Signed, retained, departing

[Towningaround]

Chucks has signed for Worthing….🤣🤣🤣🤣

I mean wtf!!!!

A goal every 1100 minutes for Gav 🤣🤣🤣

[ETFC2001]

26 minutes ago, Towningaround said:

Chucks has signed for Worthing….🤣🤣🤣🤣

I mean wtf!!!!

A goal every 1100 minutes for Gav 🤣🤣🤣

Slightly contradictory if you’re going to have a go at other fans for taking the piss out of former players joining new clubs, then getting onto the forum to do just that..

He’s a good player and was a good servant to us for the last 6 months of the season. Hope he does well.

[Towningaround]

7 minutes ago, ETFC2001 said:

Slightly contradictory if you’re going to have a go at other fans for taking the piss out of former players joining new clubs, then getting onto the forum to do just that..

He’s a good player and was a good servant to us for the last 6 months of the season. Hope he does well.

No it’s nothing of the sort. If I was all over Worthing’s twitter account, tagging him in, asking him how many goals he got last season it would be the same 👍

He scored 1 goal in half a season and suffered the same fate every other forward we had suffered which was a) a lack of service b) a team set up not to lose c) isolated and starved of support and worst of all when he did actually score…and most likely felt a million dollars and 3 stone lighter…..Gavin left him out the side!!

 

[Comet]

IMO Chucks did a good job. Occupied defenders and was a real handful. Did he score many no, but then who did? He kept us up with his style of play and the way we were set up. I wish him well.

that said we are now looking very light up top. No strikers signed so far but can see Gav’s process. Defence, Midfield and GK’s …. strike force next.

In would say we require:

Peake + 3 more who can operate across the front 3

Kasimu? Jury’s out/missed an absolute sitter at Averly away and not really seen enough. 

Dillon - yes please 

Mo? / Wiley? ££ ? 

 

 

 

[The Crowing Cockerel]

54 minutes ago, Towningaround said:

Chucks has signed for Worthing….🤣🤣🤣🤣

I mean wtf!!!!

A goal every 1100 minutes for Gav 🤣🤣🤣

Well I didn't see that coming!!

He'll be 3rd choice there (at best) behind Faal and Babalola.

No idea how he got that move off the back of last season, but his agent needs a raise!

[The Crowing Cockerel]

5 minutes ago, Comet said:

IMO Chucks did a good job. Occupied defenders and was a real handful. Did he score many no, but then who did? He kept us up with his style of play and the way we were set up. I wish him well.

that said we are now looking very light up top. No strikers signed so far but can see Gav’s process. Defence, Midfield and GK’s …. strike force next.

In would say we require:

Peake + 3 more who can operate across the front 3

Kasimu? Jury’s out/missed an absolute sitter at Averly away and not really seen enough. 

Dillon - yes please 

Mo? / Wiley? ££ ? 

 

 

 

Dillon - no chance.

Wyllie - he'll probably go out on loan to a National League side - can't see him dropping to NLS just yet.

Peake - might've shown enough to get a move to one of the 'bigger' NLS sides.

Mo - believe he's already committed to Worthing.

Kasimu - can't see him committing to another season of Gav Ball unless he has no other Step 2 options.

Looks like Sam Youngs might be leading the line again...!

[Comet]

On a general note, it would be good to hear from the club first before we hear on Twitter from other teams signing our players! 

most teams add a retained list for starters which we don’t see to do. 

[No bull Towner]

The longer it goes on with no strikers confirmed the bleaker the season ahead seems....maybe Gav has secured Cian Dillon on loan again or has other loans lined up as we sure as hell need something!

[Barney]

I'm sure there will a plan, and plenty going on behind the scenes, although given the situation we're in trying to compete with an increasingly large number of full time teams, and sides who can afford to put (most of their) players on contract, I think we'll need to be patient with this one. What we don't want to end up doing is getting the wrong player in at this stage on a contract, and then have them bench warm for most of the season... It's a difficult one, and as was called out last season, it's especially difficult/expensive to secure the services of good strikers at this level. I can see us continuing to rely on loanees as well, as this proved positive in the most part last season. Hopefully the likes of QPR and Peterborough saw that loan spells at Town proved beneficial for their young players, and are willing to do more of the same.

Regarding the retained list, I might be wrong, but I would have thought that it's easier for clubs to do that when they're putting most of their players on contracts, and just renewing those contracts - if we aren't doing that, I guess it's largely up to the player if they stay or leave, rather than us (e.g. Chukwu). Some of the players that have left mutually as they want guaranteed game time (Dylan perhaps) we did know about in advance. For the players that have re-signed (and I'm happy with those that have, albeit we clearly need more forward options), I'm assuming we were told as soon as they agreed to commit to the club.

I know there's a lot of negativity from some around the management/playing style/use of strikers etc. but ultimately Gavin and team did manage to dig us out of the hole that we were in by January, and we did improve throughout the season. Yes, I'd love for us to be playing a consistent 2 up front, knocking the ball around a lot more, being a lot less cautious, but it's pretty clear that he's setting us up to be defensively sound as a starting point, then relying on counter attacking/set pieces/scraps to get our goals. This will lead to any striker(s) we have ploughing a very lonely furrow up front at times, making runs that come to nothing, occupying defenders and being an out ball to relieve pressure on us, without a great deal of credit (or goals). Whilst we are where we are in terms of finance/infrastructure etc. and whilst we're still trying to establish ourselves at this level, I'm fully onboard with that. If you offered me 20th place next season right now, I'd bite your arm off. The longer we stay up here, the more established we get, the more we can grow our revenue streams, and hopefully we'll be able to get ourselves in a position where we can look up, rather than nervously over our shoulder in the league table.

It's very easy to look at what's happening with recruitment and say that it's not good enough, but it's a lot harder to suggest what we should be doing differently given our resources.

Edited yesterday at 08:37 by Barney

[The Crowing Cockerel]

1 hour ago, Barney said:

Hopefully the likes of QPR and Peterborough saw that loan spells at Town proved beneficial for their young players, and are willing to do more of the same.

I think the loan market was something Gavin learnt about over the last season. As you say, the youngsters we fielded from those clubs certainly benefitted from their time with a team in a tough spot - Harley Mills is currently being linked with a move to Celtic! I have no problem with bringing in a young, hungry striker - but I'd like to see them alongside a much more experienced forward. In an ideal world we'd have recruited someone like Ricky Holmes. Unfortunately we have neither the budget nor connections for that calibre of recruitment. Fingers crossed Gavin can pull off some kind of coup.

[No bull Towner]

So another announcement at 6pm......will it be a striker I wonder....hopefully the BOGOF has changed from keepers to strikers 🤞🤣

[The Crowing Cockerel]

20 minutes ago, No bull Towner said:

So another announcement at 6pm......will it be a striker I wonder....hopefully the BOGOF has changed from keepers to strikers 🤞🤣

Well, we've yet to hear about Peake, Bates, Kasimu and Stallard, or is it a newbie?

Edited yesterday at 12:33 by The Crowing Cockerel

[Towningaround]

Good post that @Barney Pretty much agree with all of it.

In addition what I would say is most forwards will look at performance related things…

Who’s around me?

What creative players are there?

Will we be winning games and in turn be in possession of the ball and dominating teams?

Does the side score goals?

etc etc 

Where we’ll struggle to get any one who’s in demand is that the answer to most of those questions is 👎

Last season Hutchinson scored 4 goals and Kasimu 2 and then no other centre forward, all season, scored more than 1…..that doesn’t scream “I fancy my chances of success there” to most strikers!!

So what you’re left with are strikers hoping for an opportunity having most likely had a tough time where they were or had been released…ie Hutchinson (Worthing) Chukwu (Welling) Kasimu Farnborough….

The alternative is strikers who are looking to make a few quid and don’t really care where they play or what level…I’d put Faal in this category but if Gavin had any sort of money we’d know about it by now.

What I would say though is I’m intrigued as to what many on here seem to think the budget is?

I can say pretty confidently that it’s not a bottom 4 budget.

[Shep]

I’m struggling to think of many clubs with potentially smaller budgets in NLS, expect others are better informed

[The Crowing Cockerel]

22 minutes ago, Shep said:

I’m struggling to think of many clubs with potentially smaller budgets in NLS, expect others are better informed

RED = definitely have more £ than us

ORANGE = take-overs/recent recruitment suggests have more £ than us

GREEN = Might have a comparable budget

----------------------------

AFC Totton    
Bath City
Chelmsford City
Chesham United
Chippenham Town 
Dagenham & Redbridge
Dorking Wanderers
Dover Athletic
Eastbourne Borough
Ebbsfleet United
Enfield Town
Farnborough
Hampton & Richmond Borough
Hemel Hempstead Town
Hornchurch
Horsham
Maidenhead United 
Maidstone United
Salisbury
Slough Town
Tonbridge Angels
Torquay United
Weston-super-Mare
Worthing

[Towningaround]

48 minutes ago, Shep said:

I’m struggling to think of many clubs with potentially smaller budgets in NLS, expect others are better informed

What would you imagine our top earners to be on?

[The Crowing Cockerel]

Looks like we've finally signed a striker then! Not a downgrade on the likes of Hutchinson.

[No bull Towner]

Well he's a striker but not exactly a prolific scorer....20 games 2 goals.....maybe he will flourish with us 👍

[Towningaround]

2 hours ago, The Crowing Cockerel said:

Looks like we've finally signed a striker then! Not a downgrade on the likes of Hutchinson.

Not a downgrade? Hmmm…..we’ll see.
I’ve seen a fair bit of Tommy and I’m yet to be convinced that he can move well enough to play at his level. 

[No bull Towner]

31 minutes ago, Towningaround said:

Not a downgrade? Hmmm…..we’ll see.
I’ve seen a fair bit of Tommy and I’m yet to be convinced that he can move well enough to play at his level. 

He looks built to hold his own so maybe he can mix it with defenders and feed our much needed second striker