Next Season's Squad.

[Stranded]

So at season's end, we were told that the next 2 weeks (and certainly to end of May) were going to be crucial for the club. Given we are only 3 days from 1st June, how do we take the fact that we don't appear to be close to moving any players out or in?

Deals lined up waiting for club officials to return from holiday or a symptom of a wider issue that apart from our crown jewels other players aren't attracting any interest?

[Hound]

difficult to say, but would certainly have liked to have seen some movement out.

Obvs a lot of the work is done behind the scenes, with the fruition of that being any announcement. It could be 4 or 5 players are near departure

A little worried though. McNulty seems set on leaving but Popa sounds like he is coming back and Meyler has mentioned coming back a few times, and doesn't seem particularly set on leaving. Players like Kelly might think they have a good chance of coming back in if we can't afford to bring in a set of loans again

When does pre-season start - mid June?

[Stranded]

difficult to say, but would certainly have liked to have seen some movement out.

Obvs a lot of the work is done behind the scenes, with the fruition of that being any announcement. It could be 4 or 5 players are near departure

A little worried though. McNulty seems set on leaving but Popa sounds like he is coming back and Meyler has mentioned coming back a few times, and doesn't seem particularly set on leaving. Players like Kelly might think they have a good chance of coming back in if we can't afford to bring in a set of loans again

When does pre-season start - mid June?

Players return 1st July. Would like to have seen movement by then.

[Hound]

he definitely said he wanted all the business done by then

[biff]

Rumours circulating on WACCOE that Eza could well be joining them next season.

[Sutekh]

he definitely said he wanted all the business done by then

This is said every season by a lot of clubs but despite best intentions it is extremely difficult to actually do as so many parties involved in these things are away on holiday and when one party is back then another is away. And yes while those may remain contactable there is, quite rightly, a certain amount wanting to put family first for a couple of weeks.

[Stranded]

Rumours circulating on WACCOE that Eza could well be joining them next season.

Good luck if he does but can't get upset if we don't sign a player who only managed a little over 300 mins playing time for us. He looked decent but also think he is seen as better due to his absence than he may otherwise have been.

His injury also saw Rinomhota get his chance, so every cloud etc.

[Hound]

apparently interested in Patrick Bauer from Charlton on a free.

Would fill the Miazga role. Not seen too much of him tbh

[Victor Meldrew]

I see that he played for Maritimo in Portugal so presumably known to the manager.

[Zip]

Jonathan Low very downbeat about our signing any of the loanees and also thinks Meite will be sold.
I don’t agree. For a start our owner does not want Yaks to be sold and given our lack of goal power it would be very risky selling him. It’s more than that though. Yaks is a larger than life character and seems very close to Barrow. If he was sold I can see Barrow wanting to move on too.

It’s going to be very difficult for us to start the new season with a squad as strong as we finished last season with.

[Stranded]

Jonathan Low very downbeat about our signing any of the loanees and also thinks Meite will be sold.
I don’t agree. For a start our owner does not want Yaks to be sold and given our lack of goal power it would be very risky selling him. It’s more than that though. Yaks is a larger than life character and seems very close to Barrow. If he was sold I can see Barrow wanting to move on too.

It’s going to be very difficult for us to start the new season with a squad as strong as we finished last season with.

It is but it doesn't have to be stronger on paper just be better drilled and able to execute the game plan effectively.

[URZZZZ]

Jonathan Low very downbeat about our signing any of the loanees and also thinks Meite will be sold.
I don’t agree. For a start our owner does not want Yaks to be sold and given our lack of goal power it would be very risky selling him. It’s more than that though. Yaks is a larger than life character and seems very close to Barrow. If he was sold I can see Barrow wanting to move on too.

It’s going to be very difficult for us to start the new season with a squad as strong as we finished last season with.

Meite's all round play is not good enough to reject any "decent" offers for him. After his end to the season, I wouldn't actively sell him but if we can get some good money for him, I wouldn't be against it if it means we can keep the likes of Moore, Rino, Loader etc...

I couldn't care less what Barrow thinks. He's been pretty much awful since January 2018 apart from the last month or so this season. It's time to get rid of inconsistent players like Barrow if we can get some decent money for him

Go through our "11" the two seasons we got promoted. Was McDermott's team full of quality? I don't think so, they had the consistency and characteristics to win any game of football. This team don't and in my opinion (rightly or wrongly) Barrow fits perfectly into that definition

[Snowflake Royal]

So at season's end, we were told that the next 2 weeks (and certainly to end of May) were going to be crucial for the club. Given we are only 3 days from 1st June, how do we take the fact that we don't appear to be close to moving any players out or in?

Deals lined up waiting for club officials to return from holiday or a symptom of a wider issue that apart from our crown jewels other players aren't attracting any interest?

Hoping that that was firmly in relation to doing the preparatory spade work and that the formal stuff to be announced falls into place in the coming weeks.

Never likely to move on many players so early IMO.

[Zip]

Agreed Ian. It’s very early to be selling/signing players. I am though concerned there will be little interest in the likes of Popa, Meyler, Walker, Kelly, Watson etc let alone the likes of Gunter, Baldock and GMac who are still involved in the squad. We know Hibs want McNulty. It would be nice to get that deal done soon to get another off the books.

[Crowbar6753]

Agreed Ian. It’s very early to be selling/signing players. I am though concerned there will be little interest in the likes of Popa, Meyler, Walker, Kelly, Watson etc let alone the likes of Gunter, Baldock and GMac who are still involved in the squad. We know Hibs want McNulty. It would be nice to get that deal done soon to get another off the books.

I reckon we could offload Gunter as his form in the last few games was pretty impressive after such a long stint out and he may still stay in the Championship as a good player to the right team. As for all the others, they are clearly not championship standard and we really cannot expect much interest or money in the case. Maybe GMac and Baldock could handle a top Div one team, its more a case of offloaded players to clear the wage bill.

[Snowflake Royal]

Agreed Ian. It’s very early to be selling/signing players. I am though concerned there will be little interest in the likes of Popa, Meyler, Walker, Kelly, Watson etc let alone the likes of Gunter, Baldock and GMac who are still involved in the squad. We know Hibs want McNulty. It would be nice to get that deal done soon to get another off the books.

There's no money IN Scottish football. I doubt Hibs could find £500k for him let alone the over a million we'd want.

[Hound]

fair chance of another season loan I reckon, with them picking up his wages. If his Scotland career gets any traction then it will only boost his value for us

[Sutekh]

fair chance of another season loan I reckon, with them picking up his wages. If his Scotland career gets any traction then it will only boost his value for us

In both directions. Think it's what Reading manage to do in the loan market that will make or break the season.

[Denver Royal]

For a start our owner does not want Yaks to be sold

Well, that was then, and this is now.
This is a crucial off-season. Going forward, as Gomes looks at the options and goes thru different permutations...who to keep, who to ship out...who he could sell to generate some money, who to then bring in, etc... as he tries his best to both balance the books that he inherited, and build a successful squad for the Champ next season, I imagine he'd like some free reign to do so.
Are the owners insistent about other players?

[RoyalJones]

Rumours circulating on WACCOE that Eza could well be joining them next season.

My tweet will show everyone who wants Reading to sign Ezatolahi that this Leeds United rumour is a load of rubbish: https://twitter.com/ajonesrfc/status/11 ... 8223623168