MelvinBragg

Not long in for the game and have quickly scanned the thread. A few points... It's very easy (and tempting) to blame the more experienced guys and say that the young players showed promise. But it's a sweeping generalisation that's simply inaccurate. Murphy and Saunders (ironically the two young players with most first team game time under their belt) were very poor this evening. Slane and Forbes did well. Slane at least ran at their defence and Forbes did a decent holding midfiield job. I thought until Slane appeared that O'Brien looked our best (only?) bet of creating anything. I also find it hard to criticise Sutton since it must be hard for any centre forward with no team mate within 30 yards of him. Could he have done better? Undoubtedly. Was he helped by those around him? Not that I could see. The goal we conceded was a basic set piece and you could pick any one (or two) from about four players to blame. Frustrating thing is that for the first 15 minutes, it looked like it was just a matter of time before we got a goal and that a couple more would follow. We played the 4-2-3-1 that Stockport fans said that Gannon liked. If we were using tonight as a pre-season game to familiarise the players with the formation, I can see Gannon's point. But it is a competitive game with a financial reward for progress, so I do wonder at the wisdom of playing two holding midfielders and one up front against a team with no real urgency to attack. Hard enough to break a team down without only having one man in the box. Maybe we should have waited til we had the players for such a formation (or until he had had more time to work on it in training) before using it. Not all doom and gloom, just questions to be answered...

Can I swap lives with you...?

Decent player but I'm not crushed by McLean's departure. Was never going to be part of our first choice back four, even given Quinn's impending departure. Any time he played at right back, even while doing a decent job, he looked like a centre back playing right back. Which is fair enough, cos that's what he was, but I would imagine that we'll be looking for someone who is a full back first and foremost...

So is it 100% that he'll be joining then? If he comes into the first team (whenever that may be) looking as assured as Saunders did, then we'll have won a watch...

No Fitzpatrick? I can't believe how much panic that thought is causing me...

Surprising as it will be to some people on here, I have taken no pleasure in McShovelface's apparent inability to sign players. Yes, the quotes are familiar, and already Gannon seems to move a hell of a lot quicker in the transfer market than our previous manager. The thought strikes me that this is perhaps because the state of our squad at the moment means that it is easier to find someone to improve our squad. Perhaps. I'm excited by the Gannon appointment and look forward to seeing his team in action, but it is very early to be stating that he will do a better job than McShovelface. But there are a few revisionists on here. A lot of those now slagging our previous manager and his quotes in the press are those that were defending him to the likes of myself when we were questioning some of his decisions and his inactivity in the transfer market... EDIT Aye, welcome Steve. Sorry, got sidetracked by the sudden move of some to join the Anti-McShovelface bandwagon. Looks like he'll take no prisoners, but his goal return makes it look like he may have more to offer than Klimpl. Young, yet with a few games under his belt, only downside would be if it turns out to be a 1 year deal...

Aye, but it also says he's 27. Let's wait for official word...

Havign re-read some of the stuff that's been posted by some of the Stockport fans, mention is made that Gannon likes players that can play in several positions (he played both centre back and midfield himself). Could be the reason he only sees the need for 5 or 6 signings...?

I think we might find Clarkson harder to replace. Hughes has more natural ability than the others, but in terms of effectiveness in a team unit others were more pivotal. He was our "creative player" who was left way, way behind our left back in terms of assists...

The Foran debate is pointless, he's re-signed at Inverness. We hadn't shown the slightest interest. All I would say is that I thought that Foran would have been an excellent signing last summer when we lost McCormack, if McGhee wanted to continue 4-3-3. He would have been a different type of third forward than McCormack was, but playing on the left of a front three, his defensive frailties would not have been as exposed as they were in a 4-4-2. But that kind of discussion is for another thread. We've moved on from Foran and he's moved on from us, and if people want to debate his qualities, start a thread about it. This is for potential departures and arrivals...

I still would consider Murphy not s first team player but a young player. The point about Darren Smith is that he's been in the squad for some years. He may make an impact this year...

McLean and Hughes leaving doesn't break my heart. Are Motherwell fans seeing Brian McLean line up against us next season really going to think "Aw, naw, we'll never get past him..."? Hughes, unless Gannon can give him fresh impetus, probably needs a move. he's become too comfortable simply being the big fish at Motherwell. I suspect we might see another guy called Stephen in midfield for us next season. I'm told that we've made an enquiry about Stephen Gleeson of Wolves although we're competing with MK Dons. I know Beevers is away to Colchester, but what of Patrick Boyle? Or Gary Smith, the young boy from Queens Park? I know the boy Smith would be one for the future, but surely Boyle would be one that should be in contention...

The mention of 5 or 6 signings given how many players we've lost (Klimpl, Hughes, Clarkson, McLean, Sheridan, Malcolm and possibly Quinn) suggests to me that he'll be looking to promote a couple of the younger guys. And maybe use Darren Smith more. I was going to say "the likes of Darren Smith" then realised he's the only player with first team experience we have who has been on the fringe of things. Impressive interview and saying all the right things. Though talk is cheap, it's enough to engender a wee bit of optimism in even this hardened cynic...

I thought we needed another striker before Clarkson left, so I reckon we need 2 strikers at the very least...

Spoke to a Rochdale fan tonight. Stockport beat them in the play off final last year. Phrases I kept hearing were "He'll get the ball on the deck" and "he'll sign young players who all will be able to at least pass a football". Regarding the falling out with his own players, my mate told that there is a story that Gannon fell out with a player after an away game in the south of England. Said player was left to make his own way home. Basically he's seen as an argumentative, moaning get who knows his stuff. A budget Alex Ferguson...?

Sometimes in the Champions Legue games, the TV will flash up the stat as to how much ground a player has covered. Love to have seen Clarkson's stats for that...

I tend to agree, anyone who racks up over 250 appearances for the Well before his 24th birthday deserves a wee bit of a tribute. As you've said, the way he has conducted himself off the field could be used as an example to any young player. And his commitment while on the field never wavered, even when he wasn't the most popular guy around the place he never hid. With the impending sale of Paul Quinn, you can't help feeling it's kind of the end of an era. The four very young bucks of the first post administration season will all be gone. Although the thought strikes me that for a team that finished bottom, we've done well out of them. The sales of McFadden, Pearson, Clarkson and Quinn will have brought the club something like £3,000,000 in fees. Respect to the youth policy. But I digress. Cheers DC. You'll always be welcome round here. A legend at 23...

I was just about to post asking this myself. With that, and the proposed moves for Clarkson and Quinn, there's a lot we're waiting on at the moment. Don't think I've ever known a close season like this one...

Given we're getting closer to the games against Llanelli, and I've heard not a word about TV coverage, I'm working on the assumption there won't be any meaning I won't see the second leg. Even football cameramen get holidays...?

As someone else in this thread has stated, I don't think Gannon would have accepted the job had JB told him that two or three key players were being sold, three or four had already left and he was getting no money at all to replace them...

Good article, although... Also the article continues to perpetuate the myth that the only problem we had last season was the injury crisis in November and December...

Given we are expecting to be without Clarkson, Quinn, Smith, Hughes, McLean, Sheridan and Klimpl from last season's first team squad (I've not mentioned Malcolm because for the last 6 months of the season, he wasn't really in the squad), then 8 would be a bare minimum to add to what was a thin squad last season. Adding 8 players with hopefully the progress of the likes of Saunders, Forbes and Hutchison, will hopefully give us something resembling a squad. The names mentioned are simply evidence that journalists can make the same connections that we on this forum can. Oh, and, was Chris Porter not a league one player before coming here? I think we should try and not judge players on where the manager sources them from...

Aye, wages are one thing, paying fees is another. Not much of that goes on at clubs like Falkirk, Kilmarnock and ourselves...

Is the reputed lack of offers for the likes of Smith evidence that clubs are keeping their hands in their pockets more than ever this summer? Surely this means for us that there are bargains to be had in terms of players out of contract. On a side issue, I'm sure I read somewhere Eddie May saying that Falkirk would be paying fees for a couple of players. Surely this should be an indicator that we should have decent money to spend should the proposed sales go through...?

Correct. Or at least played one player within about 40 yards of Sutton...