| Looking ahead to next Season! 12:44 - Jun 30 with 683 views | durham_exile |
League Two next season, whenever that is due to start — currently mid to late September 2020 is going to have an eclectic mix of clubs, but arguably will be weaker than last season.
If we are to finally get out of this basement League, then Season 2020/21 could well be the time. I should hasten to add that the following lists are very much my own thoughts and with that in mind I have split the league into three segments.
First a look at the top seven promotion contenders:
Colchester
Bradford City
Cheltenham
Mansfield
Tranmere
Bolton
Exeter
Then the midtable teams:
Port Vale
FGR
Salford
Walsall
Newport
Grimsby
Cambridge
Southend
Scunny
Then the strugglers and Relegation contenders:
Crawley
Orient
Carlisle
Oldham
Morecambe
Macclesfield
Barrow
Plus, One other: perhaps our old friends Notts County
I reckon it is Morecambe and Macclesfield for the drop.
All League Two teams will have playing staff issues, financial woes and depending upon when the Supporters are allowed back into the stadia, increased ticket costs and Hospitality issues.
On the positive side conferences and stadium events will be slowly coming back into focus and a clamour for new and innovative ways of encouraging revenue must be explored. Season Ticket sales will be truncated and there is still the issue of refunds for last season to be determined.
Teams will have sponsorship issues and may well have to stick for a second season with existing Home, Away and Change kits.
It will be all about saving money and survival before any thought can be given to future growth.
Not all clubs have yet followed the Colchester lead and dispensed with 12 players, over half of whom were unfortunate losses for the club. Exeter will now lose potentially 8 players, but even the Cobblers, now well-heeled in League One will have to think about increases to ticket prices etc.
For Colchester there can be no extravagant £315K outlay for footballer with issues mainly off the pitch rather than on. Our £1M bounty from that excellent League Cup campaign might yet be our saviour in these uncertain times. We should not forget either about the net £900K from transfer dealings, prior to the start of last season. Balanced against that is the £200K cost of the play-off campaign which sadly ended in defeat.
I note that after completing his loan spell at Peterborough, Sammie Szmodics is not yet back in the Bristol City team despite the fact that they are performing badly. If the step up from League Two to the Championship was too much too soon, he seems eminently well suited to League One football. In a way he encapsulates what is wrong with the transfer system.
A small club, a selling club, perhaps less fashionable has a star asset who shines brightly, would be suitors with deep pockets come in and a bidding war results. But the transition is not always successful, and it is possible for a player’s career to stall badly. Then a loan to a lower league side and yes, he finds his level and plays superbly well scoring goals and assisting with others. Loan spell ends and he returns to his parent club a better player, but then languishes in the reserves. Sadly, he does not return to his boyhood club and knocks around in the Leagues but without fulfilling his real potential. Incredibly sad but unfortunately all too true.
For Colchester, what will our playing staff look like in 2020/21.
First, we have lost 12 players including Ryan Jackson, Luke Prosser, Frank Nouble and Brandon Comley. Could we I wonder manage to claw at least two of them back to the club. Just a thought! Theo Robinson released from Scummend also.
This leaves, with current squad numbers:
1 Dean Gerken
3 Cohen Bramall
4 Tom Lapslie
6 Omar Sowunmi
7 Courtney Senior
8 Harry Pell
9 Luke Norris
10 Jevani Brown
11 Paris Cowan-Hall
12 Miles Welch-Hayes
15 Callum Harriott (his Quad injury probably cost us promotion)
16 Diaz Wright
18 Tom Eastman
19 Ollie Kensdale
21 Ryan Clampin
24 Ben Stevenson
26 Luke Gambin
27 Noah Chilvers
29 Ethan Ross
37 Andre Hasanally
40 Michael Fernandes
49 Kwame Poku
Result, we are short of a Defender, an attacking midfield player and that old chestnut, a striker but most probably two.
Much to ponder over the Summer recess.
The U’s will survive, which is the main thing, but if we are to mount a successful promotion campaign next season, then finding those elusive four players is going to be the priority. It may be that loan signings are once again the solution.
Enjoy the Summer. Stay safe.
Up the U’s
 [Post edited 30 Jun 2020 23:11]
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| Looking ahead to next Season! on 13:58 - Jun 30 with 664 views | thrillseeker |
DE - nice preview
Not sure about some of the teams mentioned in your seven promotion contenders but I would add Salford as I fully expect them to receive huge financial support from their superstar owners [Post edited 30 Jun 2020 13:59]
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| Looking ahead to next Season! on 15:40 - Jun 30 with 640 views | Fruitbat |
So a starting line up (4-2-3-1)
Gerken
Welch-Hayes Eastman Sowunmi Bramhall
Pell Stevenson
Senior Poku Harriott
Norris |  | | |
| Looking ahead to next Season! on 15:54 - Jun 30 with 636 views | Moor_Pinot |
Fabulous Durham, stirring, inspirational and as ever food for thought.
So whilst my playlist spins on Spotify and ink dries in my studio here I ve had a go at responding to the thoughts you uncovered.
Can't add that much as it's early days, so much in the wider world and all in division four football conjecture.
However, RC's latest statement today gives me more relief that we have him and confidence that a) we will survive and b) that we will not go down.
I'd add Vale to the promotion candidates and Barrow where no team will be keen to go. Sleeping Scunny too maybe.
We will not buy, we need the cup cash and Todd Miller money just to survive, Bramhall may be sold too. Senior perhaps and Brown?
As the point is made elsewhere on here we need a proper target striker who can hold the ball and off whom Gambin and Poku can feed. Harriot can still do what he does. Norris can go fishing.
We missed out on the Cowleys and what Bonne and Porter could do for us. Pretty triangles achieved zilch in three identical seasons where we scared the hell out of absolutely nobody. It annoyed me beyond words. In division four you must deploy what works, what wins and that is not what we have been served up, instead we've had '8th place soup' the type of football which opposition teams applaud then privately say "we can play right through and over this lot" - evem Morecombe and Cambridge did that easily.
Looks? I care less, I want to see us winning. As my years run out I reflect on the best times in 55+ seasons and they were when we had a good striker, often two and got the ball to them - fast. Mick put the div three 5-4 v Bristol Rovers on here during the confinement, that reminded me of how we did just that very effectively.
So, considering your list Durham we do need a striker from somewhere - Slew? But we also need Chilvers, Hasanally, Ross and others to challenge for places immediately. It was too comfy for some this season. If we keep Bramall he can be your attacking midfielder, Clampin was decent at lb. Kensdale can help Tom, maybe Sowumni.
All in all, given the circumstances I cannot see us being equipped for the task with the current methodology that has been used for so long. We must change tack - Northampton were a lesson.
Top three - Bradford, Bolton and Port Vale, teams with big support. Salfords cash may buy a place too.
Anyway, grand words Durham and I'll keep feeding my thoughts.
Up the U's |  |
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| Looking ahead to next Season! on 18:32 - Jun 30 with 622 views | Daniel |
Just a quick comment to say that Tafari Moore doesn't play for us (he was a short term loan from Plymouth) and Bailey Vose is amongst those being released, so two less on that squad list. |  | | |
| Looking ahead to next Season! on 21:00 - Jun 30 with 593 views | burnsieespana |
Durham you have pretty well hit the nail on the head! |  | | |
| Looking ahead to next Season! on 23:38 - Jun 30 with 565 views | durham_exile |
| Looking ahead to next Season! on 15:54 - Jun 30 by Moor_Pinot |
Fabulous Durham, stirring, inspirational and as ever food for thought.
So whilst my playlist spins on Spotify and ink dries in my studio here I ve had a go at responding to the thoughts you uncovered.
Can't add that much as it's early days, so much in the wider world and all in division four football conjecture.
However, RC's latest statement today gives me more relief that we have him and confidence that a) we will survive and b) that we will not go down.
I'd add Vale to the promotion candidates and Barrow where no team will be keen to go. Sleeping Scunny too maybe.
We will not buy, we need the cup cash and Todd Miller money just to survive, Bramhall may be sold too. Senior perhaps and Brown?
As the point is made elsewhere on here we need a proper target striker who can hold the ball and off whom Gambin and Poku can feed. Harriot can still do what he does. Norris can go fishing.
We missed out on the Cowleys and what Bonne and Porter could do for us. Pretty triangles achieved zilch in three identical seasons where we scared the hell out of absolutely nobody. It annoyed me beyond words. In division four you must deploy what works, what wins and that is not what we have been served up, instead we've had '8th place soup' the type of football which opposition teams applaud then privately say "we can play right through and over this lot" - evem Morecombe and Cambridge did that easily.
Looks? I care less, I want to see us winning. As my years run out I reflect on the best times in 55+ seasons and they were when we had a good striker, often two and got the ball to them - fast. Mick put the div three 5-4 v Bristol Rovers on here during the confinement, that reminded me of how we did just that very effectively.
So, considering your list Durham we do need a striker from somewhere - Slew? But we also need Chilvers, Hasanally, Ross and others to challenge for places immediately. It was too comfy for some this season. If we keep Bramall he can be your attacking midfielder, Clampin was decent at lb. Kensdale can help Tom, maybe Sowumni.
All in all, given the circumstances I cannot see us being equipped for the task with the current methodology that has been used for so long. We must change tack - Northampton were a lesson.
Top three - Bradford, Bolton and Port Vale, teams with big support. Salfords cash may buy a place too.
Anyway, grand words Durham and I'll keep feeding my thoughts.
Up the U's |
Pinault - thank you for your excellent response.
I hesitated about Port Vale and Scunny. Both have been thorns in our side and equally we can defeat them both on our day.
The truncated season just gone was difficult, the coming one could be even worse simply because the new normal is something that we can only really guess at.
Money will be tight, players at a premium. The league is wide open again.
When ever we get the word about restart we must be ready and in a way the Play Offs though unsuccessful will have given valuable insights into empty stadia, little atmosphere and the need to start like an express train rather than the ponderous first 20 minutes which gives the opposition the initiative.
When Big Roy played he bullied the opposition, but it is not a facet of our game that I can identify with over the years. Certainly not since 1970 anyway.
Strikers like "Rooster", Andrews, Asaba, Bremner, Tony and Tom English, Fagan, Foley, Froggatt, Garwood, Gough, Trevor Lee (my favourite U's striker), Lisbie, Lua Lua, McGavin, Rapley, Rowles, Sheringham, etc. (I had to look some of these up!) were not the type of players to bully the opposition.
We have perhaps never had that type of player who has been prepared to mix it with the opposition. I am not sure whether such a transition would work either.
But ideally a striker guaranteed to score 20 goals in a season wouldn't go amiss. It is a long time since we've achieved that feat. Cureton and McDonough were the last two and they are becoming a distant memory.
If only we could unearth a gem like that!
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| Looking ahead to next Season! on 23:39 - Jun 30 with 564 views | durham_exile |
| Looking ahead to next Season! on 18:32 - Jun 30 by Daniel |
Just a quick comment to say that Tafari Moore doesn't play for us (he was a short term loan from Plymouth) and Bailey Vose is amongst those being released, so two less on that squad list. |
Daniel thanks for the update, I have amended my list.
Up the U's | |
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| Looking ahead to next Season! on 15:39 - Jul 4 with 487 views | durham_exile |
Possible restart dates Aug 29 or September 12
Up the U's | |
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