2023 Retained List

[brommers95]

Will use this thread to post the retained list when it's announced.

Kachunga has already announced his departure from the club and as expected Lloyd Isgrove has also been released.

IMG_0658.jpg (152.47 KiB) Viewed 4844 times

A reminder of those out of contract this summer:

[Worthy4England]

Ahh a farewell to Lloyd too. Been part of the journey, always felt like we were getting 100% from him...Hope he can get his injury sorted and a few more years.

[GhostoftheBok]

Izzy gone? Yes, yes he is.

Best of luck to him. Worked his arse off.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Best of luck to both of them – always welcome as friends. Izzy no surprise at all. Kacha did give himself a chance but probably the right decision. We need an attacker who can be as good an example as him, and lead the press as well as him, but score a bit more often than <checks data> twice in 70 league appearances.

[jmjhb]

Kachunga got his redemption arc at Wembley and leaves on good terms.

I like Isgrove but he's injured too much for a squad player.

[GhostoftheBok]

Best of luck to both of them – always welcome as friends. Izzy no surprise at all. Kacha did give himself a chance but probably the right decision. We need an attacker who can be as good an example as him, and lead the press as well as him, but score a bit more often than <checks data> twice in 70 league appearances.

Evatt trusted him and played him in big games.

Like you say, he needed more output in terms of raw numbers; but he was "a manager's dream" as they like to say in the press - and also in the press. You get what I mean, he pressed well and the papers would say nice things about his professionalism. This is a stupid language.

As Brommers said, that's a good wedge of money freed up to add goals and assists.

[GhostoftheBok]

Apparently Joel Dixon has had five goes at leaving a farewell message, but he keeps dropping his phone.

[Worthy4England]

Apparently Joel Dixon has had five goes at leaving a farewell message, but he keeps dropping his phone.

[BWFC_Insane]

I really liked Isgrove - I think in league two he was one of our better ones. Injuries have caught up with him though. I think without them he'd have made a better contribution.

[GhostoftheBok]

Yeah, Izzy was a good un; but I don't think anyone is shocked he's gone.

I was keeping an eye on Kacha in case we made a surprise offer to keep a trusted option in the forward line for the manager to call on, but common sense has prevailed and he's just not scored/made enough goals to justify the wages.

Next up for shocks would be Dixon being retained, but that seems almost cruel.

Then it's the ones people are trying to make serious arguments for. MJ, Lee, Bod and Sheehan.

20 league starts in 18 months for Bod, is it? On his wages that's got to be a massive call if we retain him. Sheehan is on a lot less money, but still only 26 starts. You could see Bod with a wage cut and Sheehan on the basis of recent performances. Both are very good players.

MJ has been fit, but barely featured. Lee has been used whenever fit, but will be 35 and has serious fitness issues.

Keeping any of them will be interesting and come with significant risks.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

I really liked Isgrove - I think in league two he was one of our better ones. Injuries have caught up with him though. I think without them he'd have made a better contribution.

Feels like he was another off-field leader - especially in that first season - at least socially

As noted, we've got some characters to replace. But that's fine. That's the job, and today is our biggest opportunity for clearing spaces to make progress.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Keeping any of them will be interesting and come with significant risks.

I agree. It's also true that losing them all would risk leaving ourselves short - in midfield, of depth, and in up front, of probably our second-best striker. Arguably even the one with the best chance of stepping up - although now we really are in classic "arguably" territory, ie the unprovable.

However, as I say, we need to progress.

[BWFC_Insane]

Bod has not had a career of injuries. This is his first season with them. It’s only a risk if there is a sign his body is breaking down or the injuries have a high risk of repeat. We should have enough information to risk assess that.

[Worthy4England]

The question I'm wrestling with is "did we look a completely different, much better, team, with X playing" of the 4 left (Assuming Dixon doesn't make the cut)...For me it's a bit marginal for all of them. We had clamour to start Bod (pre-injury) did we look tons better? Not really, for me.

I think they all fit in and don't really weaken us in L1 terms, but I'm not sure they take us up a level either.

The "proviso" to that is, is what I've seen from Bod, better than what I've seen from our January striker intake - that's be a "yes absolutely"

[GhostoftheBok]

Bod has not had a career of injuries. This is his first season with them. It’s only a risk if there is a sign his body is breaking down or the injuries have a high risk of repeat. We should have enough information to risk assess that.

I'd still be offering him reduced terms. He was struggling for offers at his current level when we got him and he's not going to get offers like that if he moves on.

[GhostoftheBok]

I agree. It's also true that losing them all would risk leaving ourselves short - in midfield, of depth, and in up front, of probably our second-best striker. Arguably even the one with the best chance of stepping up - although now we really are in classic "arguably" territory, ie the unprovable.

However, as I say, we need to progress.

All this, yes.

The issue for me is where they play and who (if any) of the loans are coming back next season.

If we are retaining Nlundulu the sales pitch for Dad Bod falls on its face. I think he's great, but he's suddenly not the sort we need if he's being added to Dion, Vik and Dan. Dion, Vik, Bod plus one? Sure.

Sheehan can be added into that midfield, but if we're bringing Shoretire back you're adding two small lads in with three mids who can struggle with the physical game. You can overcome a lot of that with technical play, but not all. That'd mean the 6th midfielder would need to stay fit all season.

If you retain more than two of the four I've no idea how you expect to improve enough to win the league. I've seen people say they want MJ, Sheehan and Lee to all stay. For me that's basically giving up.

[Prufrock]

I'd let MJ and SK go (and Joel!). Sheehan I would offer squad player wages (I doubt he's currently a top earner, but he was highly rated having been a L2 stand out so I bet it's not peanuts either). Bod would be either release or squad player wages depending on the medical view.

But agree with what Ghost has said re: big Dan. So maybe I would just release Bod. I think there's a player in Dan and *if* we can hook it up, a big asset.

[Mar]

Shame that some of these players are going. Not necessarily because they were bad, but because they've not progressed to the level we need. Their efforts and performance levels have certainly been a credit to themselves and they'll go on good terms with the fans.

Isgrove, Kacha, etc.

Isgrove for giving is all, Kacha for his semi final and final goals and turning around that red card. They're leaving on a good note.

In terms of who I think is likely to stay, I suspect Dixon and Lee to go. Sheehan, MJ and Dad Bod to be offered terms.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

agree with what Ghost has said re: big Dan. So maybe I would just release Bod. I think there's a player in Dan and *if* we can hook it up, a big asset.

If we release Bod and sign Nlundulu, a lot of people will be very worried.... and Bod in exile will become the Icelandic Haaland. Such is the way.

[Mar]

agree with what Ghost has said re: big Dan. So maybe I would just release Bod. I think there's a player in Dan and *if* we can hook it up, a big asset.

If we release Bod and sign Nlundulu, a lot of people will be very worried.... and Bod in exile will become the Icelandic Haaland. Such is the way.

I think that it would be fair to be concerned if we brought in N'lundulu. It's a big ask to get him to become a useful player. Can we realistically carry him to that level knowing Southampton hadn't managed it and little progressed seemed to be made when he was on loan here?

Shoretire looks set to be released by Man Utd. I wouldn't want him back again, as i'd hope we'd have better options available.