(That long since we've had any, couldn't find the thread)

Alan Nixon: "Top Liverpool starlet Cameron Branagan will Ben allowed out on loan in Jan.

Bolton lead the race for the 20 year old midfielder"

Edited December 11, 20169 yr by Ratwhite

1 minute ago, noxid said:

He was our star player but he became lazy and unmotivated especially when McAtee arrived who IMO was a bad influence. Think SS had seen enough and had to get rid of the dead wood around camp. Can't wait for McAtee to clear off next and I'm sure there are replacements lined up 

I agree but the problem is you have to find someone to buy them there won’t be much interest in many of them and for Mcatee no one is paying what we paid .
Collins , shehan , morley  clubs will take them on good money but your loosing uout better players Collins will be on a better contract at MK 90 percent of the squad will be on a worse deal if they move 

Part of me is sad to see him go as we all know what he is capable of. But the way I and most likely Schuey and co see it, is that he's from that same mould of that Bolton Wanderers team that has had a serious mentality issue the past 2 seasons.

I don't have any attachment to him and pretty much all those in that play off final defeat that we have still not recovered from.

Yes he scored 19 goals last season, although 6 of them came in the Vertu trophy.

I think I said after the Wrexham game in our 2nd match that there was something off with him. He would struggle to even just pass it 5 yards or control an easy ball. And that happened all season long.

The last part of the season said it all, missing sitters and staying on the floor after getting easily manhandled. He wasn't arsed or hungry for it anymore. And I think he knew that Bolton was his ceiling. He wanted an international call up apparently but dropping to MK Dons in L2 shows his real ambition.

He was the most capable of scoring from nothing which is a plus. But the bigger part of me is kind of okay taking nearly a million for, saying goodbye and move on.

I trust Schuey and Fergal to do their thing.

The quicker we move that squad on from the last few seasons of failure the better. 

Rebuild truly underway.

 

Edited June 16, 2025Jun 16 by Lostock Whites

I'm amazed that nobody from League 1 has come in for Collins seen as the club seems to be happy to move him on. 

I like him - but if you're asking me whether I'd be happy to rely on him over the course of a full season..... Then I'm not so sure tbh. 

Selling your top scorer is proper risky, surely we have 'better' in mind? or is this the club need money and/or SS wants his own players and doesn't like Collins' negative aspects of his game?

I get Mk are faves and stuff, but you're going down a lower league for 1 season, unless you think they'll overtake Bolton in a couple of years, but then they may replace you yourself.

1 minute ago, Didledee said:

Selling your top scorer is proper risky, surely we have 'better' in mind? or is this the club need money and/or SS wants his own players and doesn't like Collins' negative aspects of his game?

I get Mk are faves and stuff, but you're going down a lower league for 1 season, unless you think they'll overtake Bolton in a couple of years, but then they may replace you yourself.

I don't believe the club needs the money but I think a decent offer for a 28yr old will give the board and manager things to think about.

 

Looks like we need to balance the books a little bit, I understand selling him, it's been mentioned above, he's older and we can get a few quid for him and hopefully reinvest it into the squad. I liked him, thought he did well for us, but onwards and hopefully upwards if he goes.

Kelly N'mai from Salford now being linked 

 

Collins got 12 league goals last season (which is only 1 more than McAtee). It’s not as hard to replace when you also try and then hopefully stop conceding as many as we did last season. If we’re getting a decent fee for him and enables Schuey to strengthen in other places then I’m okay with it. I have a feeling the new lad from non league will be around the first team squad this season too. It felt odd we made a “larger” announcement for a B team player.

2 minutes ago, 1969 said:

Kelly N'mai from Salford now being linked 

 

for the womens team?

57 minutes ago, gonzo said:

I really hope he knows what he's doing.

 

i think SS fucked up picking a fight with the players at a pivotal point of the season (if he did and id say all the evidence points to it)

however, once he did, anybody who downed tools (as it appeared collins did) can fcuk right off

13 minutes ago, L/H White said:

for the womens team?

 

2 minutes ago, 1969 said:

 

Socks up.    He'll do for me

1 hour ago, gonzo said:

The decision is clearly ours and not his.

Schumacher or Colllins?

This is something i think some people on here need to understand. 

This: "weak mentality" thing was NONSENSE made up by Evatt to excuse his own failings... that's it, nothing more, nothing less. 

1 minute ago, Zog1 said:

This is something i think some people on here need to understand. 

This: "weak mentality" thing was NONSENSE made up by Evatt to excuse his own failings... that's it, nothing more, nothing less. 

Bollocks. With a big fucking cherry on top.

Edited June 16, 2025Jun 16 by Winchester White

25 minutes ago, Casino said:

i think SS fucked up picking a fight with the players at a pivotal point of the season (if he did and id say all the evidence points to it)

however, once he did, anybody who downed tools (as it appeared collins did) can fcuk right off

All I remember was him praising them when he came in and was looking at the playoffs he didn’t pick a fight with them the form nose dived and then he probably told them some home truths that’s not picking a fight the only glimpse of that we got was is interview after Lincoln but the season was over by then  . He wouldn’t just be having a go if the results were right 

Edited June 16, 2025Jun 16 by Farnywhite

10 minutes ago, 1969 said:

 

Hope so, from the bits I've seen of him he reminds me of the lad Peterborough sold to Coventry the other season Ephrom Mason-Clarke. 

Collins leaving could also be down to us having about 75 number 10s and him being the only one someone put a decent offer in for.

Just now, frank_spencer said:

Collins leaving could also be down to us having about 75 number 10s and him being the only one someone put a decent offer in for.

No one is paying us the money we paid for mcatee or Randall and Gomes can’t stay of the treatment table you can only shift what you can 

Hope we can get shut of Mcatee and Lolos too. 

36 minutes ago, Casino said:

i think SS fucked up picking a fight with the players at a pivotal point of the season (if he did and id say all the evidence points to it)

however, once he did, anybody who downed tools (as it appeared collins did) can fcuk right off

Do you really think this was where this broke down?

Dan will be shunted out on loan for the last year of his contract

Collins has been a decent player for us but I'm not too arsed if we sell him. He could produce something out of nothing every so often but also went missing at times and offered nothing.

As long as we replace him with a player Schumacher thinks will offer more to the team and the way he wants us to play I'm fine with Collins or anyone else being sold.

22 minutes ago, Winchester White said:

Bollocks. With a big fucking cherry on top.

Let me explain it to you. 

Evatt had a style of play, which was for simplification pass teams to death. 

At first he signed players with that in mind but with some flexabilty, players like Bod, MJ, Lee and more fit this mold. 

He then decided after the play off defeat that he needed to double down on his style, better passers and a new formation etc. which was something like 32221 with wing backs and 2 no 10's, this is why we have 5/6 of them.

This didnt work because teams worked out the flaws in his orginal system towards the end of the year before. This was overwhelm the midfield and press the defence, except it worked better now as there was 1 less midfieler in the centre. This had the impact of making our defenders look terrible and is why we've had so many injuries. 

At the same time those flexable players i mentioned above were moved on for new players which were signed in order to meet Evatts technical reqirements for the new formation. This had the impact of removing both pace, strength and aggression out of the team. 

At this point the team was fundementally broken, it couldn't play any way other than Evatt's way, which was a fundamentally flawed system developed by a manager without the experience to know better. 

SS couldnt fix any of these issues because what was required was a 3/4 good players with pace and strength, to create a backbone from which our technical players (we had too many of) could play off and be supported and defeneded by. 

Mentality had sweet FA to do with it. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 16, 2025Jun 16 by Zog1

10 minutes ago, deeane Koontz said:

Hope we can get shut of Mcatee and Lolos too. 

and Forino