Thinking Ahead & Paying-Off Contracts

[robbiez666]

I know we've just started this season, but in terms of deadwood and squad size we'll be in this position I think, as it stands at the start of next season (props to Foxy for the info):

John Brayford
Keiron Freeman
Chris Basham
Dom Calvert-Lewin
Paul Coutts
Jamie Murphy
Louis Reed
Stefan Scougall
Matt Done
Marc McNulty
Che Adams
Billy Sharpe
Diego
Martin Woolford

There's also the young'uns to add to that as well.

It looks a far better base to build round than the one we have at the moment, regardless of which league we'll find ourselves in.

If we can't shift some of the others, and we know it's unlikely anyone will take some of them, I think it's worth the Board seeing if they can pay them off. They'll likely be paying their wages anyway and it benefits both parties.

 

[BerksBlade]

We should romp League 2 with a basic squad like that!

 

[Alfreton14Blade]

Think the board have got to be thinking about taking some sort of short term hit (in terms of a real injection of finance, right here right now), bearing in mind the relative weakness of the division this season & the calibre of manager we now have at the club. The base of a squad for next season, as demonstrated in the O/P, is a good one (even for the division above) but with specific big gaps.

We still need another centre-half, a goalie, a dominant midfielder (IMO). We need to retain our prime assets (Murphy, Done, etc). And we can't wait for "room to be freed up in the budget". Adkins needs proper money now so that he's able to manoeuvre - is it being made available to him?

And, yes, if we can't get buyers for certain players, the board need to look at (partially) buying out contracts.

Short-term pain for long-term gain. There's far less risk to that policy now than at any time in the past 4 seasons.