Players released

[Boz]

Michael Johnston. Never got a chance at Rovers, did well at Bangor on loan, League of Wales is about conference level, I guess.

Robbie Stockdale. Limited attacking ability, but reliable in defence throughout his time here. Rumours suggesting a move back to Scotland.

John Mullin. Good first four months at Rovers, after that injuries and loss of form dulled his impact.

Mike Jones. Never got the chances he deserved under Ronnie, who preferred playing JMW out of position, yet when he came on in the home match v Hereford made a big improvement to the team. I think he could do a decent job at this level, but may drop down a league to get regular football.

 

[white life]

where have you heard this? i'll be very dissappointed if this is true, because i feel that stockdale has been one of the more solid performers for us in the moore era. jones i also feel was impressive when he played, though he obviously never got the chances. bit undecided about the other two, having never seen johnston, while mullin did well to start with but faded badly towards the end. still can't really believe that we have let stockdale go though. solid performer.

 

[lonerover]

Well can only assume that if Mullin is going that we've persuaded McLaren and Jenno to stay or we'll have no midfield to speak of!!

Agree with the comment about Stockdale think he's been pretty solid without being spectacular, good experienced player to have though.

Reckon we'll have to add Davo to the list as I understand he's already knocked back an offer from the club.

 

[white life]

where is everyone (i.e you two) hearing this? i've heard nothing!!!

 

[SCooperSomersaults]

I've not heard anything officially either, all I know is that Michael Johnston has signed for Bangor City. Only saw him play a couple of times and I know the club had high hopes for him but obviously didn't think he progressed as well as they wanted.

As for any others, not heard anything realy, so i'll wait til the official word is out.

 

[lonerover]

Well it's on the BBC website before it's on the official site????????? All I can say is hope McLaren and Jenno are staying!!!!!

 

[Ian]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/t/tranmere_rovers/7398526.stm

Bit disappointed they decided to release Mullin. I think he still had soemthing to give. OK, he's been injured for a lot of the season but so have other players. We are quite weak in midfield and would have liked to see him stay.

Stockdale is average. If we want to go anywhere in this division, we need better players.

 

[director]

No More Moore

If Ronnie's releasing players.......... does this mean he's staying? Let's hope not. The squad has not been good enough if we are being honest!

If they would have played to their strengths all at the same time then we would have made the play offs. We have the nucleus of a good team!

Stockdale has never impressed me, he's got limited ability. Mullin hard to judge this season due to injuries. Jennings his best season ever lets hope he stays another year at least. Zola, again looks the part ... sometimes but sometimes is not good enough. McLaren has failed to stamp his authority on the midfield. Plus Goodison can't go on for ever, got to be his last season

So..... need a good right back, need another future centre half, need a midfielder who can score goals! Plus a quality consistant centre forward.

Craig Curran........ we will lose him if Ronnie is in charge next season! He has been treated shabbily on the bench........ everyone can see we have been clueless in many games half way through the second half and the lad is brought on with 4 and a half seconds of normal time to go.....derrrrrr. Ronnie was seen in TJ Hughes buying a watch LOL

So............ lets get some quality in and roll on the 9 August 2008 and let battle commence because we are the greatest supporters ever!\\/

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

Pleased to see Danny Holmes and Paul Henry have got new contracts. Interesting to see no word about other out-of-contract players like Paul McLaren and Shane Sheriff. I expect Ronnie wants to keep them but the club is waiting to sort out its future before committing to any new contracts.

It's worrying (and very poor PR) that we rely on the BBC for any news.

 

[SCooperSomersaults]

Yeah, well some fan site last week "broke the news" but I didn't really go with it. Yes our official news is apalling, the site is a joke really the official one. Thank god for the others we have!

As for the players, no real surprises. Jones and Johnston have never really been givene a proper chance, Jones looks a promising kid but the gaffer clearly doesn't have the same opinion. Johnston was sent to Bangor and hasn't come back, good luck to the kid there.

Mullin and Stockdale are average (if that) run of the mill players. No loss really, espeically Mullin who apart from a few games at the start of the 06-07 season has been rubbish.

Dunno what is happening to the other 6 or so players who are out of contract I presume they've been offered terms, along with Ronnie but since we relied on BBC or Tranmere-mad for our news I wouldn't expect any official announcements soon!

 

[Ian]

I know you're not going to like this, certainly you Coops, but I can't see the board getting rid of Ronnie. He's improved the team and the league position. The big question is, has he got what it takes to take them to the next level? In large, the football wasn't great to watch and some of the performances poor.

I guess my fear is that if we get rid of Ronnie, we might get someone else in that's worse. Not being funny, but we can't attract the greatest of managers.

Regarding the players, I guess a lot of them are still in contract talks..

 

[SCooperSomersaults]

Well Ian if you think we can't attract a better manager than Moore it s a poor effort to be honest. I'm sure with a good board we could persuade someone a lot better for not much more cash.

As for player contracts, I've heard today that the board are trying to keep Davies but it seems he doesn't wanna stay and will likely be off with a tribunal setting the fee (so we'll get next to nothing for an excellent player) :-(

 

[Ian]

It would be sad to lose Davies, but I heard on the grapevine that he wanted to stay. With conflicting views, who knows?!?

On a side note, one of the things official site does excel in is the excellent quality pictures. They've posted up a seasons goals in pictures. Most of them have been shown before, but they are still great pictures.

My favourite being the one attached to this post. 8)

 

[Ian]

Your right Coops, it looks like Davies will be leaving soon.
From the BBC website:

Tony Adams told BBC Radio Merseyside: "The club have done everything in their power to make Steve Davies an offer.


"He doesn't seem interested and I think it's almost inevitable that he will move on."

Sadly, this club will never go anywhere if we can't keep hold of our best players. What's even worse is that we'll get pennies for him at a tribunal. The transfer system is a joke. ](*,)

How are clubs like ours meant to survive?

 

[Boz]

It's a shame that we won't be getting a decent fee for Davies, but similar has happened in the past ie Mahon, so we should be grateful for the likes of Jason Koumas who signed a contract with us, knowing he was likely to be moved on, ensuring we got a decent fee for him.

At the moment, like it or not, we are a selling club....or would be, if we had anyone worth selling. Ronnie's dismal failure in devloping home-grown talent may be a factor in whether he's offered a new deal or not.

 

[Tartantranmere64]

What's frustrating too is that we have spent the season nursing the guy back to fitness only for him to leave. Don't blame Davies, that's the way of the world these days, but as a fan it's just disappointing to lose one of our few assets for what will likely be just enough money to buy some journeyman donkey.:cry:

 

[Ian]

Yeah, I don't blame Davies. I just wish clubs had more protection over their players. It's very frustrating when one of the better young players moves on and we get buttons for him. This is one of the times when I don't envy managers, it must be very frustrating for them too!

Moving forward however, the club have offered new contracts to McLaren, Jennings, Sherriff, Davies, Henry and Holmes.
I'm hoping they offered Sherriff a contract based on his versatility more than anything

 

[Tartantranmere64]

Oh aye, forgot to say - release Stockdale while offering Sheriff a new contract. WTF?

 

[SCooperSomersaults]

TT, gotta agree with you really. Stockdale is far from flawless, but he is a good solid committed defender who does a job for the team. He's arguably been a much better signing than Sheriff who looks out of place at left-side of midfield, a bit suspect as a left back, and hardly seen at his so-called preferred position of centre half. Dunno what's going on there really?

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

I've got to say I'm confused by the latest club announcement about players. It's late (we all knew about the released players ages ago) and asks more questions than it answers. Players have been offered terms but have any accepted? Ronnie says he's planning for next season but there's no word on a new contract for him and Shirtliff. Not a word has come from the club about the Portuguese Investment Group (do we call them the PIG for short?). It's amazingly bad PR.