Summer 26 Transfer Rumours

Wouldn't say that was the case

Mullin - Best performances in LG2 and NL. Wasnt a striker that fit our style of play. Was definitely a signing that focused more on optics than performance
Sibley - Yes, did have a good pedigree in the Champ an LG1 but had been on a downward spiral career wise as of the last few years
Wheatley - Potential. But wasn't prolific. And at the time we needed goals, not risks
Evans - Was signed as a backup, when we should’ve focused towards competition for the position
Ashby - wasn't given a fair run tbh. There was times where Neufville was putting in some suspect performances
White - goes without saying. A shite signing and one of our worst in recent years

 

GA on Powell

 

I saw this post on LinkedIn from Powell posted earlier today so any look like they happened after training and going into it today he wasn't sure about an outcome. I certainly thought it would be a simple case of if he stayed fit through pre-season we'd offer him a contract and realistically I can't see anyone gambling and outbidding us significantly but it might be more uncertain than that.

 

I started in 1982 and never thought I'd see Championship and EPL (in today's terms) but we did. Never say never however hard it might appear. We are one Powerball win from success ;-)

 

GA confirms that he plans to use Sarcevic in a more central role this coming season, similar to the role Pattison played.

The club are clearly struggling to bring in better quality in central midfield following the loss of Power and Metcalfe.

 

Time will tell, but it doesn't feel as though we have an established midfielder capable of playing the vast majority of a 46 game season. A huge responsibility for Callum Connolly it looks like to be the main man.

 

It's alright saying we neglected CF but Beesley was our man. Better that we saved the money to buy him now and got cheap loans in that could have worked out if things had gone differently, particularly Wheatleys 2 sitters in his first two games not being his first touch of the game, rather than spunk the money on someone we don't fully rate with a January premium and be stuck with them for 3 years with no money to sign who we actually want just to be seen to be doing something

 

We will probably see Cartwright emerge as the season progresses, much like we did with Metcalfe last season.

We did get off to a flyer last season playing Leigh alongside Power.

 

I can see Cartwright and Sarce as the partnership come the winter. It's just Sarces fitness that has been an slight worry for a good few years now.

Since the 21/22 season, Sarcevic has missed a lot of football with random little issues. He's only made over 30 matchday squads twice in those 5 seasons. And when it comes to starts, in Stockports promotion season he started 28 times and last season for us he started 32 times in L1. Last season was the most league starts he's made since 18/19 at Plymouth when he was 26/27.

You seemingly do need a ready replacement for him unfortunately for the other 15 or so he won't start.

 

We

We will sign a midfielder. He hinted about players who want to play higher but then may become available. Also they would wait a couple of weeks if needed to get the best player for our budget.

 

I think GA's stubborn streak will come through and he'll pick Connolly in the defensive midfield role whatever, similar to the situation we had with Humps last year as CF

 

Theres a lot of emphasis on Connolly not working out at CM because he’s a defender, but much less on the fact that he’s more injury prone than Sarc. We have bottled this up quite bad, most of the first choice CMs have moved elsewhere so we may have go to down the loan route

 

How's Connelly performed so far in the preseason games at CM?

 

Based on the Preston game alone i was pretty impressed with him

 

It’s a mess and first time I’ve been really annoyed with GA comments in the T&A about it been hard window (love GA).
Ok why has it been hard:
Gent and Sharpe not done their job
Sparks not done his job influencing rupp
Rupp not stuck to his comments on enough to take us to the championship
Marketing and sales team not brought enough to boost our way around the rules.

I imagine it’s all of the above in some capacity and we left with two injury prone players in a critical position with another untried lad who may do well. We’ve dicked around with triaslists and not seen an inch of a movement for nearly a month.

 

This is probably the first season for a long time we've been viewed as a club with cash to spend. Decent cup run, play off league campaign, big crowds, selling Jenson. I imagine every club, player and agent has looked at us this summer and thought we can rinse these. Challenge to navigate that.

 

Has the Powell situation been sorted out one way or another yet? Seems a pointless waste of a pre season if it ends up in him walking away at the end of it.

 

That's the ideal scenario now I guess, we hold our nerve and end up with a quality addition without breaking the bank, but it does feel like we are gambling or pushing our luck a bit again though, and could just as easily end up with a right dud.

I look at Donny and how quickly they acted to secure a very good replacement for Molyneux once they knew he wasn't going to be signing a new contract, and they didn't let him leave until the ink was dry on Hutchinson's contract either. In comparison, we knew from January onwards that Metcalfe was probably leaving in the summer, and we knew Power wanted to leave just after the playoffs. Coupled with that, Patto had moved on in January and it was obvious Leigh wouldn't be wearing claret and amber again, so at the start of June at the latest, we knew that we needed to find 4 replacements this summer. So far, we've brought in a young prospect to replace Metcalfe (fair enough), and an injury prone CB (sorry, CM) to replace Power. We have also decided to move Sarc back to CM which I don't actually mind, but given he has only averaged 30 or so starts over the past few seasons, coupled with Connelly's injury record and Cartwright's inexperience, we definitely still need to bring in some real quality and experience, but I'm fast losing hope that we will.