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    Tranmere Rovers have appointed Darrell Clarke as the club’s new manager.
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Deathly silence

bigmart said:
We know players will be brought in but the longer it takes to get them in the less chance of a decent season.
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I'm not sure I would sight my expectations that high. We have an awful lot of work to do to get us even competitive in this league again. Stopping the slide would be a great start.
 
Rockford's Love Child said:
The majority of clubs in League Two are not rebuilding a squad virtually from scratch. We have a lot more work to do than most of our competitors.
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The concern though RLC is that we have 13 under contract so theoretically have half our squad pre-determined (albet 2 long term injured) unless we can move some players on which must be highly debateable. The folly of those 2/3 year contracts sadly!
 
ADD said:
The concern though RLC is that we have 13 under contract so theoretically have half our squad pre-determined (albet 2 long term injured) unless we can move some players on which must be highly debateable. The folly of those 2/3 year contracts sadly!
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Yes, I agree completely. The majority of those under contract are either injured or are not good enough.

However, we still need to sign at least another ten to twelve players to have a functioning squad.
 
ADD said:
The concern though RLC is that we have 13 under contract so theoretically have half our squad pre-determined (albet 2 long term injured) unless we can move some players on which must be highly debateable. The folly of those 2/3 year contracts sadly!
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Yet we have persistently struggled where we've had short term contracts with a decent or good season one season not then sustained to the next because we've ended up with a substantially different team. Fans had been clamouring for longer contracts to ensure we had a good core retained to build on. The bit that's been consistently missing though since we started giving out longer contracts is the players actually performing.
 
It is not longer contracts per se that is the issue. It is the quality of the players that were offered those contracts (Davison, Saunders, Kenneh, even Ironside arguably).

If you are going to offer substantial deals at this level, the decision making has to be spot on. It hasn't been, to put it mildly.
 
Rockford's Love Child said:
It is not longer contracts per se that is the issue. It is the quality of the players that were offered those contracts (Davison, Saunders, Kenneh, even Ironside arguably).

If you are going to offer substantial deals at this level, the decision making has to be spot on. It hasn't been, to put it mildly.
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I always sense a hint of desperation in some of the decision making. We are not a top attraction for players given the state of the nation over the last few years. RLC mentions Ironside. I recall looking at his record when he was signed and it did not seem to justify a long term contract. Still, we needed a striker and the longer contract was required to get his signature. It is a bit catch 22. We need better players to climb the ladder but it is hard to attract them given recent history. Maybe new owners with money will break the nexus!
 
Lots of hindsight used here. If they are duff why did we sign them for so long but Cook and Norwood why didn't we tie them down.
Maybe best to say up front which is very hard if you just look at stats.
 
dollar'sbloke said:
Lots of hindsight used here. If they are duff why did we sign them for so long but Cook and Norwood why didn't we tie them down.
Maybe best to say up front which is very hard if you just look at stats.
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Cook and Norwood rejected offers to extend their contracts, so either we try to sell them and get some money or they go for free at the end of their contracts. Quite a few fans had concerns when we signed Davison and most had concerns when we extended Saunders contract.

With regards Ironside, I think the reason we gave him 3 years was because he had offers of 2 years elsewhere. Ironside hasnt really flourished so far as he thrives on crosses into the box which is something we have failed to do, instead we lumped it into the air to him and left him isolated.
 
Clarke has stated that he wants to play four at the back with pacy wingers, so perhaps he can get the best out of Ironside. A lone striker role with a back five certainly doesn't suit him.
 
That’s what I couldn’t understand about Crosby. The club backed him by bringing in big Joe, not a marquee signing but with basically a three contract it was a big deal from our perspective.

Yet he was totally unsuited to our system. His whole career he’s relied on wingers getting to the byline and pulling crosses back. Yet with our wingback system he had no delivery to attack. It was a pointless signing but as RLC says, hopefully DC can get the best out of him as like it or not he’s on a decent contract and won’t have teams lining up for him.
 
bigmart said:
Cook and Norwood rejected offers to extend their contracts, so either we try to sell them and get some money or they go for free at the end of their contracts. Quite a few fans had concerns when we signed Davison and most had concerns when we extended Saunders contract.

With regards Ironside, I think the reason we gave him 3 years was because he had offers of 2 years elsewhere. Ironside hasnt really flourished so far as he thrives on crosses into the box which is something we have failed to do, instead we lumped it into the air to him and left him isolated.
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Anyone looking to improve their pay will walk once their contract gets down to a year. We could have tied both of them down but many thought Nors missed too many and Cook was unfit.
Ironside is a Steel type who gives you shape but won't score much in a weak team
The extension of Saunders was just inexplicable there again a competitor just signed him.
 
This is par for the course. This time last year, apart from contract renewals, we'd signed only two players, Brough and Bristow. The previous year, it was just one, Sam Finley. Above all, we need too improve our recruitment and get better players in. There is no point in rushing. It didn't work last summer!

All the good players' agents are looking around for the best deals. When the contracts end on 30th June and players stop being paid, you can expect some action.
 
bring back the cowshed! said:
This is par for the course. This time last year, apart from contract renewals, we'd signed only two players, Brough and Bristow. The previous year, it was just one, Sam Finley. Above all, we need too improve our recruitment and get better players in. There is no point in rushing. It didn't work last summer!

All the good players' agents are looking around for the best deals. When the contracts end on 30th June and players stop being paid, you can expect some action.
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I maybe wrong but I think we had more players under contract than we do now, also Mcgee and Jennings are out for several months and O'Connor wont be ready for start of pre season
 
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bigmart said:
I maybe wrong but I think we had more players under contract than we do now, also Mcgee and Jennings are out for several months and O'Connor wont be ready for start of pre season
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Not really. We had just six players still under contract in summer 2025 although we triggered two optional extensions, making eight. We did manage to get five players to sign a new contract, but that makes just 13 existing players to build on this time last year, compared with 13 currently. I acknowledge that McGee and Jennings will not start the season and may never even play for the club again, but if Ryan Watson re-signs, we will be back up to 12 fit players by August. So, there is not much difference in manpower.

The big difference of course is the completely new management team of Clarke and Whitehead, compared with Andy Crosby already being in place last summer. Let's give them a fair chance. They know better than us what the timescale is and what is required.
 
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