Ah I thought Hyde were in the 6th tier...I see now, Northern Premier League is below the National League North....they really should've picked better names for all these leagues.

Todd Kane (31) and Dominic Samuel (30) playing for the mighty Ebbsfleet. We've had some crap through the doors... Then again Kane was playing (a bit of) Championship football just two seasons ago, and fairly regularly three seasons ago. He has also graced the Eredivisie and played quite a few fairly full Championship seasons. He spent quite a bit of last season in Gibraltar though, then got a brief deal (from March) at Stockport at the tail end. Samuel managed 3 goals in 22 League One games for Gillingham after leaving us, then 1 goal in 39 SPL appearances for Ross County, who released him. 6 goals in 23 for Ebbsfleet last season, 1 in 5 this season. Probably found his level, and he's not even shining there (although Ebbsfleet do appear to be shit so he might not get many chances).

It's pretty pathetic that at age 23, the best Jordan Eastham can do is the 7th tier. I believe he was in the 6th tier last season? So only going backwards. Contract is up in the summer, surely he'll be released. Goddard came with a good reputation from City (then again so did Davenport, currently plying his trade in Ireland at 26 years old) so I did think he might be further along by now. Not too late though, 5th tier at 20 isn't shameful and it's hard to get League Two teams and above to take a risk on young goalkeepers. Ebbsfleet are rock bottom and have shipped 60 goals, so he'll definitely get lots of practice!

Dolan? I thought we were talking about Siggy.

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2025/january/07/doherty-shortlisted-for-december-award/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3JXHfKEHOqmY0Xx2l0pldYt8zkzn0BdqITwHafOG9LSLcuMUvv7eQm_aI_aem_uZrKjDGLr0EqihuB3Uv1Bw

Oh I must have misread, I could have sworn I'd seen something saying it was a two year extension. Hopefully they get him tied up for longer once he's 18.

From what I read it sounded like loans. Just that they'd have to stump up more money (loan fee, maybe wage contribution) for Leicester to see it as worthwhile. Leicester apparently want 7 million for him. I could see Luton doing that with their parachute money, they're not going back up but they should have the funds and that's probably a decent deal for a 22 year old with a nearly 1 in 2 goals record at this level. Likely get their money back or with profit in a few years if they want. Luton seem to do things on the cheap though, even when they went up. I doubt Sheff W have that much spare cash. We should do, but of course we don't. I'd be trying to offer what Islander said, a loan with a guaranteed purchase if we go up.

It's strange he's never been (as far as I can remember) tried as a striker. His all round game is poor but I bet he'd be a decent poacher.

Rumours are Sheff W and Luton are trying to do that. I don't see him switching loan clubs, only either staying at Stoke or moving permanently, which would be out of our budget. We should have got him on loan in the summer.

I came here to post this, knowing in my heart of hearts that you'd already posted it. Strangely the article doesn't mention when the extension now takes him to, but a linked article says 2027 so he must have been due to expire before this. A bit surprising since he only signed his pro deal in March. So it was only just over a one year deal. He seems very promising, I'd say he's the only one of our glut of young keepers I'm a bit excited about, given how young he is for what he's achieved (England u18 caps, two loans, appearances on the first team bench, at just 17 is pretty impressive for a keeper). So it's very odd to me we are only giving him such short deals. We could easily bin off one of the several young keepers we clearly don't need and give him a longer deal (unless there is a limit on under 18s contract lengths...it definitely isn't one year though). Tbh, makes me suspect it's the player who doesn't want to sign a very long term deal. Could he be fancying himself to follow the Finneran/Phillips route now he has England youth caps?

We don't need to sign crooks though - we're already ran by them.

He's got a temper on him. I'm not sure that makes him an inspiring leader of men though. But the way he has got the team playing together and the way they're drilled is better evidence he might be a decent motivator.

Didn't realise he was part of Leicester's title win. Interesting titbit in his wiki, albeit a quote from 8 years ago: Former teammate Andrej Kramarić once said of Schlupp, "I've never played with a more powerful player than Jeffrey Schlupp, such power and speed like I've never seen before."[46] Hopefully he has retained a good portion of that power and speed.

If Atcheson is on loan to a NLN side, and Olson on loan to a NL side, surely Olson is ahead of Atcheson in the pecking order (on present ability, not on potential).

He certainly sounds like a bit of a member, I dunno about on here.

More chance we get bought by Michael Scott than by Scott Michaels.

Indeed, but Scott Wharton had 2 Championship appearances and 9 League Two by the time he turned 20, Carter was a bit slower to get a breakthrough loan initially but had 2 Championship appearances around the time he was 19/20, and he was 21 when he had finished his first loan, which was in League One (24 appearances, 4 goals, plus he had another Championship appearance before it). So he's a bit behind both those players in his development I'd say, but if he lands a professional loan next season, which might be possible if he keeps playing well in the National League, I guess you can't rule him out if we keep him for a few more years (dunno his contract situation) and get him more development loans. Like you say though, in the short term his obstacles are Litherland and Atcheson.

Interesting, at 20 I wondered if they might try to find him a League Two loan, as time is running out to convince he can break into our first team squad...tbf maybe we already think he won't, or maybe there just wasn't any interest to drum up.

I'd suggest that's an unwise and untenable strategy. There are very few players who both fit our budget and have experience in this league or higher, and can also get goals. Riis might be the only one, and I'm not convinced he's in our budget. Especially since PNE will be reluctant to sell to us. We can want those sorts of players all we like, but with the money we have it's hard to see us getting any strikers like that. Other positions it may be workable, but anyone who is scoring goals at this level comes at a premium. If we stick to that, more likely our 'English experience' is going to end up being a youth loanee from a Prem club. Which may turn out to be great, but it doesn't really fit the criteria of being sure they'll hit the ground running (I'd certainly take Barry though from Villa, or Cannon, maybe the only such players I'm aware of who stands a decent chance of hitting the ground running, but we're unlikely to get to the front of the queue for those). There are great deals to be found abroad, look at Tronstad. Didn't take long to bed in either.

That's a ridiculous statement. RF99 is one of the better posters on here. I don't always agree with him, but he has a decent understanding of the game and wider strategy, and certainly doesn't display any less football knowledge than yourself or Chaddy do (Chaddy's wide knowledge of obscure players aside, I'm talking in general terms about the game). You simply disagree. Do so politely instead of claiming he doesn't understand football because he doesn't believe every rumour that comes from yourself or Nixon, and doesn't beat the positivity drum.

Cheaper than normal isn't the same as being affordable though. TAA is out of contract this summer, but of course we can't remotely afford that one. Riis is obviously far more realistic, but our budget appears to be very small and it may still be a stretch. More likely we'd be looking at players from foreign leagues who are out of contract in 6 months. Our ability to pre-contract them would really force their clubs into selling cheap now, plus they're usually cheaper to begin with. Heard one or two players from Scandinavian leagues mentioned in this bracket, though I forget their names.

Haha fair enough! I'm not saying they all do. Some do. Some don't. I don't think there are many who have the same pace they had at 21 though. Plenty retain the majority of it, but relatively few are every inch as fast. I can't think of a single fast 32 year old we have had, can you? As I said, I haven't seen the lad lately, maybe he is still quick. Experience is definitely beneficial. Like you I've also learnt more about positioning, how to exploit space, I've developed more tricks to overcome my lost pace, etc. Nobody is disputing his experience. But what this team is lacking is the ability to stretch teams on the counter, I think we are doing about as well as we can with that without adding some genuine pace. Experience is handy and it will be a definite plus to potentially signing him, but it's not the be all. Weimann is the same age with tons of experience, albeit not as much of it in the Prem. Some games he looks quality, some games he looks over the hill.

We should also consider, whether we play Beck or ACD depends partly on whether their parent clubs give us permission. I'd imagine getting permission for Baker won't be a problem, but Liverpool and Brighton may still have thoughts of recalling their lads.

I'm not convinced there's any point preventing O'Riordan from going out on loan again. I don't see him being any use to us for the rest of the season other than in the cup games or maybe during a massive CB injury crisis. He probably doesn't make the bench at present, let alone when Carter is back in Feb. Garrett, I do think has a place in the squad, and I wouldn't be loaning him back out. Closest player we have to Travis in style. Not as good of course, won't displace him, but I feel we should use him as cover. Even when he's back, Travis can't play every game. He picks up suspensions and injuries, and perhaps as importantly, whenever we have rushed him back or kept playing him all the time when he's clearly knackered in recent years, he has been far worse. Even if it's just filling in when he's out, and bringing him on at 70 or 80 minutes when the game is won, I think Garrett can be useful. He's nothing special at the moment but he's much better than some posters on here make out. Gilsenan and Tyjon won't be playing, they're not fit. I don't believe Gilsenan has even played for the U21s this season. Tyjon wasn't in the squad in the last PL2 game, which was mid-December, and hasn't made the first team bench since September. I think he's not fit anyway. This will be an interesting match in terms of selection, not an easy one. I wish we had landed some shit League Two side, would have been a great testing grounds for young players. But Boro away, we could easily exit the cup and lose more morale if we field a weak side. Hard to say if Toth will play...it's not like Pears needs a rest as he's only a GK. We'd all like to see what Toth has, but given we will likely rest a lot of players, it's a bit of a gamble, as nobody can lose you a game quicker than the wrong keeper. If we end up under the cosh though because we weaken the side, Pears could end up losing confidence if he plays.

Gibson's operation of Boro hasn't been majorly successful in recent years (but still far moreso than Venkys), so I agree you couldn't put them in the category of a Brentford or Brighton for being well ran recently. But he also won a lot of credit in the bank for essentially overseeing Boro's glory years. Their only real trophy, a UEFA Cup final and an FA Cup final. A good stint in the Prem, with quality players like Juninho and Ravanelli. He is in an utterly different league to Venkys as an owner, even with their recent underachievement relative to his financial input. You say they're waxing huge amounts to stay in the Championship...but at least they have indeed stayed in it, plus a promotion. Three playoff spot finishes too, the playoffs are a lottery. A bit more luck and they'd have more promotions too. We haven't even once reached the playoffs since we came down, and until recent seasons almost never even sat in the playoff spots mid-season. Again even with the underachievement, it's been a far better underachievement than ours. As for what Venkys should spend...every fucking penny they can spare and are allowed to put in within the rules. This is their mess, plain and simple. I could understand them tightening the purse strings if they were willing to sell the club, but they aren't willing to even entertain bids for the club, and they've had interest they turned away out of hand. If they're not going to put their hands in their pockets anymore they need to fuck off. Personally I think 15 mill is a bit much perhaps, but there should have been about 8-10 million of the 40 million we've reaped in fees made available (I think the poster you mention perhaps forgot those signings will need decent wages too). Those well-ran clubs you mentioned have reinvested bigger proportions than that from their sales when they were down here.