SweeperKeeper

He didn't add so much to the existing squads either time, although Gerrard and (especially) Palmer were excellent signings. I'm more thinking back to when he was trying to build a squad in his longer stint.

You'd hope Kevin Roberts should be able to provide some advice and contacts when it comes to media engagement and marketing.

I think he needs help with recruitment. Doesn't necessarily have to be a 'Director of Football', but if we are really trying to make a new long-term start then we need a new long-term appointment in charge of identifying and signing talent.

Recruitment has never been Shez' strong point, going off his previous stints here and elsewhere. Even so, the only circumstance we should be thinking about replacing him is if we are in the relegation zone with a few weeks to play. We need to try and build a Latics culture and Latics style of play, and that will take time. We need to improve our scouting though under the new management. Just taking whatever a couple of agents send our way wasn't working. Haughton is hardly news to anyone who even casually follows non-league, and he's exactly the type of player we should have been in for.

It'll be interesting to see whether Fondop or Porter can work together, or whether it's one or the other. Either way, they need service from wide. Tollitt should be playing wide instead of Stobbs or Hope.

That just shows we have too many passengers.

Hopefully those who were criticising buying players from non-league and thinking that any player with league experience will succeed are getting a reality check. We aren't going anywhere with non-goal scoring "forwards", passengers who run about without ever challenging for the ball, and players who can't complete a pass or cross.

Was amazed so many fans on here wanted Hope to stay. Luxury is the right word. We need footballers, not people who jog around the pitch and never touch the ball.

And from today https://twitter.com/whatingleshot/status/1552718801996845057

A couple of videos:

Wouldn't have been surprised to see the likes of Jem Karacan and Luke Joyce turning up for us as trialists rather than at Radcliffe. We could do with a player in their mould.

Didn't we nearly sign him last season?

You'd hope Shez would just tell his opposite number to get in his face a bit, doesn't take much physical to make him hide in the centre circle. Would be nice to have a real enforcer in the middle again.

Just seen a picture of him, 99% sure that's Ben Tollitt who was at Fylde and Tranmere. Think he'd be a much better bet for this season than Stobbs wide right.

Please don't say he is taking all our set pieces again as well

Given he played only 900 minutes last season, I agree. I doubt he'll come cheap, either. Budget needs to go on players who can turn out most weeks.

Being a battler and putting a tackle in is a separate matter. My issue is the lads who aren't even good at that but get a free pass because they run around a lot. When you compare it to the stick that gets thrown at some players who can actually do something with the ball, it feels unfair.

We truly are the club for footballers who have issues with the "foot" and "ball" parts of the game. Run around a lot at Boundary Park and you'll have fans for life.

Imagine how far he could launch one of his "crosses" in low gravity.

He's a one-trick pony, he's got a good long shot. If you build the way you play around that, he'll do alright. If you expect him to do literally anything else - run, pass, tackle, mark - he's going to look even worse at higher level.

He looks like Graeme Souness next to Whelan and Keillor-Dunn.

Between Coleman and Simpson it would be a no-brainer. Coleman is a couple of classes above Simpson, and he's not even that old (26). And it's not like he didn't play last season, he made 21 starts for Rochdale. Simpson sat on the bench for two seasons in the National League without making a single start, for comparison. Somehow doubt Coleman would come back, but if he was up for it I don't think we'd do any better.

Was decent for us playing next to James Wilson, but had a couple of long injury lay offs at the end of the Johnson era. We signed Anthony Gerrard to cover for him and he left for Colchester over that summer.

You can get away with a comedy duff signing if your squad is properly balanced. Two strikers for a full season is already pushing it when the strikers are half-decent, just due to form and the injuries. But when those strikers are Blyth and Hope, we were doomed from the start.

Got the moves but hasn't got the touch?