(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

20 minutes ago, tomski said:

Pretty sure he has 2 years. Vaguely remember being a 3 year at the time. Apologies if I’m wrong

You're right

His contract expires in 2027

43 minutes ago, tomski said:

Pretty sure he has 2 years. Vaguely remember being a 3 year at the time. Apologies if I’m wrong

No you’re right mate - contract ends Summer ‘27.

Hopefully we won’t be paying top dollar for him to sit on the bench.

What do,  Lolos, Forino, Collins, Jones, Southwood, Sheenan,Thomasson, Santos, Johnston, McAtee, Baxter, Tu Tu, Schon, Randall, Adeboyejo and Nlundulu have in common. According to a lot of posters on here their all shit. Were either in a right mess or fans' need to get in touch with reality and relise were a Div 1 team with Div 1 players.

55 minutes ago, tomski said:

Pretty sure he has 2 years. Vaguely remember being a 3 year at the time. Apologies if I’m wrong

Fair enough. 

Still less than the others I think. 

Still think Lolos could be out on loan too.

29 minutes ago, waffer cup 07 said:

What do,  Lolos, Forino, Collins, Jones, Southwood, Sheenan,Thomasson, Santos, Johnston, McAtee, Baxter, Tu Tu, Schon, Randall, Adeboyejo and Nlundulu have in common. According to a lot of posters on here their all shit. Were either in a right mess or fans' need to get in touch with reality and relise were a Div 1 team with Div 1 players.

None of those are shit players, 

The combination just doesn't work, like a team full of right footers wouldn't. 

 

Aside from Tutu who only shines when he's on as a sub, they're knackered and won't challenge him.  

36 minutes ago, waffer cup 07 said:

What do,  Lolos, Forino, Collins, Jones, Southwood, Sheenan,Thomasson, Santos, Johnston, McAtee, Baxter, Tu Tu, Schon, Randall, Adeboyejo and Nlundulu have in common. According to a lot of posters on here their all shit. Were either in a right mess or fans' need to get in touch with reality and relise were a Div 1 team with Div 1 players.

They’re not shit, they just don't have the mentality to get us promoted, which I presume you agree with?

22 hours ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

This.

We've not had many clubs come in for our players, but only Tomo was one, and to a higher league team.

Morley was taken on loan, by a better team than us and performed well.

Meanwhile, Sheehan shits out, increasingly plays like a crab, and complains to fans about being kicked.

He simply goes missing too often, especially against better teams, which says a lot.

I'd drive him myself, but I'm not loading my van with cotton wool before we set off.

Deluded 

5 minutes ago, Lancaster18 said:

Deluded 

Blind.

43 minutes ago, Blondi said:

They’re not shit, they just don't have the mentality to get us promoted, which I presume you agree with?

I'd argue Lolos and Nlundulu are shit.

Those who left on free I'm not fussed about, but wouldn't have minded Santos sticking about. 

Selling Collins is a risky manoeuvre for me but I have to trust SS.

The others still here have shown flashes of what they can do and if ss wants them here then that's that.

1 hour ago, Blondi said:

They’re not shit, they just don't have the mentality to get us promoted, which I presume you agree with?

I do agree, i'm just fed up of 'fans' coming on here slagging one player after another off because they don't perform like world beaters every week. We are where we are, there 1st division players with faults.

7 hours ago, kent_white said:

Best game I've seen Sheehan in was vs Luton at home when it wasn't blood and thunder and he had some space to play. 

He also got plenty of stick from Carlton Morris (?) that game, took it well and gave plenty back.

3 minutes ago, Traf said:

He also got plenty of stick from Carlton Morris (?) that game, took it well and gave plenty back.

I wish I knew whether that was right or not - but I struggle to remember who we're even playing against half the time - but I'm willing to take your word for it. 

He looked like a Rolls Royce that game. I'm just not sure League 1 plays to his strengths. 

1 hour ago, waffer cup 07 said:

What do,  Lolos, Forino, Collins, Jones, Southwood, Sheenan,Thomasson, Santos, Johnston, McAtee, Baxter, Tu Tu, Schon, Randall, Adeboyejo and Nlundulu have in common. According to a lot of posters on here their all shit. Were either in a right mess or fans' need to get in touch with reality and relise were a Div 1 team with Div 1 players.

They all have good points and good moments but it’s down to the manager to work out how and when to use them. In general they have better skills than most at our level which is why they were recruited for a system designed to play other teams off the park.
However it’s obvious that other elements are equally important to achieve success and it’s easier to outrun, outmuscle and outfight talented players than for a talented player to showcase their silky skills. Spoiling is easy.

Hopefully Schumacher will strike the right balance.

3 hours ago, waffer cup 07 said:

What do,  Lolos, Forino, Collins, Jones, Southwood, Sheenan,Thomasson, Santos, Johnston, McAtee, Baxter, Tu Tu, Schon, Randall, Adeboyejo and Nlundulu have in common. According to a lot of posters on here their all shit. Were either in a right mess or fans' need to get in touch with reality and relise were a Div 1 team with Div 1 players.

It boils down to one thing are they good enough to get us promoted?  Every player we sign and the manager says the objective is promotion how many interviews have we heard with that over the last few seasons and this one included.
if we don’t then they have failed and for the last few years they have all failed till we get a squad and manager that gets us up simple really you can call  them shit , bottlers or whatever the objective that they and the club set out is promotion and it’s not a unrealistic aim end off 

Edited June 22, 2025Jun 22 by Farnywhite

12 hours ago, kent_white said:

I wish I knew whether that was right or not - but I struggle to remember who we're even playing against half the time - but I'm willing to take your word for it. 

He looked like a Rolls Royce that game. I'm just not sure League 1 plays to his strengths. 

He'd be playing at a higher level already if clubs there felt that he would be effective.

Moreover, if he can get himself up for a cup game against a Premier league team, he can do likewise against league one teams.

Perhaps the fact that he doesn't do so pretty much every game highlights the weakness if a soft underbelly within much if the squad.

He could be seen as either L1 at best or being a late developer, given he'd been playing his trade in L2 till he came to us in his late 20s. 

Our structure and Pep-lite way of playing under Evatt didn't help him one iota. We have him, the size of a jockey, receiving those tippy tappy play outs from the keeper, while the bloke receiving them off Ederson was a hulking 6ft odd specimen like Rodri. They haven't particularly needed to clog Sheehan, just plenty of what's currently called 'aggressive pressing' would be enough for him to lose possession or give a loose pass away.

In a more robust structure and with the right people around him he could still at the very least do a good job for us

I find a lot of this OTT criticism of Sheehan a bit staggering.

I do agree he doesn't go into tackles as hard as he should sometimes.

However, I don't think he can ever be accused of going into hiding. The problem we have is that EVERYTHING had to go through him and that was clearly down to Evatt's instructions. All the opposition had to do was put two men on him. I'm not sure what Sheehan was supposed to do about that?

We saw it time and time again where Santos was stood on the ball because he couldn't play it to him.

He's by far our most comfortable player at taking the ball under pressure and it's up to the manager to get the best out of him and his teammates.

Edited June 23, 2025Jun 23 by DazBob

11 minutes ago, DazBob said:

I find a lot of this OTT criticism of Sheehan a bit staggering.

I do he doesn't go into tackles as hard as he should sometimes.

However, I don't think he can ever be accused of going into hiding. The problem we have is that under EVERYTHING had to go through him and that was clearly down to Evatt's instructions. All the opposition had to do was put two men on him. I'm not sure what Sheehan was supposed to do about that?

We saw it time and time again where Santos was stood on the ball because he couldn't play it to him.

He's by far our most comfortable player at taking the ball under pressure and it's up to the manager to get the best out of him and his teammates.

I don’t disagree with that but I’d prefer a more robust player and wouldn’t be concerned if he left but I don’t think there will be any takers at the price I suspect we’d want for him.

Sheehan also has a good shot and finish, which was woefully underutilised under Evatt’s defensive midfield role. A more advanced role, with Morley and Simons behind him, would likely see the best of him.

in a list of players to leave, Sheehan is quite low down for me.

List of players who should go well before Sheehan are in order of importance: McAtee, CMG, Shon, Matete, Lolos and the guy from Peterborough 

McAtee's hungry to impress this season. Hated how he was perceived last season and wants to make it here. He's been having 1-1 and group fitness work all summer.

Not sure Schumacher likes him personally, as he can be "hard work" but he's going to make a fist of it this season. 

I think we need to back him. 

@noxid While I agree that most of those players should leave before Sheehan, I find it fascinating that, after a season where we conceded 70 goals - more than two of the relegated sides - no one seems to be clamouring for defenders to leave.

Ok, we have released Baxter, Santos and Jones, which will be part of a defensive rebuild, but are the others up to the required standard?

50 minutes ago, Whitesince63 said:

I don’t disagree with that but I’d prefer a more robust player and wouldn’t be concerned if he left but I don’t think there will be any takers at the price I suspect we’d want for him.

Furry muff.  No issue with that.

I just don't understand when posters such as TMGJ accuse him of going into hiding, not putting the effort in, whingeing about being tackled, etc.

What I see is a player who always wants the ball, regardless of where he is on the pitch and who is up his arse, so to speak. That's not a quality too many of our players have.  The only criticism I'd have, and it is a fair one, is that a couple of  times last season he bottled out of  50/50 challenges that led to us conceding ... but I'd not be wanting shut of him because of that. 

How many times last season did we concede because we had players not bother to try and win a header further up the pitch, or because they tried a stupid, fancy flick rather than ensuring we kept the ball, or because they couldn't be arsed busting a gut to close a man down or track him back.

A lot of folk often forget how many times last season Sheehan was our last defender and got the rest of the AWOL defence and midfield out of the shit.

 

4 minutes ago, boltonboris said:

McAtee's hungry to impress this season. Hated how he was perceived last season and wants to make it here. He's been having 1-1 and group fitness work all summer.

Not sure Schumacher likes him personally, as he can be "hard work" but he's going to make a fist of it this season. 

I think we need to back him. 

I'll back McAtee when I see him trying to make a defender's life difficult by trying to win a header / hold a ball up / not look to blame everyone else when something he does goes wrong.

23 minutes ago, noxid said:

List of players who should go well before Sheehan are in order of importance: McAtee, CMG, Shon, Matete, Lolos and the guy from Peterborough 

Matete has gone back to Sunlun hasn’t he?

Edited June 23, 2025Jun 23 by Steejay