Dummigan

RB not the only position where we are lacking cover or competition. I don’t know how good this player is or what to make of a 5 figure bid we may or may not have made, but I’m going to be a bit controversial and make a general point that I think we have a relatively below par squad that is totally imbalanced as the new season approaches.

We have 7 strikers but only 3 centre backs, one of whom is really an academy shot so no solid, proven cover or flexibility.  No RB cover. Injured left back cover and a likely first choice LB for whom the jury is still out. One winger who is little more than a kid and even then, doesn’t look a likely starter, so STILL no natural wide players. 4 centre mids but still not a midfielder either of proven quality or outstanding promise who will get goals and assists. Keeper cover and competition?

I think we’ve made 3 promising forward signings but other than that, I see no obvious signs that the budget is any better than bottom third level, and a likely starting line up that looks s little too much like the team of last season, give or take 3 or 4 players. If we don’t make a handful of good quality signings in the next few weeks I foresee another season of struggle for us, with pressure on the manager pretty quickly if we start poorly in the first 10 games. Not what I want to see but I can’t see any real evidence of solid investment in a squad that can challenge the top 6 or even top 10, and I think that’s what we all want and expect. Looks like more of the same to me, ie...,trying to eek it out and keep out of trouble, hopefully.

Quoted from chaos33

RB not the only position where we are lacking cover or competition. I don’t know how good this player is or what to make of a 5 figure bid we may or may not have made, but I’m going to be a bit controversial and make a general point that I think we have a relatively below par squad that is totally imbalanced as the new season approaches.

We have 7 strikers but only 3 centre backs, one of whom is really an academy shot. No RB cover. 1 winger who is little more than a kid and even the, doesn’t look a likely starter, so STILLl no natural side players. 4 centre mids but still not a midfielder either of proven quality or outstanding promise who will get goals and assists. Keeper cover and competition?

I think we’ve made 3 promising forward signings but other than that, I see no obvious signs that the budget is any better than bottom third level, and a likely starting line up that looks s little too much like the team of last season, give or take 3 or 4 players. If we don’t make a handful of good quality signings in the next few weeks I foresee another season of struggle for us, with pressure on the manager pretty quickly if we start poorly in the first 10 games. Not what I want to see but I can’t see any real evidence of solid investment in a squad that can challenge the top 6 or even top 10, and I think that’s what we all want and expect. Looks like more of the same to me, ie...,trying to eek it out and keep out of trouble, hopefully.

I share some of your concerns but the performance against Doncaster gave me some hope that we won't be fighting again to save our league status.

I agree that the performance and result against Donny was encouraging and I do think that we do have some promising young players, but I just don’t see any evidence of investment in quality to bring us either any balance or real potential to be challenging in the play off picture. Not on paper. On balance, we look totally imbalanced!
For instance - we’ve got a striker of proven quality in Hanson, albeit one who absolutely relies on crosses, and yet no wide players signed to deliver them! Yet.

Surprised this didn’t come up in Jolley’s time doing his coaching badges - the only possible way to play football is having two wingers running the channels and loading it into the box.  

No exceptions.

Can Dummigan play in other positions? Maybe Jolley wants him to play elsewhere or maybe as suggested above Jolley wants Hendrie to play somewhere else? That's the logical answer otherwise why else bid touching 6 figures for a right back when we already have a solid one, as for lack of game time I wouldn't be too concerned about that, just because somebody hasn't started games there may be any number of reasons for that and it doesn't automatically mean he's excrement.

If we’re going to spend £100,000 on a player I want to see a better cv than this lads got

Quoted from chaos33

RB not the only position where we are lacking cover or competition. I don’t know how good this player is or what to make of a 5 figure bid we may or may not have made, but I’m going to be a bit controversial and make a general point that I think we have a relatively below par squad that is totally imbalanced as the new season approaches.

We have 7 strikers but only 3 centre backs, one of whom is really an academy shot so no solid, proven cover or flexibility.  No RB cover. Injured left back cover and a likely first choice LB for whom the jury is still out. One winger who is little more than a kid and even then, doesn’t look a likely starter, so STILL no natural wide players. 4 centre mids but still not a midfielder either of proven quality or outstanding promise who will get goals and assists. Keeper cover and competition?

I think we’ve made 3 promising forward signings but other than that, I see no obvious signs that the budget is any better than bottom third level, and a likely starting line up that looks s little too much like the team of last season, give or take 3 or 4 players. If we don’t make a handful of good quality signings in the next few weeks I foresee another season of struggle for us, with pressure on the manager pretty quickly if we start poorly in the first 10 games. Not what I want to see but I can’t see any real evidence of solid investment in a squad that can challenge the top 6 or even top 10, and I think that’s what we all want and expect. Looks like more of the same to me, ie...,trying to eek it out and keep out of trouble, hopefully.

A realistic, fair and honest assessment.

We can put out a very solid starting eleven if we have a fully fit squad, but a couple of injuries to key players, a suspension (Ohman) and one or two out of form, the quality of the starting eleven collapses very quickly unless a few of the young pros step up quickly and consistently, which could be a little too much to be asking of them yet.

Probably a RB, centre half, creative CM and a wide player away from a club that could challenge for play offs over the rigours of a full season.

Whether it's right or wrong, I'm guessing MJ will have Rose and Vernam in mind for wide attacking options off the bench and will stick to a 4-3-3 or 4-3-1-2 as his preferred formation..

Edit - I do think we've already got enough firepower to keep us out of trouble. The question is how much quality and cover do we have in other areas to push for top half and beyond. Personally I'm excited to see what Ogbu can do. If he can be the player I hope he is, along with a fully fit Vernam, they may be the catalyst to better times around the corner..

Dundalk average about 2500-3000 for their games.  They get a pittance in terms of TV income, to the point that the state broadcaster in Ireland even refused to pay a fee to broadcast their Champions League tie a few years back.  

Town have a reasonable drip feed of TV money that falls off from the big table and average almost double what Dundalk to in terms of gates.

I would fully expect us to bite anyone's hand off for an offer of £95,000 for our back up right-back (if we had one), hell I don't think there's many players in our whole squad who we wouldn't accept that money for!

Not saying we're not in for this lad, but that figure is likely one that someone from Sky has plucked out of thin air because they're so out of touch with the game beyond the top flight.

Quoted from Bigdog

A fair and honest assessment.

We can put out a very solid starting eleven if we have a fully fit squad, but a couple of injuries to key players, a suspension (Ohman) and one or two out of form, the quality of the starting eleven collapses very quickly.

Probably a RB, centre half, creative CM and a wide player away from a club that could challenge for play offs over the rigours of a full season.

Whether it's right or wrong, I'm guessing MJ will have Rose and Vernam in mind for wide attacking options off the bench and will stick to a 4-3-3 or 4-3-1-2 as his preferred formation..

Yeah, when you put it down on paper the depth is a bit worrying.  We're also quite top heavy up front, albeit, with a few injury prone players.  

Perhaps Jolley genuinely sees someone like Hewitt as the one to fill many gaps throughout the season.  

Skybet share your concern and have town at 66/1, only Morecambe and Macclesfield are behind us in the betting and that's worse than their assessment last season. An apparent lack of midfield  creativity is an issue for me but maybe MJ sees Wright and Rose making their big break through this season?
A commanding centre half is important, as much as I like Ludwig he seems destined to be suspended for lots reds and yellows.
The donny result was positive and I hope to be snapping up the 66/1 at 4:55 on Saturday after we beat Peterborough