Fair comment Ian but if Joe is now also coaching he will presumably be involved with the signing of any keeper and I imagine it will depend on whether he sees Ross as a development project. Tyrer (?) from Everton has also been mooted - he would probably fit into the same category. All this said, the bottom line is that we need a dependable keeper if we are to do well. Howard going to Wrexham was presumably money given his age.
I’d be surprised if Ross would sign if he wasn’t given assurances he’d start as first choice. He’s 24 now so will want first team football and given he was dropped for Murphy not too long ago would he want to come back to warm the bench? Unlikely.
I do like the idea of the money being spent elsewhere given Joe has shown he's plenty good enough. If he can improve a young gun good enough to be a reliable deputy that could be further monet saved. I'm sure the likes of Hewelt or Tyrer would be cheaper than Doohan.
Tyrer is under contract for another 3 years and is highly rated at Everton if we were to sign him on loan I would think we would have to guarantee a certain amount of game time.
Possibly not in which case I’d be happy to sign him. Still time to improve at 24
I'm a bit confused on this one myself. All indications were that Joe would step back and be our No. 2 No. 1. There seems to be as much expectation that we are bringing in an understudy as a first choice keeper. Interesting, and time will tell. Personally, I'd not have a problem with Joe being our first choice for a season with a decent back up; and I'd be delighted if we brought in somebody who left Joe as standby on merit.
Pleased with this. I think he was very solid for the majority of last season and he is young enough to develop further.
He would bring pace for sure from memory. 9 goals in 24 league games last season not to be sniffed at