Free agent market has never been better. Best check some relegation clauses while we’re at it too😂
Confirmed Retained List 2026
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- Oct 19, 2024
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Was never given a chance !
He was never given the chance because he was utter dogshit!
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- Dec 19, 2004
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- 28,455
Other than in the reserves and in training.
Players don't magically become better because they play in the first team, they get chosen to play in the first team because they showed enough quality to make a difference there.
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- Jan 5, 2015
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Tbf to the guys suggesting Felipe could command a 7 figure fee, they never specified if it included decimals.
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- Oct 19, 2004
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- 333
Wow
They're likely not up to scratch anyway, but we can be pretty certain with Hecky in charge we're barely going to see Stowell, Pasiek, Carroll, Wilson, Kamara, Nelson, or O'Sullivan either
So a current squad of 18 pros - of which we know Walton, Lindsay, Potts, Thompson & Smith (and possible Storey) should be getting moved on as they're not up to required levels
Good job we're moving forward on Zedan budgets and not IOM ones! 😉
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- Oct 31, 2022
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I would hope all 7 youngsters you mention end up out on loan rather than spending their Saturdays sat in the stands.
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The same Hecky who threw Carroll in to start for the first team before he got injured?
If the youth players show the are good enough, they will get the chances.
We see time and time again that they are largely of non-league standard and of very little use to a Championship team. With the odd, very occasional exceptions.
There's a reason for that.
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- Oct 19, 2004
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- 333
Wasn't meant as a dig at Heckingbottom
They aren't good enough (Carroll was out of his depth vs Barrow in the cup, never mind the league games), but he has proven several times he'd rather not fill the bench than just have youth players for sake of it
Any new regime has to address it. Give manager a strong, well balanced squad, whilst improving the academy to a point it can start plugging gaps efficiently
We don't need an XI of academy products, but a 25 man squad with 3 - 5 homegrown talents worthy of challenging for meaningful minutes is certainly where we should be aiming sooner rather than later
(sweeping up 16/17 years olds released by Utd/City/Liverpool etc is best option for finding those too IMO)
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He had Kitt Nelson sat on the bench for most of the end of the season. And when Carroll was fit, he did try and integrate him.
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Fair enough. Carroll wasn't great against Barrow but I recall he had been sick either through illness or nerves.
He didn't look out of his depth at all against Wrexham and got an assist that night too. Was also trusted to be thrown in for a few minutes against Villa alongside Theo Mawene.
He gave Kitt Nelson the multi year contract so I was surprised he didn't get any minutes towards the end of the season - there was a comment during one of the press conferences that he hadn't quite kicked on after his loan at Ireland.
I think PH has shown he'll trust them if he sees something in them - and he's not afraid to use young players who are of a higher level (Armstrong, Small, Devine) but it's hard to justify giving many of our own any game time ahead of the senior pros when they are so far off the level.
It'll take time but hopefully we can get the academy invested in ASAP so we can start seeing the rewards in 5 years.
Isn't Heckingbottom pretty good at implementing youth players?
If he didn't want to implement Felipe I'd be more inclined to trust what he thought of him.
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- Oct 19, 2004
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- 333
completely agree
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- Sep 16, 2018
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Considering this is the next crop OOC, this is the summer where we'll need to make some decisions on some of these too
- Hughes - I guess that's a see how the season goes and look for a long term replacement
- Lindsay - You'd want to cash in now
- Potts - You'd want to cash in now
- Whiteman - Either extend or cash in
- Thompson - Ideally cash in, but I suspect it'll be more of a 'see how the season goes'
- Osmajic - I'd cash in and rumours are suggesting we're looking to cash in
- Smith - You'd want to cash in now
The kids - Presumably we're going to see how the season goes
Surely, he should of been at least given a chance. The fact Youth has no chance at the club we are never going to get any exciting players joining. Its a Joke,. Not saying they world beaters, but we need to give them a chance, give the Youth an incentive to put in the effort. Fellipe will come good elsewhere, Probably starting a Fylde. Mawene deal with Southend should of been Scraped they treated him like shit.
Lets just keep signing has beens and injury prone players based on their past instead of trying to find that player that will come good with a future. Peter should of been addressing this a long time ago. Hecky has dropped a few points, I really couldn't care if a new owner doesn't give him a chance, because he never gave anyone else a chance.
It can be true that both Felipe and Mawene have been mishandled and that they're not good enough for the Championship. I think Mawene will fall out of the game all together or have to rebuild in a new position. Felipe should have been out on loan a lot earlier.
The only youth player I can think of that's broke through under Heckingbottom at any club is Oliver Arblaster who was an exceptional talent. I can't remember hearing about anyone at Barnsley, Hibs, Leeds or obviously us that's been nurtured through and worked into the first team
The only youth player I can think of that's broke through under Heckingbottom at any club is Oliver Arblaster who was an exceptional talent. I can't remember hearing about anyone at Barnsley, Hibs, Leeds or obviously us that's been nurtured through and worked into the first team
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- Dec 19, 2004
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Not sure how it's Hecky's fault that Noah kept breaking down with injuries on his loans.
These players were released because they simply weren't good enough. Felipe couldn't cut it in the Central League but did well at National League North. Mawene didn't do well and didn't play enough at Newport last year, subsequently he wasn't good enough to cut it at National League Southend - barely played but I'd trust their judgement on that.
Not sure what that second paragraph has to do with the retained list, albeit I do agree our transfer policy needs to change (undoubtedly it will do if the sporting director rumours are true).
There are some youth players I thought were worthy of a chance in those final few games but ultimately our whole youth system needs a shake up.