2025/26 Ins & Outs Discussion

[Kmcalpin]

14 minutes ago, thewelllfan said:

hopefully that is the case our defence has needed revamped for a couple of seasons now.

It does and badly so. However, I believe he's being signed as a much needed defensive midfielder, although he can play in several positions. 

[steelman1991]

17 minutes ago, thewelllfan said:

There were a couple atricles in newspapers and BBC have one confirming it so I'd assume so

I totally missed the BBC report  - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/articles/c74mxge9n8xo

I assumed it was all still speculation.

[thewelllfan]

24 minutes ago, Kmcalpin said:

It does and badly so. However, I believe he's being signed as a much needed defensive midfielder, although he can play in several positions. 

He's surely been signed as a Cb considering that's where hes mainly played last few seasons

[wunderwell]

35 minutes ago, thewelllfan said:

He's surely been signed as a Cb considering that's where hes mainly played last few seasons

Signed as a CDM - this is where he wants to play. However it remains to be seen if he gets his wish.

[texanwellfan]

2 hours ago, wunderwell said:

Signed as a CDM - this is where he wants to play. However it remains to be seen if he gets his wish.

Another Tom Hateley? 😃

[wellfan]

On 4/2/2025 at 5:37 PM, thewelllfan said:

Players Leaving at end of Current season/Loan expiring

Balcombe - Returning to Brentford

Ward - Contract Expiring

Mair - Returning to Norwich

Kaleta- Returning to Wolves

Casey - Contract Expiring

Blaney - Contract Expiring

Thompson - Contract Expiring

Seddon - (Club option of further year)

Mcginn - (Club option of further year)

Davor - Contract Expiring

Halliday - Contract Expiring

Paton - Contract Expiring

Andrews - Returning to Coventry

Callahan - Contract Expiring

Taveres- Returning to Hibs

Ebiye- Contract Expiring

Plange - Returning to Palace

Dickson - Returning to Man City

Vale - Returning to Blackburn

Luke Armstrong - Returning to Carlisle

For a variety or reasons, including being injury prone, shite and/or useless, every player on that list should be shown the door. Wimmer needs to rip up the squad and start again. 

[mio]

15 minutes ago, wellfan said:

For a variety or reasons, including being injury prone, shite and/or useless, ever player on that list should be shown the door. Wimmer needs to rip up the squad and start again. 

what an absolute mess we are in when you see that list of players…. Jesus!!

There’s 20 on that list and I have to agree with you. The only one I’d keep is McGinn purely because he doesn’t have a long history of injuries, the one this year is his first bad one that I can see he’s had in his career. I like wee Paton and Davor as they do give their all but it’s probably not enough to make up for their limitations.

the rest of them, yip, I’ll wish them goodbye and all the best.

 

[wellsince75]

49 minutes ago, mio said:

what an absolute mess we are in when you see that list of players…. Jesus!!

There’s 20 on that list and I have to agree with you. The only one I’d keep is McGinn purely because he doesn’t have a long history of injuries, the one this year is his first bad one that I can see he’s had in his career. I like wee Paton and Davor as they do give their all but it’s probably not enough to make up for their limitations.

the rest of them, yip, I’ll wish them goodbye and all the best.

 

Think time is up for McGinn . 34 years and out much of this season, from memory he a thigh injury last season that kept him out during our poor run. 

I'd let him go , time to look ahead and get something different. 

The clubs recruitment has been awful. The last few seasons have come down to this time of the season saying  :

1) I hope we don't get drawn in the play offs. 
2) next season will be better when we get rid of xyz. 

We have typically off loaded players only to replace them with something worse. 

Our squad is majority of journeymen from England - time to change the approach. 

 

[El Grew]

1 hour ago, wellfan said:

For a variety or reasons, including being injury prone, shite and/or useless, every player on that list should be shown the door. Wimmer needs to rip up the squad and start again. 

Very similar to a list I posted recently and an indictment on us as a club - 34 players in our first team squad and as you say this 20 need to be shown the door.  To your list I’d add the following 5:

Watt                               O’Donnell                         Balmer                   Zadravkovski               Nicholson

If they all go, it would leave us with only 9 players - 8 if and when Lennon Miller goes.

One thing’s for certain, Herr Wimmer and his assistant are going to have a very busy close season.

[David]

As I posted elsewhere, according to what I can tell, we'll see the following first-team players return for next season at this stage:

• Aston Oxborough
• Stephen O'Donnell
• Liam Gordon
• Kofi Balmer
• John Koutroumbis
• Ewan Wilson
• Tom Sparrow
• Callum Slattery
• Lennon Miller
• Zach Robinson
• Apostolos Stamatelopoulos
• Sam Nicholson
• Tawanda Maswanhise
• Filip Stuparevic

And notable among the younger players on loan/in development squads I think we're set to lose Matty Connolly, Luca Ross & Mark Ferrie, while Dylan Wells has another year left on his deal.

I think, going by that list, Wimmer has not a bad base to work with next season, although it's clear that in order to completely change how we do things he's going to need two or even three transfer windows.

In my view, Oxborough, Gordon, Sparrow, Slattery, Stama and Maswanhise should be regarded as genuine first-team players, provided they stay fit and maintain their current level. That gives us six, five of whom are outfield. This effectively leaves Wimmer with room to bring in up to six new faces who could slot straight into the starting eleven.

The others on that list, realistically, will make up the squad depth and hopefully feature regularly from the bench. Let’s be honest, unless Wimmer sees something in pre-season that he feels he can develop, many of them will be sticking around simply because they’re under contract.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Balcombe returned as a backup goalkeeper, unless there’s a stronger alternative available. From what I can tell, beyond Oxborough there’s nobody else in that role worth noting. If Balcombe is open to taking on that job, he might be a straightforward short-term solution until something more solid comes along.

I’d also be tempted to explore whether anything can be done with Andrews. I know he’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I’ve seen glimpses of ability there that might come to the fore with a different setup around him. If Miller is sold, we’ll need someone to step into that role, and Andrews has shown flashes that suggest he could do it. It all comes down to his own aspirations and whatever plans his parent club might have.

Ultimately, it’s now up to Wimmer and the club to make the big decisions. Beyond the names already mentioned, I don’t see any strong case to extend deals for others currently in the squad. There’s clearly room to overhaul things, and how far that goes will depend on the manager and those handling recruitment.

[mfc]

10 minutes ago, wellsince75 said:

Think time is up for McGinn . 34 years and out much of this season, from memory he a thigh injury last season that kept him out during our poor run. 

I'd let him go , time to look ahead and get something different. 

The clubs recruitment has been awful. The last few seasons have come down to this time of the season saying  :

1) I hope we don't get drawn in the play offs. 
2) next season will be better when we get rid of xyz. 

We have typically off loaded players only to replace them with something worse. 

Our squad is majority of journeymen from England - time to change the approach. 

 

I wouldnt have been totally against mcginn being kept on but with odonnell,balmer and koutroumbis signed for next season,we can't be using anymore of our limited funds to keep anymore of our current defenders on.we need big changes in defence and there more we keep the less chance there is for any improvement next season.

[El Grew]

20 minutes ago, David said:

As I posted elsewhere, according to what I can tell, we'll see the following first-team players return for next season at this stage:

• Aston Oxborough
• Stephen O'Donnell
• Liam Gordon
• Kofi Balmer
• John Koutroumbis
• Ewan Wilson
• Tom Sparrow
• Callum Slattery
• Lennon Miller
• Zach Robinson
• Apostolos Stamatelopoulos
• Sam Nicholson
• Tawanda Maswanhise
• Filip Stuparevic

And notable among the younger players on loan/in development squads I think we're set to lose Matty Connolly, Luca Ross & Mark Ferrie, while Dylan Wells has another year left on his deal.

I think, going by that list, Wimmer has not a bad base to work with next season, although it's clear that in order to completely change how we do things he's going to need two or even three transfer windows.

In my view, Oxborough, Gordon, Sparrow, Slattery, Stama and Maswanhise should be regarded as genuine first-team players, provided they stay fit and maintain their current level. That gives us six, five of whom are outfield. This effectively leaves Wimmer with room to bring in up to six new faces who could slot straight into the starting eleven.

The others on that list, realistically, will make up the squad depth and hopefully feature regularly from the bench. Let’s be honest, unless Wimmer sees something in pre-season that he feels he can develop, many of them will be sticking around simply because they’re under contract.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Balcombe returned as a backup goalkeeper, unless there’s a stronger alternative available. From what I can tell, beyond Oxborough there’s nobody else in that role worth noting. If Balcombe is open to taking on that job, he might be a straightforward short-term solution until something more solid comes along.

I’d also be tempted to explore whether anything can be done with Andrews. I know he’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I’ve seen glimpses of ability there that might come to the fore with a different setup around him. If Miller is sold, we’ll need someone to step into that role, and Andrews has shown flashes that suggest he could do it. It all comes down to his own aspirations and whatever plans his parent club might have.

Ultimately, it’s now up to Wimmer and the club to make the big decisions. Beyond the names already mentioned, I don’t see any strong case to extend deals for others currently in the squad. There’s clearly room to overhaul things, and how far that goes will depend on the manager and those handling recruitment.

Great post and well argued.

The only ones on your list I’d try to move out (always assuming other clubs would be interested in them) would be O’Donnell, Balmer and Nicholson. I forgot all about Stuparevic. He’s currently on loan at Morton and as I’ve not seen him playing yet I will reserve judgment.