• Nigel Adkins has been given the Tranmere job on a permanent basis signing until the end of the 25/26 season. Continue the discussion here.

The Squad for 2018/19

ONIGP

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28 Feb 2018
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Eddie Bishop
While those stats don't sound bad my mind was made up in the half he played against Warrington. He was very poor under any high ball and he looked like a boy playing with men. If that performance was repeated in an EFL game we would be on the wrong end of a hiding.
 

Boz

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Iain Hume
Fair enough. I haven’t seen Pilling play often or at all this pre-season, so accept the general consensus that he’s not good enough (currently?) to play at this level. Just not convinced Luke’s got that much worse in the last few months.
 
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ian goodison
I wonder iff pillings lack of confidence is linked to Nixon as gk coach thought turner was well thought of so why the need to change im not sure davies to me seems to me not to be as good since Nixon came although has played well the last 2 games
 
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Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
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John King
Surely it is a positive that Mellon gave Pilling the benefit of the doubt by offering him another year to prove himself, rather than just getting rid of him in May ? He will have been on peanuts, so the cost to the club will be minimal. His opportunity came earlier than expected and he was not up to the task: then Mellon had to make a decision.

I saw all his pre-season games bar Warrington. The idea that he would have been better served by signing for a Championship club is laughable really.
 

Boz

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Iain Hume
Don’t see why it’s laughable, he’d be paid more and likely to get a better standard of training than under Nixon.
 
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Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
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Don’t see why it’s laughable, he’d be paid more and likely to get a better standard of training than under Nixon.
He would get nowhere near their first team. He would be even further from playing than he is here, which would not be good for his development.
 

Boz

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Iain Hume
It’s a moot point. You could argue he’d have developed more with reserve/B team games at Brentford and Championship level coaching.
 

bigmart

bigmart
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29 Jul 2009
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Ian Muir
Pilling going to a championship club would be for the under 23's so in reality he would be around 6th choice or there abouts
 
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Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
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It’s a moot point. You could argue he’d have developed more with reserve/B team games at Brentford and Championship level coaching.
He would still ultimately have to leave to get first team football. Is he better off at his age playing first team football in Conference North, or yet more youth football ? I think the former.

In any case, I think Tranmere's interests come first and Mellon has made the right decision.
 
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Charlton1975

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4 Dec 2009
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Jason Koumas
It is clear that MM doesnt think Luke is ready / able to take on the No1 position if Scott gets injured, so why not send him out on loan so that he played, and lets see what he comes back like. I personally think his Tranmere career is probably over, but you never say never!
 
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24 Jul 2017
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aldo
think harris is gona struggle to get back in to the team. think mullin has to start . and think dmh has to start to . we look more dangerous when with them in the team
 
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Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
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John King
I think Smith should start ahead of DMH. His all round game is better and I think he is very important to our style with his skill and link up play. I would rather DMH was used as an impact player at the moment, as he was on Saturday.
 

Boz

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Iain Hume
Haven't seen enough of Smith yet to judge who's capable of being the better player for us. One good cross early on is the only thing that stood out for me on Saturday, when he seemed very subdued. One thing which DMH did when he came on was make a nuisance of himself and give the opponent a battle for the ball.
 
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Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
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Smith contributed a lot in the previous four games and was good in the first half on Saturday I thought. He is a better footballer than DMH and reads the movement of Norwood and Stockton better. Some of the link-up play between him, Banks, Jennings and the forwards at Swindon was superb.

There is no way he deserves to be dropped in my view, although I agree that Mullin should start now. In reality, I think we will be unchanged at Northampton.
 
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aldo
i think cole might be the one to give way on saturday . we need another scorer other than noorwood . he needs help and support think mullin can be that man.
 
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1 Oct 2005
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Alan King, Barry Dyson
Has Micky said that's the end of the signings for this transfer window? I presumed Franklyn was the last one.
 

Ian

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Aldo
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Kingy
It’s pretty clear Stockton’s level is national league. He scores goals at that level. He’s looked out of his depth in the EFL and the weakest of the team by far.

Let’s hope Mullin can give us more.
 
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Mungy's Hairdresser
I’ve still no issue with Stockton (save Cole reference confusion) starting! If we’re grinding out the results then why not protect our secret weapons from the bench! MM has worked out a system & it works! DMH & Mullin will happen, be patient with this integration ;) Stockton I believe is a confidence player whom MM will nurture back to form!
 
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Alan King, Barry Dyson
It’s pretty clear Stockton’s level is national league. He scores goals at that level. He’s looked out of his depth in the EFL and the weakest of the team by far.
I don't often disagree with you, Ian, but I have to agree with MH. Cole has scored 17 goals in the EFL for Rovers and Morecambe including the first five when we were in League One. He fell out of favour at PP, but was a hit in two spells on loan at Morecambe in League Two scoring 12 in 33 games in all competitions.

His best season was 2016/17, when he scored 23 in 49 in all competitions. Once he returned from Morecambe in January, he was on fire and kept Andy Cook out of the side. His performance in the play-offs made all the difference in the two legs against Aldershot. Sadly for him, he made the big mistake of leaving us for Hearts, where he failed to score and then Carlisle where he bagged just one.

Having wasted a whole season, he is now back with one of the managers who appreciates him (the others being Rob Edwards and Jim Bentley).. It is clear he can score goals in the right environment. What Micky now seems to be doing is encouraging him to be more of a team player, working for others. I was very sorry to see him go a year ago. He's still basically the same player as when he left, so like Micky let's get behind him.
 

Boz

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Iain Hume
I’d agree that Stockton’s record shows he is capable of delivering at this level. Whether it was the right thing for MM to immediately put Cole into the starting xi, after his signing just before the season started is debatable. While there has been some good link-up play with Norwood, I’m not sure that his performances so far have delivered enough to justify him keeping his place, when you consider how well Mullin played after coming on against Port Vale.
 
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