Building for the future?

I know hursty normally builds for the future but looking at the contracts there are only 4 players signed up for next season.

Interestingly not one single player in midfield either so looks like we could have an entire new team again next season.
Couple of players there i would have liked to see get a chance like Spokes who at 21 is surely to young to let go.

Happily one is Mcatee.

Coming upto the halfway point and surely some will be offered contracts rather than losing them like Sousa and Harry.


Ollie Battersby## **     December 2018     Unknown     Unknown
Max Crocombe     July 2021     1 year     May 2022
James McKeown     May 2019     3 years     May 2022
                 
Defenders                 
Adam Crookes     July 2021     1 year     May 2022
Michee Efete     June 2021     1 year     May 2022
Jaz Goundry**     May 2021     1 year     May 2022
David Longe-King     June 2021     2 years     May 2023
Shaun Pearson     June 2021     2 years     May 2023
Sebastian Revan*     July 2021     1 year     May 2022
Ryan Sears     June 2021     1 year     May 2022
Ryley Towler*     September 2021     4 months     January 2022
Luke Waterfall     January 2021      +1 year to commence at end of current contract     May 2022
                 
Midfielders                 
Will Bapaga*     August 2021     1 year     May 2022
Harry Clifton##     June 2018     Unknown     Unknown
Giles Coke     June 2021     1 year     May 2022
Ben Fox     June 2021     1 year     May 2022
Alex Hunt*     August 2021     5 months     January 2022
Evan Khouri     June 2021     1 year     May 2022
Danny Rose~**     August 2020     2 years     May 2022
Erico Sousa     June 2021     1 year     May 2022
Luke Spokes##**     September 2020     Unknown     Unknown
Max Wright     July 2020     2 years     Summer 2022
                 
Forwards                 
Luis Adlard**     May 2021     1 year     May 2022
Sam Bell*     November 2021     3 months     January 2022
Joel Grant     July 2021     1 year     May 2022
Lenell John-Lewis     February 2021     16 months     May 2022
John McAtee     June 2021     2 years (based on press reports)     May 2023
Jordan Maguire-Drew     November 2021     1½ years     May 2023
Sean Scannell     September 2020     2 years     May 2022
Ryan Taylor     June 2021     1 year     May 2022

Pretty sure a number of these contracts will include options to extend it beyond this season so I am sure anyone worth keeping will be offered the chance to stay.

Hang, hang on....

We have a manager who hasn't signed untried players on long contracts, has given those same players a real incentive to perform but if they don't they can leave the club without being an ongoing financial burden?......

F*ck me. That'll never work.

Bring back 3 year contracts for players who are lazy, permanently injured or can't hit a cow's *rse with a banjo.

Well, we all knew that montel Gibson could score due to the baby shower

PH touches on this subject in his Dagenham pre match interview. Sounds to me like he is looking to ship one or two out, either in Jan or the summer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyAZL46Rw-4&ab_channel=GrimsbyTownF.C.

That's the impression I got, along with a couple of knocks in the 11 v 11 match. He didn't really speak much about the Daggars game and the whole interview seemed a nonevent to me unlike when Matt Dean does them.

Quoted from DB

That's the impression I got, along with a couple of knocks in the 11 v 11 match. He didn't really speak much about the Daggars game and the whole interview seemed a nonevent to me unlike when Matt Dean does them.

I often sigh when it's Trevor Green (I think that is who it is, the GET Sports Editor) doing the interview.

It seems that it was policy under the old regime to not discuss contracts until the season is over (although one of Runaways last acts as manager was to give Waterfall a one year extension and Sam Russell a 3 year deal). Looks like Hurst has a bit more freedom to sort these things out but it's also about not rocking the boat too much I guess. How would Sousa feel if Fox was given a new deal tomorrow?

In terms of the midfield, I imagine Fox has dropped down here with the aim of being back in the league next season so unless we get promoted, he will probably be off. I think Spokes will go but Khouri is a curious one as he got a lot of game time last season and looked promising yet he's barely featured this season. Clifton will get offered a new deal I'm sure and I doubt Coke will be a regular next season if we keep him on. Hunt might not be here next month and definitely won't be here next season so the midfield is definitely an area we will see some changes.

We've still not got that elusive number 9 yet either...

That’s twice now that PH has suggested that there is interest from higher levels in some of our players. Fear we might unexpectedly lose a player or two.

Quoted from Roast Em Bobby

That’s twice now that PH has suggested that there is interest from higher levels in some of our players. Fear we might unexpectedly lose a player or two.

On the flip side, it shows that he still has an eye for a decent player and it's the nature of the beast that if you unearth talent, clubs higher up the food chain will come sniffing.

Enjoy them while you can, then unearth some more.

Sounds like PH is looking well beyond this squad and is aware we need to improve over time if we are to be successful. He had a big rebuilding job on his hands and had to sign virtually a whole new squad. It will take another couple of windows yet before we get somewhere near to winning this league I feel.

I'm hoping we get a bit of luck and sneak up through the play offs, which would rapidly move us to the next level of player recruitment, with the extra attraction of being a league club.

Quoted from ginnywings

On the flip side, it shows that he still has an eye for a decent player and it's the nature of the beast that if you unearth talent, clubs higher up the food chain will come sniffing.

Enjoy them while you can, then unearth some more.

Sounds like PH is looking well beyond this squad and is aware we need to improve over time if we are to be successful. He had a big rebuilding job on his hands and had to sign virtually a whole new squad. It will take another couple of windows yet before we get somewhere near to winning this league I feel.

I'm hoping we get a bit of luck and sneak up through the play offs, which would rapidly move us to the next level of player recruitment, with the extra attraction of being a league club.

Yeah, I tend to agree with you. I'm not one of those "we have to go up this year at all costs" merchants. I'd like us to go up knowing that the squad we've got at the time is good enough to be competing at the top end of league two the following season. Scraping up and then needing a full squad refresh again and struggling near the bottom doesn't appeal to me that much.

Let's not beat about the bush ,PH inherited a ' bag of sh*t ' squad due to the previous manager and regime. The club , administradly, structurally and playing squad wise was in a total mess. During the summer PH made wholesale changes and brought in a virtually completely new 1st team squad. Some of those new players will have been 'educated gambles ' and the whole thing was ' work in progress '. Add to this a new Board and Chairman with a philosophy of reconnecting with the fans and dragging the administration of the club into the 21st century. Bearing all this in mind I am amazed he has produced a team that currently sits in the higher reaches of the play-offs . Everything he and the Board are doing is building a squad and club for the future. Ideally we want promotion back into the league this season and with the right additions and tweaks I think this is possible. Being realistic though , this is a big ask. Not many clubs have done this at the first attempt but it has been done. Like a previous poster I would rather do this with an existing squad capable of holding their own in League 2 as opposed to making wholesale changes once promotion was achieved. The loan players ,like Hunt and Towler , have really helped us thus far but a dependency on loan players in key areas sits uneasy with me. They can be recalled by their parent clubs and we are faced then with the need to find a replacement as good as if not better. IMO this season is one of stabilisation and squad building with the added bonus that if we get promoted as well then great.