Retained List

If nobody comes in for him and he is still our player next season then I hope we can get the best out of him but I definitely won't be disappointed if he leaves.

 

Wow, that is poor.

 

Players under contract I would keep:
Connor Wood - he's only young and has shown glimpses. Needs to improve defensively though.
Eoin Doyle - 11 goals in the worst City squad I've seen. Bowyer wants wingers and with the service I think he's more than capable of 20+ next season.
George Sykes-Kenworthy - young kid who I'd rather keep instead of Wilson.
Kelvin Mellor - 14 goals in 2 seasons at Blackpool under Bowyer, versatile.
Shay McCartan - has had two good season with Stanley & Lincoln in L2 and although fans don't want him and he probably doesn't want to stay, I'd have him in the first team next season (unless he REALLY wants to go).
Hope Akpan - people may disagree but he has played a lot of Championship football the past few years, including under Bowyer. Could restart his City career.
Sean Scannell - huge wage but if he stays fit he plays a huge part in taking us straight back up next season. I don't think he will stay, but I'd like to see him next season.

Players under contract I would offload:
Anthony O'Connor - I imagine he's on a good wage and can't see his relationship with the fans improving.
Omari Patrick - crap.
Joe Riley - failed to impress under 3 managers, must be a reason for that and another who'll be on a good wage.
Jake Reeves - waste of a wage.
Tyrell Robinson - can't see him playing professional football again.
Ben Wilson - just not a very good goalkeeper, we can and should do better.
Josh Wright - I feel sorry for the bloke if I'm honest and I think it's best for himself and the fans he leaves.
Richard O'Donnell - I have tried defending him all season but overall he has cost us a lot of goals. Get him off the wage bill and get a better GK in.

Players I would offer a new contract:
Ryan McGowan - he's versatile and has shown he can be a good defender.
Danny Devine - we'll need a homegrown sub every week and he's the best of the rest. He showed at the start of Stuart's spell he can handle the football.
Jermaine Anderson - controversial, but he looked good at Scunthorpe and apparently played well against Gillingham. Wouldn't be a starter but I'd keep him for the squad next season.
Paul Caddis - think this is the obvious one, solid since he came in.
Calum Woods - from what I've seen he is a very good player. Likes an injury though and probably won't want to play in L2 anyway, but I'd try keep.

Players I would release:
Luca Colville - every time I've seen him he has been poor and don't think he's used his right foot all season.
Alex Jones - I have tried backing Jones during his time here but he's injured far too often. He's a goalscorer though and if we do keep him I won't be disheartened.
Nat Knight-Percival - been crap for 2 seasons now, we need better.
Billy Clarke - he loves the club but it's time to move on.
Adam Chicksen - he's not good at football.

Get rid of all the other kids. Say thanks to all the loanees but goodbye, other than Paudie who I would try bring in again. He could be the main man next season.

 

Ryan McGowan? He left to go to Scotland for family reasons, no way is he going to come back.

 

I like that list and I agree with 99% of it, but I wouldn't offer a contract to Anderson or Devine. Anderson hasn't done enough, Devine just isnt good enough. Think I'd be more inclined to keep Colville. Agree with all of those youd offload. We really are tied to some shite

 

How many pens has Doyle had? 3, I think, so that would be 8 from open play but you want to keep him. I don't disagree, but Luca Colville's goals scored per minute is twice Doyles (and Payne's) and you want to let him go. Now, Colville has not had sufficient time on the pitch to make an informed decision but his goals per minutes is best at the club by a mile. He's young and probably cheap, too. I'd try keep.

 

I think we might all be ultimately surprised about just how many players Bowyer gets rid of, in or out of contract. We know about contracts that are up, viz Chicken, NKP etc. But to free up places and wages, there are a lot more he can pass on to lower league 1 and below i.e. Riley, Wright, Reeves - no games at VP, no footballing future. I would imagine the likes of Scannell, O'Donnell, Doyle will have relegation clauses. Caddis has already made plain he'll wait for interest from Lg 1 clubs or above, before thinking about resigning for us. Anthony O'Connor is dressing room poison, and Bowyer will know that, so any offers accepted to take him off the books. He won't resign Anderson. Ben Wilson? Luca? Dunno.
I think for starters, he'll resign Paudie, either on a loan or buy, and he will be GB's captain and dressing room organizer next season, young though he may be. He's a big fan of Kelvin Mellor, as am I, so he'll be at VP next season, if he wants to stay. Encouragingly, both he and Maudie continue to talk about what a great manager he was to work under at Blackpool. GB will have Callum Woods, a quality defender, on a pay per play because of past injuries, if he's in agreement. I think he'll resign Danny Devine, because lest we forget, he's only 21, and has in the past, shown promise. GB needs to find his right position and work up his confidence. Billy Clarke, he'll keep. A Bradford City man, and if we get two good strikers in, he's clever enough to make things happen, working off them. Tyrell Robinson? Who knows. Does anyone know where his position is up to right now? Ball, O'Brien,Payne all back home, sadly. So...just two fantastic strikers, winger, two creative midfielders, centre back and new first choice goalie to sign. Gary Bowyer sir, you have one busy summer. But I'm sure you know that far better than any of we dumbshit gonzo armchair critics ....albeit passionate passionate fans who care so much about our club. That's why we have so many opinions!!

 

And a further thought. Get Tom Clare back. He's been scoring a lot of goals on loan at Boston. Wasn't the whole idea to get him more match experience? That seems to be working. So let GB get him back, see how he trains. Young, raw, but 6ft 3ins tall and a real battering ram.

 

You’re obviously more than entitled to your own opinion, but I just don’t get the criticism Doyle receives - he’s fed on absolute scraps this season and still managed 11 goals - which I don’t think is a bad return at all for a team whose only scored 49 goals all season.

Must keep, for me.

 

Definitely think we need more than one centre half as the poison AOC will hopefully leave and NKP is out of contract and should go. Paudie perhaps, although if he stays at Leeds or goes elsewhere I wont be crying in my cornflakes. I think we need a couple of big strong commanding players here, real leaders. Then another left back as well. Chicksen is poor, out of contract and we need better. Itll be interesting to see what pans out with Robinson. I'd have have expected any investigation to have been near completion by now, so hopefully well know something soon, either way. I'd like to see him back in the side as he brings the speed we need and has shown glimpses of what he can do in L1. His pace would terrify L2 defenders. Add to that cover on the wings, 2 midfielders, another keeper, and at least 2 strikers (hopefully one experienced ala Hylton) to compliment those we keep of which I'd like to see O'Donnell, Mellor, Caddis, Wood, Akpan, Doyle and Scannell (depending on clauses and wages) and we wont be far off

 

A lot? He’s scored 3

 

I agree in part, but there are some that I just don’t understand.;

Connor Wood is a young player and worth keeping but Luca Colville isn’t?

Devine you’d keep because he’s home grown but you’ve already suggested keeping the keeper too. Surely if we have Sykes-Kenworthy on the bench, we wouldn’t need Devine?

Akpan has had 3 relegations in 3 seasons. That’s no coincidence, even if 2 of them were in the Championship. Not for me

As for O’Donnell, yes he’s been poor of late, but I’d still argue he’s saved more points than he lost and as far as L2 keepers go, there won’t be many better.

Robinson disagrees and insists he will be back for next season. If he is available, he could be a key player at that level.

In relation to McCartan, I don’t agree he’s had 2 ‘good’ seasons. He had a purple patch for Stanley from January but has he really don’t that much for Lincoln? Their fans have gone from loving him in November and desperate for him to stay, to now not being bothered about him. How many games did he actually start for them this season? Less than half..! Another that is not for me.

Finally, we saw 3 good games from McGowan before injury ended his first season. This season he was a shadow of that player and despite some decent performances (alongside NKP or O’Connor he would look decent), he’s simply not good enough.

Other than that, I think you’ve nailed it

 

He’s already back and training. He is out of contract at the end of June though so may not have enough time to make an impact. But “lots of goals” for Boston? He scored 3

 

There are many of us ‘dumbshit gonzo armchair fans’ offering our opinions. However, none of us claim to know what Bowyer will be doing..... unlike you of course

 

Think you may have missed his point. He wasn’t having a dig at Doyle or his record. He even says he doesn’t disagree with keeping him. His point was that the OP was happy to bin young Colville who has a better return per minute from midfield.

 

Can not see the point in keep young home grown just so we can fill the bench. If they are not good enough to get on the bench anyway they will not get brought on so why bother having them on the bench?

If they are good enough keep them if not get shut.

But we will still offer Devine a new deal just so when he leaves we can get some compo with him being under 24

 

A goal every other game we could do with one of them

 

For me, Bowyer needs to focus on offloading the high earners.

The low earners don't really matter that much.

For example, Scannell needs to either be involved in 20+ goals, or he's bad value for money. Is he a good player? Sure. Can he achieve those figures? Not really sure. Is he likely to play enough to achieve those figures? Doubtful. Is he worth an absolute top end wage? Put it this way - if Parky was prepared to let Andrew Davies go because he could ONLY guarantee 28-34 games a season, Scannell is as good as gone if Bowyer has a brain in his head.

Danny Devine? If he's on peanuts, does it really matter if he goes or stays? Only if we can find a lad on the same wage who is likely to feature more.

While keeping Devine and letting Scannell go makes pretty much zero sense in the Football Manager/FIFA era, just crunch the numbers.

For my money, both will leave this Summer - but these are the kinds of conundrums Bowyer will face, and make no mistake - Bowyer understands 'value' above sentiment, otherwise Blackpool would probably be a National League Premier side as we speak.

 

I think when the retained list is brought out most of the high earners will be available for transfer, it makes sense I would think many of the high earners don't fancy league two and if they didn't have the appetite for league one then try and get rid.

 

When the retained list is released I think it will be short and sweet. Just mentioning those out of contract