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GrahamC

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9 hours ago, Harry said:

I was going to start a thread on the rebuild for next season, but this seems like a good thread to put my thoughts.

I've seen some people saying that Pearson has quite a challenge on to rebuild this squad, but if you consider the amount of players out of contract this summer, he's got as good a chance as any other manager in the past to stamp his authority on this squad.

The following 1st teamers are out of contract this summer :
Gilmartin, Baker, Mariappa, Sessegnon, Hunt, Simpson, Lansbury, Walsh, Rowe, Paterson, Weimann, Watkins, Adelakun & Diedhiou.

That's 14 players that Pearson can potentially 'ship out' if he so desires.  Personally, of all of those I'd only keep Walsh, the rest can leave, some with a thank you for your service, others with a boot up the arse.

Let's say we don't keep any of those players, we're left with the following 'pro's' :

GK : Bentley, O'Leary, Wollocott
FB :
Dasilva, Pring
CB : Kalas, Vyner, Moore

CM : Nagy, Bakinson, Williams, Massengo,
AM/W : O'Dowda, Palmer, Semenyo
ST : Wells, Martin

That's 17 players.  There are a number of other youngsters (Bell, Towler etc), but I'd imagine we'd be looking to loan out most of them, so I wouldn't consider them as 1st team squad next season..

17 players, of which I would imagine Wollocott, Moore & Bakinson might be loaned out.  So possibly down to 14.  Never has a City manager been presented with such a massive opportunity to totally reshape the squad in 1 transfer window.  With 12-14 players likely to move on, Pearson should have the opportunity to bring in almost a whole first 11.

Question is, as always, will he be given the budget he needs to reshape this squad, and will he have full remit over who he wants to bring in (but that's been done to death so I don't want to focus on that particular aspect).

If we look at the starting 11 today, here is the age of the players :
27, 30, 27, 34, 32, 30, 19, 24, 21, 30, 18.  Subs were 28, 30, 22, 34, 23.

We are either 'very experienced', or 'very young'.
The starting 11 only has Bentley & Kalas at their 'prime' age.  There rest are over the hill or young and inexperienced.

If I were Pearson, my summer recruitment would be very largely focused on 23-27 year olds who have plentiful experience under their belts.  We really really (and I mean REALLY) need to stop this awful recruitment policy of late of signing players on the decline.  In chronological order, our last 9 permanent signings are Simpson, Lansbury, Mariappa, Brunt, Martin, J Williams, Wells, Rodri, A Williams.  That's 8 of the last 9 who are over 30 and let's be honest, past it.

That transfer policy MUST change.  IMMEDIATELY.  We need to be looking at 75% of signings as players in their prime, with the other 25% as younger players with potential to step up.  There should hopefully be scope for Pearson to bring in at least 10, maybe even as many as 14 players.  He needs at least 8 players who are 23-27, in their prime and ready to compete at this level.  Then supplement that with 4 or 5 under 23's who can make the step up.

 

Just a quick scan I can see the following 'prime age' championship players who are out of contract this summer (this isn't a recommendation of signing any of these, just an example of who is out there potentially who would improve this squad, in my opinion):
Alex Mowatt, Nick Powell, Joe Rothwell, Andre Wisdom, Omar Richards, Adam Reach, Pelly Ruddock, Ryan Nyambe.

If we then want to spend some money, how about putting offers in for one or two of these :
Jed Wallace, Krystian Bielik, Tom Lawrence, Elias Chair, Jake Cooper.  Then let's have a look at players in teams at or near the bottom who might be worth a bid, like Ryan Giles, Jamie Lindsay, Dan Barlaser, Gus Hamer, Callum O'Hare, Jamie Allen, Lewis O'Brien.

Again, not advocating any or all of those players, nor saying they are available and would come, but that's the sort of players we need to start considering, and quit with this 30+ recruitment.

There is a huge opportunity for Pearson this summer, lets hope he's given the freedom to recruit as he sees fit.

Imagine us picking up Nyambe at right back, Mowatt & Rothwell in midfield, then bidding for Wallace & Lawrence on the wings and Cooper at the back.  6 players, 3 potentially without a fee, that immediately improve us massively.

I'm watching this summer with a lot more intrigue that any other year.
 

Good stuff Harry.

Worryingly, out of your list of 17, not many look top 6 quality:

Bentley, Kalas and DaSilva are the only three I'd say are ready NOW.

Semenyo, Vyner, Massengo, O'Leary and Palmer all have the potential to become top 6 Championship players but aren't quite there yet.

Williams we don't know yet.

So that's 9 players I'd keep in the group. Only 9!

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With so many players OOC this summer  it’s exactly the right time for a proper manager to sort out the wheat from the chaff and no doubt in my mind that Big Nige is the ideal man to do just that - a managers dream to be able to offload players so soon that won’t be in your plans.

He’s only been here a few games but he’ll already decided who he wants to keep and will have an idea of the players he’d like to recruit, some who he’s worked with before.

As others have said this summer window will be the most interesting in years.

Should the Owls get relegated then it’s likely that BB won’t want to play in L1 and become available..........:cool2:

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9 minutes ago, And Its Smith said:

Very hard to see us signing 10 new players this summer. Pearson says it will take 2-3 years to build towards the premier league.  I think we will sign 5 first team players and then supplement the rest of the squad with the best from the academy like Bell, Scott, Towler, Pearson

LJ said judge me after 4 transfer windows now we have Big Nige saying something similar, it really is all smoke and mirrors.

Most championship players are of a very similar standard ,the trick seems to be to play them in their best positions and for the sum of the team to be  greater than the parts.

Look at our play off team not exactly galaticos but we were very effective.

NP has the experience to do this and I hope the remainder of the season irrespective of results he decides  on how we should play and  those who don't match up are shown the door, it is not a chicken or egg situation ,agree the system then recruit accordingly, 

 

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13 minutes ago, robin_unreliant said:

Is it a concern, giving your point about recent signings, that NP's first one was Simpson?

Doesn't suggest he feels the same way, although I totally agree that we should stop wasting money on players who are past it. 

I’ve said my piece on the morality of signing Simpson, but there are virtually no players of quality available at the time he was signed, so I wouldn’t necessarily see him as a typical signing.

He obviously feels he is worth a look, but yours & Harry’s general point is spot on, signing from this age bracket should be by exception.

The likes of Wilbs, Wade Elliott show that they can add value, Mariappa possibly comes into this category too, but not in this volume.

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1 hour ago, GrahamC said:

I’ve said my piece on the morality of signing Simpson, but there are virtually no players of quality available at the time he was signed, so I wouldn’t necessarily see him as a typical signing.

He obviously feels he is worth a look, but yours & Harry’s general point is spot on, signing from this age bracket should be by exception.

The likes of Wilbs, Wade Elliott show that they can add value, Mariappa possibly comes into this category too, but not in this volume.

For me it’s finding younger players with experience...that sounds like a contradiction.  The 22-24 players with 100 games at this level.  Not easy to find, but the volume of OOC this summer helps somewhat.  You do need a mix.  Mowatt at 25 would be a no-brained if you could attract him. Ashley Fletcher, another.  But a lot will depend how NP wants to play.  Players are out there.  But you’ve got to look hard and do the graft to make sure they fit.

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@Harry

GK : Bentley, O'Leary, Wollocott
FB : Dasilva, Pring
CB : Kalas, Vyner, Moore
CM : Nagy, Bakinson, Williams, Massengo,
AM/W : O'Dowda, Palmer, Semenyo
ST : Wells, Martin

I would keep Weimann from your discard list, I think we have really missed him. I know he doesn’t often add goals but we need a player who will run till he drops and apart from his season long injury he previously had a good availability record.

From your keep list I would,in an idea world, ditch Taylor Moore, he’s been here years and cannot cement regular starts, no manager seems to really fancy him. Bakinson after a bright start a few months ago has also regressed, yesterday was the final straw for me. Wells can also go, never been remotely interested. I don’t like watching him at all, frustrates the hell out of me. Last and not least O’Dowda, I like him when fit and well but has missed far to many chunks of several seasons due to injury.

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1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

Mowatt at 25 would be a no-brainer if you could attract him. 

Sounds too complex for our recruitment team.

The foreign market should broaden the scope for the right kind of talent if we've done our due diligence ? Sorry can't write that with a straight face...

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1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

For me it’s finding younger players with experience...that sounds like a contradiction.  The 22-24 players with 100 games at this level.  Not easy to find, but the volume of OOC this summer helps somewhat.  You do need a mix.  Mowatt at 25 would be a no-brained if you could attract him. Ashley Fletcher, another.  But a lot will depend how NP wants to play.  Players are out there.  But you’ve got to look hard and do the graft to make sure they fit.

Fletcher’s injury record worries me this season but absolutely the right age & type we should be after.

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14 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

Fletcher’s injury record worries me this season but absolutely the right age & type we should be after.

Yeah, it’s more “age and type” rather than the player himself that I’m referring to.  Although a fit Fletcher is a decent striker at this level.  The players are out there, they will be out there in bigger numbers this summer as clubs make cutbacks.

But we need to be smart.  Pearson sounds like he knows that with terms like “creative” and “not marquee”.

I think the foreign market is definitely an option, especially those countries like Belgium (where he’s worked) where WP rules would be fine for any Jupiler League player.

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13 hours ago, Harry said:

I was going to start a thread on the rebuild for next season, but this seems like a good thread to put my thoughts.

I've seen some people saying that Pearson has quite a challenge on to rebuild this squad, but if you consider the amount of players out of contract this summer, he's got as good a chance as any other manager in the past to stamp his authority on this squad.

The following 1st teamers are out of contract this summer :
Gilmartin, Baker, Mariappa, Sessegnon, Hunt, Simpson, Lansbury, Walsh, Rowe, Paterson, Weimann, Watkins, Adelakun & Diedhiou.

That's 14 players that Pearson can potentially 'ship out' if he so desires.  Personally, of all of those I'd only keep Walsh, the rest can leave, some with a thank you for your service, others with a boot up the arse.

Let's say we don't keep any of those players, we're left with the following 'pro's' :

GK : Bentley, O'Leary, Wollocott
FB :
Dasilva, Pring
CB : Kalas, Vyner, Moore

CM : Nagy, Bakinson, Williams, Massengo,
AM/W : O'Dowda, Palmer, Semenyo
ST : Wells, Martin

That's 17 players.  There are a number of other youngsters (Bell, Towler etc), but I'd imagine we'd be looking to loan out most of them, so I wouldn't consider them as 1st team squad next season..

17 players, of which I would imagine Wollocott, Moore & Bakinson might be loaned out.  So possibly down to 14.  Never has a City manager been presented with such a massive opportunity to totally reshape the squad in 1 transfer window.  With 12-14 players likely to move on, Pearson should have the opportunity to bring in almost a whole first 11.

Question is, as always, will he be given the budget he needs to reshape this squad, and will he have full remit over who he wants to bring in (but that's been done to death so I don't want to focus on that particular aspect).

If we look at the starting 11 today, here is the age of the players :
27, 30, 27, 34, 32, 30, 19, 24, 21, 30, 18.  Subs were 28, 30, 22, 34, 23.

We are either 'very experienced', or 'very young'.
The starting 11 only has Bentley & Kalas at their 'prime' age.  There rest are over the hill or young and inexperienced.

If I were Pearson, my summer recruitment would be very largely focused on 23-27 year olds who have plentiful experience under their belts.  We really really (and I mean REALLY) need to stop this awful recruitment policy of late of signing players on the decline.  In chronological order, our last 9 permanent signings are Simpson, Lansbury, Mariappa, Brunt, Martin, J Williams, Wells, Rodri, A Williams.  That's 8 of the last 9 who are over 30 and let's be honest, past it.

That transfer policy MUST change.  IMMEDIATELY.  We need to be looking at 75% of signings as players in their prime, with the other 25% as younger players with potential to step up.  There should hopefully be scope for Pearson to bring in at least 10, maybe even as many as 14 players.  He needs at least 8 players who are 23-27, in their prime and ready to compete at this level.  Then supplement that with 4 or 5 under 23's who can make the step up.

 

Just a quick scan I can see the following 'prime age' championship players who are out of contract this summer (this isn't a recommendation of signing any of these, just an example of who is out there potentially who would improve this squad, in my opinion):
Alex Mowatt, Nick Powell, Joe Rothwell, Andre Wisdom, Omar Richards, Adam Reach, Pelly Ruddock, Ryan Nyambe.

If we then want to spend some money, how about putting offers in for one or two of these :
Jed Wallace, Krystian Bielik, Tom Lawrence, Elias Chair, Jake Cooper.  Then let's have a look at players in teams at or near the bottom who might be worth a bid, like Ryan Giles, Jamie Lindsay, Dan Barlaser, Gus Hamer, Callum O'Hare, Jamie Allen, Lewis O'Brien.

Again, not advocating any or all of those players, nor saying they are available and would come, but that's the sort of players we need to start considering, and quit with this 30+ recruitment.

There is a huge opportunity for Pearson this summer, lets hope he's given the freedom to recruit as he sees fit.

Imagine us picking up Nyambe at right back, Mowatt & Rothwell in midfield, then bidding for Wallace & Lawrence on the wings and Cooper at the back.  6 players, 3 potentially without a fee, that immediately improve us massively.

I'm watching this summer with a lot more intrigue that any other year.
 

Excellent post although Sessegnon is not ours. Is he out of contract at Fulham? Of the other players out of contract in addition to Walsh I'd look to keep Weimann and possibly Lansbury who might benefit from a preseason with us if Pearson stays. GIlmartin I suspect will end up in a coaching role either here or elsewhere. 

Due to the effects of Covid on football finances across the leagues I expect more than ever that the ability to move players on will dictate arrivals. As to my knowledge FFP has not been suspended money is likely to be very tight. While there may be one or two new signings to freshen things up I would not be surprised if we, and other clubs, offer 1 or 2 year deals to OOC players as a cheaper option to the open market place. 

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20 hours ago, bexhill reds said:

I get he has a laid back style, but I agree, doesn’t look like one interested in staying 

Frustrating thing is that when he feels like it he can play. It seems he has a huge attitude problem brought on by high wages having nothing to do with performance and results. From his SM posts he doesn't seem to be the sharpest knife in the box so how does any manager or coach actually get players like to realise how lucky they are and that that actually have to work for their money.

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7 hours ago, Abraham Romanovich said:

LJ said judge me after 4 transfer windows now we have Big Nige saying something similar, 

 

4 windows for newby Nige, no doubt, but Lee said he "might" (only) need three. Yes, as many as three. To "match the top couple of teams."

I forget now, but we must've only allowed him the two. Easy in hindsight, but praps we could've given him one more window?

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I have to agree that our squad is average at best and a complete overhaul is needed. And that raises huge questions about our recruitment over the last couple of seasons. 
 

Out of the OOC players listed by @Harry I’d keep hold of Weimann. And maybe Walsh, who I believe did very well in Coventry’s promotion team while on loan but is yet to prove himself here (but who I think has potential).  That’s it. I quite like Pato and he is good when on form, but he is so inconsistent. 

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9 hours ago, RedM said:

@Harry

GK : Bentley, O'Leary, Wollocott
FB : Dasilva, Pring
CB : Kalas, Vyner, Moore
CM : Nagy, Bakinson, Williams, Massengo,
AM/W : O'Dowda, Palmer, Semenyo
ST : Wells, Martin

I would keep Weimann from your discard list, I think we have really missed him. I know he doesn’t often add goals but we need a player who will run till he drops and apart from his season long injury he previously had a good availability record.

From your keep list I would,in an idea world, ditch Taylor Moore, he’s been here years and cannot cement regular starts, no manager seems to really fancy him. Bakinson after a bright start a few months ago has also regressed, yesterday was the final straw for me. Wells can also go, never been remotely interested. I don’t like watching him at all, frustrates the hell out of me. Last and not least O’Dowda, I like him when fit and well but has missed far to many chunks of several seasons due to injury.

Just to be clear - the list I presented isn’t my keep/discard list. It was more a case of, here’s who is in or out of contract next season. If I had my way I’d get rid of the bally lot of ‘em!! ?

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12 hours ago, mozo said:

Good stuff Harry.

Worryingly, out of your list of 17, not many look top 6 quality:

Bentley, Kalas and DaSilva are the only three I'd say are ready NOW.

Semenyo, Vyner, Massengo, O'Leary and Palmer all have the potential to become top 6 Championship players but aren't quite there yet.

Williams we don't know yet.

So that's 9 players I'd keep in the group. Only 9!

Crazy isn’t it. That when you really break it down and critically assess, there aren’t many in our squad you’d want to keep. 
Absolute madness. 
But as I said earlier, Nige has a very good opportunity to have a right royal clear out. 

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20 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Pretty aligned to my thoughts too.  As Graham says Wollacott is OOC but we do have a year option.

I would probably add that the majority of new signings need to be seen as mid/long term, the kind of players you bring in on a 3-4 year deal, and that you’d want to extend in 18-24 months.  There will need to be a couple of quick-fix players, preferably on loan.

Bielik - second ACL hasn’t he?  Versus us?

I think there’s a strong chance that Bakinson, Moore, Nagy and Wells won’t be here either.

Other players worth a look at:

  • Ben Wiles, Matthew Olusunde - Rotherham
  • Dominic Iorfa - Wednesday
  • Djed Spence - Boro
  • Harry Toffolo - Huddersfield if any doubts re Dasilva long-term fitness
  • Dion Charles - Accrington
  • Luke Jephcott - Plymouth
  • Jerry Yates - Blackpool
  • Scott Twine - Swindon

 

Yep. All good players to have a think about. 
There’s gonna be a pretty big overhaul here, and picking up 7 or 8 ‘established’ and ‘in their prime’ players will be great if then look at some of the less established, but potentially talented players you’ve listed like Jephcott, Yates etc. 
We need the blend in the recruitment - established prime 23/27 yr old pro’s sprinkled with exciting early-twenties types. 

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12 hours ago, And Its Smith said:

Very hard to see us signing 10 new players this summer. Pearson says it will take 2-3 years to build towards the premier league.  I think we will sign 5 first team players and then supplement the rest of the squad with the best from the academy like Bell, Scott, Towler, Pearson

I don’t know Dave. Considering 14 of the current 1st team squad could be on their bikes, I can’t see us replacing only 5 and then relying on 18-19 year olds to beef the squad. It’s an ideal time to bring in almost a whole new first team and let Bell, Towler etc go on L2 loans. 

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Just now, Harry said:

I don’t know Dave. Considering 14 of the current 1st team squad could be on their bikes, I can’t see us replacing only 5 and then relying on 18-19 year olds to beef the squad. It’s an ideal time to bring in almost a whole new first team and let Bell, Towler etc go on L2 loans. 

I’d prefer them to bring in 5 signings that are well thought out and fit though than make 10 scatter gun signings.  Appreciate you aren’t advocating making scatter gun signings but just not sure how obtainable ten players are in one summer without making mistakes 

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2 minutes ago, And Its Smith said:

I’d prefer them to bring in 5 signings that are well thought out and fit though than make 10 scatter gun signings.  Appreciate you aren’t advocating making scatter gun signings but just not sure how obtainable ten players are in one summer without making mistakes 

True that. I guess that’s where my concern still comes in over who is making the recruitment decisions. It’ll absolutely be scattergun if Ashton is still in charge. Give Nige the remit and let him build what he wants in his style. 

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