The Squad for 2018/19

[Colin K]

Just from having a look at some players who are currently out there as free agents:

Danny Guthrie - Been playing in Indonesia but now out of contract. Was playing with Blackburn a couple of seasons ago and may look for return to English football now his contract in Indonesia has expired. Premier League experience and could still do a job but may be slightly out of our price range given that a few Championship clubs were touting for him in the summer.

Jay Simpson - Again another former Premier League player who went to ply his trade in another country, however Simpsons contract with with Philidelphia has been terminated and he's currently training with Leyton Orient. He did a job for Orient a couple of seasons ago in league two (scored 25 goals) and could be a decent option up front for pace if Nors is to go.

Jordan Mustoe - A Birkenhead boy who's been playing in Finland for the past year. Last seen in England playing for Accrington in 2014 but went from there to Westerloo in Belgium where he was a first team regular and then to Finland. He is still only 27 though and maybe one worth looking at on trial (Grimsby were looking at him last year before he went to Finland).

Adil Nabi - Recently released by Dundee (playing in the Scottish Premiership), Nabi was once regarded as high as Berahino in the West Brom youth set up, being voted their Young Player of the Season for 2014/2015. Peterborough signed him in 2016 where he didn't play much football and he then moved to Dundee. He scored lots of goals at youth level and maybe lost his way so it would be a gamble...but he's only 24 and a striker never loses it surely?

More just for interest than doing the scouts job for them! Guthrie could be a coup though...and maybe worth taking a chance on Simpson given he's still only 30.

 

[aldoes mustache]

yes the recruitment has been very good . and with some extra cash we might get a few more to see

 

[ADD]

Mellon's recruitment this season has been very good. Akammadu and Williams were just fringe signings, not key squad members.

You may well be right RLC about those two - though I must confess that wasn't what I had expected. To bring someone in from Italy with all that entails simply to be a fringe player seems odd to me. Have to confess I also thought Williams would have had enough about him to challenge for a first team spot which clearly hasn #'t happened though I heard recently he is injured - tho never mentioned by MM which I guess proves he is definitely a fringe player....

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

To bring someone in from Italy with all that entails simply to be a fringe player seems odd to me.

Why ? We won't have incurred any costs to bring him here; he will be paid a basic wage, like any other player. I would guess Akammadu and Williams are on buttons, so the cost to the club is minimal.

The core signings in the summer were as follows:

Banks
Mullin
Ellis
Caprice
McCullough
Stockton
Bakayogo

They were all good signings in my view. Stockton is limited but does a useful job, and Zoum has been poor recently but it is too early to write him off. The others have unquestionably been successes.

 

[ADD]

RLC, Franklyn was signed on a year's contract so he must have been considered a core signing and he moved from Italy - plus we are putting him up at the Riverhill at over £80/ night and if we were paying his home club buttons as you suggest, given he had a contract in Italy already what is the point of his club releasing him if they only get buttons for him? As to the others, Banks had already played for us and had burnt his bridges with his club so a no brainer. Mullin is not to my mind a "unquestionable success" - he has done ok coming off the bench against tiring teams but done little when starting. Caprice is fine going forward until he has to defend when he is lacking. Ellis has not been a regular until we had injuries/ changed formation. Mc Cullough agreed has done well. Stockton and Bakayogo I also agree with your comments.
You are however forgetting Gilmour who has been relegated to a bench player who was brought in on the same basis as Mc Cullough, George who has been a complete waste of money IMO being no better than our own keepers and Williams who yes may be on buttons but has hardly played. All in all in my book some successes and some failures which am sure MM had hoped would have been better than that.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

RLC, Franklyn was signed on a year's contract so he must have been considered a core signing and he moved from Italy - plus we are putting him up at the Riverhill at over £80/ night and if we were paying his home club buttons as you suggest, given he had a contract in Italy already what is the point of his club releasing him if they only get buttons for him? As to the others, Banks had already played for us and had burnt his bridges with his club so a no brainer. Mullin is not to my mind a "unquestionable success" - he has done ok coming off the bench against tiring teams but done little when starting. Caprice is fine going forward until he has to defend when he is lacking. Ellis has not been a regular until we had injuries/ changed formation. Mc Cullough agreed has done well. Stockton and Bakayogo I also agree with your comments.
You are however forgetting Gilmour who has been relegated to a bench player who was brought in on the same basis as Mc Cullough, George who has been a complete waste of money IMO being no better than our own keepers and Williams who yes may be on buttons but has hardly played. All in all in my book some successes and some failures which am sure MM had hoped would have been better than that.

Disagree with virtually everything you have said. I forgot about Gilmour, who is also a talented player but is young and is still learning the game.

All the players mentioned are capable at League Two level. Who do you honestly think we were in the market to sign last summer on a limited budget ? Top players in the lower leagues like Ferrier, Rowe and Cook were out of our price range and the manager has recruited very well given the limited resources available to him. Perhaps you expected Harry Kane or Christian Eriksen to rock up..........Any player at this level will have some limitations; Roberto Carlos was better going forward than he was defensively, similar to Caprice.

Given your constant criticisms of our players and manager - the most successful we have had in many years - I think you might be supporting the wrong club.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

- plus we are putting him up at the Riverhill at over £80/ night .

It does not cost us 80 quid per night - we own the hotel.

He was clearly a 'wild-card' signing, which might or might not have come off, similar to Green and Rokka last season. The strikers who were obviously going to be ahead of him in the pecking order - Mullin and Stockton - had already been signed before he arrived.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Banks had already played for us and had burnt his bridges with his club so a no brainer. .

How is it a 'no-brainer' ? We still had to identify him when he was out of favour at Oldham.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Mullin is not to my mind a "unquestionable success" - he has done ok coming off the bench against tiring teams but done little when starting. .

Rubbish. He has not started that many games, but was excellent away at Morecambe - to give one example -when he did start. He is not a natural partner for Norwood, but that is a different matter. He is averaging a goal every two games from limited appearances.

 

[aldoes mustache]

more money coming in from coventry city one of are lads gone there compo agreed

 

[aldoes mustache]

ok perkins in on 18 month contract we need some young fast skill full players to . lets give him a warm welcome and see what goes

 

[Ian]

I think this is just the type of player we need. Experienced, hard worker who will give us that extra bite in the middle. A midfield with Banks, McCullough and Perkins is a decent one at this level.

 

[Boz]

I've no issue with the players MM has brought in this season, though he could be criticised last season for failing to fully recognise Cook's quality and trying to replace him with inferior players like Alabi and Waring. Even before Norburn left, I felt we were a man light in midfield, so the extension of McCullough's loan and the recruitment of Perkins may fill that gap. Don't know how fit he is, as fell out of favour at Rochdale and hasn't played in a while. However, I would hope that we are able to extend the loan of Harvey Gilmour, who was one of our better players last night.

 

[Sparky]

Perkins must be made up. 36 years old and gets an 18 month deal!!

I’m hoping that 18 months was the only chance we had of getting him so he’ll be very good at our level. I really hope he is fit though as we can’t afford to carry passengers

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Perkins must be made up. 36 years old and gets an 18 month deal!!

I’m hoping that 18 months was the only chance we had of getting him so he’ll be very good at our level. I really hope he is fit though as we can’t afford to carry passengers

The only doubt about Perkins is obviously his age. In all other respects, this seems a really good signing as he is exactly the kind of player we need. It is hard to single out individuals, but the number of times Harris simply helped the ball on to nobody last night, rather than showing some composure, was frustrating. Obviously against Spurs failing to keep possession is understandable, but it has happened with Harris too often in league matches this season as well.

I am also pleased that Perkins is not coming on a short term contract, as a longer deal at least gives us a chance to build. Let's hope the signing works out.

 

[keep the faith]

I wonder with perkins being offered 18 months it means we may lose McCulloch in the summer

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I wonder with perkins being offered 18 months it means we may lose McCulloch in the summer

They are completely different players, so no, I don't think so.

Doncaster don't want McCullough, so it is more likely we will sign him permanently in the summer.

 

[ADD]

Perkins must be made up. 36 years old and gets an 18 month deal!!

I’m hoping that 18 months was the only chance we had of getting him so he’ll be very good at our level. I really hope he is fit though as we can’t afford to carry passengers

Sparky - he already had a 2 year contract from Rochdale until Summer 2020 so all we have done timewise is match what he had before as otherwise he would surely have stayed where he was if we had only offered him a short term contract. Is a difficult one to judge - yes he has played at a higher level but he is already 36 and had lost his place at Rochdale so we will have to see.

 

[bigmart]

According to Matt Jones there will be 3 more signings in the coming days

 

[Ian]

I don’t think we should be concentrating on age too much. Apparently he’s a really fit guy and works really hard. He’s no doubt lost pace over the years but Im sure he is still good enough at this level.