2023 Retained List

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

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.

Really? I assumed he was under contract for yonks.

Get him in the B team

[GhostoftheBok]

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.

That'd be odd. He signed a deal until 2024 and then a new one a year later. Unless they had "options" to keep him until 2024 in the original contract, rather than it being a full thing.

Last time I spoke to anyone at Utd it was about the new manager being excited to see him develop.

If he were available on a free we'd be crazy not to pick him up. You can argue against developing him for Utd if you don't think he's ready to start in a promotion campaign, but developing him as our player? That's a very easy yes.

[BWFC_Insane]

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.

The thing is that Bod is good enough to play week in week out for a side at the top of league one. He is demonstrably good enough. Its just fitness that needs judgement.

Nlundulu is not. There is for me no debate about it. He could become a good player over time but that isn't happening in time to fire us up next season as the main option.

So Nlundulu means we still need a better striker.

I'd rather us get Bod plus another. But if its Nlundulu plus another it means the onus is on finding a first team ready option. Not a kid. Or a maybe. That costs.

[The_Gun]

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.

The thing is that Bod is good enough to play week in week out for a side at the top of league one. He is demonstrably good enough. Its just fitness that needs judgement.

Nlundulu is not. There is for me no debate about it. He could become a good player over time but that isn't happening in time to fire us up next season as the main option.

So Nlundulu means we still need a better striker.

I'd rather us get Bod plus another. But if its Nlundulu plus another it means the onus is on finding a first team ready option. Not a kid. Or a maybe. That costs.

Weren't our two best players this season kids?

[GhostoftheBok]

Weren't our two best players this season kids?

Yes. Also, we just bought a striker for half a million quid.

[BWFC_Insane]

Weren't our two best players this season kids?

Yes. Also, we just bought a striker for half a million quid.

Who can't get in the side for the biggest games of our season?

As for the kids thing - I'm sure we'd take a Bradley equivalent in the striker role from a premiership club but its not happening is it?

So we'd be the rung down and it would be another who might come off or might not.

Granted if you believe Victor is our main striker next season and he's good enough for a team aiming to win automatic promotion its a different question. But I've seen not enough or enough depending on your perspective to think that would be very wishful thinking.

I think Vic can contribute as can maybe even Nlundulu but neither were good enough really to play the play off games - and we've just released Kacha who got the nod over them both for leg 1. I think that's telling....

[Worthy4England]

Evidence we've seen so far (my view), is that a fit Bod is, on what we've seen of them playing for us, our No2 striker after Dion. Vik some distance away in 3rd and Dan some distance away in 4th. I would not feel reet happy with Dion/Vik/Dan + one "development potential" based on our season's exit form. Obviously there's a closed season to try and move Vik up the pecking order...and the same would apply to N'lundulu who isn't a kid anymore, should we sign him...

[GhostoftheBok]

Who can't get in the side for the biggest games of our season?

If you mean the play-offs, Evatt wanted to play someone next to Charles would would drop into midfield. He explained his tactical decisions.

I actually think those are games Dad Bod would have started had he stayed fit. He's good at that role.

[BWFC_Insane]

Evidence we've seen so far (my view), is that a fit Bod is, on what we've seen of them playing for us, our No2 striker after Dion. Vik some distance away in 3rd and Dan some distance away in 4th. I would not feel reet happy with Dion/Vik/Dan + one "development potential" based on our season's exit form. Obviously there's a closed season to try and move Vik up the pecking order...and the same would apply to N'lundulu who isn't a kid anymore, should we sign him...

Yeah this. I'd be happy if we signed Bod - not unhappy if we didn't.

But I want a striker in either way - if Bod stays it could me more a wildcard option. If he goes then it needs to be something solid that genuinely improves us. So for me that call comes down to what striker we can get in realistically and are they better than Bod or not....

[BWFC_Insane]

Who can't get in the side for the biggest games of our season?

If you mean the play-offs, Evatt wanted to play someone next to Charles would would drop into midfield. He explained his tactical decisions.

I actually think those are games Dad Bod would have started had he stayed fit. He's good at that role.

Well at Barnsley he explained it. I think the run in when it mattered it was general consensus that Kacha and Charles were our best pair....which was how it played out.

For me that did speak volumes.

As I've said one of the issues with Vic is he doesn't go well with Charles and looks better played without him. They both want to do similar things - albeit in different ways. Two 'guns' as you put it....

[Mar]

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.

That'd be odd. He signed a deal until 2024 and then a new one a year later. Unless they had "options" to keep him until 2024 in the original contract, rather than it being a full thing.

Last time I spoke to anyone at Utd it was about the new manager being excited to see him develop.

If he were available on a free we'd be crazy not to pick him up. You can argue against developing him for Utd if you don't think he's ready to start in a promotion campaign, but developing him as our player? That's a very easy yes.

I must be reading the wrong sort of news. As far as I was led to believe it was a case of him not quite meeting expectations and United trying to get money from him while his stock was relatively high.

[GhostoftheBok]

I must be reading the wrong sort of news. As far as I was led to believe it was a case of him not quite meeting expectations and United trying to get money from him while his stock was relatively high.

Not necessarily, I've not been following along with developments for a while.

Are they releasing him or wanting to sell and where is the story from?

[GhostoftheBok]

Well at Barnsley he explained it. I think the run in when it mattered it was general consensus that Kacha and Charles were our best pair....which was how it played out.

For me that did speak volumes.

As I've said one of the issues with Vic is he doesn't go well with Charles and looks better played without him. They both want to do similar things - albeit in different ways. Two 'guns' as you put it....

To me what it speaks to is a player who has worked with Evatt for two years and knows the system inside out. Like I said before, Evatt trusts Kacha to do a job and the set up we tried to get going to sort Vik out didn't get off the ground.

I can see an argument for Vik and Charles being too similar, but I think that's again due to the limitations of the current squad.

I also don't think they'll always play together next season and it's probably the case that if Charles has to carry the team as much as he has this season Evatt will have failed in that aspect of recruitment. We will hopefully go into next season with 4 good strikers who offer different things.

[Mar]

I must be reading the wrong sort of news. As far as I was led to believe it was a case of him not quite meeting expectations and United trying to get money from him while his stock was relatively high.

Not necessarily, I've not been following along with developments for a while.

Are they releasing him or wanting to sell and where is the story from?

I'd struggle to find the link on twitter. I heard it just prior to our last game of the season where he scored. He's only 19 so plenty of scope for improvement. The impression I got was playing for us was a means test of how well he'd cope in professional football. He's not managed to deliver and despite looking good for utds u21 side it's not really a decent standard each week so that would be hard to tell. Sort of a cash in on reputation before his value drops too much.

[Prufrock]

I assumed you meant "releasing to go out on loan".

He signed a long contract and while his loan didn't go that well I'm sure they realised that was a possibility and he'll have learnt a lot anyway.

If he was available we'd be mad not to try to snap him up!

Ditto I'd have Mbete on a free of they let him go but wouldn't particularly want either back in loan.

[BWFC_Insane]

I assumed you meant "releasing to go out on loan".

He signed a long contract and while his loan didn't go that well I'm sure they realised that was a possibility and he'll have learnt a lot anyway.

If he was available we'd be mad not to try to snap him up!

Ditto I'd have Mbete on a free of they let him go but wouldn't particularly want either back in loan.

[Mar]

Well at Barnsley he explained it. I think the run in when it mattered it was general consensus that Kacha and Charles were our best pair....which was how it played out.

For me that did speak volumes.

As I've said one of the issues with Vic is he doesn't go well with Charles and looks better played without him. They both want to do similar things - albeit in different ways. Two 'guns' as you put it....

To me what it speaks to is a player who has worked with Evatt for two years and knows the system inside out. Like I said before, Evatt trusts Kacha to do a job and the set up we tried to get going to sort Vik out didn't get off the ground.

I can see an argument for Vik and Charles being too similar, but I think that's again due to the limitations of the current squad.

I also don't think they'll always play together next season and it's probably the case that if Charles has to carry the team as much as he has this season Evatt will have failed in that aspect of recruitment. We will hopefully go into next season with 4 good strikers who offer different things.

Is it not a case of us signing Vic knowing that Charles value has significantly increased providing a possible sale. Vic covers the Charles role in that event and leaves a tidy profit prior to any contract expiry concerns.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

All gone a bit quiet. Izzy tweeted his farewell at 12.23pm...

<searches franctically for Joel's social accounts>

[Worthy4England]

I assumed you meant "releasing to go out on loan".

He signed a long contract and while his loan didn't go that well I'm sure they realised that was a possibility and he'll have learnt a lot anyway.

If he was available we'd be mad not to try to snap him up!

Ditto I'd have Mbete on a free of they let him go but wouldn't particularly want either back in loan.

I'd also have Mbete on a free if they let him go...Apart from one pretty high pressure game, he looked pretty solid for a 19 year old. Were he 24, I probably wouldn't bother. We've had some real problems at the back, and most of those have been one off, long(ish) term injuries, but with a fit Jones, Santos, Johnston, Iredale etc. Mbete as a 5th option would be fine.

[The_Gun]

Lads, surely Shoretire and Mbete are not being released by their respective clubs this summer?