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The Squad - what next?

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So I am sat here, looking at a list of our first team senior pro''s and fathoming what the future holds for them.

Elmander, Yobo and Gutierrez all return to their parent clubs.

We have Nash, Tettey and Turner out of contract.

We also have Fox and Pilkington with possible one year options. I have seen some confusion with this, the option is for the club to take up - the player cannot reject it.

So removing the loan players we have the following (sorry if I miss anyone out, I am only human!):

GK: Ruddy, Bunn, Rudd.

DF: Martin, Whittaker, Bassong, R.Bennett, Garrido, Olsson. Turner is out of contract.

MF: Snodgrass, E.Bennett, Redmond, Howson, Hoolahan, Johnson, Pilkington, Surman, Fox, Fer - with Tettey out of contract.

Str: RVW, Hooper and Becchio.

I don''t think Nash will be offered another contract although I have seen stranger things happen.

The most likely I see moving: Bassong, Garrido, Snodgrass, Hoolahan, Fer, RVW.

Others that could go: Redmond, Ruddy, Becchio, Hooper, Fox, Surman, Olsson.

Throw into that Turner and Tettey who may well not stay - there is a plausible high turnover of players again.

I''m not saying all of those players want to leave, but I think many will be tempting targets for premier league teams. Redmond with his pace for example, Olsson again for pace but also because he is a handy left sided player.

I can''t see Far wanting to stay, at the start of the season he was in the Dutch national squad - I doubt that will happen if he is playing in the Championship.

I think this could be quite a fraught summer if not handled correctly - I am happy the club are trying to get it sorted out quickly. We shall have to see. Although this talk of a director of football suggests that we may be looking at a less experienced manager with an old pro higher up to help with contacts and advice etc.

This is the worse bit about being relegated - who will we have left after the vultures have picked up and will the others be unsettled or focused?

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Nash - agreed unless we sell Ruddy. Let Bunn and Rudd fight it out for first team (no point buying any one else, both of those good enough for the championship), have Nash there as back up.

Agree with most of what else you''ve put. Of those you list as likely to go, many of them I wouldn''t be too upset if they go individually. It''s just about making sure we don''t sell too many at once and have to replace half a squad or more.

A (realistic) core of Ruddy, Martin, Bennett, Turner, Tettey, Howson, Johnson, Snodgrass, Hoolahan/Pilks and Hooper seems very strong and would need only one or two signings to be real contenders.

However, that core could quite easily become Bunn, Martin, Bennett, Howson, Johnson, Becchio. Not terrible, but needs quite a few decent signings to supplement it.

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Not one of the players we have wont do a good job in the champs;   so the manager needs to decide which ones are disruptive or dont suit their style and we choose to sell,  which one he sees as must keep and simply dont sell.

 

We can and should control this - our 25 nominated players and andrew surman is a good squad to gain promotion with a confidence giving manager - even seb, rvw, fer, snoddy, ruddy etc

 

Some will leave,  but let the manager choose.

 

 

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Hard to tell who we''ll keep until the new manager has had a chance to assess. There are probably most of the squad i''d describe as ''at risk'' but we can''t be selling all of them! Someone like Malky or Lennon might convince Snoddy and Hooper to stay, someone like Sherwood might keep Bassong on. What is clear is that it will be a tricky market to get right in terms of buying.

When Newcastle went down with their squad in disarray, there only signings were Danny Simpson on loan and Lovenkrands on a free, both worked and added good honest workrate and desire to a talented but dejected squad. They cleared the bad attitudes very quickly and the guys that were there for the club not the money stood up to the challenge. It might well be some of the less popular names like Bassong and RvW could be these players that have a point to prove. It''ll be an interesting few weeks.

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For me-

At risk (interest from others)- Snodgrass, Ruddy, Fer, Hooper, Howson, Tettey, Olsson

At risk (won''t or don''t want to be here)- Becchio, Pilkington, Hoolahan, Whittaker, Garrido, Bassong

Likely to stay- Martin, Turner, Ry Bennett, Johnson, Redmond, El Bennett, Fox, Surman

Unsure- RvW

Any of the top rank we can convince to stay will be a massive boost to our chances next year.

The players in the second rank are those that I believe would want away for whatever reason, but the number of suitors won''t be quite so prevalent.

And finally, the list of players that I think are most likely to be here in August, be it out of lack of interest or a sense of duty to try help the club back up. Redmond maybe didn''t shine quite brightly enough for anyone else to give him a crack at the PL again just yet, and if we can get Turner on-board we have the makings of a decent defence.

As far as RvW goes, I really don''t know. He strikes me as the sort of character that will feel like he owes it to both us and himself to give it a go, but his pricetag and rubbish season could make him a weight around our neck.

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We could lose as many as 6 or 8, but I imagine that few will be sacked/released on a free. Much depends on offers. How many of our squad do you think will attract a good price - two or three at most, with another three or four receiving "derisory" offers.

We do not have to sell! Only our one or two highly prized players, who could attract a highish price are likely to be the targets of unsettling actions. Recall how even Ruddy was unsettled briefly by interest from other clubs.

The ball is in our court for most players, even if it is only for a one year extension. We can decide whom we would like to keep for a premiership challenge in a year or two, and whom we would like to keep until we find someone better or our youth players are sufficiently developed.

There may be several members of our squad who came or stayed only because of the possibility of playing the Premiership. They may want to be off now, but we do not need to sell and we can say "no" to any bid.

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Sorry but I think some of what has been said is quite naive.

There is simply no point forcing a player to play for a club they no longer wish to be a part of, the same as there is no point of making them train with the youngsters.

If we are serious about mounting a promotion challenge at the first time of asking we''ll need an inspirational manager and to not lose more than a handful (5) of our ''top'' players.

Like I said in the original post - Fer and RVW were both in the Dutch international squad at the start of the season, for that reason I doubt they''ll want to hang about. I could be wrong but I somewhat doubt it.

I could be very wrong of course, perhaps we have a number of players who have more to their character than I am giving them credit for. But I can see a lot of unrest within the squad and quite a few going.

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I would have thought some players will want to see who is appointed manager before they make a decision about their future. For those who are able to.

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Some players that I think might go:

Ruddy - When we got relegated to L1 Marshall handed in a transfer request as he felt he had to at least be playing at Championship level to get called up for Scotland, I don''t know whether Ruddy will hand in one for the same reason

Snodgrass - Supports Celtic and has been asking Lennon to stay as manager. There as been a lot of talk of him going. Also out of contract next summer so if he doesn''t sign a new one we will have to sell him

Hooper - Seen talk about him going back to Celtic. Poor this season but when he was playing for Celtic he was playing against weaker teams and so if we keep him I believe he could shine next season (I believe the same about RVW). He also only came to us for the hope of an England call-up

Becchio and Hoolahan - Both want to leave as they aren''t playing, and I''m expecting them to go this summer

Surman - Been on loan all season. Personally I reckon he''ll be out of favour next season

Nash - Out of contract. I reckon he will only be offered a new one if Ruddy goes

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