Summer Rebuild 2016/2017

[Ian Royal]

Keep Al-Habsi, Bond, Moore, Keown, Sweeney, McShane, Cooper, Obita, Watson, McCleary, Quinn, Tshibola, Barrett, Kuhl, Evans, Rakels, Dickie and Samuel.

For the last 5 seasons, and especially now, what have we needed? A god damn 20-30 goal striker, some pace, wide players who can cross, full backs who don't piss around up front and charismatic midfielders.

is charisma really that important in a midfielder?
are 20-30 goals a season championship strikers really that common/easy to get/cheap enough?

agree on rest

Yes, a charismatic midfielder can be the engine of a team, unlike Williams and Norwood who run around like headless chickens and play long passes to Mr Nobody (respectively). We need presence in the middle otherwise we can't supply the strikers, which has been a problem for a while now (not to mention our god awful crossers of the ball). Also - passion and character. A great midfielder that I imagine should not be pulling out of tackles or pass the ball with the sloppiness and half-heartedness that we're used to.

And true, 20-30 goal strikers are kind of hard to come by, particularly with a low spending team like ourselves. We should at least check the lower leagues for another Le Fondre or something. Not 20-30 goals perhaps, but a striker that is capable of making an impact, scoring wining goals and one that doesn't disappear during crucial games. The player must have great finishing abilities too and not f0ck up a chance at the last hurdle (looking at you Matej).

I like the way Norwood gets simultaneously criticised by our fanbase for playing both long balls and short passes.

[leon]

is charisma really that important in a midfielder?
are 20-30 goals a season championship strikers really that common/easy to get/cheap enough?

agree on rest

Yes, a charismatic midfielder can be the engine of a team, unlike Williams and Norwood who run around like headless chickens and play long passes to Mr Nobody (respectively). We need presence in the middle otherwise we can't supply the strikers, which has been a problem for a while now (not to mention our god awful crossers of the ball). Also - passion and character. A great midfielder that I imagine should not be pulling out of tackles or pass the ball with the sloppiness and half-heartedness that we're used to.

And true, 20-30 goal strikers are kind of hard to come by, particularly with a low spending team like ourselves. We should at least check the lower leagues for another Le Fondre or something. Not 20-30 goals perhaps, but a striker that is capable of making an impact, scoring wining goals and one that doesn't disappear during crucial games. The player must have great finishing abilities too and not f0ck up a chance at the last hurdle (looking at you Matej).

I like the way Norwood gets simultaneously criticised by our fanbase for playing both long balls and short passes.

It's not that it's a long or a short ball - it's whether it's the right ball.

[Maneki Neko]

Yes, a charismatic midfielder can be the engine of a team, unlike Williams and Norwood who run around like headless chickens and play long passes to Mr Nobody (respectively). We need presence in the middle otherwise we can't supply the strikers, which has been a problem for a while now (not to mention our god awful crossers of the ball). Also - passion and character. A great midfielder that I imagine should not be pulling out of tackles or pass the ball with the sloppiness and half-heartedness that we're used to.

engine.
supply-passing-creativity
passion
character
tackler
wholehearted


agree he needs those things.
but not charisma, which is none of those things

[genome]

How exactly do you quantify passion? It just seems like one of those media buzz-words that has no real meaning.

Every player is passionate, otherwise they wouldn't have had the drive to make it to the second tier of English football.

[linkenholtroyal]

So you all want a midfielder who can talk the talk and be a bit of a rebel, and is passionate about reading and football, does he have to be able to kick a ball. Because thus far I could do that.......

[linkenholtroyal]

So you all want a midfielder who can talk the talk and be a bit of a rebel, and is passionate about reading and football, does he have to be able to kick a ball. Because thus far I could do that.......

I'd do all that for 40k a year just putting myself out there if you don't put yourself forward you never get

[Ian Royal]

Yes, a charismatic midfielder can be the engine of a team, unlike Williams and Norwood who run around like headless chickens and play long passes to Mr Nobody (respectively). We need presence in the middle otherwise we can't supply the strikers, which has been a problem for a while now (not to mention our god awful crossers of the ball). Also - passion and character. A great midfielder that I imagine should not be pulling out of tackles or pass the ball with the sloppiness and half-heartedness that we're used to.

engine.
supply-passing-creativity
passion
character
tackler
wholehearted


agree he needs those things.
but not charisma, which is none of those things

He's got most of those things IMO.

[Maneki Neko]

Agreed. Perfectly decent. Wages mean we may need yo get eid regardless

[blueroyals]

Nah, Cooper is never worth 5m

Nicky Hammond would have got £10m for him.

Probably, and that is the main reason why we will miss Hammond, because of his outstanding negotiating skills

There's more to a DoF these days than wheeling and dealing. Unfortunately that's all he was good at

[Maneki Neko]

imo the role depends a little bit on the individual club/manager/DOF involved and what they all want/are good at.

For us at the time, NH was a perfect fit for Coppell and Mcdermot, who both prefer managing the players and coaching staff and/or doing the coaching themselves, leaving the contracts and buying players/dealing with agents/owners to someone else,, while the club had a limited budget and needed a man in who could understand the constraints and deal with that, because madejski didn't know about football business .

with McDermott in again, and more owners who don't know about football, maybe he needs another admin man, or maybe the thais think he now needs someone more footbally above him....an avram grant for instance. someone with profile, respect etc
Coppell wouldn't work in the NH role because he hated the contracts/dealing with agents bit anyway. but he would work in a more over arching footbally role,

its a role that can work in many ways, depending on the people/organisations involved.

[Kuhl_Runnings]

Yes, a charismatic midfielder can be the engine of a team, unlike Williams and Norwood who run around like headless chickens and play long passes to Mr Nobody (respectively). We need presence in the middle otherwise we can't supply the strikers, which has been a problem for a while now (not to mention our god awful crossers of the ball). Also - passion and character. A great midfielder that I imagine should not be pulling out of tackles or pass the ball with the sloppiness and half-heartedness that we're used to.

engine.
supply-passing-creativity
passion
character
tackler
wholehearted


agree he needs those things.
but not charisma, which is none of those things

I suppose not, it might just be my blind distaste of Norwood. I really wouldn't care less if he leaves, and he probably will, especially if he does alright at the euros. Although on the other hand Norwood has shown flashes of quality, and a lot of people seem to really like him as a player. I don't know what I'm not seeing, but if he has a really good pre and start to the season that might just alter my opinion on the bloke. But for now, especially recently, all I've seen him do is pass the ball either out of touch or to the opposition fullback, then moan and saunter back to help the defence. He needs everything you listed to accomplish the all important goal of a footballer - a good opinion from Kuhl_Runnings

[Maneki Neko]

of course the truth probably lies somewhere between those two camps.
hes a decent player, who has shown real quality at times, and made a difference in a lot of our good play.hes scored goals and set them up, takes a half decent free kick occasionally....
hes also had plenty of games where he was less effective, disappointing, or even poor.
but during a season like weve just had, maybe that's less surprising

[West Stand Man]

Nicky Hammond would have got £10m for him.

Probably, and that is the main reason why we will miss Hammond, because of his outstanding negotiating skills

There's more to a DoF these days than wheeling and dealing. Unfortunately that's all he was good at

Really, and you know that do you? The role of a DoF is just what the club owners define it as in his job spec. It will vary club to club.

[Sutekh]

Probably, and that is the main reason why we will miss Hammond, because of his outstanding negotiating skills

There's more to a DoF these days than wheeling and dealing. Unfortunately that's all he was good at

Really, and you know that do you? The role of a DoF is just what the club owners define it as in his job spec. It will vary club to club.

I imagine the small amount of football related activities of what Nicky did will go to Brian Tevreden and Eamonn Dolan and the financial stuff will be Nigel Howe's arena. What we are losing is the bloke who translates the football "speak" into boardroom "speak" and asks the football/boardroom questions up front when communicating with the other half and how that pans out remains to be seen.

[Forbury Lion]

Maybe with Sir John no longer being the owner/person with the keys to the cash there isn't a need for a football speak to board speak translator, possibly because the new owners are not saying anything/listening anyway.

The Secret Footballer did go over the role of a DoF at a club he was at, Basically long term budgeting/planning and managing the transfer funds to stop one manager spending it all on short term signings and leaving a mess for the next manager. Also transfer wheeling and dealing.

[Maneki Neko]

managing the transfer funds to stop one manager spending it all on short term signings and leaving a mess for the next manager.

cheers clarkey

[RoyalJones]

For me, Chris Gunter typifies the current malaise at the club. Lovely guy, great athelete, bang average defender and just so meek and mild. He screams bottlejob.

I hope he has a fantastic tournament with Wales and someone buys him because he's our soft underbelly.

I mean compare him to Murty, or Griffin, Bernal, or Newman. Any one of them had more backbone in one vertebra than he has in his entire spine.

And he carries the losing mentality that we have had for the past few years since we were relegated. As you said, a great athlete but can't cross and doesn't come across as being a championship winning/promtion full-back because he is so weak defensively. The same could be said for Obita where he is a good crosser (sometimes) but is not great at defending and a lot of goals conceded come down from his flank.

Obita is at least up for the fight. He's just not great defensively (better than Gunter in attack). The weakness in defence and tendency to commit silly fouls is a product of being a young winger converted to full back IMO. I think he'd make a good wing back with slightly fewer defensive duties and a back three to keep him out of trouble.

Obita is good delivering set pieces and is solid as a championship player but I just don't see him being a player that is challenging for promotion in terms of his ability unless he improves a lot over the summer which I doubt he will. I really hope that he proves me wrong though because he is one of our academy graduates. I think a 5-3-2 is a perfect formation for him to be a left wing back because he can defend adequately and goes forward well but in a back 4 he looks slightly vulnerable (as does Gunter). The problem is I don't think McDermott will ever adopt this formation.

[RoyalJones]

Same goes for Kermie - think he's confidence is shot from playing for such a crap team ... IMHO

You can see Kermit's potential so I hope he kicks on next season

[RoyalJones]

Keep Al-Habsi, Bond, Moore, Keown, Sweeney, McShane, Cooper, Obita, Watson, McCleary, Quinn, Tshibola, Barrett, Kuhl, Evans, Rakels, Dickie and Samuel.

For the last 5 seasons, and especially now, what have we needed? A god damn 20-30 goal striker, some pace, wide players who can cross, full backs who don't piss around up front and charismatic midfielders.

Just from looking at that list of who you would keep it is clear that we need quite a few acquisitions in the summer to be competitive. However, it also shows we have some young players with potential and none of them you have listed seem to have an attitude problem. Agreed that we need a striker with Rakels who can be an impact sub and can come on and really hurt tiring defences in the second half. I am for a Tshibola and Quinn partnership in midfield but we need a more attacking midfielder for creativity (someone like Bradley Dack). Fosu could be that winger that we need to get past a man and put a decent ball in.

[RoyalJones]

I work with some of Aaron Kuhl's mates and by the sound of things, he'll be off this summer. Apparently he's only been offered a one-year deal here and a longer deal elsewhere.

Well my screen name is buggered

We should be offering a 10 year deal to Kuhl, based on the hair alone. Plus I like him; when big Nige brought him in to first team duties, he was excellent.

I like Kuhl but we have several defensive midfielders in front of him at the moment in the pecking order and I don't know if he'd be that attacking midfielder that we need. If we sell Williams and Norwood (which I am not too again the idea of) then he might get his chance hopefully to either be a sub or in the starting 11.