Emmanuel Dieseruvwe

He was out of contract at Tranmere, we had the option of signing him as in talks were held.  Hurst was clear to him, you won't be coming here as first choice.  Mani wanted at least the chance to be the main man but it was made clear it wasn't going to happen.

Hindsight's great.  Season after Mani left we struggled to even field strikers never mind effective ones.  Taylor looked absolutely broken, McAtee couldn't get going, Simmonds and Pepple were useless and Orsi...well, let's not go there.

Would Mani have cut it in League Two?  History suggests not but his whole career was unspectacular prior to rocking up for us.  3 goals in 26 games in the Conference North for Salford.  4 goals in 29 appearances in the same league for Kiddy.  He had 18 career goals to his name before we loaned him, 7 of those were in the FA Trophy!  Maybe everything just clicked for him here and he certainly hasn't looked back.  

We'll never know if he would have been any good last season for us but I'm confident he would have been better than some of the loan lads we had last season.  Equally so persisting with Taylor as your main man was a bad move.   But you can see why Hurst didn't fancy it.  A purple patch for us, plus lets face it if you take away his goals at Notts County and Wrexham away and no-one is really waxing lyrical about him anymore than Tristan Abrahams, probably isn't enough to buck the trend from the previous 9 years of football.  

I suspect we'll find out next season if Mani can cut it at this level.  23 goals that finished midtable is impressive and certainly will have put him on a few League Two radars.

Mani belongs in a similar box to Max Crocombe. It's not the decision not to retain them that's the problem, but rather the failure to replace them with demonstrably better, like-for-like alternatives.

I imagine there's always an element of jeopardy about not attempting to retain players without replacements securely in place, but ultimately swapping Crocombe for two 'keepers with less than 30 EFL appearances between them and swapping Mani for effectively no one looks like some pretty poor decision making / planning in retrospect.

It's the lessons from scenarios like this that need to be front of mind when the club is evaluating whether they should seek to retain the services of messrs Clifton, Green etc.

Quoted from sam gy

Don't think either were happy to play second fiddle and sit on the bench most weeks, and with good reason too. They were right, Hurst was wrong.

Forgetting the 2nd sentence I respect their decision. Too many players settle for collecting a wage sitting on the bench

Quoted from Poojah

Mani belongs in a similar box to Max Crocombe. It's not the decision not to retain them that's the problem, but rather the failure to replace them with demonstrably better, like-for-like alternatives.

I imagine there's always an element of jeopardy about not attempting to retain players without replacements securely in place, but ultimately swapping Crocombe for two 'keepers with less than 30 EFL appearances between them and swapping Mani for effectively no one looks like some pretty poor decision making / planning in retrospect.

It's the lessons from scenarios like this that need to be front of mind when the club is evaluating whether they should seek to return the services of messrs Clifton, Green etc.

And also the absolute failings of Paul Hurst at this level.  That the man got us out of that god forsaken league twice means he'll always be held in the highest esteem.  But his ability to kick us on at this level is his ultimate shortcoming.  Recruitment at the fifth tier was outstanding, fourth tier was largely abysmal.

Quoted from Lincoln Mariner 56

The problem with releasing him was that we never replaced him with the same “type” of player thus we lost this attacking option. Even more baffling was throughout our first season back in L2 PH often commented on our lack of height and physicality, however, going into this season we still didn’t replace him and let Orsi depart. Whilst we did sign Danny Rose, who certainly puts himself about, he is not particularly tall and we again have had a full season without this option in our attacking play. The demise of Waterfall and the decision not to select Efete further reduced our physical presence and we have been bullied by too many teams too often as a result.

Mani was not only big but he was quite mobile and a nuisance who scored a few scrappy goals an option every team should not only want but have available. Be interesting what the summer brings.

Absolutely spot on. Anyone who witnessed Kings Lynn away would say thanks for a massive contribution to promotion but not for us at League 2 level, but then we could have used him when PH proceeded to leave us short up front and bring in a series of loanees, some of whom were ok but got injured and some just not up to it. Orsi was a different level - perfectly good enough as a league 2 starter alongside an energetic partner like Lloyd or Rose.

Quoted from denni266

Along with Orsi  both should have been made decent offers to stay. Hurst made a few mistakes. But many was saying   in hurst we trust . back fired a bit didnt it . Golden rule  never trust in anyone

Hurst got rid of every decent striker we had one way or another

I imagine Manny wont be the only ex mariner from that squad we face up to next year, I imagine even if Halifax don't go up then Max Wright will be on a few radars aswell.

Quoted from LocalLadGTFC

I imagine Manny wont be the only ex mariner from that squad we face up to next year, I imagine even if Halifax don't go up then Max Wright will be on a few radars aswell.

Now that will be frustrating and why on earth couldn't we get him fit enough?

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

Now that will be frustrating and why on earth couldn't we get him fit enough?

It’s not just us; his ankle spontaneously combusted within minutes of landing at Harrogate.

Personally, I’m just pleased for the lad that he’s managed to make 40 appearances this season (comfortably a PB), scoring 7 goals along the way. I genuinely hope the worst of his issues are behind him, and would love to see him playing a league game at BP next season.  

Quoted from Poojah

It’s not just us; his ankle spontaneously combusted within minutes of landing at Harrogate.

Personally, I’m just pleased for the lad that he’s managed to make 40 appearances this season (comfortably a PB), scoring 7 goals along the way. I genuinely hope the worst of his issues are behind him, and would love to see him playing a league game at BP next season.  

If, and it’s a big if, his injury issues are behind him then I wouldn’t be unhappy to see him back here. He’s direct and very quick which is something we’ve been really lacking. He probably wouldn’t cost loads in wages and would also mean we can field a player that’s come through the youth team in the match day squad.