From positive to negative....

Well did anyone even expect Connell to score even 20 goals? I didn't.

Who knows, he might go back to scoring 8 goals a season, everything is a gamble when it comes to football.

Quoted from 470

Well did anyone even expect Connell to score even 20 goals? I didn't.

Not when he signed but I've never seen a player give me such a good feeling in pre-season so I got my money on top goalscorer.
Had to back Tubbs later but still a good bet.

Can't wait to see Hearn tomorrow.  

Quoted from 470

Who knows, he might go back to scoring 8 goals a season, everything is a gamble when it comes to football.

Talking of a gamble, Coral have got the odds up for tomorrows game.

Town 6/4
Draw 5/2
Rotherham 5/4

Not giving much away, but I I can see it being a draw.
2-2 my guess.

Couldn't disagree more, as far as I'm concerned this should not dampen the mood. Al wouldn't have come as good last season and a 6 figure sum for a player that has had 1 GOOD season in his career is a cracking fee. See my thread anyway, Connell (The final SAGA!), no need to worry mate, all is good!

It's understandable that people might see this as retrograde. Many moons ago I was devastated when Town sold Tees and Green and Charlie Wright to Charlton. Then we had the saga of Drinkell's sale a bit later on. But they were different to this. They went for knock down fees and decimated a good side. Tees and Green especially were essential to the team and once they went we went on a slide down the leagues. If this sale can be compared to any other past sale it is probably Mendonca's.

The facts are what need to be considered though, not the emotion.

Connell is 28 years old.
Connell came on a free but his wages were high.
Connell signed for 2 years and his agent made him refuse to sign a 3rd year option.
Connell wanted to play league football again.
Connell wanted to move closer to his home base.
Connell asked for a transfer.

In those circumstances, it would be foolish for any club to keep the player once a decent offer was made by a team outside of our league. Not only is there a handy bit of cash for team building but the wage bill for this season has been evened out as well.

Other factors to think about would be -

Connell scored 29 goals in a side that came to rely on him for scoring and played (most of the time) in a way that suited him.
Connell this season would be playing with at least one other prolific (in theory) striker in a way that might not suit him, as Hurst indicated the side would favour 4-3-3.
Connell would have to play as first choice if the club was to get value for wages from him otherwise we would have an expensive depreciating asset sitting on the bench.
Connell's value at the end of the season would be precisely zero pounds no matter how many goals he scored.
Connell would only re-sign if the club was promoted this year and if we did go up his terms would have to be substantially improved at a time when the whole team would need strengthening for L2.

What would be the plus points to keeping Connell?

Connell became a sort of talisman for some fans, no Connell = no chance.
Connell could have repeated his form of last season and helped us mount a promotion challenge.
Connell staying would be a statement of intent from the board that the club does not need to sell and wants to keep its best players.


To be honest I cannot think of any other good reasons to keep him and weighing up the pros and cons it really is no contest in my eyes. It was good financial business and quite possibly good football business too. Only time will tell about the football but certainly Connell going has not made me feel the least bit negative.

I thank AC for the wonderful season, he individually gave us, irrespective of our final position.

Connell was a southern lad and it is no surprise he is on his way, and good luck to him, I think he, although being homesick, has maintained a professional image throughout this saga.

I am gutted that we have potentially lost 20-30 goals out of our front line next season, when we potentially had added another 20-30 in Hearn, as it could be the difference between top, top 5 and mid table obscurity again.

I trust the managers probably knew this was going to happen and all the talk has been a smokescreen, now I hope they have some replacements lined up or have every faith they have already done that, fully. Hearn should be one of the top scorers in this division, but the gamble is that this may be his level, I hope not. Spencer may go onto become the target man we so need, or Duffy may pull his finger out of his bottom and start working, Duffy actually had a really good record at Oxford, but nothing since. Mulready has potential but is still a season or 2 away from being close to the finished article, but due to his short contract really needs to impress. Personally I think we need to get another Connell, some striker, who gets 20-30 next season, but who may not have been wonderful last season due to poor tactics, and cheap.

Hey!! here hoping eh!!

Top post Raffers.

Quoted from Mariners_15

Couldn't disagree more, as far as I'm concerned this should not dampen the mood. Al wouldn't have come as good last season and a 6 figure sum for a player that has had 1 GOOD season in his career is a cracking fee. See my thread anyway, Connell (The final SAGA!), no need to worry mate, all is good!

Agree with the one good season sentiment as I think teams in our league started to suss him out after xmas. He set off like a train in the first half of the season but his scoring seemed to slow after the January transfer window.

Quoted from Steve_gtfc

Agree with the one good season sentiment as I think teams in our league started to suss him out after xmas. He set off like a train in the first half of the season but his scoring seemed to slow after the January transfer window.

16 goals in the first 21 games of the season.
9 goals in the last 25 games of the season.

Quoted from Abdul19

16 goals in the first 21 games of the season.
9 goals in the last 25 games of the season.

Thanks for that. I had a feeling that was the case but didn't have the stats to back it up.

Quoted from Steve_gtfc

Agree with the one good season sentiment as I think teams in our league started to suss him out after xmas. He set off like a train in the first half of the season but his scoring seemed to slow after the January transfer window.

Not only that, Steve.

In 9 years as a pro he made 214 appearances and scored a grand total of 41 goals according to Wiki. So he really has done very little in his career to justify this fee. Admittedly he was not always played as a striker but he was always a forward. Credit must go to Woods for giving him the chance to play that position regularly but as you say, he went off the boil. Seems like a risky "undisclosed six figure fee" to me but I'm not complaining.