It is a very short-sighted approach
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6 years really! We still had Britt and Fletcher on our FFP calculation last year, those two players will have eaten around 7m of our FFP allowance on last seasons accounts and 14 m the season before.
 
People try to say it won't be as much of a major influx this summer. Well I predict Hackney to be sold Dijksteel to go paddy be off crooks looks like he's going. Mcgree could be going to. Then you have the loans Greenwood Ayling Thomas and Obrian don't think we will bring any back. Then Howson will we keep him is the question. That could be 10 players gone. So another major summer rebuild. .
 
Boro4life said:
People try to say it won't be as much of a major influx this summer. Well I predict Hackney to be sold Dijksteel to go paddy be off crooks looks like he's going. Mcgree could be going to. Then you have the loans Greenwood Ayling Thomas and Obrian don't think we will bring any back. Then Howson will we keep him is the question. That could be 10 players gone. So another major summer rebuild. .
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How many of those are actually first team regulars this season? Hackeny (who very well might not go) and then maybe Howson who again might not go.
 
B_G said:
Azaz is getting goal scoring opportunities which is a good thing playing from the no10 position. He's had at least 4 pretty good opportunities in his 3 games so far and I'm sure he'll be disappointed not to have taken a couple of them, His goalscoring record is good. I'm sticking with Azaz as a player who could be really good for us even if he hasn't set the world alight yet. I think he could be a really good player for us next season.
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I've seen absolutely nothing to suggest that, but I hope you are right.

We don't have a strong (top 6) first 11 this season from a current squad of 29 players as listed on the club's own website.
4 of those players end their loan periods at the end of the season, though theoretically could be new signings again for next season. (Ayling, Thomas, Greenwood, O'Brien)
3 more leave as their contracts end. (McNair, Howson, J Jones).
It seems inevitable Crooks is leaving now.
Roberts also leaves as his Barnsley loan ends as he is out of contract, but not on the club website.
That is 8 departures from the 29.

Let's leave the made up categorisations and look at positions, and the remainder of the 21 players listed currently on the club website, PLUS 2 other Men under contract, but currently out on loan not on the website.(Hemmings, Coulson).
I exclude those listed by the club purely as U21 or U18.

So on July 1st we will open the window and still have a squad of 24 senior players under contract to at least June 2025.

4 GK - Dieng (2027), Glover (2027), Hemming (2026, loan at St Mirren), Brynn (2026, loan at Orient).
2 RB - Smith (2025), Dijksteel (2025)
3 LB - Engel (2027), Bangura (2027) Coulson (2025)
4 CB - VdB (2027), Fry (2026), Lenihan (2026), Clarke (2025/26 option)
2 CM - Hackney (2027), Barlaser (2026)
5 AM/Winger - McGree (2025), Jones (2025), Forss (2026), Azaz (2028), Gilbert (2027) Silvera (2026)
3 CF/Striker - Coburn (2027), Latte Lath (2027), Hoppe (2026)

(Only VdB of them is technically an U21 next season).

I don't see a top 6 first team in that 24 man squad unless we flog them/free them/loan them out.
Let alone a top 2 team.

McGree and Jones will have to sign a new deal, or be sold. That would seem the financial reality. Dijksteel too.
(I'd personally be looking to extend all 3).

I see Dieng, VdB, Hackney and Forss as high quality Championship starters. McGree and Fry will probably also be strong enough for that.
That leaves 5 high quality signings to come in and be season ready.
RB is a massive priority. I don't think Ayling or Smith is what we need at all and would rather have Dijksteel as the cover for a quality recruit.
LB is also a massive priority. Thomas may prove to be very good, but if a free transfer he will have options, if not he will not be cheap to buy. I'd keep Bangura as cover, sell Engel and chase Coulson.
CM is also a massive priority. Howson could be re-signed as cover and influence, but we desperately need a high quality CM signing. I think it should be better than O'Brien who will not be cheap either.
AM/W has quantity (unless McGree/Jones leave), but not enough quality. We desperately need a high quality No10 to leave Azaz as cover. Sell Gilbert and Banana Boots.
CF is essential. I'd chase Hoppe and have no faith in Lath.

So, even if McGree, Jones and Dijksteel stay and sign new contracts, then we need 5 high quality first choice, not just first team signings, plus additional cover/development at CM, LW and CF.

High quality RB,LB,CM,No10,CF
Cover/Development CB, CM, LW, CF
If McGree, or Jones are sold then they too will need replacing. See also Hackney, VdB, Dieng, Forss.

We probably can't afford to buy high quality in those 5 positions. I'd sign high quality and borrow high quality.
 
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indeedido said:
High quality RB,LB,CM,No10,CF
Cover/Development CB, CM, LW, CF
If McGree, or Jones are sold then they too will need replacing. See also Hackney, VdB, Dieng, Forss.
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Pretty much identical to my list in Post #59.
Except I have the no10 in the cover list instead of high quality as I'm taking a punt on Azaz at the moment. That could well change by the time June comes. He's got 17 matches to show his level.

But yes we need circa 8 players in to make this squad competitive and 4 of them need to be good quality, top end championship players to make us competitive.

This season we signed 10 players in the summer and out of that:

2 of them were top end players

VDB
Dieng

4 good enough for rotational/cover

Rogers (Put him in this section as it took him 3 months to get going and was showing ability in flashes rather than consistently)
Bangura
Glover
Lath

plus 3 duds

Engel
Silvera
Gilbert

and 1 that I don't really understand (Jones).

To find those 8 players to improve us requires Scott to perform a lot better this year than he did last year.
 
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