Players out of contract in June 2023 including Retained List

Not scapegoated, but if we are honest he’s not been the same since the injury, however the issue that affected him more than anyone is the lack of a consistent left sided front/wide man. He will be good back up !

 

Just logically for a minute, how does offering an existing player terms mean that we aren't going to try and recruit better?

we have no idea what the offer is, same thing happened to Sutton and ended up being shipped off to harrogate.

 

With Clayton leaving, we'll need at least one more CM player.

 

This is said every single summer, and never materialises. I remember everyone on here and social media shitting it last summer saying Donny was gonna walk the league, and Stockport would go straight up again. Neither have done, far from it

 

And then dosnt play him.

 

If you lay out the guys who are currently under contract by position, and mark the ones in bold that I'm very confident will still be here we have:

GK - Doyle, Lewis
DEF - Halliday, Kelly, FCD, Hendrie, Foulds, Platt, Stubbs, Odusina
MID - Osadebe, Chapman, Walker, Smallwood, East
FWD - Young, Derbyshire, Oliver

Osadebe and Odusina are borderline, I think if we get an offer for to take either the club will probably take it. If the contracts aren't taken up, it doesn't leave a convincing promotion squad. I can certainly see another summer of 10+ signings happening.

On budgets, if I remember rightly this season our budget was about £2.5m? When we were relegated from L1 I'm fairly certainly our budget was £4.5M and Sparks was saying for the next few months after that they days of stupid spending are over. I think it will certainly be higher than last/this seasons budget, but I don't know if I see the club signing off on £4.5m.

 

Agree with this. I reckon we need 6 quality and I mean quality players in and try ship out players who have played very little. I don’t mind Gilly being a back but I am really worried that MH will carry on with that midfield!

 

Get the central midfield and left flank sorted and most wouldn't even be thinking about our full backs. Your midfield dictates how good your full backs are.

 

Also not offering Clayton a deal has surprised me, but his performances were clearly affected by his injury. He wasn't as effective as when he first signed for us

 

Last summer we gave extra deals to guys like Angol, Sutton & Hendrie when we probably should have just committed to the rebuild and trimmed the fat. I cant see Hughes doing the same again and keeping around some names we just wont use.

Younger lads on loan will also pad out some areas. With the 5 loans, probably a smart guess that at least 3 will be U21.

 

When we played Clayton, Smallwood & Gilly in the middle, the balance just felt off every time. Smallwood is a deep sitting mid, East too plays deep, i think Hughes probably thought he wasn't needed especially if he is going to just sit on the bench. Clayton probably wants to start at this point in his career too.

Could see him going to a Grimsby, Harrogate, Hartlepool type. Maybe Crewe want someone with experience to help along some of their teenage/early 20 young lads?

 

I think the plan for last season was to have a big squad and have a good go at the Cup's too.
Didn't really pan out like that as lost to Harrogate in FA Cup R1 and scraped through the groups in Pizza Cup before losing to Salford.
Had two good games in the Carabao Cup.

 

No surprises there then anyone who thought Gillead would be moved on are deluded he is very much a favourite and to be fair to him playing in the deeper role I think he has had a good season.
Doesn’t seem like a lot of scope for signings unless some of the unused players are moved on. Defence doesn’t need much work but midfield upwards needs a mix of talent pace and athleticism not asking for much are we

 

We need a few no creativity there from any of current ones playing CM

 

Yes, seems more of the same.
You can argue we weren't far away from the Auto's. You can also argue that we only got there because our GK & Striker were amazing. Can they be that good again?

 

Gilly has contributed nothing? . Glad you ain’t the boss .

 

He was a shrewd signing at a time when we needed him. I’d argue we may have even struggled to make playoffs without him and Stubbs. Next season is a whole different topic so not surprised to see him released.

Outside of that, no huge surprises or concerns. If Gillead or Ridealgh had been released I wouldn’t have been shocked, however IMO I have no issue with either. As other have mentioned, it’s now more about who from the under-contract leave and most importantly, who comes in.

Don’t expect to see many updates for at least 2-4 weeks.

 

Agree does not deserve contract

18 under contract still is a lot for a team who.only finished 6th. Lot not good enough but given longer contracts.

 

That's a good way of summing up the problem. We need players to step up to the plate next season who didn't this season. If Gilly does sign again, and to be fair he's arguably earned another contract, it's where do we play him? Smallwood as Captain will always get a game and if we pair then up we still have the same problem of a static midfield. We aren't that far off but then so isn't half of the division, if Gent gets the right signings for the wings and midfield we'll be there or there abouts.