Once this season is over and we have secured ourselves another in the Premiership with an impressive second half push up to mid-table comfort what do you think the squad numbers for next year would be? 1 - Paddy (maybe - see comments below) 2 - Young 3 - Ferdinand 4 - Taiwo 5- Onuoha 6 - Traore 7 - Taraabt 8 - Faurlin 9 - Cisse 10 - Zamora 11 - SWP 12 - Cerny 13 - Barton (unlucky for some!) 14 - HH 15 - Diakite 16 - Buzz 17 - Mackie 18 - Gabbidon 19 - Smith 20 - Bothroyd 21 - Murphy 22 - Hall 23- Hill 24 - Derry 25 - Betty/DJ The players already gone are Orr, Rowly, Connolly (loan but will be permanent IMO) with a summer clear out of Cooky, Big Dan, Dyer (never lacing up his boots for us again) Hulse and any other fringe players that haven't found a loan move away. Good chance that Hill, Derry, Paddy would all follow Warnock to his next club if he stays in management. We need a big squad and you could pretty much guarantee the second 11 a few games a season due to injury or suspensions but do you think that the likes of Adel, HH, Smith, Mackie et al would be content with being in the second string team? I put Adel in my first team along with Faurlin but Barton and Diakite could easily take the first team numbers in midfield. This transfer window won't be the only business Sparky does, he will seek to strengthen in the summer and my prediction is that his first target will be a replacement goalkeeper with another couple of midfield and striker options. There may only be one or two players left from our promotion winning team at the start of next season.
Surely you have traore/Taiwo and ferdinand messed up? At least 6 of those players will be gone so Im not even going to start thinking about it yet! Derry, Hill, Hall, Murphy, Gabbidon and 1 or 2 others.
Derry ,Hill ,Gabbidon ,Smith ,Hall ,Cook ,Agyemang ,Vine ,Hulse ,****tu ,Perone ,Murphy and Mackie thank you all of you and good luck. Next summer will be so cruel to many players. Kenny ,Bothroyd and Buzsacky could also be in the danger.
Agree most of your inclusions but Bothroyd and Betty are the same bloke! Reckon the nuimbering could go more like this though... 1 - Kenny 2 - Young 3 - Taiwo 4 - Barton 5 - Ferdinand 6 - Onuoha 7 - SWP 8 - Zamora 9 - Cisse 10 - Taraabt 11 - Traore 12 - Diakite 13 - Cerny 14 - Buzz 15 - Gabbidon 16 - Helguson 17 - Mackie 18 - Campbell 19 - Smith 20 - Bothroyd 21 - Murphy 22 - Hall 23 - Hill 24 - Derry 25 - Hulse Ale Faurlin unlikely to recover before the end of the season. Will he get a squad place?
Mind you, all that's bollocks above. As far as I know, they're retaining current shirt numbers for the remainder of the season and the newbies are getting allocated higher numbers in most cases. Think Zamora is 52!
He will be 25 next season though. Faurlin has to get a place, even if hes not available for august, are you really going to sit him until January when hes been fit for months?
Gabbidon, Hall, Perone, Agyemang, ****tu, Cerny and Vine's contracts expie in the summer - cannot see them being extended Derry & Hill will follow NW. Cook will get contract paid up Hulse and Tommy Smith will be sold, Paddy Kenny has to prove himself in the next half of the season that he is worth keeping, Murphy will need to do that in the reserves. Mackie and Buzz are inthe same boat as PK, but I think alot will depend on where we finish at end of the season and the transfer budget for next. DJC needs to go out on loan to ge his fitness back, and then prove should have a starting place. Betty - not sure he is a MH type of player but then Zamora has't really been known for scoring loads of goals. Hopefully in the summer a cheeky bid for Jordan Rhodes and possibly a new keeper for competiton, regardless of whether Paddy stays.
The way you are talking it looks like we will be buying another 7-10 players in the summer, be realistic that simply is not going to happen at the most it will be 3 or 4 new faces because assuming we stay up and our new boys work out, as we will be automatically be spending 8 million on Taiwo & Diakite, if they don,t this money can go to new signings. Therefore IMO there will quite a few old faces around to make up the squad numbers, Rome wasn't built in a day!
