Current Squad

GK:
McKeown
Eastwood
Russell
Battersby

Defenders:
Hendrie
Waterfall
Pollock
Menayese
Hope
Idehen
Habergham
Bunney

Mid:
Rose
Williams
Scannell
Spokes
Clifton
Morais
Wright
Matete
Bennett
El Mizouni
Adams
Hewitt

Strikers
Gibson
Jackson Jr
Sisay
Payne
Green
Hanson
John-lewis

I've missed out a few youth/fringe players from the list

Simple question:
Lets say season has just started, morale is high, confidence is high.
Is this team good enough for league 2?

IMO, Yes.
problem being, confidence is probably very low, especially after Saturday

Who knows.

With so many unknown quantities it’s basically a guess isn’t it?

I’m going to take a punt and say yes purely because I have faith and trust in Hursty and Doig and they clearly think these lads will get the job done.

It’s a YES from me!! 🤞

8 of those can go.

I have absolutely no idea till I see them play over an extended period.

One thing that is striking though, is that no manager seems willing to work with players signed by previous managers. Each new manager brings a new team. I suppose on that basis alone it might be worth sticking with a proven manager for a long time, and just tweak the squad gradually over time. The amount of decent players that come and go is ridiculous.

Even with this poor team, we have had some players sign for teams higher than us, some even for league 1 clubs!

If we could have put out a team of the good players we have let go over the years we would be in the Championship.

I suppose it is human nature to surround yourself with your own signings, but if we survive this season I hope for an extended period we can have some stability if the new board think Hurst is the man to lead the club on the playing side.

A few months back someone posted a link to research that showed exactly what you said in your second para Lew. The most influential factor on a sports team’s performance appears to be squad stability.

The problem is with so many new signings it can take a while for the team to gel. They must work hard in the week to minimise this. If they do we might have a chance although we don’t know a lot about the new guys yet.

I would say if you were to make the best XI out of that lot, you’d have a promotion pushing side.

You have Payne and LJL as first choice forwards , with Hanson and Jackson Jnr as cover (I think neither of those being first choice will do them a big favour)

You have an energetic and youthful midfield, mixed with some good runners and then some older pros

Defence, on paper, is a decent league two side, with good competition but just missing another experienced CB imo

Goalkeeper - now competition and so should push each other

Yes - this is much better than most teams we’ve had since being back up. There are players I think should move on and then reinforcements brought in for CB, wings and midfield.

Quoted from Nutsy

I would say if you were to make the best XI out of that lot, you’d have a promotion pushing side.

You have Payne and LJL as first choice forwards , with Hanson and Jackson Jnr as cover (I think neither of those being first choice will do them a big favour)

You have an energetic and youthful midfield, mixed with some good runners and then some older pros

Defence, on paper, is a decent league two side, with good competition but just missing another experienced CB imo

Goalkeeper - now competition and so should push each other

Yes - this is much better than most teams we’ve had since being back up. There are players I think should move on and then reinforcements brought in for CB, wings and midfield.

IMO, Hanson is still the first choice striker

As has been said it's difficult to say. Until you see them play and how they gel. Lot of players I dont know too much about.

We've signed players with decent reputations before like Williams Rose Waterfall...who have been largely disappointing.

But its a big turnaround in players this month and fair to say will it will be a very different looking team from the one that has plodded through the season so far. And with a manager who can maybe get us better organised, harder to beat and win some games. It almost like starting over but had to be done . If we'd kept to what we had we were doomed.

20 games left so still hope i suppose. Can we get sufficient points over our rivals. I dont know what the other strugglers have done to improve their squads. Would be surprised if any have done as much as Town.

Question is how long will it take to get the team playing to its potential. They dont have the luxury of a month or so to bed in. They need to hit the ground running.