Underwhelming

I think this is a great time for Slade to engage the fans, he doesn't have to say who he is after but he could give a few signs of what he is looking for and what league his targets are currently playing in etc. The club knows the fans will turn up in numbers and do very little to spark interest.

It's like this club touts for punters through word of mouth rather than go out there and use imaginative ways to get people on board.

Quoted from Cod Cheeks

Same year in, year out whoever the manager is
And the common denominator is....

Who

We've actually signed more players than 13 of the other clubs in our division. The average number of signings so far is 3 but that number is skewed massively by Mansfield who have signed loads and for lots of money. Relax, if in three weeks we haven't signed anyone else then maybe we can start to worry.

Plenty of time and better to take care. Possibly one or two set backs but we need about 4 decent signings, a keeper, centre half left back and s striker, long way from the 5th August and so really no panic utm

I think people are bored more than underwhelmed, including the media and people on twitter. Boredom leads to wild rumours by and large. Revell, Clarke, Seaborne, Maynard are names being banded about and have they signed for anyone else? No. Was Chicksen dor example out of our league wages wise? Yes. I suspect one of the targets was Scott Laird who went to FGR but I'm only guessing. Plenty of time for some top signings to arrive yet. Podge Amond signed on July 1st, so if we haven't signed anybody by the end of the second week in July, that's when we need to start worrying but now it's no big deal. Knowing our club we'll have already signed 3 players and haven't told us yet.

wow, all the whiners are out in force today, usual crap being chatted, cheap options,JF to blame, going to be a poor season blah blah blah,some people need to find hobbies and stay out the sun

Quoted from HackneyHaddock

He should sign Graham Rodgers and Peter Handysides.

For me they're a bit old for league 2 level but Slades would do a lot worse than bringing back Paddy Almond and John Lenny-Lewis to get season ticket sales going a bit.

Would take Amond back in a flash
Phenomenal work rate
Unselfish
Team player
Great positional skill
And knew how to put the ball in the goal
And had class with his nine celebrating scoring for Hartlepool in front of the pontoon

Non not nine

I think it's easy to just become disappointed that we've lost two fan favourites in Pearson and Disley, plus our Player of the Year and brought in three guys who may well be great but are far from marquee signings that everyone likes to see.

Looking at the overall picture though it isn't that bad, is it?

Between the sticks we've got a decent goalkeeper, yes we were spoilt with Henderson during his brief spell but I'd say McKeown is an alright League Two goallkeeper.  Didn't see many better than him last year but then didn't see that many that looked much below either, he's what you would expect at this level.

The back four needs some strengthening, there's no doubt about that.  But we've got a lad at right back in Mills who will only get better and stronger having made a huge step up last season.  Collins proved his quality last season and whilst I wouldn't be delighted at starting the season with Davies at right-back (Mills over to the left) and Collins partnering Boyce in the centre, it wouldn't be totally awful.  We need a centre-back and a left-back but we can't be the only club needing two players.

In midfield there's an awful lot to be positive about.  Clements is tidy and keeps the ball ticking over well.  I know he didn't impress a lot of people last season but I think he's just one of those players who you don't notice, he also chipped in with a fair share of goals.  More attacking wise we've got Osbourne who not only made a big step-up in January, he also got better as the season went on and showed what he can offer.  I fully expect him to be even better next season with a full pre-season behind him.  I've not seen Rose but he was part of the Newport team that turned their season around and by all accounts is the energetic player that we've perhaps missed since Clay left.  If we keep McAllister fit we've got a player and a half, hopefully with some actual investment in sports science we'll get more from guys who've struggled with injuries previously.

Out wide, dunno.  We've definitely got enough bodies Dembele sounds exciting, Kelly I've not seen anything of and in Bolarinwa I think we've actually got a decent guy to come off the bench against tired legs - even if his final product left a lot to be desired last season.   In addition there's Harry Clifton who the club have huge hopes for.  

Up front we've got Sam Jones who made a step-up in January managed to score 7 in 16 starts, despite starting some of those games either in midfield or out wide.  That's a return rate of 44%.  To put it into some sort of comparison, Bogle achieved 32% in his first season with us 47% over his total 18 months.  I think we'll see another striker arrive mainly because of the numbers already in the building but in Vernon there's a guy who when played in his right position was very effective and (very much like James Berrett) seemed to have a bit of a new lease of life once Slade arrived.  He's not going to steam past three players at pace but he is savvy on the ball and a decent hold up man for someone like Jones.  I wouldn't have any issues with those two up top, providing we've a bit of pace from the wide areas.  Yussuf I'm not sure what happened with after his initial goal burst and him them falling out of favour.  Asante showed in the brief spells he played what he can do.  Leyton Orient stands out as the powerful and direct frontman he could be.

All in, we're not that bad. Far from it.  The few signings Slade makes will be crucial and seperate us from a similar season to last to a a very good one.  We've got a lot of lads who made the step-up last season so were always going to either run out of steam or struggle at some point, maybe both in some cases.