Well done, Gunny!

[Salopian 1]

I think that the squad is already stronger than it was last year, with the four excellent signings, return of Martin and Spillane, signing of Cody and possibly a trialist - Nelson.All this achieved with minimum outlay and, we hope, enough left in the kitty to sign a useful striker, which will probably be the key to success next season.If they are still negotiating, and can come up with RB and LB as well, our confidence must be high.Well done to the manager and his assistants!

[Time to go Delia 0]

Stronger than last year , having a laugh right , this squad will struggle in league 1 and the top 6 will all but a dream come xmas.

[Ian 1,210]

The jury''s out on this one. If we sign some quality on the wings, and up front, then I will be very happy. As it stands, we still have major gaps in the squad.

[ncfclad 0]

agreed

All four signings have a winning mentality

Keeper has won two championships in the A-League

Nelson captained a promoted Hartlepool and turned down the championship

Gill was the best player for promoted Exeter

Tudor-Jones was part of the Swansea promotion side

[Canary_on_the Trent 0]

worrying thing is whether Clingan and Hoolahan will be here come August 6th, i like Gunnys signings and believe they''ll slot in nicely in the side but if the above mentioned go we really don''t have any players who really stand out at this level

[ncfclad 0]

the key is to keep players like Doc, Stefanovic, Clingan and Hoolahan and buy a right back, right mid and a striker or two.

[Shaun Tilly Lace 0]

There''s no way of knowing whether the squad is stronger or weaker until several league matches have been played. Let''s wait and see shall we.

[The Chirp 0]

[quote user="Loan City Fc "]Stronger than last year , having a laugh right , this squad will struggle in league 1 and the top 6 will all but a dream come xmas.[/quote]well we own these players which is a plus! the op is saying IF we sign the other players then there is every reason to be optimistic. will you be happy if Norwich are in the top six? I would. This is a hard league to play in and even if we did sign top strikers it is going to be hard. MK Dons, US, Leeds, Charlton, Millwall and Huddersfield will be right in the mix followed by Colchester and Southampton (depending on how quickly the get their house in order).

[Mr. T 0]

i don''t think the squad is beter than last year YET. However, i think it will do better than last year, not because we are in a lowr league but we have no loans and gunnys getting players who want to play for the club!!

[Graham Humphrey 13]

I think we still need a good five or six players to come in and that''s assuming we don''t lose anyone.

[First Wizard 0]

Err? who''s going to score goals?[:S]

[missing in action? 0]

[quote user="First Wizard"]Err? who''s going to score goals?[:S][/quote]jamie lad?????

HAHA....

[Its only my opinion 0]

tuder-jones was out on loan at swindon..how good is the A-league..Was gill there best player or did u read that on here???  i honestly hv no idea what to think of these signing but if we want to go up i think we really need to keep players like clingan and holahan and need to still sign alot of players of far better quality than the ones we have signed so far....

fingers crossed we do

[hogesar 10,761]

[quote user="First Wizard"]Err? who''s going to score goals?[:S][/quote]Cureton, according to you! [;)

[The Chirp 0]

[quote user="First Wizard"]Err? who''s going to score goals?[:S][/quote]see my new blog post Wiz... webblog thing see bottom of this post.

Add to this Platt i guess and Le Fondre

[Tangible Fixed Assets anyone? 0]

We need:

1) 2 preferably 3 experienced strikers

2) Right winger

3) Right back who can defend, you know that is the first priority of a full back

4) A left back if we have sufficient resources (assuming Drury has only one year left on his contract), Harding is available on a free and is talking with Yeovil.

 

Then if Clingan goes we need to find another central midfield player.

Ideally once we have at least two strikers in, we should try to offload Cureton.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Romantic 0]

[quote user="ncfclad"]the key is to keep players like Doc, Stefanovic, Clingan and Hoolahan and buy a right back, right mid and a striker or two.[/quote]

That''s absolutely right. If we hang on to everyone then we may be a signing or 3 short of a real decent outfit. If we leak then I''ll be propper glum!

[ACE 0]

on paper so far it looks ok, with tall, strong players used to promotion etc coming in.  But we do lack quality on the wings and up top, its the goals that are an issue.  I believe Chris Martin will come good this year, and macDonald, but we NEED at at least one tall beefy holding striker to supply them from crosses supplied from god knows who.

[chicken 0]

[quote user="I.S."]The jury''s out on this one. If we sign some quality on the wings, and up front, then I will be very happy. As it stands, we still have major gaps in the squad.[/quote]You have to see the amusing side of this. Quality on the wings - Croft was a really hard worker and great for the team but wasn''t exactly quality was he? Other than that you had Pattison, Carney and Hoolahan. Only one of those has quality as part of their game and he is still with us at the moment.Looking at the squad you can hardly say that it is in a worse position than last season. Its not weaker than it was without the loan players.GK: Theoklitis, RuddLB: Drury, LappinCB: Nelson, Doherty, Stefanovic, SpillaneRB: Otsemobor, SpillaneLM: Hoolahan, Lappin, PattyCM: Gill, Tudor-Jones, Clingan, Russell, Patty, Spillane, LappinRM: Martin, PattySTR: MacDonald, Cureton, MartinOn top of that you have the accadamy players who have come through recently in:Defenders: Habergham, StephensMidfielders: Adeyemi, Lathrope, Smith, Dumic (I thought he was a defender but not according to the official site?!!)Strikers: Renton, Daley, KellyAppart from right midfield they are the same positions that we were lacking depth in last season although we have actually plugged one or two that we had last season and no longer have now. Central defence for example - possibly midfield as well which is where we were sometimes found lacking.It certainly is no worse than last season - jury is out on whether it is better but then we are talking about top six league 1 - I would hope even last years dross would have been able to achieve top six in league one.

[shortfatb 0]

[quote user="Loan City Fc "]Stronger than last year , having a laugh right , this squad will struggle in league 1 and the top 6 will all but a dream come xmas.[/quote]

Johnny One Note LyricsJohnny could only sing one note

And the note he sings was this

Ah!

Poor Johnny one-note

sang out with "gusto"

And just overlorded the place

Poor Johnny one-note

yelled willy nilly

Until he was blue in the face

For holding one note was his ace

[crowey66 0]

My God you are easily pleased int ya.I totally agree with Loan City.If we finish in 6th spot i''ll have a hard on for a month mate!

[chicken 0]

And you think we would have done better with the team we had last year - bearing in mind we have lost three players and gained four.

[Jim Smith 2,608]

I don''t think the squad is great but i do think its at least as good as last season and given that we are in a lower league that should mean we are in reasonable shape. I thinik its 2 or 3 players away from being a squad capable of challenging for the top 2. Currently I think the two main players are a right winger and a targetman and if we get decent ones in (preferable having spent a bit of money) and lose no more than one further player (Clingan I suspect) then we may be in business. If both Clingan and hoolahan stay then i think that subject to the additions mentioned above we are in very good shape. I would not have thouight that possible at the start of the summer and I still think that Clingan will go but the lack of serious rumours surrounding the departure of those two at the moment is quite pleasing.

[Superflash 0]

It''s still early doors in the tansfer window so there''s plenty of time for Gunn to settle any niggling negotiations going on. We still need new bodies but the aquisitions thus far are already better than what I was expecting. I say good on him, considering his budget (or lack thereof) and the fact we''ve been relegated thus not being able to attract players from higher divisions I think he''s doing a very good job indeed.

[Time to go Delia 0]

[quote user="shortfatb"][quote user="Loan City Fc "]Stronger than last year , having a laugh right , this squad will struggle in league 1 and the top 6 will all but a dream come xmas.[/quote]

Johnny One Note LyricsJohnny could only sing one note

And the note he sings was this

Ah!

Poor Johnny one-note

sang out with "gusto"

And just overlorded the place

Poor Johnny one-note

yelled willy nilly

Until he was blue in the face

For holding one note was his ace

[/quote] I bet you think Delia saved the club dont you ? go on admit it .

[ZLF 335]

GK: Theoklitis, Rudd
LB: Drury, Lappin
CB: Nelson, Doherty, Stefanovic, Spillane
RB: Otsemobor, Spillane
LM: Hoolahan, Lappin, Patty
CM: Gill, Tudor-Jones, Clingan, Russell, Patty, Spillane, Lappin
RM: Martin, Patty
STR: MacDonald, Cureton, Martin

Is that a competetive squad?

Well defensively I would say we are getting there - but there are huge questions over the full backs,  Ots cant defend in the champs and Drurys injuries mean it would be an enormous gamble to start the season with only Lappin as cover.     Central defence looks good,  assuming we dont sell.

Midfield? Well again there are question marks over the wide slots,  no rights sided player and on the left only lappin assuming Hoolahan moves on.  Patty was persona non grata so unless that really changes can we include him here?  If he stays and can be picked then yes he is an option there.  Russell and Clingan?   I would quite happily sell Rusty with the two new boys here,  and feel that CLingan will walk.  If both C & R go then we will need one more,  but centre does not look too bad.  However does that whole midfield look physcially strong enough?  At the moment even with Clingan the answer is no.

Likewise up front,  it looks far too lightweight.  A target man is a must,  and with no other "big man" so must a cover target man - the 3 named are all partners and starting with 2 of them come colchester wont be good enough for the whole season.

So thats 2 full backs,  one right midfielder, probably another central midfielder (if patty and clingan leave) and at least one striker.

If we can sign a couple permanently (RM and target man) and then a couple on loan that gives us a far more balanced squad for loan/permanent ratio and using the loan system to inject some quality without much cost will mean we are using the loan system to our benefit.  Those signings will not come until the end of the close season though.

 

[shortfatb 0]

[quote user="Loan City Fc "][quote user="shortfatb"][quote user="Loan City Fc "]Stronger than last year , having a laugh right , this squad will struggle in league 1 and the top 6 will all but a dream come xmas.[/quote]

Johnny One Note LyricsJohnny could only sing one note

And the note he sings was this

Ah!

Poor Johnny one-note

sang out with "gusto"

And just overlorded the place

Poor Johnny one-note

yelled willy nilly

Until he was blue in the face

For holding one note was his ace

[/quote] I bet you think Delia saved the club dont you ? go on admit it . [/quote]No but I think you could, you''re forward thinking, looking for new ways to improve things, erudite and charismatic. Lead the way!

[ricky knight 0]

shows how far we have fallen, people happy with free signings and two bobbers, be lucky to finish halfway imo.

[supercol 0]

I think you will find that a large proportion of Championship clubs will not be buying before selling money is tight throughout football but what the hell , let''s judge the new players before we see them play eh ?

[ricky knight 0]

ok lets make them world beaters before we see them, like others on here.