The Squad for 2018/19

[aldoes mustache]

lol if you like it hahaha

 

[Sparky]

Macca signs a new 1 year deal. Very good news and will be interesting how he does in league 2.

So we’ve 4 centre halves plus Buxton and Sutton if needed at right back. Just need a new left back now. I’m not convinced Liam is the answer anymore.

 

[joe]

Nor do I and not because of Wembley. He is lacking something.

 

[bigmart]

Happy that McNulty has signed he deserves a go in the league with us

 

[Sparky]

I agree Joe. In several games last season he was found wanting, thinking Macc at home amongst others. Micky has been ace overall but his handling of Clarke who deserved to be playing was poor and we ended up losing him.

Whether he sees Liam as first choice or not, we will need back up in that position.

 

[Boz]

I’m glad McNulty is staying for the continuity. Have some doubts about how well he will do as it’s over 2 years since his last L2 appearance.

I’m not so sure about Micky’s handling of Clarke, given the suggestion Eddie’s agent was determined to get him a move, it’s unlikely he’d have stayed even as first choice left-back. Ridehalgh didn’t have a particularly good season just gone, but most on here were happy when he signed up for 2 years. We’ll definitely need another left-back for the 3 games he’s banned

 

[Ian]

Liam was OK is the conference but have doubts about the step up. However I think he’ll get a season to prove himself.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

From the noises coming out of the club, even if Clarke had played every game he would have left. Mellon has always really rated Ridehalgh, and probably just wanted to use his experience in the run-in. However, I agree that we need competition in that position. Liam did struggle against pace on a number of occasions last season.

Good news about Big Mac.

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

I am happy that all the players we have offered a new contract to are up to League Two standard. In addition, we have a bit more quality in Mark Ellis and Ollie Banks. We are still waiting for news of Luke Pilling and the promised further signings. I expect there's a lot of horsetrading going on at the moment, so we'll have to be patient. I'll be interested to see what Micky has planned for Alabi, Waring and Green.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Of those players from last season that we wanted to keep, only Cook and Clarke have left, which I think most of us predicted months ago. So in terms of the retention of our better players, we have done pretty well.

 

[Ian]

Yes, with Clarke only playing a handful of games. The big hole in the squad was made by Cook's departure, so let's see what the club respond with. From the comments made during the fans forum, I certainly don't think they'll be rushing. If they are to sign 3 or 4 players, they'll want to make sure those players can make a difference and come with the right attitude. Lessons learnt from last season I guess.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Strong rumours that we are signing Paul Mullin tomorrow.

 

[Higgy]

Will a fee be involved? Thought he was contracted to 2019. Do we see him as a striker or attacking midfield I wonder.

 

[Ian]

Quite possibly Higgy. I think he's got a lot of potential and the right attitude although he's not going to get us 20+ goals a season. We would still need a player to fill Cookie's boots.

 

[drwhoman]

An attacking midfielder. A Liverpudlian so might be looking for a return to the north west. I agree with Ian. We still need a striker recogising that Alabi and Waring will not be good enough. It might be argued that we need two strikers having lost both Cook and Mangan. As has been mentioned previously, it would also be useful to sign another left back. Time is creeping on and we are getting into trialist territory.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I am sure Mullin will be used as a striker if he signs.

 

[Mal]

He has not been prolific so far. Averaging around 8 goals a season which is probably good for an attacking midfielder. Have not found any stats on assists though. Still a need for a decent striker to partner Norwood.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

As was discussed a few weeks ago, I think Mullin is more of a replacement for Mangan, a hardworking striker rather than a goalscorer. I think we will be chasing other, more prolific forwards as well.

That said, it is quite possible we won't be able to replace Cook. He came to us from a much smaller club at a time when he had not fully proved himself. Picking an established player like Cook straight off the shelf costs a fortune and might be beyond us, so we will probably need to get more out of the other goalscoring players we already have (eg. Jennings and Cole).

 

[bigmart]

The thing to remember when we bring in strikers is that we are replacing a striker who scored a lot of goals in a league below that we are now in and we have no idea how many goals he would get with us if he had stayed, we have to have faith with whoever is brought in to do a job

 

[Boz]

There seem to be some doubts about the Mullin deal going ahead, so unless and until he signs on the dotted line, I'm not going to assess the specific player. I do agree with RLC that a like-for-like replacement may be beyond our means, so increasing our goalscoring across the squad becomes necessary.

There is quite a lot of recruitment going on amongst our L2 rivals, with Ricky Miller to Port Vale being the most eye-catching of the deals. Is anyone else getting a bit twitchy that things don't seem to be happening for Rovers yet?