Retained list 2023/24

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Going into the summer knowing that 16 players were heading out of contract, I was worried as it was a big rebuild required, but I wouldn't have been upset if all 16 left as none have impressed me over the last two seasons other than Baldock, who I expected to leave for his international career, and I don't blame him.

Now I'm worried as so few names have been confirmed so far. I'm worried as we held on to declining and unreliable players last summer and now we appear to be ready to make the same mistakes again purely out of desperation, or because we literally have no money for replacements.

The talk of utilising the loan market worries me as this means no long term replacements and certainly not unearthing the next player who can be bought cheap and later sold for a considerable profit to fund future signings. Right now the only assets that we can likely move on for decent fees are Arblaster and Hamer, and these are the two we should be building a team around. We might well sell Anel and get back what we paid, and if someone is dumb enough to buy Souza then we'll certainly make yet another expensive loss.

I can only hope that more names are confirmed after Sunday or this team is **cked. I don't quite get why they've only named five so far, unless it's to give them a heroes send off on Sunday, which begs the question why mention Max Lowe?

If these are the only five being released then I'm mightily annoyed as Wilder is just another Hecky. Stubborn, unimaginative and wants to be surrounded by his favourites even if they're past their best.

Will this club ever learn and move forward?
 
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It's time to put up or shut up to the players who are still looking at thier options..

If I was wilder I'd be telling them that decide now if you're staying, if not I'll free the wages up for your replacements..

Only mcburnie, who's injury prone don't forget and Egan who's injured and Jebbo who's permanently injured, are worth keeping.. (I'd take wes over girbic but that's obvious) the rest I understand why they're going..

I think those 3 players are not fully out of contract just yet, so they have wages to still pick up, then I think jebbo and mcburnie will leave...think Egan will sign up again..
We can't force players to hurry their decision - players have too much power.
 
What’s a Grecian Urn?

It was a green sports paper that they used to bring out on a Saturday night in ancient Greece.

One of the best headlines they used after a crunch match at Thermopylae was I believe:

Spartan Blades Glory....Persians Downed.

In the newsagents at 6 o'clock, you would often see the likes of Homer, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle edging towards the front of the que whilst pretending to be interested in buying a magazine.
 
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I'm really sad to see Bash and Baldock leaving the club. Bash in particular has been a great servant, age against both of them Baldock deserves a crack at a club in Greece and a few more international appearances. Sadly I think the injury to Bash has done for him playing at a professional level. Thanks to Norwood too but his time was up a few seasons ago, he knew when he retired from international football that he only had one more season left at a high level. Not too bothered about Lowe leaving he can't seem to stay fit for more than 5 games. Wes maybe thinks he is better than he is which is a decent Championship level keeper, we should be able to do better. Thanks and good luck to all of them.
 
Going into the summer knowing that 16 players were heading out of contract, I was worried as it was a big rebuild required, but I wouldn't have been upset if all 16 left as none have impressed me over the last two seasons other than Baldock, who I expected to leave for his international career, and I don't blame him.

Now I'm worried as so few names have been confirmed so far. I'm worried as we held on to declining and unreliable players last summer and now we appear to be ready to make the same mistakes again purely out of desperation, or because we literally have no money for replacements.

The talk of utilising the loan market worries me as this means no long term replacements and certainly not unearthing the next player who can be bought cheap and later sold for a considerable profit to fund future signings. Right now the only assets that we can likely move on for decent fees are Arblaster and Hamer, and these are the two we should be building a team around. We might well sell Anel and get back what we paid, and if someone is dumb enough to buy Souza then we'll certainly make yet another expensive loss.

I can only hope that more names are confirmed after Sunday or this team is **cked. I don't quite get why they've only named five so far, unless it's to give them a heroes send off on Sunday, which begs the question why mention Max Lowe?

If these are the only five being released then I'm mightily annoyed as Wilder is just another Hecky. Stubborn, unimaginative and wants to be surrounded by his favourites even if they're past their best.

Will this club ever learn and move forward?
Judging by the social posts and interview with Bash today and something the main United account posted on socials today, it sounds like the club and media team are going to release something each day for each of the highlighted players (maybe just the main 3) Bash on Thursday, Furious on Friday, Norwood on Saturday then match on Sunday, Lowe and Wes on Monday, then the full Released List on Tuesday. Maybe.
 
Wilder obviously doesn’t like or rate Wes. Don’t think he saw Wes as No1 next year. Which given his performances this year you’ve got to agree with.

Wes seemingly doesn’t want to be a No2 or accept a package reflective of this and wants out. Heard rumblings he’s got his eye on a No3 gig at a bigger team?

All fine, no fuck ups, no drama.

The only mistake is Grbic being bobbins.

I suspect he will be gone by start of next year and remembered as a reasonably costly mistake.

No 1 - New
No 2 - Davies
No 3 - Faxon / Assimah

Whilst I’m no expert there are plenty of GKs better or at worst comparable to Wes available.

With regard to your closing sentence , it would be helpful if you could supply the names of just a few of this apparently plentiful supply of goalkeepers who match your criteria and are readily available within our our budget and wage structure .

My belief is that there are few if any and that in our next season in the Championship we will not have as good a goalkeeper as Wes , even if the nightmare that is Grbic is binned and that we will suffer badly as a consequence of that .
 
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We can't force players to hurry their decision - players have too much power.

I agree, they need a nudge though..

I'm just concerned we get into another situation like last season where we're waiting and then get shafted with no time to react, think at some point wilder should take matters into his own hands and seek replacements.

We can't allow another pre season to be wasted while we have indecision..
 
With regard to your closing sentence , it would be helpful if you could supply the names of just a few of this apparently plentiful supply of goalkeepers who match your criteria and are readily available within our our budget and wage structure .

My belief is that there are few if any and that in our next season in the Championship we will not have as good a goalkeeper as Wes , even if the nightmare that is Grbic is binned and that we will suffer badly as a consequence of that .

The statement was maybe a tad assumptive, but more based on Wes being a middling championship keeper, than a specific shortlist

No idea on names, budgets or availability.

Plymouth and Rotherham’s keepers seem fairly highly rated. There’ll be plenty of availability of loan from the PL. There’ll be a few options from league one at a guess.

Put it simply if Wes is the best option available, it’ll be a long summer and means we’ve got more problems in more positions.
 
Biggest news is who's not on the list in a way. Hope it means McBurnie, Egan and Jebbo are staying because all three, if fit I know, will be big players next season, particularly McBurnie. Some criticise him but he has played well this season. We just need to sort out those fitness issues. At 27 he's coming into his prime too.
Let me assure you, and everyone else interested how the last 4 or 5 months has played out as regards our talismanic #9.

We put terms on the table. They were not great, particularly on relegation.

His agent hawked his client across the whole of the British Isles. Literally no interest elsewhere. Unsurprising given the club have been, let’s say open, to his departure for a fee in the last 2 or 3 windows.

The player now finds himself effectively without a club.

We might just end up stuck with this 🤡!

BIG mistake.

UTB
 
I really think it’s more now or never.

If we go really cheap then we will sign average championship players on 2/3 year deals and struggle for many a year. End up like a Preston.

If we go for it we will have some saleable assets / chances of promotion etc we end up like a WBA / Norwich.

The board decide our future this season.
 
Sad as it is to see, can't really argue too much about the 5 released so far.

  • Basham - Great servant, horrendous injury. Had he played a full season given we are being relegated may have been offered a new 1 year deal.
  • Norwood - Again great servant, has seen his playing time become more limited over the past 15 months, and the heights he set prior he hasn't reached very often for a while. (Although start of last season he was pretty good!)
  • Baldock - Same again, good servant. When on form he's a great little RWB for us in either top 2 divisions. Has struggled with injuries a bit last 2 seasons and that probably has played into clubs decision too. I also think Baldock wants his crack at Greek superleague and that will also mean European competitions too!
  • Wes - He came in 3 seasons ago and slotted right in and made Olsen look like a real muppet. Did well both seasons in the champ. Always felt that we needed better competition or an upgrade upon PL return. Overall despite his mistakes at times this season he has been the better of the 2 keepers by a mile, and lets be honest he's face far too many shots on his goal which even for the best keepers will result in more conceded. HOWEVER, I do think there are keepers around we can get to replace competently and in theory improve on him.
  • Lowe - He's never quite hit the heights here like Bogle has done. And he's struggled with injuries throughout. Has had some good performances at times for us, arguably most have been last season. RND if he can get himself fit and back to form should be an improvement (Question marks though). We will need another LB/LWB as well.

Excellent summary, spot on for me.
 
They'll be more than the 5 named so far leaving I'd guess. It's just nobody is really going to give a shit if Adam Davies or Jordan Ammisah are released as they've done nothing compared to Bash, Norwood and Baldock and that's who should be getting the attention this weekend as they've genuinely contributed a huge amount to the club over the past few years.

I suspect they'll be other departures, I can't see Jebbison signing or it would've been announced weeks ago and I don't think Mcburnie will sign but we'll leave the contract on the table until he signs elsewhere and not officially announce he's leaving while ever there's a chance he might re-sign.

Either way I'm much more bothered about who's coming in this summer than who's going out in a footballing sense.
 
Spot on above there is weeks yet till next season and normally its our way to leave everything to the last minute we cant this time or we wont have a 22 man squad. Let the news unravel itself of who is going out there will be a proper list later this is just for the ones they want to give a good send off on Sunday.
 

Going into the summer knowing that 16 players were heading out of contract, I was worried as it was a big rebuild required, but I wouldn't have been upset if all 16 left as none have impressed me over the last two seasons other than Baldock, who I expected to leave for his international career, and I don't blame him.

Now I'm worried as so few names have been confirmed so far. I'm worried as we held on to declining and unreliable players last summer and now we appear to be ready to make the same mistakes again purely out of desperation, or because we literally have no money for replacements.

The talk of utilising the loan market worries me as this means no long term replacements and certainly not unearthing the next player who can be bought cheap and later sold for a considerable profit to fund future signings. Right now the only assets that we can likely move on for decent fees are Arblaster and Hamer, and these are the two we should be building a team around. We might well sell Anel and get back what we paid, and if someone is dumb enough to buy Souza then we'll certainly make yet another expensive loss.

I can only hope that more names are confirmed after Sunday or this team is **cked. I don't quite get why they've only named five so far, unless it's to give them a heroes send off on Sunday, which begs the question why mention Max Lowe?

If these are the only five being released then I'm mightily annoyed as Wilder is just another Hecky. Stubborn, unimaginative and wants to be surrounded by his favourites even if they're past their best.

Will this club ever learn and move forward?
The other things about heavily relying on loan players is often the better loan players don't become available until the end of the window, which means we'll have to weather the first few weeks of the season with a weaker and much more stretched squad (more susceptible to injuries) and any new players (loan or otherwise) could take a few weeks to bed in. So we may not be at 'full strength'(whatever that looks like) until October when a quarter of the season has already gone. All this is on top of starting the season with a two point deficit.
 
Going into the summer knowing that 16 players were heading out of contract, I was worried as it was a big rebuild required, but I wouldn't have been upset if all 16 left as none have impressed me over the last two seasons other than Baldock, who I expected to leave for his international career, and I don't blame him.

Now I'm worried as so few names have been confirmed so far. I'm worried as we held on to declining and unreliable players last summer and now we appear to be ready to make the same mistakes again purely out of desperation, or because we literally have no money for replacements.

The talk of utilising the loan market worries me as this means no long term replacements and certainly not unearthing the next player who can be bought cheap and later sold for a considerable profit to fund future signings. Right now the only assets that we can likely move on for decent fees are Arblaster and Hamer, and these are the two we should be building a team around. We might well sell Anel and get back what we paid, and if someone is dumb enough to buy Souza then we'll certainly make yet another expensive loss.

I can only hope that more names are confirmed after Sunday or this team is **cked. I don't quite get why they've only named five so far, unless it's to give them a heroes send off on Sunday, which begs the question why mention Max Lowe?

If these are the only five being released then I'm mightily annoyed as Wilder is just another Hecky. Stubborn, unimaginative and wants to be surrounded by his favourites even if they're past their best.

Will this club ever learn and move forward?

May I ask who else you were expecting? On my list of departures that hasn't already been announced, I have:
McAtee (loan returning)
Archer (Buyback)
BBD (loan returning)
Souza (hopefully sold)
Anel (hopefully sold)
Traore (hopefully sold)
Slimane (hopefully sold)
Brewster (come to an arrangement)
Grbic (hopefully sold)

As such - none of the above would be announced yesterday in line with the others?

For completeness, I would be offering a contract to: Bogle, Oz, Egan and McB - and it seems that we are at least still in discussions with those at the very least.
 
One of the best goals I've seen live this, don't recall there being video footage of it so it may have been amplified in my memory - but glad I'm not the only one who remembers it :D
I was at that match and don't remember a thing about it! I must have been present though because I found the programme in the loft recently.
 
With regard to your closing sentence , it would be helpful if you could supply the names of just a few of this apparently plentiful supply of goalkeepers who match your criteria and are readily available within our our budget and wage structure .

My belief is that there are few if any and that in our next season in the Championship we will not have as good a goalkeeper as Wes , even if the nightmare that is Grbic is binned and that we will suffer badly as a consequence of that .
I’m also intrigued by the choice of keeper for next season.

Keepers on a free this post season appear very sparse in terms of quantity and quality:

Matt Ryan (Alkmaar, unlikely IMHO)
Marek Rodak (Fulham)
Kasper Schmeichel (Anderlecht, unlikely IMHO)
Loris Karius (Newcastle. Wages?)
Christian Walton (Ipswich)
Alex McCarthy (Southampton)
Karl Hein (Arsenal, never heard of him)
Brandon Austin (Spurs)
Artur Okenkwo (Arsenal, Wrexham)

Given experience, ability or wages, I think I’d be inclined to take the Rotherham lad for 900k, which seems a snip for someone who knows the division.

Unless we go with a loan keeper. A few you’d imagine would be up for loan again next season:

Rushworth (Brighton/Swansea)
Iverson (Leicester/Stoke)
Cumming (Chelsea/Oxford)
Cox (Brentford/Bristol R)
Marschall (Villa/MK Dons)
Sinisalo (Villa/Exeter)

I’m still liking Victor at 900k ☹️
 
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Let me assure you, and everyone else interested how the last 4 or 5 months has played out as regards our talismanic #9.

We put terms on the table. They were not great, particularly on relegation.

His agent hawked his client across the whole of the British Isles. Literally no interest elsewhere. Unsurprising given the club have been, let’s say open, to his departure for a fee in the last 2 or 3 windows.

The player now finds himself effectively without a club.

We might just end up stuck with this 🤡!

BIG mistake.

UTB
I can't imagine though that there was no interest Dronnie?
 
I’m also intrigued by the choice of keeper for next season.

Keepers on a free this post season appear very sparse in terms of quantity and quality:

Matt Ryan (Alkmaar, unlikely IMHO)
Marek Rodak (Fulham)
Kasper Schmeichel (Anderlecht, unlikely IMHO)
Loris Karius (Newcastle. Wages?)
Christian Walton (Ipswich)
Alex McCarthy (Southampton)
Karl Hein (Arsenal, never heard of him)
Brandon Austin (Spurs)
Artur Okenkwo (Arsenal, Wrexham)

Given experience, ability or wages, I think I’d be inclined to take the Rotherham lad for 900k, which seems a snip for someone who knows the division.

Unless we go with a loan keeper. A few you’d imagine would be up for loan again next season:

Rushworth (Brighton/Swansea)
Iverson (Leicester/Stoke)
Cumming (Chelsea/Oxford)
Cox (Brentford/Bristol R)
Marschall (Villa/MK Dons)
Sinisalo (Villa/Exeter)

I’m still liking Victor at 900k ☹️
I'd take Mccarthy if we could agree terms
 
Going into the summer knowing that 16 players were heading out of contract, I was worried as it was a big rebuild required, but I wouldn't have been upset if all 16 left as none have impressed me over the last two seasons other than Baldock, who I expected to leave for his international career, and I don't blame him.

Now I'm worried as so few names have been confirmed so far. I'm worried as we held on to declining and unreliable players last summer and now we appear to be ready to make the same mistakes again purely out of desperation, or because we literally have no money for replacements.

The talk of utilising the loan market worries me as this means no long term replacements and certainly not unearthing the next player who can be bought cheap and later sold for a considerable profit to fund future signings. Right now the only assets that we can likely move on for decent fees are Arblaster and Hamer, and these are the two we should be building a team around. We might well sell Anel and get back what we paid, and if someone is dumb enough to buy Souza then we'll certainly make yet another expensive loss.

I can only hope that more names are confirmed after Sunday or this team is **cked. I don't quite get why they've only named five so far, unless it's to give them a heroes send off on Sunday, which begs the question why mention Max Lowe?

If these are the only five being released then I'm mightily annoyed as Wilder is just another Hecky. Stubborn, unimaginative and wants to be surrounded by his favourites even if they're past their best.

Will this club ever learn and move forward?
I very much doubt it. Wilder is more of the problem than the cure.
 
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I’m also intrigued by the choice of keeper for next season.

Keepers on a free this post season appear very sparse in terms of quantity and quality:

Matt Ryan (Alkmaar, unlikely IMHO)
Marek Rodak (Fulham)
Kasper Schmeichel (Anderlecht, unlikely IMHO)
Loris Karius (Newcastle. Wages?)
Christian Walton (Ipswich)
Alex McCarthy (Southampton)
Karl Hein (Arsenal, never heard of him)
Brandon Austin (Spurs)
Artur Okenkwo (Arsenal, Wrexham)

Given experience, ability or wages, I think I’d be inclined to take the Rotherham lad for 900k, which seems a snip for someone who knows the division.

Unless we go with a loan keeper. A few you’d imagine would be up for loan again next season:

Rushworth (Brighton/Swansea)
Iverson (Leicester/Stoke)
Cumming (Chelsea/Oxford)
Cox (Brentford/Bristol R)
Marschall (Villa/MK Dons)
Sinisalo (Villa/Exeter)

I’m still liking Victor at 900k ☹️
Not a fan of Karius but his wife, however.

Happy for him to flap at stuff as long she takes the spare seat next to me.
 

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