Players out of contract in June 2023 including Retained List

Agree and he we wouldn’t need to break the bank either.

 

Yet what he did was good enough either. Slow, lazy as tracking back was alien to him, poor ball control and hated a tackle. That’s why he was shifted out to play only 5 more games at Barrow than he played with us, scoring precisely zero.

He’s not the answer Sergio.

There are an awful lot that we need to move on.

 

Young has a relative who used to work with me until a few months back. We had a few chats about Jake and how he was getting on between about September, from what I can read into it Young not getting into the side might have been an attitude thing. Last time I spoke to them it was late in 2022, said the family were fuming with Hughes because Jake is in their words "far too good to sit in the stands".

Your family are always going to build you up, no issues with that sentiment. But if you aren't getting first team football and your closest people are coming at it negatively with a "you're too good for this role" attitude, it's going to weigh down on the lad and he'll start believing that over the management. Think this summer if he comes back with the fresh slate mindset, he could be useful for this squad. He only managed 538 L2 minutes at Barrow, from 17 appearances. Wouldn't write off a 21 year old who does show some promise, but there is something off with the lad, hopefully he can figure it out this summer.

 

If his family are telling him he’s Messi, no bloody wonder the lad is confused. I am happy for him to prove there is a player in there, until then I reserve judgement Jordan. Thanks for the infill.

 

Barrow fans don't rate him at all, I think Jake Young is a case of missing something you don't have regardless of what they offer.

 

Do we know when our retained/ released list is published Jordan?. I think it may be pretty ruthless this time around.

 

No idea, hazard a guess that it's later this week. Sparks did say last week that no contract talks would start until after the season has ended, so I imagine the players will find out today or tomorrow who will and wont be getting a new deal.

 

Yes I thought I had heard similar. Of course it would depend on where we were heading next season, which makes sense.

I’m sure they already have a Plan A and a Plan B mapped out. Now they know it’s Plan B , just open the drawer !

 

He did say we had budgets and targets already set for L1 or L2, last summer we seemed to get some signings through the door (or at least announced) fairly earlier than usual. Hopefully we have the same tactic this time around to wipe away some of the post season funk.

Looking at the lay of the land, this recruitment NEEDS to be right. We all know Wrexham and Notts Co are coming up with the intention of challenging again for promotion, both will have top budgets, with one having probably a top end L1 budget. Salford will no doubt be out bidding on wages with every club once again, one of Stockport or Carlisle would like to think they'll be in the similar slots again. Mansfield will spend again, Gillingham have been promised a war chest for this summer, Swindon were also promised more cash this summer. Of the teams coming down, MK Dons will be a big player next season you'd think money wise. There's always that one who struggled the year before who rises like Stevenage if they get the summer right....... next season will have a proper competition feel to it. There's genuinely at least about 10 teams who have the right to think they can claim top L2 players in this market, we need to be on the ball.

 

He needs someone other than his family to talk too. You always defend your own, however what he actually needs is a mentor type someone who can properly asses his attributes and the areas that need more work. I like Jake, but he is young and needs careful handling, then we might get the happy Jake back.

 

It just nature I think for the family to put a guy as high as they see him. It's how those messages are portrayed going forward that will be key. I'd happily welcome him back next year, lets face it he cant be any worse than Nevers or Costelloe were. They did go from seeing him with a promotion medal, to not even making the squads in the space of about 10 matchdays, I get why that might be frustrating to see.

I think anyone here if they had a relative in the team would probably say similar, but yes that figure to listen to should be people in the squad/staff, rather than people at home. Like for instance if anyone went to Hartlepool away at the start of the season. I was stood just behind Kian Harratts dad in the away end, who moved his way to the front row when he came off the bench. I think the Hughes instruction was to come on and play as that left sided forward, but whenever we attacked or Kian was around the box, his dad was yelling at him to stay forward or stay central, one time we had a corner Harratt said "I've been told to stay left" and his dad was shouting to do the opposite. That kind of family interaction is completely detrimental to the player.

 

Soundbite Sparks is going to be all over the place in the next week or two i reckon.

I said after saturdays game that I wouldn't be surprised if Hughes didn't fancy it anymore. Was there anything actually in this Birmingham link for Hughes? It's one of those jobs I just cant see becoming available. Eustace is a Birmingham fan, only his first season managing a team, they were the bookies favourite for relegation with all their financial issues at the start of the season but guided them to their highest finish since 2016. They even released a video 2 days ago of Eustace talking up the aims and what to expect next season, don't think they'd be daft enough to put that out if they were shopping around for a successor.

One club to keep an eye on might be Peterborough. I remember from when we hired Hughes, it was the same time Posh hired Grant McCann. On the podcast the chairman does with the City fan that was released just after, MacAnthony did say that Hughes agent had been in touch about the Posh job, but they were already close to confirming McCann so they didn't really take up anything. Wonder if his agent might reach out again? Rumours have been that they wanted Wellens, but he isn't interested in leaving Orient.

 

I disagree - there is definitely something there with Jake Young.

 

He's scored a couple of eye catching goals where his touch, technique and finishing was way above this level. I thought at the time that we might actually have a real talent that could progress.

Sadly, for the time being at least, that doesn't seem to be the case.

 

He’s keeping it a secret then?

 

He is 21 years old and was well thought of at last seasons winners Forest Green.

His development is still underway.

 

I do think an opening may appear at that level very soon though. Seems like Swansea are about to lose their manager to Southampton, the last time Swansea looked for a manager they had Eustace as their first choice, but he turned them down back then. As said before the Peterborough job is available and Hughes did apply for it around the same time he applied for our role. I don't think he'll actively look for another job, but if an opening tried getting in touch with City, he'd want to explore it.

 

Thanks Dennis, I thought it would be imminent but obviously anything during or before any play off games would be bonkers.