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He did well for us and we did well for him, so no problems.

It's a long while since we've had somebody who could command the box so well from crosses and set pieces, so hopefully we can find a suitable replacement. I wonder where he will end up?

Always worth trying to avoid sounding like a jilted ex-lover in situations, such as these.

Would I have liked Crocombe to stay? Yes; he arrived as the lowest of low key signings and has gone on to deliver his fair share of memorable moments in the two years since. He’ll be remembered for his cramp in the play-off final, but he also made an absolute worldie of a save from a deflected shot in the first-half.

Am I concerned, though? Not massively. Hurst’s record of signing goalkeepers is excellent and I see this as an opportunity to evolve and improve above all else.

In the meantime, I wish Max Crocombe well. He did well for us.

https://twitter.com/DN33_Exiles/status/1665628936376659969

I changed my mind on him as a keeper 3 or 4 times in the duration of him being with us,says it all really .

Should be able to recruit better .
Whether we do will define whether he's a loss or not .

So we need two keepers, really

Overall he did well for us and I'm sorry to see him go, I would suspect PH has a Plan B.

Think we've seen the best of him already.
Harvey Cartwright on loan for a couple of seasons would be nice 👌

He will always be a hero and good luck to the bloke but if we are to kick on we needed to sign better even if he stayed.

Quoted from coddy60

Think we've seen the best of him already.
Harvey Cartwright on loan for a couple of seasons would be nice 👌

Think this is in the pipeline

   I think this is really disappointing news. Max Crocombe is a solid keeper who saved/earned us quite a few points in his two years and was a huge factor in promotion from the National League. He must have a pretty good offer from elsewhere, or at least be very confident of getting one. I hope he does well (unless it's another league 2 team he ends up with!).

  Having said that, he's certainly not irreplaceable, so hopefully Paul already has someone at least equally capable in mind, along with a back-up good enough to step in as needed and push for first choice himself. The transfer window just got even more interesting!

Have to assume that if PH really really wanted Max to stay, he'd have come up with an offer that was enough to entice him. The fact that he hadn't suggests he has other options in mind. He was decent for us and a great personality on the pitch. Loved his cramp and his assist against Notts County - for that he'll be a legend (at least for a few years). It feels like the next 10 days will see plenty of movement as players who have been offered new contracts decide whether or not to take them.

Quite an amicable split this one, everyone still likes each other and I don't think anyone (club, player, fans) is too heartbroken. He's been involved in some great matches and moments. He obviously feels like his life and career is elsewhere though which is fair enough, wish him all the best. I think he'll go on to have a solid career. Would be nice to see him cramping up in a World Cup at some point.

He did well last season until about Christmas time. After that his form seemed to dip, also he parried too many shots, for me, whereas he needed to hold onto a few of them. Still, I wish him well where ever he ends up.

Quoted from Surrey97

Offers on the table from Falkirk, Dundee and Notts county

Notts county would be a weird one ,him and Slocambe are about as the same standard as you can get .

More importantly any Bennett updates Surrey ???

I hope not Wrexham …. and McAtee on loan …

Quoted from Mappers

Notts county would be a weird one ,him and Slocambe are about as the same standard as you can get .

More importantly any Bennett updates Surrey ???

Still no change in my stance on this one 🙂

Commanded his box pretty well and made some crucial saves for us at times. World class shithousing.
Suspect he grew up playing rugby union, as I don't think I've seen anyone kick the ball into touch with such unerring frequency. As for where he'll end up, which team has the widest pitch currently?
Hope he does well wherever he goes

Initially when he signed I thought he looked a bit flappy but for me he turned into one of the best keepers we have had in a while, however not sure what the reason was whether the amount of games he played but I thought his form dipped towards the end of the season.

No hard feelings good look to him and thanks for what he did.

He's a solid League 2 goalkeeper, no more and no less really but seemed like a good egg and part of a team that had a lot of sucess in winner-takes-all games and took us to our highest league finish in 16 years. I'll miss him and moaning about his overhit kicks

Quoted from Epworth Mariner

I hope not Wrexham …. and McAtee on loan …

They will be shopping in Harrods not Tesco mate .

When contracts end , expect to see some daft one's from them .

They still have Phil Parkinson though .

Quoted from Son of Cod

Quite an amicable split this one, everyone still likes each other and I don't think anyone (club, player, fans) is too heartbroken. He's been involved in some great matches and moments. He obviously feels like he's life and career is elsewhere though which is fair enough, wish him all the best. I think he'll go on to have a solid career. Would be nice to see him cramping up in a World Cup at some point.

Cramping up with the Kiwis 1-0 up v Scotland in the 90th minute would be very nice…

Really surprised at some of the comments on here. Think he's an excellent goalkeeper at this level, wouldn't be surprised to see him go higher. No surprise Notts are sniffing.

Best of luck to him.

I wonder if our new keeper will suffer from cramp as often as Max did! ;)

Max posted an instragram story of a football training session is Stockholm, Sweden. Not reading much into that though but why else would he be there?

Quoted from You stripes UTM

Max posted an instragram story of a football training session is Stockholm, Sweden. Not reading much into that though but why else would he be there?

International duty

Quoted from You stripes UTM

Max posted an instragram story of a football training session is Stockholm, Sweden. Not reading much into that though but why else would he be there?

New Zealand play Sweden on Friday in an international friendly

Quoted from headingly_mariner

Really surprised at some of the comments on here. Think he's an excellent goalkeeper at this level, wouldn't be surprised to see him go higher. No surprise Notts are sniffing.

Best of luck to him.

Hmmmm kind of agree.
Early in the season I thought we would have no chance of keeping him as he was looking that good.
Certainly tailed off though and his distribution was dire. Ironically that seemed to be one of his strong points earlier on.
I think he did parry too many shots into dangerous positions in the box, can remember quite a few goals scored on the rebound. Definitely one of his weaknesses but overall I think he was a decent league 2 keeper.
Agree about him commanding the box, not an easy thing to do and shouldn't be overlooked.

Good luck to him.

Steve Arnold released by Southend

https://www.echo-news.co.uk/sport/23586879.southend-united-goalkeeper-steve-arnold-set-join-league-two-club/

Good luck to the guy. I think it could be hard to replace him with somebody better. Good goalkeepers don't grow on trees

All the best max , he did a job for us and we did a job for him.

He has great potential if he can tweak certain parts of his game he cam play higher up definitely.

No bad words from me and nothing but the best to max, all focus on an equivalent replacement or better now.

Quoted from golfer

Good luck to the guy. I think it could be hard to replace him with somebody better. Good goalkeepers don't grow on trees

Is that why Pickford’s got short arms?

Unsure at first but grew into everything Macca wasn't, commanded his area, crosses and his quick release flat kicking was superb.
This season it was almost as if he regressed slightly from last seasons form and confidence.
Sad to see him go overall as last season in particular looked a very decent all round keeper.

Couple of things to remember about max a) he hadnt been involved with NZ for about 5 years , but as pooja said the deal has been good for him n us, as witnessed by his call up b) he started at buckingham n oxford city, so the lads earnt his stripes, n if county are offering from a few hundred quid a week more, or a longer contract, then I dont begrudge him going c) you've got to remember max has never played so many games, so consistently, over such a long period, at such a high level.his relative downturn since xmas should be put down to mental n physical tiredness
As several have said, sorry to see him go, hope he does well but hes not irreplaceable

Quoted from Southwark Mariner

So we need two keepers, really

I think we will run with what they call a 'Fake No2' because, as this FourFourTwo article discusses, we don't put a keeper on the bench anyway and can exploit the emergency loan market.

[url]https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/the-loophole-clubs-are-using-to-create-fake-no2-goalkeepers-for-their-substitute-benches[/url]

Quoted from moosey_club

Unsure at first but grew into everything Macca wasn't, commanded his area, crosses and his quick release flat kicking was superb.
This season it was almost as if he regressed slightly from last seasons form and confidence.
Sad to see him go overall as last season in particular looked a very decent all round keeper.

Didn't have anyone to flat kick it to most of the time this season tbf.

Quoted from golfer

Good luck to the guy. I think it could be hard to replace him with somebody better. Good goalkeepers don't grow on trees

Tim Flowers did 😬

Glad it’s been sorted relatively early in the window, gives a new keeper a chance to settle in rather than coming in a week before the start of the season (hopefully). Really liked Crocombe but not without his faults, as expected at this level. Really dominant in his 6-yard-box (if reluctant to venture beyond) and always looked to be on the front foot with quick throws. Thought he was a bit too quick to resort to timewasting though & often gave the impression we were hanging which just invited more pressure (Bradford away classic example).

Still, sure he’ll go on to do well somewhere else

Sorry to see him go . Decent keeper and did the shithousery well that we’ve been wanting for years .

Quoted from golfer

Good luck to the guy. I think it could be hard to replace him with somebody better. Good goalkeepers don't grow on trees

I tend to disagree

https://www.odditycentral.com/news/colombian-soccer-field-has-two-living-trees-as-goalkeepers.html

Quoted from WOZOFGRIMSBY

I tend to disagree

https://www.odditycentral.com/news/colombian-soccer-field-has-two-living-trees-as-goalkeepers.html

Logged into that site in Colombia but its all about Coke. I thought he'd gone.

Quoted from TAGG

Think this is in the pipeline

Him and his dad were keen last year

I do wonder what happened to Crocombe's kicking last season. It was pretty good during our promotion season (the odd blunder aside), but last year it went really wayward, for the last few months of the season especially. Did he get the yips or was he distracted by a planned move elsewhere?

There have certainly been rumours and indications he would be on his way for the past few months at least.

This season, with Pearson retired, the question is whether any of the outfielders are competent enough in goal, or will we actually stick a second keeper on the bench?

Do Town now look at 2 similar standard competing keepers, or go for an established No1 and have a more junior reserve in place?

Thoughts?

Quoted from louth_in_the_south

Sorry to see him go . Decent keeper and did the shithousery well that we’ve been wanting for years .

Agreed, nice to see us finally wake up and do some shithousery against the likes of Cheltenham style teams.

Max played a massive part in Town's history as short as it was, good luck to the guy.

Quoted from louth_in_the_south

Sorry to see him go . Decent keeper and did the shithousery well that we’ve been wanting for years .

I am as well but I’m sure PH will have someone lined up. Bit of a risk for Max though. His proneness to inexplicable bouts of cramp will get a lot of scrutiny from club medics.

All i have to say is thanks and good luck.

Part of that incredible end to our time in non league, so will always be a key player in our story.

Can’t see him passing a medical at any club tbh with his cramp problem

Quoted from jamesgtfc

I think we will run with what they call a 'Fake No2' because, as this FourFourTwo article discusses, we don't put a keeper on the bench anyway and can exploit the emergency loan market.

[url]https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/the-loophole-clubs-are-using-to-create-fake-no2-goalkeepers-for-their-substitute-benches[/url]

Interesting article, and as much as I'd like to blame the clubs for doing it....I just can't, the business is just too cutthroat to allow for sentiment like having 2 proper keepers with tight budgets to work in. Town to sign Daniel Gyollais for a cheap number 2 and keep up our international quota anyone?

It's not like you can even sign one of these young-ish cast offs to develop and sell on for profit as you're never going to waste a substitution on giving the second keeper some minutes or rotating a settled keeper. I guess you could have a policy of the 2nd keeper does all the cup games to give your first choice a rest....but as we know cup money is a lifeline at L2 level so unless you're hell bent on promotion only you need your best XI starting those games. Who'd be a football manager eh?

I like Max, I thought he was a good all round keeper, were as McKeown I thought was a slightly better shop stopper all have different strengths and weakness and its about improving on your performances and development as a player each season. I think Max did that, so can't grumble if he has moved onto to a bigger club/league, i'd be slightly annoyed though if he went to another club in the same league.

In terms of recruitment its not going to be a difficult position to fill mainly because we have no keepers on the books at all (exc youth) giving us a slight advantage as targets will know that the no.1 position is available and its theirs for the taking.

Quoted from Meza

I like Max, I thought he was a good all round keeper, were as McKeown I thought was a slightly better shop stopper all have different strengths and weakness and its about improving on your performances and development as a player each season. I think Max did that, so can't grumble if he has moved onto to a bigger club/league, i'd be slightly annoyed though if he went to another club in the same league.

In terms of recruitment its not going to be a difficult position to fill mainly because we have no keepers on the books at all (exc youth) giving us a slight advantage as targets will know that the no.1 position is available and its theirs for the taking.

Macca was one of the best shot stoppers I’ve seen at Town. However the other facets of his game were not really good enough, crossed and dominating your area are massively important and he was sub par there. He also seemed to drop in form once Russell came as coach, at least we know that Steve C is very well respected in that role.
Max is absolutely respected for his time here but is replaceable and it will be a mark of our progress how well we do this.

I wonder if Max has gone because he knew we were bringing in a strong alternative as number one?

Doubt it, he’s been the established no.1 for 18 months and we offered him a new deal. Doesn’t really scream “you’re getting replaced”.

Good luck to him with his future endeavours. Came in as a #2 choice and gave us the aspects of the game we needed when he did claim the #1 spot. Much better command of his area, claimed a lot of crosses and pulled off some great saves. Every keeper has their strong and not so strong points but overall he's done well, helped us to a cup run, promotion from the NL at the first attempt and our highest league finish in years.

I'm sure we have other plans had he not signed and it'll be good for both sides to have a fresh start at this point. He's probably achieved as much as he was going to achieve for us.

Quoted from Theimperialcoroner

Macca was one of the best shot stoppers I’ve seen at Town. However the other facets of his game were not really good enough, crossed and dominating your area are massively important and he was sub par there. He also seemed to drop in form once Russell came as coach, at least we know that Steve C is very well respected in that role.
Max is absolutely respected for his time here but is replaceable and it will be a mark of our progress how well we do this.

Macca was a good keeper in his prime ,sadly once he was past his peak he was a liability , great shot stopper and if other aspects of his game were better and he was an inch or two taller would have played higher up no doubt ; but that's why we had him .

We need to recruit better than Max if we are to push on , I just hope it's not a case of we are wishing we had him back in a few months time after being unable to recruit a slightly better keeper at least .

Quoted from ska face

Doubt it, he’s been the established no.1 for 18 months and we offered him a new deal. Doesn’t really scream “you’re getting replaced”.

Based on what was said by Hurst, it seems they either disagreed over how much he's worth or how much game time he's going to be getting.

Would love to see us go all out and sign cristy pym from Peterborough a very good goalkeeper and everytime I've seen him play against us he's made some ridiculous saves, think Mansfield also in for him, as a back up we're hearing Eastwood and Cartwright unsure on both at this level but for now we so need a quality keeper on board ASAP

As I understand max's partner lives darn sarf n wasnt prepared to move.also he wanted a long contract but we only offered a year. Given the contracts we are offering others, it rather suggests we weren't that bothered either way about him staying or going

Quoted from Mendonca1995

Would love to see us go all out and sign cristy pym from Peterborough a very good goalkeeper and everytime I've seen him play against us he's made some ridiculous saves, think Mansfield also in for him, as a back up we're hearing Eastwood and Cartwright unsure on both at this level but for now we so need a quality keeper on board ASAP

Can't see it .

Good keeper

But more a Nigel Clough type signing than a Paul Hurst one

Quite a character off the pitch by all accounts .

Quoted from Mendonca1995

Would love to see us go all out and sign cristy pym from Peterborough a very good goalkeeper and everytime I've seen him play against us he's made some ridiculous saves, think Mansfield also in for him, as a back up we're hearing Eastwood and Cartwright unsure on both at this level but for now we so need a quality keeper on board ASAP

Pym would be my number one choice, but I suspect also one I may have to put down as wishful thinking.

Second choice would be Jamal Blackman. Fúcking massive, good pedigree and decent in the shíthousery stakes too, which has to be a top criteria in finding a replacement for Crocombe.

https://youtu.be/NzKM7Nt0leI
https://youtu.be/EG4Ukon0bfo
https://youtube.com/shorts/oFgCdnIB7Zg?feature=share
https://youtu.be/CkQDGsiyjq8

I thought Blackman was quality when he played at BP for Wycombe and thought he’d go on to be no.1 at Chelsea. No idea how he’s been at Exeter, but if you’re going to spend some money then a quality keeper would definitely be a sound investment.

So he managed to get himself sent off? That's what we're looking for!

Quoted from ska face

I thought Blackman was quality when he played at BP for Wycombe and thought he’d go on to be no.1 at Chelsea. No idea how he’s been at Exeter, but if you’re going to spend some money then a quality keeper would definitely be a sound investment.

By all accounts he’s been decent at Exeter, without necessarily having been outstanding. Sounds like he’s been on decent money there however; rumblings of between £4k and £5k a week, which he sure as shít wouldn’t be getting here.

That may preclude him as a realistic target, but you never know.

The penalty save-VAR would rule it out he was a good couple of feet off the line :P
Good job we don't have it at our level

Just over a year after the playoff final only four of that starting eleven are still at the club. Quite a turnover when you think about it.

Probably par for the course given the way that lower division football works these days. It's unusual to keep a player for more than a few years, really.

I spoke to a Wrexham fan we know through work and noted they hadn't made any signings as yet. He was expecting them to make just perhaps 1 or 2 but keep the bulk of the promotion team which he thought should be strong enough to challenge for promotion again this season. Probably correct, given the amount they have spent!

Quoted from RonMariner

Just over a year after the playoff final only four of that starting eleven are still at the club. Quite a turnover when you think about it.

Yes you are correct. Amazing that this has been achieved without all the nastiness after previous promotion?

How about Jordan Smith 28 been released by Forrest? Maybe ambitious, but could be worth a shout?

Quoted from RonMariner

Just over a year after the playoff final only four of that starting eleven are still at the club. Quite a turnover when you think about it.

Think it was always inevitable to some degree, love that team and will do forever...every single one of them, but it would always need new players as it won the play-offs through character, determination and sheer bloody mindedness but could argue there were better technical teams in the NL let alone L2. By and large though we've kept the better players, swapped for better in some areas and cashed in on the talent (McAtee). More importantly perhaps though we have kept that character.

Unlike 2016 though we were able to keep the core together and have been able to do this gradually..

There are a few good keepers out there looking for a club either out of contract or a No. 2 wanting 1st team action.

If he is good enough a 3 year deal might tempt a decent one to up sticks and be No. 1 with us.

Or even a 2 year deal with an option for a third depending on appearances .

Good luck to Max if he can get more money and keep his future wife happy then he has made the right decision.

No chance of Blackman sorry. He turned down Exeter because he wanted more money.

I think there's a bit of complacency going around that we can comfortably replace Crocombe with better. Bit of a poor spell with his kicking on a poor Blundell Park pitch, but no worries with commanding his box or shotstopping. could be a big loss. He wouldn't have let a promotion chasing League Two side down next season. Saving grace is that Hurst seems to have an eye for a keeper..

I'm 100% sure that PH would have had some kind of inkling that Max wouldn't re-sign and have a back-up or two in his mind. If it's true that he only offered a one year deal then he would have got a contingency plan in place if the deal was rejected. Ft

Anecdotally, there appear to be a good number of goalkeepers available as free agents who would be both expected to do well at this level as well a realistically drop to it.

I don’t know how many clubs change their first choice ‘keeper during the summer but seeing as we, technically, haven’t done that since 2011 suggests it might not be that many. I feel like this might be a good moment to be replacing Crocombe, personally.

Quoted from Bigdog

I think there's a bit of complacency going around that we can comfortably replace Crocombe with better. Bit of a poor spell with his kicking on a poor Blundell Park pitch, but no worries with commanding his box or shotstopping. could be a big loss. He wouldn't have let a promotion chasing League Two side down next season. Saving grace is that Hurst seems to have an eye for a keeper..

Understood what you said, however, why was only 1-year contract offered by PH. Strange one that seeing as 29 is "young" for a goalkeeper.
Perhaps PH didn't-think MC could cut it in League 1 if offered more than 1 year.

I liked Crocombe a decent keeper at this level but plenty of keepers about to choose from.
Good luck in the future Max, was always looking for him to time waste when necessary

The fact he is reportedly wanted by others shows he has something to offer and I'm sure he will get fixed up easily somewhere, but his time here was comfortably the pinnacle of his career so far, so he didn't have league clubs beating a path to his door previously to us signing him.

Will be interesting to see what level he ends up at, as that will tell us how good he is seen as by others.

Strange to think that he was apparently heading to Boston until we made an offer. One of those sliding doors moments where your career either drifts into regional non league, to now potentially being seen as a solid league two keeper.

He will have offers at our level.

Good interview with Max on Humberside

In summary
-He wanted to stay
-Only offered 1 year (obviously felt he deserved more )
-Hurst thinks he can get better and was always going to bring in another keeper
- Really enjoyed his time here and seems genuinely fond of the couple of years .
-Grateful for the chance at Town and no hard feelings towards Hurst or the club .
-Comes over as a decent bloke with no hard feelings .

Over to arr Paul to sign this high quality keeper he has in the pipeline then - very optimistic he has a big one lined up based on this conversation (maybe it's already done?) Max did not fancy his chances of playing ,so he must be decent .

Quoted from GrimPol

Understood what you said, however, why was only 1-year contract offered by PH. Strange one that seeing as 29 is "young" for a goalkeeper.
Perhaps PH didn't-think MC could cut it in League 1 if offered more than 1 year.

I have a feeling that hurst might want a keeper who can distribute better, he was obviously asking max to play it out to the flanks and he wasn't able to do this very successfully. I thought max was a decent keeper and dud well for us, however I was abit underwhelmed by his shot stopping last season at times and oftens he didn't seem to even try to get down to strikes which the likes of mecca in his prime would save.

Is it Hurst or Croudson’s call? Maybe Steve after coaching him has said to PH we can and need to do better….

Hurst didn't think he was good enough and neither did I . We can and will do better . We have extra Dosh sloshing around and imo the GK position needs serious investment if we are to challenge

Hurst has really shown his ruthless streak with this one , you could tell he really wanted to stay(he actually sounded quite emotional i thought) but was told 'you will struggle to play' with the one year contract offered on assuming the same terms or reduced .

Arr Paul never leaves room for sentiment does he .

Absolutely love this from Hurst quite clearly stating he's not going to settle.

Ruthless maybe but nothing ever grows in the comfort zone. Excited to see who he brings in.

Quoted from Mappers

Hurst has really shown his ruthless streak with this one , you could tell he really wanted to stay(he actually sounded quite emotional i thought) but was told 'you will struggle to play' with the one year contract offered on assuming the same terms or reduced .

Why would you assume that?

Quoted from diehardmariner

nothing ever grows in the comfort zone.

Bloody hell, David Brent is a Town fan.

Quoted from diehardmariner

Absolutely love this from Hurst quite clearly stating he's not going to settle.

Ruthless maybe but nothing ever grows in the comfort zone. Excited to see who he brings in.

I’m quite shocked but encouraged at how brutal Hurst has been here. Onwards and upwards.

Based on what Max said then I am more convinced that PH is confident of signing another keeper.

Quoted from Poojah

Anecdotally, there appear to be a good number of goalkeepers available as free agents who would be both expected to do well at this level as well a realistically drop to it.

I don’t know how many clubs change their first choice ‘keeper during the summer but seeing as we, technically, haven’t done that since 2011 suggests it might not be that many. I feel like this might be a good moment to be replacing Crocombe, personally.

There are plenty of young goalkeepers at Premier League clubs available for loan too.

Quoted from BobbyCummingsTackle

Bloody hell, David Brent is a Town fan.

Go and get the strength and conditioning coach.

Ryan Schofield 22 just left Huddersfield
Nathan Bishop out of contract at Man u
Conor Hazard Celtic.
3 names from the72 to throw on the ring just for the hell of it

Quoted from Mappers

-Only offered 1 year (obviously felt he deserved more )

If that's the case you can see why he's made the call. Going to be a lot easier to get a decent club and contract off the back of the last 18 months including the FA Cup run compared to in a years time where potentially he might not have played as much and people have forgotten the last 2 seasons.