Current Squad

According to [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] there are 18 players in the squad (now changed to 20 - thanks to Garage ).  As you can see from the list, we are a little unbalanced.  Anyone have an ideas as to the best formation we can use?

Player Name                Position
MATT BLOOMER            CENTRAL DEFENDER
DAVE MCGURK             CENTRAL DEFENDER
LUKE SHIELS               CENTRAL DEFENDER
DANNY ELLIS               CENTRAL DEFENDER
JAMES CADMAN           CENTRAL MIDFIELDER
RYAN FALLOWFIELD      CENTRAL MIDFIELDER
ANDY GASCOIGNE        CENTRAL MIDFIELDER
LLOYD KERRY              CENTRAL MIDFIELDER
CECIL NYONI               CENTRAL MIDFIELDER
PAUL THIRLWELL          CENTRAL MIDFIELDER
PAUL BEESLEY             FORWARD
PETER CROOK             GOALKEEPER
JACK EMMETT             MIDFIELDER
LEWIS TURNER           RIGHT BACK
PAUL CLAYTON           STRIKER
JAKE SPEIGHT            STRIKER
LOUIE SWAIN             STRIKER
JORDAN THEWLIS       STRIKER
BRENDON DANIELS     WINGER
JOE COLBECK             WINGER

kpgduras wrote:According to [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] there are 18 players in the squad.  As you can see from the list, we are a little unbalanced.  Anyone have an ideas as to the best formation we can use?

Player Name                Position
MATT BLOOMER            CENTRAL DEFENDER
DAVE MCGURK             CENTRAL DEFENDER
LUKE SHIELS               CENTRAL DEFENDER
JAMES CADMAN           CENTRAL MIDFIELDER
RYAN FALLOWFIELD      CENTRAL MIDFIELDER
ANDY GASCOIGNE        CENTRAL MIDFIELDER
LLOYD KERRY              CENTRAL MIDFIELDER
CECIL NYONI               CENTRAL MIDFIELDER
PAUL THIRLWELL          CENTRAL MIDFIELDER
PAUL BEESLEY             FORWARD
PETER CROOK             GOALKEEPER
JACK EMMETT             MIDFIELDER
LEWIS TURNER           RIGHT BACK
PAUL CLAYTON           STRIKER
JAKE SPEIGHT            STRIKER
LOUIE SWAIN             STRIKER
JORDAN THEWLIS       STRIKER
BRENDON DANIELS     WINGER

ELLIS AND COLBECK MISSING

Well we ended the season playing 3 central defenders and wing backs so I imagine we will start with that....2 central mids, with 2 higher wingers and 1 striker

Fallowfield and Swain were the wing backs and quite effective too

I'm quietly confident
Please have me certified

Don't worry, we will have the straight jacket ready after the 10th game. I'm certainly not confident about the season ahead.

For me, Goals will be the issue. We need a Striker who is prolific. As much as the other Strikers bring to the team, they just aren't prolific enough for my liking.

By the way the squad is shaping up, it seems to me like Simon is expecting the Midfield and Wingers to contribute more towards scoring goals this season, which is interesting.

who is to say with the right service that Clayton can't be prolific and we know if Beesley gets the service he can bang them in........Would rather have 11 players playing for eachother than a load of over paid, half arsed individuals!!

It depends on what you think is prolific. My view of prolific is 20+ goals a season at least National North level. Based on my view, Clayton has never been prolific at any club he has been, even dropping a level doesn't seem to have resolved the issue. The same accounts for Thewlis and Beesley. Neither have been prolific at this level either.

For example. Based on their careers at Harrogate, so far:

Clayton, 19 appearances, 5 goals.
Thewlis, 20 appearances, 6 goals
Paul Beesley, 36 appearances, 13 goals.

In my opinion, using the above as a guide, they are all totally capable of between 10-15 a season each, but do I see any of them getting anywhere near 20+. Quite simply? No. But on the offshoot of that, they do have differing qualities that they bring to the squad, which I am fully aware of and I do appreciate. However, it is blindingly clear to me that we need a prolific striker.

What annoys me even more is that we had the prolific striker last season in James Walshaw, and when I seen him play, although he was suggestively 'overpaid' he didn't exactly play at 'half-arsed' standard to me. Why we didn't keep him, is beyond me. He started the season well, scoring a lot, got injured and then got benched for most of the season, played at the end of the season, scored consistently and still ended up top goal scorer.

Whether any of the current strike force break the 20 goal barrier next year with the service they should be receiving from the likes of Midfield and Wingers? only time will tell. But in my opinion, it wont happen. Are they capable of 10-15 goals each between them, yes. 20+ goals, I doubt it massively.

Why does the Walshaw thing need to annoy you? It is what it is, and I saw a number of games where he looked like he couldn't be arsed.....Whether that is down to management or any other factors is besides the point, if your not prepared to put your balls on the line by busting them then why should he play.

I think we could do ok if we have a 15 goal striker provided others chip in like Thewlis and especially if Gazza picks up where he left. Who knows, but I am certainly not going to be annlyed by anything lol life is too short.

its a team of hasbeens and never will be,s , bottom 3 looks the future

I think your grammar is in the bottom three.

Agree with Neil - lacking a prolific striker. Beesley is simply not good enough notwithstanding a great attitude and the fact he works hard. Thewlis has potential but is still too raw. For me Walshaw had the look of someone who soon realised he'd made a mistake joining town - contrary to trev I thought his attitude was pretty good when you consider he was on the bench for half the season.

It's easy to say not to get too bothered but it's pretty obvious the club is chucking a great deal of money around and we're not getting much back in return, unless of course the quality of the stand, refreshments and hospitality is more important than the actual game.

I predict a mid table finish. ..

who do you think , (or knows ) was the highest paid player last season ?

TS with all due respect, you probably saw 2.5 games last season.

2.5 eh? That's very specific - are you able to identify the 2.5 games in question? Anyway,thought you weren't bothered?!

I heard jake speight on £1,000 per week but then again I've only attended 2.5 games over the last season so what do I know?!

town supporter wrote:2.5 eh? That's very specific - are  you able to identify the 2.5 games in question? Anyway,thought you weren't bothered?!

I'm not really that bothered, but you and Neil don't exactly attend many games these days yet you seem to be able to judge a player on a handful of games between you. I'm not saying that's a bad thing just that you missed quite a few performances around the middle part of the season where he was clearly very lazy and just went through the motions. He did put in some better performances in the latter part of the season (when he got on the pitch) but that was too late in Simon's eyes.

Ok, but I'd bet on BPA not encountering any of the 'lazy' performances from Walshaw that Town endured. We seem to get through far more than our fair share of 'bad eggs' as Irving himself once described another town player. Never the Weavers fault of course. I wonder who next season's scapegoat will be ...

lol well I can't dispute that, rather than manage the player, Simon's tactic is to drop and replace. I am pretty sure Walshaw will go on to score 25 plus next season even on a potato field.

Agreed - and I've a feeling a fair few of those 25 plus will be against us...

trevdee wrote:Why does the Walshaw thing need to annoy you? It is what it is, and I saw a number of games where he looked like he couldn't be arsed.....Whether that is down to management or any other factors is besides the point, if your not prepared to put your balls on the line by busting them then why should he play.

I think we could do ok if we have a 15 goal striker provided others chip in like Thewlis and especially if Gazza picks up where he left. Who knows, but I am certainly not going to be annlyed by anything lol life is too short.

The Walshaw situation irritates me, because he should have been kept on. That would have been my number 1 on the 'to do' list if I was Simon. However, it is what it is. He has gone now. He will go on to score a shitload for BPA, and it wouldn't surprise me if he bangs a hat-trick in against us in the BPA fixture.

trevdee wrote:

town supporter wrote:2.5 eh? That's very specific - are  you able to identify the 2.5 games in question? Anyway,thought you weren't bothered?!

I'm not really that bothered, but you and Neil don't exactly attend many games these days yet you seem to be able to judge a player on a handful of games between you. I'm not saying that's a bad thing just that you missed quite a few performances around the middle part of the season where he was clearly very lazy and just went through the motions. He did put in some better performances in the latter part of the season (when he got on the pitch) but that was too late in Simon's eyes.

I don't go to as many games as you, but I have a life outside of football. I go to games when I can, but with Simon in the hotseat, it makes my decision a lot easier not to be arsed to go if I have free time, because I know with him in charge, we wont achieve anything on the pitch. Oh, and to add, just for the record. I've been to 50+ home games and 3 away fixtures in the last 3 seasons. For somebody who has to work evenings and weekends, I'd bet it's a lot more than most supporters. I attend enough games to be quite accurate in my judgement of players.

The James Walshaw issue bothers me a lot, because I believe the club made a massive mistake in letting him go and he should have been retained. I attended enough games last season when it looked like he was going through the motions, but he was putting in more effort than most of players, and there were certainly culprits on the pitch who were performing a lot worse.

I wasn't getting at how many games you go to and reasons for you not going as that is your business, more the fact that it is hard to give informed feedback on a player based on seeing him for a few games.

Example - Yes it was only county cup but he had been put back in the team to show why he should be in the first team. I don't think he even ran once in that game, surely he should be busting his arse to play well but instead was the complete opposite and utter garbage. Had I been the manager and he played like that I would have dropped his arse too.

I had seen Walshaw in more than a few games, quite a few of the 37 appearances he had made, including sub appearances (33 League and 4 Cup). And as I said, there were worse culprits for effort levels during the season that have now departed (Lenighan and Speight, to name 2). I wasn't at the Garforth game, funnily enough and I don't really bother with WRCC ties to be honest, and the attendance spoke volumes (think it was about 150ish). Taking also into consideration it was bloody freezing and on a weeknight.

Lets be honest, if it was us 2 in charge, we would have made sure it didn't get to that point for them to start performing under par.

Simon isn't good enough, never will be.

Well the majority of the big buck signings were flops, hence why he turned his attention to young guys, which actually he should have done all along. I would rather see a team of youth who are hungry and willing to learn regardless who their boss is. He should have focussed on this at the start of his managerial career in hindsight, perhaps now he knows his limitations and is building a squad based on those, who knows.......I must admit the same thing keeps getting said about him and it is boring now, no matter what everyone says he wont go anywhere and neither will his dad, so the fans are in a put up or shut up position...Hence why I just go along with no expectations, and enjoy the banter with a lads, so yeah enjoy the hospitality or however TS described it.