Realistically what do we need to make us competitive at the top end of the league bareing in mind we will have all but 7 players on contract

I personally would release:
Collins, woolford, whitmore, hooper and Thomas.

Re-sign:
Davis and Hall-Johnson

Loan signings come to an end:
Embleton, Grayson

Signings required.
2 Dominant, powerful and quick centre halves
A creative and goalscoring central midfielder
2 x quick and industrious wingers/wing backs
2 x goalscoring strikers.

Add to this, Whitehouse would be like a new signing and keep Max Wright with the squad to fight for a place in the team.

Thoughts?

That adds up to 8 new players required, which is depressingly familiar.

I said a few weeks back that we need at least 8  main team players not just squad players to make the numbers up. But that depends if the purse strings are kept as tight as a nuns personal bits

I'd personally keep Woolford. I've not always been a huge fan of him, but he's improved the more settled he has become. I don't think he's first name on the team sheet material but he can play in a variety of positions, works hard and is calm on the ball. Can definitely do a job in the right games.

Quoted from Stew0_0

Realistically what do we need to make us competitive at the top end of the league bareing in mind we will have all but 7 players on contract

I personally would release:
Collins, woolford, whitmore, hooper and Thomas.

Re-sign:
Davis and Hall-Johnson

Loan signings come to an end:
Embleton, Grayson

Signings required.
2 Dominant, powerful and quick centre halves
A creative and goalscoring central midfielder
2 x quick and industrious wingers/wing backs
2 x goalscoring strikers.

Add to this, Whitehouse would be like a new signing and keep Max Wright with the squad to fight for a place in the team.

Thoughts?

I think everyone is expecting a lot of Whitehouse He hasn't kicked a ball for us yet

Quoted from Ipswin

I think everyone is expecting a lot of Whitehouse He hasn't kicked a ball for us yet

Yeah, I was saying this to the Lincoln fan at work the other day. Way too much pressure being put on a player who has had a horrible injury.

Not expecting massive things from Whitehouse just stated that as we have not seen him yet he would be like a new signing.
Think there should be space in the budget for 8 new players with the 5 listed released at the season, 2 loanees going back and John Welsh already off the wage bill, especially if as rumoured he was at the top end of wage bill.

We have squad/first teamers already that can do a job. Nows the time add 7/8 players that will strengthen us and be the spine of the team next term.

Quoted from Stew0_0

Realistically what do we need to make us competitive at the top end of the league bareing in mind we will have all but 7 players on contract

I personally would release:
Collins, woolford, whitmore, hooper and Thomas.

Re-sign:
Davis and Hall-Johnson

Loan signings come to an end:
Embleton, Grayson

Signings required.
2 Dominant, powerful and quick centre halves
A creative and goalscoring central midfielder
2 x quick and industrious wingers/wing backs
2 x goalscoring strikers.

Add to this, Whitehouse would be like a new signing and keep Max Wright with the squad to fight for a place in the team.

Thoughts?

Got to agree with this mostly. I would keep Whitmore though, he's still young and it wouldn't hurt to keep him as a backup and nurture a little.

We certainly need to get rid of Collins and Hooper and while I would be sad to see Wooly go I think him slotting intoa midfield 3 has helped him he's just not good enough any more.

I would send Cardwell out on loan and hope one of the strikers we bring in a target man style, we've been desperate for someone to help hold the ball up and give the giant gap between the midfield and strikers a chance to close up.

If I was MJ I'd put virtually all my efforts into creative midfielder/s and two top notch strikers (non league goal machine - even Conf North/South or below...Hearn was Eastwood Town and Alfreton).
Goals win games - we lack consistent firepower and that's why we are a streaky team with goals (4/5 games without a goal and then a 5 in two).
Hardly any teams get promoted if they don't score a lot of goals
Extra creativity will lay goals on for quality finishers (as per Podge)

I think our GK and back five is good enough to be top 7 - too much pressure on them to keep clean sheets cos of our lack of goals

Squad is quite small but MJ and club are backing our youngsters which is good and will save a few bob

Of the current squad I'm happy with
Macca
Hendrie
Ohman
Davis
RHJ
Clifton
Hess
Woolford (squad player)
Cook (clever footballer IMO but squad player)
Whitehouse (big gamble after such a bad injury but obviously stays)
Vernam (quality player who will be better with better players around him)

Collins, Whitmore, Thomas - don't think so

Hooper - gone

Cardwell - not keen but he's staying
Ring - hopefully has a good summer
Rose - still raw and one for the future (but if he improves a lot in summer get him in!)
Wright - hopefully gets a chance in pre season to impress

All pointless, it won't be who we want to keep or let go, it'll be Jolley and what budget  he is given.

Quoted from Perkins

All pointless, it won't be who we want to keep or let go, it'll be Jolley and what budget  he is given.

Isn’t this being rectified and announced for when we get to 50points?

Quoted from H19P1

Isn’t this being rectified and announced for when we get to 50points?

Could be a few seasons away, the way things are going  :-/

Quoted from Perkins

All pointless, it won't be who we want to keep or let go, it'll be Jolley and what budget  he is given.

Here's a thing. The whole board is pointless if you look at it like that. Rob may as well pack it in and we can all go off and share our opinions with the dog or cat.

bookmark this, as we will be having the same conversation this time next year

Agree with the suggested retained list for the most part, although Davis hasn't fully convinced me and I'll be disappointed to see Wes Thomas leave. We do need a fair change around in playing staff. I, like many have been desperately disappointed at these pathetic winless runs we've endured this season.

There have been good runs where we have played some great football, at pace and looked like a proper side, for several weeks at a time, then we've looked like clowns for two months or so before going on another winning run.

For me, that suggests a lack of leadership, a lack of character in the players. When we've gone a goal down, we've been done. I think most agree (the player probably would) that Danny Collins time us up which will leave us a leader short, and through the spine.

So we need to look at leaders throughout the spine in particular. If only we could bring Shaun Pearson back, I believe there is an armband waiting for him.

I think Whitmore deserves another opportunity.

Sorry Danny your legs have gone you either going to get skinned or going to get sent off for a desperate foul.

This as been exposed to many times this season even though we play a defensive game.

Macca would be a good captain probably the most experienced town player in the squad.

Thomas is a goner if rumours about him trying to disrupt the squad are true the management are in charge and that is how it should be.

We need a creative midfielder plus a box to box battler two strikers with a turn of pace ideally one big strong striker.

Cardwell could well benefit from a loan out to non league to give him more confidence  

Stick with the youth academy system it is showing good signs and is the only way to go on a tight budget.

I still have faith in M.J. and his coaching team they have given us glimpses of what could be.

I actually think the Defence is OK.  I think the stats show that we're not necessarily bad at defending, but have just been doing so much defending that conceding is inevitable.  Much of the pressure comes from not having the ball ourselves higher up the pitch and being on the attack, so counterintuitively the best way to staunch the flow of goals would be to have more creativity in midfield and get in a good striker.

A huge shame that Wes has turned out to be a disruption because he's been pretty good, at least during the good phases.  When Embleton's been out of had an off game, it's very noticeable.

So the priorities for me would be to get in another striker (and obviously ship out one or two of the others, especially if we can count on Akheem to play more next season) and see if we can find an attacking midfielder or winger who can cross well (I feel we lost a bit on crosses when Pringle left).  I'd expect Max Wright and Whitehouse to be featuring next season and I don't think any of us worry too much about Hessenthaler or Clifton, so an attacking wide player might be the best option.

I also think MJ will need to think carefully about his new captain.  I know we all love Macca and he can be trusted, but I'm not a fan of having the keeper as captain as he's often too far away from play to influence much.  We're still too naive in the way we manage referees and situations in games, and need to be a lot more nasty and cynical in playing for stoppages, injuries, getting opponents booked and winning dubious free-kicks and penalties.

I'd like someone like Scott Cuthbert, he didn't stop talking to his players. He marshaled his defence really well and helped see the game out. Macca is a good keeper but he slows the game down too much and his passing is woeful.

Quoted from HackneyHaddock

I actually think the Defence is OK.  I think the stats show that we're not necessarily bad at defending, but have just been doing so much defending that conceding is inevitable.  Much of the pressure comes from not having the ball ourselves higher up the pitch and being on the attack, so counterintuitively the best way to staunch the flow of goals would be to have more creativity in midfield and get in a good striker.

A huge shame that Wes has turned out to be a disruption because he's been pretty good, at least during the good phases.  When Embleton's been out of had an off game, it's very noticeable.

So the priorities for me would be to get in another striker (and obviously ship out one or two of the others, especially if we can count on Akheem to play more next season) and see if we can find an attacking midfielder or winger who can cross well (I feel we lost a bit on crosses when Pringle left).  I'd expect Max Wright and Whitehouse to be featuring next season and I don't think any of us worry too much about Hessenthaler or Clifton, so an attacking wide player might be the best option.

I also think MJ will need to think carefully about his new captain.  I know we all love Macca and he can be trusted, but I'm not a fan of having the keeper as captain as he's often too far away from play to influence much.  We're still too naive in the way we manage referees and situations in games, and need to be a lot more nasty and cynical in playing for stoppages, injuries, getting opponents booked and winning dubious free-kicks and penalties.

Pretty much how I see it.