Ryan East

Worry not Dave. It's still very early days and the players we've brought in so far won't be breaking the bank, so still plenty of time and money to bring in a washed out journey man that you've heard of that will cost us a fortune and do absolutely nothing.

 

This is a point I’ve just made to a Vale fan on another forum, other than Proctor and Wilson one of which played for us I couldn’t name their players yet they are favourites for promotion. I’d not heard of any of the players you names before they signed, nor Elliot Watt who I imagine most of the league don’t know who he is yet if another League 2 team got him everyone would be spitting feathers. You don’t get household names in league 2 simple as.

 

Another thing to keep in mind. I genuinely think we've now got the best coach in the League. He could be huge for the development of younger players, which is another reason I think we've clearly committed to focusing our recruitment in the 20-25 year old bracket.

 

One mans trash is another mans treasure. Weve binned off enough players who have prospered elsewhere.

With good coaching and team mates around a player he can improve if he has something.

 

There's definitely an element of those out that for some reason don't understand the world.

Here's the ITK XI:

-----------------------------Begovic---------------------------------

Wayne Bridge--Lundekvam--Bednarek--Elmohamady

-------------Charlie Adam--Geoff Cameron---------------

Etherington------------------------------------Odemwingie

--------------Jonathan Walters----Shane Long------------

I, for one, think it's unrealistic to sign XI retired/retiring players, but there we go.

 

Probably get a bit better value for money in that age range too. With East being released by Swindon you wouldn't think he would take up a huge chunk of the budget.

 

Most likely on half of what Evans was on, I’d say that’s good value and will allow us to strengthen Watt’s position should he leave or we can offer him more to try convince him to stay. We’re still in May I don’t think we’re seeing the first 11 been completed with these signings. Maybe proven wrong in August but I think only Walker and Platt will be in the starting 11 come 30th July, maybe the keeper as well.

 

Talking of Swindon and releasing players. They took a punt on a player released by Port Vale. Prize bell end he may be, but the free signing of Harry McKirdy wasn’t such a bad one. Let’s hope we’ve found a good player.

 

True.

All signings get a clean slate and an open mind from me. I know nothing about any of the signings we've made so far, other than Walker obviously. They could be gems, they could be slow burners, they could be duds. Lets see. I would hope though that we do make one or two 'established' signings.

 

Talking of Watt, he'd played in less games for Carlisle before joining us than East has for Swindon.

 

Watt was 3 years younger though.

Probably shows where Watt is at. He's played 80 more games than East and is a year younger.

 

And they tend to have more options

 

Yes I read that in another article after I had posted my comment.

 

Unsure on this one. Not too concerned about his lack of experience but the fact he was Swindon's 4th/5th choice CM last season isn't particularly great, especially if he is to replace Watt rather than support him.

Still, we need to have two DMs of this ilk next season rather than just the one (Watt) as we all saw how we suffered when he missed a few games. East is now one of those options and his style is certainly more aligned to Hughes' style than Evans.

 

But it is not true of Nahki Wells.

 

True trouble is it feels like we’ve spent two years developing him to this point where he’s still young but an experienced football league player, it’d be disappointing to lose that and not replace it with at least similar experience. It may take this lad 2 years of regular game time to get him to a place we’re happy with.

For the mention of Wells not having experience when he came here, he got it in his first season with us in which we nearly got relegated but that season helped develop the Wells/Hanson partnership. It can take time to build a team, I think Vernam, Watt and Paudie would be all better next season with Hughes in charge and an extra year under their belt in a settled side. Don’t think they’ll stay though.

 

On the face of it, I’m not impressed if this chap is a replacement for Watt.

However I trust Hughes implicitly and I’m confident we’ll do well with him in charge.

 

I'm making the point that there aren't many 22 year olds with 100 appearances.
That will be contributing to the interest from teams in higher divisions.

 

I doubt East is taking up a lot of budget. Maybe he's signed as a squad player in Midfield.
It doesn't necessarily mean Watt is leaving.

 

Looks like we are forming a young energetic team. I’ve noticed that all of our signings, including the goalkeeper, are known to have good ball distribution skills. It makes sense, Hughes wants to play good attacking football, on the ground. Almost as if he wants the team to be playing at a level an tempo above what we currently are at. As much as I am in favour of this ideology, I do worry that we may struggle against the more physical sides an in the months where the League Two pitches aren’t ideal for quick free-flowing football. That being said, I’d imagine that Hughes will be planning on bringing a few older more experienced heads who can guide this team through league 2.

In regards to the football culture being implemented by Hughes at the club, As someone has said before, There isn’t much experience in the team at this moment. But of the few who fall into this category, They are players who, although may not be the best of footballers on the technical side of things, You cannot discredit their attitude an effort when playing. Most notable examples are Songo, an as of more recent, when played in what looks like his preferred position, Gillead.