Time to reflect once more!

[chicken 0]

The summer has reached its height and it''s now only a few weeks untill the start of the new season. Many of us on here, from both sides of the fence, said that this summer would be the one to really test Worthington. I think even he has admitted that it has done exactly that.

A re-build was in need of, not only because of relegation but because the team had remained at its core the same team that had exhisted for the last two or three seasons at least. Reasonably slow progress was being made with one or two quality additions being made every season.

I think it was right after the promotion and relegation to re-focus on getting in players that could not only get us to the premiership but also play a part in keeping us there.

I think that a lot of people will have to agree that Worthington has been very daring and at the same time very positive in his foray into the transfer market.

Out has gone Mulryne who seemed to have given up the idea of competing for his place. In has come our own JJ in Jason Jarret who seems unlikely to settle as second choice maybe resulting in giving Francis a boot up the arse.

We have effectively replace two older players at right back with one a good couple of years younger with reportedly more pace, somthing that our defence defenitely lacked on the right hand side last season.

We also lost Svensson whose main quality was his experience. When he left McVeigh became the oldest striker at the club if he can be classed as a striker, and I think bringing in Thorne to help some of the youngsters to progress and also to play in those games where experience counts for much more than anything else in the championship.

He says he is struggling to find players that are good enough to sign at the moment and I don''t blame him. The players that are moving are moving up-wards not sideways and also for rediculous fees and wages.

I think we will still make a couple of solid signings before the season starts with a couple being part of the "We won''t say nuffin" routine often enforced by Doncaster and Worthington.

In the meantime I think we still have a rather solid squad now. 17 players is only one less than Rioch was limited to in his second season in charge. I think we can do well and we also have some more prospects coming through from the accademy who will also be welcome.

All in all I think all the right sounds and actions are being made. We are not diving in for all of those over-rated premiership drop-outs who might get us there for £800k and £15k a week but then have to be released or sold again once we are there.

I also think that the longer we go without signing new players the more pressure there is on the current batch to stay. I don''t envisage anyone going anywhere at least untill January.

So I remain totally upbeat for the prospects of this season. The younger players like Henderson have a chance to really make a name for themselves should the "moaners" give them a chance, and some of the older players who surely would have gone for nothing at the end of next season have gone for money which can be utalised on more squad building.

Apart from that there seems to be a lot more possitive thinkers finally arriving on here for me to ally with!!!!

OTBC

 

 

[Northern Canary 0]

superb post. Totally agree. Its like a newspaper article. it would go well in pinkun.

[Dicky 0]

[quote]The summer has reached its height and it''s now only a few weeks untill the start of the new season. Many of us on here, from both sides of the fence, said that this summer would be the one to really t...[/quote]

Nice one chicken - someone who is proud to support their club rather than criticize at every opportunity.

[Tumbleweed 106]

A well reasoned piece, I generally agree and also feel pretty positive being where we are now.

However I do think we are short of cover in some areas:

(1) we need a right midfield terrier in the Kevin Cooper mould and in an ideal world more cover in the middle, I don''t know Jarrett but for a while now we have cried out for an Ian Crook type player (which Mulryne never developed into) to really exploit the potential of Hux''s bursts of pace and Deano''s excellent control. Without a competent midfield we will not get the most of of a potentially very potent attack.

(2) My main worry is the defence though. Unlike many I do not think that just because we are dropping down a league means that what we have is good enough. The problem last season was lack of organisation and positional awareness: not marking the opponent will still get us into trouble and failure to pick up the runner from midfield will still cause us to panic. This is what Malky brought in that terrific Championship year and those "intangible" qualities have not adequately been replaced.

So, my summary is that I agree that Worthy has done good business so far, but it  is going to be a long hard slog to get back up, and he does need to keep up the good work to bolster those key areas I mention. There are teams which will give no quarter and we must have the squad to cope with the bumps, niggles, strains and more serious injuries which we will suffer as sure as night follows day. I am very glad Worthy is not chasing the has-beens or the fly-by-nighters which might mean that our own youth products start getting more of a look in.

TW.

[Trent Canary 0]

"All in all I think all the right sounds and actions are being made. We are not diving in for all of those over-rated premiership drop-outs who might get us there for £800k and £15k a week but then have to be released or sold again once we are there"

That pretty much sums up my thoughts on the thread I made (Are the board taking a huge gamble?)

As Ive said elsewhere I think we need one or two more backup players, they dont have to be amazingly good, just there incase of injuries. Lets face it we aint going to be as lucky with injuries as we were two years back, or will we?

[gazzathegreat 0]

in reply to chicken

you speak for many on this board chicken, i have to say i haven''t been on here much recently, due to reading acres of depressing stuff such as where the money has gone (it has been spent i guess on running a multi-million pound business), who we should be chasing, who isn''t pulling their weight at the club and should go etc, god if i wanted a dose of manic depression most of the posts from the past two months would have succeeded

am i a pro-worthy and the board person, no, not necessarily, but to those that are anti, just think back a decade and be grateful for small mercies.  I am a season ticket holder and that alone makes me very grateful - sure last season we saw some bad stuff, some humiliating defeats and i did feel down at times, but that is the PAST

we now are at the start of a new season, at a level we know we can more than achieve at - i am super confident we can go up, why not?  We did it a couple of years ago, and IMO have a superior squad this time.  Worthy, for all his faults, must have learnt something over the past two years, so for god''s sake, give the man and the club a break

If we are below mid table by christmas, by all means we can analysis the shortcomings, but before we have even kicked a ball?

I for one am glad we haven''t gone out and bought two or three championship level players on long contracts who we would be lumbered with should promotion be achieved

we have sell out crowds, a dedicated staff and a new team to enjoy watching

can''t wait for august 6 to be honest, the weather is great, but god i miss my football