Can we find 3 teams worse than us next season?

[Nameless]

We’ve been extremely unlucky with injuries this season, and it’s reasonable to expect that we will be less unlucky next season. The same could be said for form.

That said, as it stands out squad will probably look something like…

Southwood (Nyland?)
Yiadom
Dann, McIntyre, Holmes (Thomas?)
(Nobody)
Rinomhota, Laurent
Meite, Ejaria, Hoilett, Azeez (Barker?)
Joao

I’m optimistic that Laurent and Rinomhota will renew. I’m not sure it is worth persisting with the three in brackets. But that gives us twelve senior players, who would just about make a credible XI but no slack for injuries.

At the very least, we will need a left back, an attacking midfielder, and a striker. Halilovic might be an option but I don’t think TInce would be value for money. We probably also need cover for midfield, centre back, and right back, and maybe an upgrade on Southwood. Very tough to get all those players on our budget.

Lets not forget the likes of Tetek, Camara, Clarke, Bristow, Ashcroft and Abrefa who all have the potential to jump up to the senior squad. So with a few clever loan/free signings we should be ok to compete with most teams. Would like to try and get Drinkwater and T.Ince back again on loan.

Not sure either Ince or Drinkwater would be eligible to join us on loan next season.

[The Royal Forester]

We’ve been extremely unlucky with injuries this season, and it’s reasonable to expect that we will be less unlucky next season. The same could be said for form.

That said, as it stands out squad will probably look something like…

Southwood (Nyland?)
Yiadom
Dann, McIntyre, Holmes (Thomas?)
(Nobody)
Rinomhota, Laurent
Meite, Ejaria, Hoilett, Azeez (Barker?)
Joao

I’m optimistic that Laurent and Rinomhota will renew. I’m not sure it is worth persisting with the three in brackets. But that gives us twelve senior players, who would just about make a credible XI but no slack for injuries.

At the very least, we will need a left back, an attacking midfielder, and a striker. Halilovic might be an option but I don’t think TInce would be value for money. We probably also need cover for midfield, centre back, and right back, and maybe an upgrade on Southwood. Very tough to get all those players on our budget.

Lets not forget the likes of Tetek, Camara, Clarke, Bristow, Ashcroft and Abrefa who all have the potential to jump up to the senior squad. So with a few clever loan/free signings we should be ok to compete with most teams. Would like to try and get Drinkwater and T.Ince back again on loan.

Not sure either Ince or Drinkwater would be eligible to join us on loan next season.

I believe Ince is out of contract in June. So he would have to be a permanent signing. I also believe that the same applies to Drinkwater. Unless another club employs them and loans them to us, which won't happen.

[Nameless]

Lets not forget the likes of Tetek, Camara, Clarke, Bristow, Ashcroft and Abrefa who all have the potential to jump up to the senior squad. So with a few clever loan/free signings we should be ok to compete with most teams. Would like to try and get Drinkwater and T.Ince back again on loan.

Not sure either Ince or Drinkwater would be eligible to join us on loan next season.

I believe Ince is out of contract in June. So he would have to be a permanent signing. I also believe that the same applies to Drinkwater. Unless another club employs them and loans them to us, which won't happen.

Which would mean both taking huge pay cuts.....
Technically they wouldn’t have to be long term contracts, could be match by match (can’t think of a player at any club who has been on a permanent contract !)

[Stranded]

Not sure either Ince or Drinkwater would be eligible to join us on loan next season.

I believe Ince is out of contract in June. So he would have to be a permanent signing. I also believe that the same applies to Drinkwater. Unless another club employs them and loans them to us, which won't happen.

Which would mean both taking huge pay cuts.....
Technically they wouldn’t have to be long term contracts, could be match by match (can’t think of a player at any club who has been on a permanent contract !)

I'm pretty sure Drinkwater has long since accepted he won't get a new contract for 120k pw. Could be that he'll take a contract somewhere he'll be happy and play next year, as money not an object.

Ince, at 30 now, won't be getting anywhere near the 30k pw he gets from Stoke either.

[Nameless]

I believe Ince is out of contract in June. So he would have to be a permanent signing. I also believe that the same applies to Drinkwater. Unless another club employs them and loans them to us, which won't happen.

Which would mean both taking huge pay cuts.....
Technically they wouldn’t have to be long term contracts, could be match by match (can’t think of a player at any club who has been on a permanent contract !)

I'm pretty sure Drinkwater has long since accepted he won't get a new contract for 120k pw. Could be that he'll take a contract somewhere he'll be happy and play next year, as money not an object.

Ince, at 30 now, won't be getting anywhere near the 30k pw he gets from Stoke either.

If Drinkwater was going to take a£110,000 a week paycut you'd think he’d go and play in California or Australia and enjoy the lifestyle.

[Hound]

Be interesting to know what Ince sees for himself in the future

It’s that difficult age where he could still be very good for a few years or he might decline

He won’t get 30k pw but he may still think he is good enough to play for a top 6 side - ie one of the clubs coming down etc

[Jack Celliers]

I'm hoping Coventry or Luton will revert to what we expected from them all along, Millwall will finally get the relegation their fans deserve, and an out-of-their-depth Rotherham can complete the set. With us in at worst 21st and FFP worries behind us, we can look forward to a summer 2023 of wasting money on rubbish again.

Next year, we'll have another five loan players and muddle through with the remnants of this year's squad and maybe one or two youngsters. Laurent's shirt-shedding behaviour over the last few games has raised my hopes a little. It would be brilliant if he could stay.

[genome]

I would hope we get the recruitment right and kick on. I can't be bothered with the mundanity of losing regularly but just doing enough to stay up every season. Actually getting relegated would be more interesting than that.

[Stranded]

Which would mean both taking huge pay cuts.....
Technically they wouldn’t have to be long term contracts, could be match by match (can’t think of a player at any club who has been on a permanent contract !)

I'm pretty sure Drinkwater has long since accepted he won't get a new contract for 120k pw. Could be that he'll take a contract somewhere he'll be happy and play next year, as money not an object.

Ince, at 30 now, won't be getting anywhere near the 30k pw he gets from Stoke either.

If Drinkwater was going to take a£110,000 a week paycut you'd think he’d go and play in California or Australia and enjoy the lifestyle.

That's why I said somewhere - not necessarily us - he has shown of late that he can do a job at this level. He may well move abroad but don't know his personal situation, he may be happier to take a smaller wage and stay local-ish to London as he doesn't need to earn as much these days.

Ince is an interesting one and I would hazard we may get both Ince's or no Ince's next season.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Can I find 3 teams worse than us? Well that depends on what our squad looks like next season.

If we can tie down those who we feel are important to us, particularly Yiadom, Holmes, Rino and Laurent as well as players like Hoilett and Ince from this season who have done well for us, as well as using the loan market, free transfers and a couple of signings from lower leagues effectively, then yes I could find 3 teams worse than us.

Hull are a poor side all things considered, I don't see how/why we are any worse than them with a fully fit squad. Birmingham are in a rut again and are probably going to be somewhere near the bottom and may be in a bit more trouble this season. Rotherham will probably go down as they usually do and Wigan (if they come up) are likely to struggle as well. If MK Dons came up through the play offs, I'd anticipate they'd go straight back down.

It may also depend on what, if any, clubs receive points deductions next season. If it's Bristol City, they may well struggle. Stoke and Middlesbrough could be bottom half as well if they were to, depending on the severity. Huddersfield's future is somewhat uncertain as they are looking for a new buyer, but they might yet go up.

[Hound]

PNE look pretty shocking at the moment

Always a candidate for a poor season

[Stranded]

PNE look pretty shocking at the moment

Always a candidate for a poor season

Lowe will have the chance to build the squad he wants over the summer, I'd expect them to look very different come 30th July - probably ty and pinch a couple of the better Plymouth players if they fail to make it up.

Also worth noting that we aren't the only side with a large number of players OOC this summer.

Stoke for example have 14 players either OOC or with loans ending this summer, Blackburn 11 (incl Brereton Diaz), Cardiff 12, Hull 14.

So there will be a lot of players without clubs in a few weeks time and a lot of sides will look very different in July.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Bottom half I think for Preston, I don't think they'll be in any real danger to be fair.

[PATRIQT]

With the amount of OOC players and even kids supposedly declining contracts at this point, we really do look phucked next season. I just can't see how we stay up with the amount of change we're going to go through, and the embargo also hampering what we can offer players. It's depressing as hell.

[URZZZZ]

PNE look pretty shocking at the moment

Always a candidate for a poor season

Their seasons seem to follow a similar pattern each season, fairly strong at home, weak away, finish mid table

Only lost three at home before last night

[YorkshireRoyal99]

With the amount of OOC players and even kids supposedly declining contracts at this point, we really do look phucked next season. I just can't see how we stay up with the amount of change we're going to go through, and the embargo also hampering what we can offer players. It's depressing as hell.

When you say "hampering", what do you mean?

For where we are at now and what we can offer, it's pretty reasonable and will be more than competitive in the Championship anyway. It's not as if we are looking at players on League One wages. Our average for next season on a £16m budget is just shy of £12.5k a week per player. It obviously won't work out as exact as that, but even £10k a week is fair wage at this level.

[Snowflake Royal]

I would hope we get the recruitment right and kick on. I can't be bothered with the mundanity of losing regularly but just doing enough to stay up every season. Actually getting relegated would be more interesting than that.

Royal_jimmy is going to be quoting that back at you in incredulity forever more now.

[SCIAG]

We’ve been extremely unlucky with injuries this season, and it’s reasonable to expect that we will be less unlucky next season. The same could be said for form.

That said, as it stands out squad will probably look something like…

Southwood (Nyland?)
Yiadom
Dann, McIntyre, Holmes (Thomas?)
(Nobody)
Rinomhota, Laurent
Meite, Ejaria, Hoilett, Azeez (Barker?)
Joao

I’m optimistic that Laurent and Rinomhota will renew. I’m not sure it is worth persisting with the three in brackets. But that gives us twelve senior players, who would just about make a credible XI but no slack for injuries.

At the very least, we will need a left back, an attacking midfielder, and a striker. Halilovic might be an option but I don’t think TInce would be value for money. We probably also need cover for midfield, centre back, and right back, and maybe an upgrade on Southwood. Very tough to get all those players on our budget.

Lets not forget the likes of Tetek, Camara, Clarke, Bristow, Ashcroft and Abrefa who all have the potential to jump up to the senior squad. So with a few clever loan/free signings we should be ok to compete with most teams. Would like to try and get Drinkwater and T.Ince back again on loan.

Fair point on Tetek in particular, hopefully next season he’ll be ready to step up and be a genuine first team option. I overlooked him.

Camara plays in the position where we have the best depth (except perhaps centre back) but he could have something to contribute.

Not sure about Clarke or Ehibhationham or Melvin-Lambert, they’ve all got their qualities but I’m not sure they’re ready to be playing at this level.

I don’t think Bristow or Ashcroft would be in our thoughts if we had more than two full backs (and Araruna lol). Hopefully they continue to progress but again I’m not confident. Abrefa is more promising and imo has a higher ceiling.

Other question is whether Dorsett or Abbey or even Stickland could come into contention at centre back. And maybe Maunder can return from injury to be a home-made Swift replacement.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Tetek will be a useful option for us in midfield so that gives us good cover there.

Really it's looking to try and build a squad really, not just with names but actually looking to build a squad from what we've got.

Rino and Laurent is a good platform in midfield and we've definitely got goals in our side with Joao, Meite and Ejaria. The midfield needs creativity for sure and some good strength in that area, the CB position definitely needs another body as well as at least a LB, possibly someone else who can cover both sides. A good, solid GK would be good as well, experience preferable.

Camara and Azeez definitely give us the capability to blood through some raw talent that have both shone at times this season, Dorsett himself may be considered for our first team squad if he doesn't go back out on loan.

Definitely using the loan/free market will be imperative to try and bring in 5+ players there as well as a couple of signings from the lower leagues, but the latter is something we simply have to get right and not waste money on players who aren't good enough again ala McNulty.

[SouthDownsRoyal]

Top six next season