Paying the price of too small a squad

[0peteddMMyyyy0Falseen-USTrue 0]

For the last 2 seasons we have operated on one of the smaller if not the smallest squads in the Division we have played.  Again we are down to the bare bones, not enough bodies to cope.  2003-4 we were lucky with injuries.  2004-5 and 2005-6 we are not and are suffering from it.  Do NCFC and its Board regard it as a badge of prudence to operate on a shoestring, well if it is not Worthy''s fault regarding unforeseen injuries, the Board must take the blame.

It is to be hoped that inevitable injuries doesn''t curtail our recent good form. 

[DumbleDelia is Magic 0]

Every club gets injuries.  They are to be expected in football.  You should therefore have a squad big enough to cope with it.  Unfortunately, we don''t

[0Amarillo<P><FONT color=#cccc00 size=4><EM> º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ Amarillo ¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°<EM><FONT><P>ddMMyyyy0Falseen-US<P><FONT color=#cccc00 size=4><EM> º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ Amarillo ¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°<EM><FONT><P>True 0]

I think you''ll find that pretty every club has a much smaller squad these days, just to keep the wage bill under control. If you look at the back of matchday programmes, there''s rarely any bigger than ours. Here''s a suggestion for Rick Waghorn - do a piece on the size of each club''s squad, it''d make interesting reading I''m sure.

[Rudolph Hucker 0]

I heard an interview with Hoddle yesterday saying Wolves had 23 fit players....23, thats ur 9 (almost a whole team) more than us. Why don''t we sell the coach and buy a mini bus?

It will be interesting to see how Wolves manage, or not, such an advantage.

[T07 0]

try this -

[gazban 0]

I must agree the squad is too small, which also means there is less competition for places. The biggest problem I can see is that we are overloaded with the same positions and have nobody in others. We have at least 3 left and 3 right full backs, 4 goalkeepers, 3 left wingers and loads of forwards. But we have no proper right winger and only 3 proper centrehalfs, plus a very makeshift midfield. Worthy must sort this problem out in Jan, get rid of Brennan and Charlton,who are simply not good enough,and bring in a couple of right wingers, a Davenport and another quality midfielder as the ones there at the moment are worringly poor. Or perhaps if he played rossi a bit more he may not need too.

[Mariner 0]

I believe squad size is a most important factor and neither Board nor Manager can escape responsibility.  Should we now have to endure a difficult Christmas period, the Club has only itself to blame.  I''m not so certain that all clubs are running on a squad as small as ours, and I do hope this statement will not cause a bout of the "We''re only little old club" syndrome.  Should we not reach the play-offs because of a lack of numbers it could be seen as a very false economy.  One of the things so pleasing at the time of our promotion to the Premiership was our move to a better Reserve competition.  I think we owe that competition some respect, particularly if we want to stay there.  A bigger squad would allow for the reserve team to have a greater leavening of experienced professionals.

I am afraid a good performance against Southampton has not removed any of my doubts about Mr. Worthington.  I remain deeply concerned about his judgement on players, both young and mature, and his tactics.   Perhaps the Board/Management relationship is a little too close to allow for objectivity.  As I love the Club, I hope he will prove me wrong.