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Yellow and Green

Clearing out the dead wood

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Saturday''s disaster vs Sheffield Wednesday has, as most would agree, essentially ended our season. We are now left with an ageing, albeit talented, squad - which needs culling due to our reduction in parachute payments next year. Depressing indeed.

This is going to be a crucial summer for the club and needs to be conducted with intelligence and conviction... We can hope!

We have a number of players who have been at the club for a while, whilst others have recently joined on premiership wages, which we can no longer afford.

Ironically, considering the general view that we have one of the best squads in the division, looking at the squad, I personally wouldn''t be too bothered about many of them leaving. AN kept many of them last year with the belief that ''this squad got promoted last time, they can do it again''. Well, that proved to be wrong and now we''re overdue for a clear-out.

Here''s my list of in/out:

GK:

Ruddy - He''s been much better recently, but Saturday reflects perfectly how inconsistent and error prone he can be. Keep if we must, but look to get a replacement.

McGovern - Not good enough and not needed.

Rudd - Anyone know how he''s done out on loan? Hopefully he can get his chance. Keep.

RB

Pinto - Keep, if he''ll stay.

Whittaker - Harshly treated by some, maybe, but he doesn''t fill anyone with confidence and it''s best for him (and us) to move on.

LB

Dijks - Would love him to stay, but he won''t.

Toffolo - Not sure if he''s ready to be first choice. Keep as a back up.

CB... Where do I start?

Klose - We''ve seen that he''s a good defender but he''s had a torrid season. On the basis that he''s almost certainly one of our top earners and we can''t afford him, sell.

Martin - A loyal servant, who has been through ups and downs with us. Is he good enough? Maybe as a back up.

Bassong - Like Ruddy, he is prone to errors and fills no one with confidence. Annoyingly, he''ll probably go to another Championship side and do quite well. Get rid.

Bennett - Criticised by many, but I think he is a good backup in this league. Keep.

Turner - Clearly not Alex Neil''s favourite. Sell.

Godfrey - Keep.

Wingers

Murphy twins - Keep.

Wildschut - I haven''t been impressed so far and apparently he was a last minute decision by AN. Keep, considering we''ve only just got him.

Centre midfielders

Howson - One of our few reliable players. Keep, if we can.

Tettey - Mixed season. I''d still keep.

Mulumbu - Disappointing, considering his promise when he joined. Get rid.

Dorrans - Lacks the physicality needed in this league but certainly has the skill. Keep.

Thompson - Keep.

Attacking Midfielders

Wes - He struggles to play 90 minutes now but he''s still one of our best players. Keep.

Naismith - Hasn''t lived up to his £8 million price tag. One of our highest earners. Sell.

Pritchard - Probably wasted resources on him, considering we already had three players in that position. Lightweight, but keep.

Maddison - Keep (and play).

Andreau - Almost forgot him. Sell. Please.

Strikers

Oliveria - Keep

Jerome - Finishing still suspect but you know that he''ll give 100%. He''s still a good striker in this league. Keep.

Lafferty - How he is still at the club is beyond me and reflects the club''s inadequacy to recruit strikers in the past. Sell.

Morris - Keep.

That leaves us with major reconstruction on the defence and I''d like to see younger, powerful, athletic, skillful players, who have desire and are ''on the up'' and who won''t be bullied out of games.

Whether Alex Neil is the man to oversee this squad haul is another matter. I wouldn''t categorise any of his transfer windows here as ''good'' and his signings are very mixed. If we do replace him, I would hope that we sack him Hughton-style - a few weeks before the end of the season so that the new manager doesn''t waste a few weeks ''getting to know'' the players.

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OP, you seem to be keeping most of them.

The time has come to be a bit more ruthless.

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[quote user="norfolkbroadslim"]The first outs should be, Delia & Mother, Winny, Nepotism Nephew, Balls-Up, AN & all his calamitous crew and anyone else I have forgotten to mention![/quote]Ricky Martin. He hasn''t had a hoofing recently.

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The ones worth keeping will be the ones in demand, so its going to be a long summer, especially as the last parachute payment is next season, so we have to get the finances right - so sales of the likes of Pinto, Jacob or even Howson may have to happen

Those that have been here the longest are those setting the scene at the club and all of them to a man can go; the hardest to say bye to would be wes and howson; but both have been regular features in the poor games as well as the bad. Those old stagers have also been the captains without demonstrating on pitch leadership, thats not good enough, irrespective of how nice and community minded they are off it (and most are great ambassadors, which is why we love them)

The likes of Pinto, Oliveira, Pritchard, Jerome, Maddison, the murphys should form the core of the squad - whether that is the case we can only wait and see.

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Completely agree ZLF, unfortunately it needs a major overhaul and I can''t remember club offloading 10 or so players in one go!

There are a few guaranteed to go, Whittaker, Ruddy, Bassong, Klose, and Turner, then we have to hope that Martin, Bennett, Lafferty, Andreu, Mulumbu and Tettey go also.

Finding that many new players will be tough and will result in a few free transfers/out of contract players

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There is a decent core to work with- Rudd, Pinto, Toffolo, Thompson, Howson, the Murphy''s, Pritchard, Maddison, Nelson.

My concern is even with a fairly sizable clear out and some big sales do we have the cash to do a bit of Championship cherry picking.

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[quote user="Herman"][quote user="norfolkbroadslim"]The first outs should be, Delia & Mother, Winny, Nepotism Nephew, Balls-Up, AN & all his calamitous crew and anyone else I have forgotten to mention![/quote]Ricky Martin. He hasn''t had a hoofing recently.[/quote]The Man From Mulbarton!  [Y]Does anyone know if Dmitri has hooked up at this Premier League club yet?  Maybe we could get him back and then get rid off him again?  [:^)]

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"Clearing out" is easier said than done as we have seen with Lafferty. If they are still in contract (not all are), we can only get rid of them if someone is prepared to pay them as much as we are paying them.Sometimes a player will be so desperate to leave they will take a pay cut, but I suspect that it doesn''t happen very often. The other way is to "pay off" their contract. According to the Secret Footballer, this is likely to be 50%+ of the net value of the contract - he says he got 80% from one club! (Incidentally, imo, this is why that Alex Neill compensation clause is no big deal - if he doesn''t agree a deal he can sit drawing 100% for the full term of the contract if he wishes).In other words, you will find it easier to get rid of the good players who you want to keep and hard (and expensive) to get rid of the poorer players. My guess is that Naismith for example will have another 2 or 3 years of 25K+ - if nobody wants to buy him at a place where he wants to go, it will probably us a million pounds and more to "clear him out."

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The one thing that makes me optimistic about the upcoming summer is that enough of our well paid squad fillers are out of contract. Lafferty, Mulumbu, Whittaker, Turner, Bassong and Bennett can''t rely on us for a paycheck anymore.

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Personally, I would look to move on Andreu, Lafferty, Bassong, Turner, Whittaker, Tettey, Dorrans, Mulumbu, Jarvis, Naismith and possibly Klose.

Would require an entirely new defence (other than Pinto) and as much as I''d love to see a fresh face in goal it''ll be almost impossible to shift all our players so if some must stay to make the transition easier then it should be the likes of Ruddy and Martin.

Also feel midfield is in dire need of a complete overhaul: only Howson has consistently performed through the middle and despite that we''ve been so lightweight there and have no real strength or defensive nous. A couple of big nasty defensive mids are a necessity, allowing the likes of Pritchard, Murphy''s, Wes, Wildschut etc to push forward and support the attack.

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King Canary - "The one thing that makes me optimistic about the upcoming summer is that

enough of our well paid squad fillers are out of contract. Lafferty,

Mulumbu, Whittaker, Turner, Bassong and Bennett can''t rely on us for a

paycheck anymore.

"Whilst this is true, there is also a big drop in parachute payments, which will reduce our income by more than this - so we will have to find more than this in savings just to breakeven. As it will be our last year in parachute payments as well, we will need to take the length of contract of others in the club into account as well. We face quite a lot of constraints in rebuilding a squad without player sales. (Sorry -  I didn''t want to destroy your optimism [:(])

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The option that we have then is to bring in the youth, we have some decent prospects by the sound of it in the under 23''s in positions that we need to fill.

We truly had one year to get straight back up and we have blown that but I can''t help but think that 6 players out of contract at the end of the season and a few who think they''re too good for the championship had a lot to do with that. If you worked in any team where 25% were going to be out of a job in a year and another 10 to 15% think they are too good to be there, then surely that''s going to cause anybody problems.

Maybe we are in for championship football for a while so get a new man in and let''s build a young team, it''s not like we really have a choice.

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[quote user="Year of the tiger"]Think the OP forgot Jarvis inthe list. I assume he''d be a sell but who''d buy. [/quote]Just shows what a contribution to the cause he has made.

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Out:

Ruddy McGovern Rudd Whittaker Martin Bassong Turner Klose Tettey Dorrans Mulumbu Jarvis Naismith Lafferty

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*tin hat on*Wes is 34 now, struggles to play 90 minutes and still goes missing against more physical sides.if there is someone better, younger and affordable we can attract to the club then we should.. Thank Wes and wish him well before moving him on.Still a fantastic player but the club is at a cross roads now and we need young, hungry players who can do it now... not the old guard on one last pay day

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I have a Charlton supporting friend who thinks Rudd is a lability. Started well but now considered error prone, lightweight, and is not impressing him on loan.

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