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SUFC: The Future Next season

A keeper and two centre backs are a must, as is a first choice striker.

I was previously in the “give Bonne a contract” camp, as I do like him - but think we’re going to have to be ruthless to stand a chance next season, and with so many players still under contract (otherwise I’d keep Bonne over Walker and Hopper), the majority of the few that are expiring need to be let go in my view.
 
A goalkeeper. Collin clearly doesn’t fill Kev with confidence and Hayes is ****.

A Goodliffe replacement, although I’d take Goodliffe, and another option in defence so we have some kind of depth.

A chat with Leon about whether he’s happy to play at LWB, I’m never convinced he’s particularly happy there but if he is then him and Bridge can share that role.

2 forwards. Hopper and Bonne play a similar kind of role, so one is probably dispensable, and it’d be great if we could get shot of Walker but I doubt it. I like Kendall but he’s not prolific. And we can’t have 4 forwards and none of them be goalscorers.

Plus replacements for anyone who is off. I’m not too worried that many will be off against our wishes this summer, but surprises always turn up.
 
Was speaking to my uncle over the weekend regards the players the club should be going after for next season.

I said they needed 3 groups of players:
  • An experienced spine - good players who have played af this or a higher level
  • Younger players signed who could be on the fringes and blooded into better players
  • Loan players - to keep wage costs down but still mount a challenge - players who might be at better teams but are needing game time.
I also said that we shoukd be casting our net wider - not just the EFL and NL. We did that when we signed Nathan Ralph from my Scottish team Dundee. It certainly isn't beyond our finances either as outwith the ugly sisters the average salary in the SPFL Premiership is in the range of £800 to £2000 per week.

Obviously, this will drownd on how many players we need to get - anyone any idea who us out of contract come the summer?
 
Need 2 pacy wingers, a midfield general who is a proper leader (will help us see out games like today) and 2 top strikers. Would like to see Collin stay but I don’t rate Hayes at all. On top of that you will need to replace players leaving. I can see Taylor and Keenan both potentially wanting EFL moves and they would be huge losses.

Would move on (will have missed a few off but sure the below will no doubt get challenged for the sole reason some players stuck with us but if we want to move forward we need to improve on what we have and stop being so sentimental);

Bridge - slow and sluggish now and can’t take on players. Clearly on a steep decline.
Hayes - not good enough
Husin - not good enough. Slows us down too much and goes backwards. Also never takes anyone on when in a good position.
Bonne - we need better
Hopper - don’t rate him
Coker - think we can do better

We also need to change tactics a bit. It’s so frustrating that we never go route an and go from keeper to attacker in 2/3 passes. This would stretch teams. Instead we pass it backwards and sideways and it allows the teams to get their shape back and make it difficult to break them down.

Also long balls is frustrating when other players don’t tuck in which means that we rarely win a second ball.
 
Bonne offers so much more than Hopper imo

He's better in the air, holds the ball up better and has the ability to drop a shoulder and beat a man for pace

If the option is there to keep him for another year, I'd take it. We'd then need to look at bringing in a goalscorer, so as much as I like him, sadly I'd let Walker leave. I'd also let Hopper and Waldron go aswell.

Keep Bonne and Kendall and bring in 2 new faces to lead the line and compete with these lads

In goal, I still believe Colin is our Number 1 and I'm happy with the 2 we have currently

Happy for Gus to move on if an offer comes in. Also let Bridge go and bring in 2 actual wingbacks

CM seems fine but could do with an injection of quality if the right player comes along

With the addition of wing backs, a commanding CB would be great, but I'd equally be happy with Golding and Goodlife on permanent

I really hope the board decide to go for it next season and give Kev and staff a budget to compete for the title next season. From what I've heard, this isn't currently the case. But just look at what we achieved with the budget we did have! Kev had 1 transfer window and bleed a team in to the play off final. Give him a budget and let's see what we can do next 💪🏻
 
Was speaking to my uncle over the weekend regards the players the club should be going after for next season.

I said they needed 3 groups of players:
  • An experienced spine - good players who have played at this or a higher level
  • Younger players signed who could be on the fringes and blooded into better players
  • Loan players - to keep wage costs down but still mount a challenge - players who might be at better teams but are needing game time.
I also said that we should be casting our net wider - not just the EFL and NL. We did that when we signed Nathan Ralph from my Scottish team Dundee. It certainly isn't beyond our finances either as outwith the ugly sisters the average salary in the SPFL Premiership is in the range of £800 to £2000 per week.

Obviously, this will depend on how many players we need to get - anyone any idea who is out of contract come the summer?
 
Last edited:
Was speaking to my uncle over the weekend regards the players the club should be going after for next season.

I said they needed 3 groups of players:
  • An experienced spine - good players who have played af this or a higher level
  • Younger players signed who could be on the fringes and blooded into better players
  • Loan players - to keep wage costs down but still mount a challenge - players who might be at better teams but are needing game time.
I also said that we should be casting our net wider - not just the EFL and NL. We did that when we signed Nathan Ralph from my Scottish team Dundee. It certainly isn't beyond our finances either as outwith the ugly sisters the average salary in the SPFL Premiership is in the range of £800 to £2000 per week.

Obviously, this will depend on how many players we need to get - anyone any idea who is out of contract come the summer?
Most have contracts until next summer which is a shame as will make it harder to move some of them on for us to replace with better.
 
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What is really needed is get rid of that out dated 1up 1 up through the play offs .Its high time we had 3 up 3 down .Its like that in all the leauges but the national leauge . It is high time the old farts took there head out of the sand .Its time for change .
4 up down between L1 and L2. I maintain we should be pushing for that, but possibly compromise at 3
 
What is really needed is get rid of that out dated 1up 1 up through the play offs .Its high time we had 3 up 3 down .Its like that in all the leauges but the national leauge . It is high time the old farts took there head out of the sand .Its time for change .
Yep! Gone are the days of the NL being mostly made up of semi-pro clubs who just made up the numbers in L2 following promotion. The top 10 in the NL are arguably better sides than the bottom 10 in L2. Has to happen. And I would still be saying it even if we’d gone up today.
 

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