Bulk of the Squad

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Should we keep the Bulk of the Squad

  • YES

    Votes: 127 70.6%

  • No

    Votes: 55 30.6%
  • Total voters
    180
  • Poll closed .



Depends who the 'bulk of the squad' consists of. I'd like to see:

Ramsdale + 1 other keeper
JOC, Basham, Egan, Baldock, Bogle, Lowe, RND
Fleck (John not Jimmy), Berge (but we'll sell him), Osborn (for running about a lot), Slater, some of the young uns' if they don't go out on loan
Brewster, McGoldrick, Sharp

The rest I'm not in the slightest bit bothered if we keep or not.
 
I would actually take selling the entire squad for what we bought them for and completely rebuilding from scratch.

Which is why kinda like the idea of Lampard/Terry as managers as we get 5 quality loanees from Chelsea as a result, unpopular opinion I know
 
It's not a popular opinion, but I think that the Premier League is absolutely miles above the Championship, and we shouldn't base the decisions as much on performance this year as on attitude. My summary is below:

Squad.png
* Assuming that they'd be squad players.
** We might not have much choice with these.

Osborn won me over slightly on Saturday but, as I've said elsewhere, I'm not convinced that he has the quality to push us to the top end of the table, and I'd be concerned if we let other players (e.g. Berge) go without getting good quality replacements. So the table above would still need some new signings to replace Berge and Egan (if they go). I would also be banking on Norwood, Fleck, McBurnie and Brewster regaining their form in the Championship. If they haven't done that by Christmas, we would need to invest quite heavily.
 
I hope those asking for a complete rebuild are also willing to sit patiently in the Championship for the next 3-4 years!

Keep the bulk, we have some great players here, we need leadership, confidence and fresh tactics. Completely understand the disillusionment and doom/gloom from this season, but our squad is miles better than the bottom half of the Championship, and at minimum competitive to the top 6.

With injured players back, we have:
  • a great young PL standard keeper with intl potential
  • a PL back 3
  • excellent prospects at wb (bogle/rnd)
  • average championship midfield
  • a very good championship strikeforce

Sell Berge, Stevens and maybe K.Gordon (as rumoured) and we've just about made up our £40m we need, with maybe a few fringe players offloaded too.

A couple of shrewd free transfers and loan signings for the midfield (Coulibaly, Mowatt + a couple of PL loans, for example) and we could be a force to be reckoned with at Championship level.
 
FMBlade1 said:
I would actually take selling the entire squad for what we bought them for and completely rebuilding from scratch.

Which is why kinda like the idea of Lampard/Terry as managers as we get 5 quality loanees from Chelsea as a result, unpopular opinion I know
Click to expand...
I thought you were only allowed to loan one player from any one club.
 
First names out of the door for me

Moussett
Burke
Lundstram
Robinson

none are good enough or are worth keeping at the expense it would cost.

Mcburnie
Berge

possible sales if we can reinvest the money

DO NOT SELL

Egan
Brewster
Bogle
JOC
Ramsdale

these are the future of this football club and need to team building around
 
bongleblade said:
I hope those asking for a complete rebuild are also willing to sit patiently in the Championship for the next 3-4 years!

Keep the bulk, we have some great players here, we need leadership, confidence and fresh tactics. Completely understand the disillusionment and doom/gloom from this season, but our squad is miles better than the bottom half of the Championship, and at minimum competitive to the top 6.

With injured players back, we have:
  • a great young PL standard keeper with intl potential
  • a PL back 3
  • excellent prospects at wb (bogle/rnd)
  • average championship midfield
  • a very good championship strikeforce

Sell Berge, Stevens and maybe K.Gordon (as rumoured) and we've just about made up our £40m we need, with maybe a few fringe players offloaded too.

A couple of shrewd free transfers and loan signings for the midfield (Coulibaly, Mowatt + a couple of PL loans, for example) and we could be a force to be reckoned with at Championship level.
Click to expand...

I'd broadly agree with this.

The Berge sale will be hard to swallow because I think he'll go to be one of Europe's top midfielders, but I suppose we're selling to progress again and we could make up the bulk of the £40m from his sale.

Equally, I'm reluctant to lose Enda as he's clearly a confidence player so I wouldn't write him off just yet. When he's good, he's a joy to watch. But he has been woeful this season and if there is a market for him, we should sell - esp. with RND, Lowe, Osborn capable of filling in at Champ level.

If we can keep Egan, JOC, Bash then that should give us the basis for a top half finish. Sprinkle in some midfield creativity/goals with a Mowatt or a Hourihane type player and we're starting to look good for a play-offs at worse campaign.

Biggest concern is the strikers and we need to cross our fingers that poorer opposition and more creative play can unlock the potential of Brewster and McBurnie - if we see the Brewster and McB that played for Swansea at this level, then we're good to go. Let's hope this season has not caused irreparable damage.
 
FMBlade1 said:
I would actually take selling the entire squad for what we bought them for and completely rebuilding from scratch.

Which is why kinda like the idea of Lampard/Terry as managers as we get 5 quality loanees from Chelsea as a result, unpopular opinion I know
Click to expand...
The patience that would be required to facilitate such a rebuild is not something I'd associate our fans with possessing.
 
Age is now against a few of our players but otherwise we've seen with Norwich and others that a bad season in the Prem doesn't mean you aren't still capable a level below. We have players in this side who we know can be top players in the Championship and it would be daft to cast them aside in reaction to relegation.

On the other hand, there's now a lot of players to get shut of. Robinson, Rodwell, Jags, Bryan, Lundstram can go for a start. Ampadu will be back at Chelsea. If the injury doesn't put people off then Berge is the obvious name to sell. He'll fetch a decent sum and whatever potential he has he hasn't become integral to the side. I'd get rid of Burke but I don't know who'd take him. If there were a decent chance that Mousset would play enough games next season then I'd gladly keep him but I really doubt it so off he goes. I can take or leave McBurnie. If someone offered what we paid for him I'd probably take it although given his performances in the Championship I'd be happy to give him a chance too.

Unless I'm missing someone obvious that's a good clear out to start with. Unless someone did offer silly money we're probably safe with JOC because of his injury so let's hope he's back to form by next season.

That'd leave us with a solid basis of a squad for a new manager to work with. We need an attacking midfielder and the new manager may well want wingers since we have literally none.
 



From this current first team:

Ramsdale
Basham
JOC
Bogle
Baldock
Fleck
Berge (not gonna happen)
Osborn
Sharp
McGoldrick
Brewster

Wouldn't lose an ounce of sleep if any of the rest went. I'm also running a free taxi service for McBurnie, Moose and Lundstram to wherever they end up
 
A 46 game slog with a squad that will likely have lost 38 of the last 49 games. A number of players who've barely shown competence for well over a year and are 30 or above. Young players who've never been good for United or have no experience at all (I include Brewster in this. He'd played 22 adult games when we signed him).

I think it would be a mistake to assume these players can suddenly turn this around. Norwich blamed Covid for falling apart so had some leeway with so few games. Our players have been non competitive for way too long
 
derekacorah said:
The patience that would be required to facilitate such a rebuild is not something I'd associate our fans with possessing.
Click to expand...

It should be able to be done pretty quickly. Charlton got out of league 1 signing nearly a full new starting 11 a few years back, and Bolton are about to do the same from league 2.
 
FMBlade1 said:
It should be able to be done pretty quickly. Charlton got out of league 1 signing nearly a full new starting 11 a few years back, and Bolton are about to do the same from league 2.
Click to expand...
I'm talking months here, have you met our fanbase? If we've not won the first 10 games on the spin we'll have a group with shoes off in the car park.

Evatt was fearing for his job at Christmas at Bolton, they were patient and he's done what he promised.
 
HackeyBlade said:
From this current first team:

Ramsdale
Basham
JOC
Bogle
Baldock
Fleck
Berge (not gonna happen)
Osborn
Sharp
McGoldrick
Brewster

Wouldn't lose an ounce of sleep if any of the rest went. I'm also running a free taxi service for McBurnie, Moose and Lundstram to wherever they end up
Click to expand...
Egan?
 
As I wrote on a previous thread:

This squad has generally been excellent....sure, it's been an horrendous season, but these players have not suddenly become bad players. There has been a lot of extenuating circumstances that could explain why things went so badly this season. Injuries, Covid, Lack of fans, Loss of form and don't underestimate the lack of downtime and pre-season which the players missed out on last year, after a phenomenal effort the previous 2 seasons.

No need to change anything in the forward line at all. McBurnie, Brewster, Sharp, McGoldrick and Burke will be the best strike-force in the championship. Moose is the interesting one...generally a waste of space but potentially the best in the division - If we could get over £5 million I would sell, but otherwise we might as well see if the new coach can get his head straight.

Keep Ramsdale - he has been excellent these last few months after an admittedly shocking start.

Defensively, we have Furious and Bogle as RWB's Bash, Egan and O'Connell are top drawer for the championship, and Enda and RND can fight it out for the LWB role. The problems arise if any of the Centre-halfs get injured....we need one more good centre-half who can at least cover for JOC and/or Egan.

Midfield is the problem. I would love Berge to stay....we should keep him until at least January to see where we are. If we are challenging for the top two then keep him, if we are mid-table (or worse) then obviously we have to try and cash in. Personally, I can't wait to see the the back of Lundstram, and I think that we need a more dynamic player down the right. I like the look of O'Brien at Huddersfield - lots of energy and skill and shouldn't be too much cost-wise. Freeman should be involved as I think we missed him as an option, especially with Fleck's poor form for the first half of the season.

We should get rid of the following:

Lundstram (thank god)
Norwood (if Berge stays)
Jags
Rodwell
Robinson
Bryan
Moose (If we get a decent fee)
Moore
Verrips or Fodringham
Lowe
 
derekacorah said:
I'm talking months here, have you met our fanbase? If we've not won the first 10 games on the spin we'll have a group with shoes off in the car park.

Evatt was fearing for his job at Christmas at Bolton, they were patient and he's done what he promised.
Click to expand...

Yes I know, I remember when we appointed Danny Wilson. You are right but I don't think we, and the club should give a **** about those morons and knowing the Prince he won't. Kevin McCabe's greatest error was listening to them when he sacked Kevin Blackwell two league games into the season.

I don't think we'll be any higher than 6th if we kept every single player anyway.
 
The usual 11 should be kept when fit and the most of the big money signings. The likes of Robinson,Bryan,Rodwell etc should be selling/releasing really
 
HackeyBlade said:
From this current first team:

Ramsdale
Basham
JOC
Bogle
Baldock
Fleck
Berge (not gonna happen)
Osborn
Sharp
McGoldrick
Brewster

Wouldn't lose an ounce of sleep if any of the rest went. I'm also running a free taxi service for McBurnie, Moose and Lundstram to wherever they end up
Click to expand...
Let’s hope for your car’s sake none of the last three want to go to Australia, the USA or Uzbekistan !
 
By all accounts Verrips is doing quite well out on loan now he is getting game time. Would love us to keep him to push Rammers for next season and possibly beyond. However, now he is playing each week he may not relish being on the bench, so way may have missed the boat on him now.
 



KEEP (or try to): Ramsdale, Baldock, Egan, Bash, JOC, Bogle, Stevens, Osborn, Fleck, Sharp, Didz, Brewster

SELL: Berge, McBurnie

RID: Foderingham, Robinson, Rodwell, Jagielka, Bryan, Lowe, Lundstram, Mousset, Burke,

FLIP A COIN: Verrips, Freeman
 
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