Your Retained List

My list:

 

Chicksen has to be in danger if Grayson stays. He played very little.

 

I won't be sad to see any of them leave, this has probably been the most spineless set of players I've seen at our club.

 

Law
Both german keepers
Dieng
Macca
Send all loans back never to been seen again.
Transfer list knp
Vincelot
Wyke
Offer deals
Gibson
Doyle
Young german striker and web foster(last chance saloon for both).
Bet this will be very very close.

 

This but I’d keep Dieng and try to coach a bit more consistency or confidence in to him.

 

I would have Guy back in a flash

 

The players I would ultimately try to retain from this squad would be

Doyle
McMahon
Killgallon (Squad player)
Knight Percival (Squad player)
Robinson
Gibson
Wyke

The rest can go for me

 

Aren’t Wyke, Robinson & Kilgallon already tied down for next season anyway?

 

From the players out of contract, this would be my choice.

Doyle - offer new deal.
McMahon - offer new deal (unlikely to stay)
Saatelmaier - release
Law - offer new deal
Raeder - release
Dieng - release
Gibson - offer new deal

I would also offer 1yr contracts to the following players in the dev squad;

Webb-Foster
Grodowski
Peters
Laird

But only if this does not affect us bringing in some better quality to the first team squad.

Of the remaining contracted players, I’d try to get offers for;

McCartan
Hanson
Gunner
Poleon

And I’d like to bring in
1x keeper to compete with Doyle (Williams)
1x left back to compete with Chicksen (Leigh)
1x right back to replace/compete with McMahon (Mellor)
1x right back to compete with McMahon/Mellor
2x central midfielders (Guy even if loaned and one other)
1x winger
1x attacking midfielder/secondary striker (Oztumer)
2x strikers (Eisa and Grigg)

Before anyone says Will Grigg is unlikely (I know), but he struggled the last time Wigan got promoted. So if they (he) struggles again at the start of next season, I’d make a move for him. And if not Grigg, I’d make an enquiry for Billy Sharp who is out of favour at United

 

Yes you’re correct although I suspect Wyke will most likely be sold this summer. For me that’s a shame as I can’t think of a player for that money at that age who will score goals consistently in L1 like he has. I personally think any new manager, be it Grayson or not, should prioritise making Charlie the focus of our attack and hopefully tie him down to another contract extension

 

Three right backs? That's stupid and a waste of budget.

Also your targets are so unrealistic it's laughable, and you'd bring in one winger despite us having none at senior level at present when Gilliead goes back.

Glad you are not the manager, to be honest, you should keep away from football management as far as possible. What a joke of a post.

 

Part of the problem is we've got some pretty poor players contracted for another season, and in some cases, two.

While we could all more or less agree on the players that definitely should stay, some of the players that ought to leave are within their rights to remain.

That is a lesson for the owners; don't dish out long-term contracts based on minimal data (Patrick springs to mind), don't spend inordinate amounts of cash on mediocre players (McCartan springs to mind), particularly if there's a chance we'll need to run on a tight budget.

On the plus side, the owners have been prepared to speculate to accumulate; now's the time to start recouping some fees. I'd try to keep Wyke unless he can generate significant money; I'd be trying my damnedest to get back what we've spent on the likes of Poleon, McCartan et al, however, and we'll need a lot of luck in order to do so...

 

First of all, who said I’d sign 3 right backs? I said I’d offer a deal to McMahon and if he signed, I’d go for Mellor to compete. If McMahon doesn’t stay (as I suspect he won’t), then we’d need Mellor and 1 other. I suggest you learn to read.

And why are the targets unrealistic? A couple of them were on our list in January, so you must be saying Leigh is unrealistic? If you are talking about the strikers, I know they are unlikely targets, I even said so. But these players need to be playing and we need someone with quality, especially if Wyke does leave this summer.

For the record, I have no intention of getting into “football management” as I do not possess the qualifications to do so. But then I’d suggest that applies to you and 99% of visitors to this site.

 

The sad thing is, that if we sell Wyke, a large part of the money we receive is very likely to be spent on the pitch, rather than a replacement player. In that respect, I wouldn’t see us releasing any strikers, and that includes Poleon.

 

We’d be better off releasing him and giving Grodowski more chances. He makes Aaron Mclean look Worldy

 

The squad isnt 'that bad', it just lacks quality - there are some duds but I am hopeful McGowan, Reeves and Jones can be big players next season for us if they overcome their injuries.

I think we will keep Doyle, McMahon and Dieng as Grayson seems to like them. Law is a gonna as are the 2 German keepers and I can see Chickson, Vincelot and Poleon following them out of the door if a suitable offer is made for any.

 

The problem that was quite apparent was losing the players that made the difference between being a bang average league 1 side and a side a whisker away from winning the playoffs. No coincidence the players lost in the summer (Cullen, Marshall, Rory, Clarke and Meredith) have all gone to teams who have either finished higher in our division or play in a higher division. We were left with the players that made up the numbers and boy did it show. Only one of the players bought to replace these actually worked in Reeves and he didn't set the world on fire.
Looking back the warning signs about the squad were apparent early despite league position, we never really looked like a team that could win the playoffs, just a team that could sneak into them due to what was a woeful standard division.
Positives going into next season, we have centre back in MacGowan who looks the part, pretty impressive in his short spell before injury, Robinson and possibly Gibson may kick on but i'm yet to be convinced. Doyle has settled into the keeper role now and would be a loss if not retained. At the moment after that i'm struggling, we may see Reeves come back from injury and reproduce the form he showed at times, we may see a different Jones after surgery although i won't hold my breath.
Doyle at the back with Kilgallon and MacGowan is a good start. Chuck in Guy in front of them if he comes back and maybe Reeves with him. Give Robinson the left wing berth and see if he is good enough long term. Wyke upfront if he stays (unlikely) then fill in the blanks. Depending on the quality of signings brought in will depend on who we can let go.