Crusoe

Great signing. Bring in a right back today or tomorrow and I’ll start planning my promotion party straight away.

Dylan Fage signs for St Albans City in the National League South.

1 hour ago, Gaz_Oafc said:

Dogdale sign 30odd year old local, ex-donny midfielder who've legs have gone.

 

No, not Dan Gardner, Adam Clayton!

 

Not a bad signing for them on paper to be fair.

Adam Clayton? Hasn’t he lost his Edge?

1 minute ago, Sparkleking said:

Does that mean Windass has left or is he there on a trial basis?  Hope he does leave as it will be better for him playing regular football and we would save a small (probably very small) amount on wages.  Good luck to the guy if he goes.

I presume as a trialist. Think he’s under contract so unless we’ve settled up (which I’d expect the club to announce) he’s still on our books.

1 minute ago, nzlatic said:

I'm now googling to see if Charlie Raglan looks 75% like Andrew Dallas.

I was about to do exactly the same! Does he?

Interesting. O/S says he'll wear number 16. So we still don't have a number 2 confirmed yet...

Just now, nzlatic said:

Is anyone concerned? More having a discussion about what it might mean for the squad in general.

The possible effect on morale's been mentioned a couple of times. I think it'd be a nice problem to have for once.

After years of suffering mediocre players, especially attackers, it’s a bit baffling that there’s now concern at having too many good players.

11 minutes ago, True Tic said:

If he’s a forward do we really need him? 

Always worth upgrading the squad, no? Can play on the wing and a better scoring prospect than Hope. 

This one is not a scouting guide, more about the (warts and all) life of a scout. It’s very good; Calvin has won awards for his football writing. 

@BP1960 have you read The Nowhere Men by Michael Calvin? It’s about the lives of football scouts. Curious if it resonates with your experience. 

Some more:

Moore, 41

Chapman, 43

Forshaw, 44

I’d guess Cookson will be 42. 

51 minutes ago, Hemel latic said:

I'm getting soft in my old age but I do wish we could be kinder to each other when we disagree.

Yep, me too.

The 1-11 makes sense, including the missing 2. 12 free for a name to come in too. 

Hudson, 13

Couto, 27

I get that. No worries (edit: to Monty).
 

On Unsworth, I think he clearly talks the talk and sounds like he’s bought into the longer term project. It’s absolutely fair to say he hasn’t walked the walk yet and needs to prove he can. 
 

I’ll cut him slack for the start as he inherited a poor squad. When he got to reshape that results started to improve. Now he needs to show he can build that further. But what he saying makes sense - picking a formation to suit the game, prioritising winning over pretty football. That’s what I want to hear.

Just now, Monty Burns said:

l get that but lm not talking about grumbles lm talking about breaking the dressing room. we aren't in European competition this season so we don't need three players for each spot.

l also don't want anybody who is happy to sit ont bench.

Then we ship players out. I’m just slightly bemused that we wouldn’t want to risk an upgrade on Hope or Fondop in case it rocks the boat.

5 minutes ago, Londonboy said:

 

Looking at his record with Weymouth, Solihull and Chesterfied over the past 2.5 seasons he's a pretty much guarenteed 25 goals per season striker.....why wouldn't we want him if avaiable?? Fondop showed he's better as an impact striker last season, Reid can play off any front man, Nuttall got grief at some point from most supporters and Willoughby's unproven. 

 

He's more likely to get game time with us than Chesterfield.

I'd take Dallas tomorrow!

Yes, reminds me of this quote from A Life Less Ordinary:

Al: Nice-looking woman.

Robert: She isn't my type.

Al: What are you talking about? Look at yourself. You're nothing. You're nobody. You're wanted in connection with a violent crime. You're cleaning the floor of a diner. She is an intelligent, passionate, beautiful, rich woman. The issue of whether or not she's your type is not one that you're likely to have to resolve in this world... or, indeed, the next, since she will be going to some heaven for glamorous [redacted], and you will be cleaning the floor of a diner in hell.

Robert: I guess so.

Al: So why are you even thinking about it?

I’d much rather have grumbles about competition than no competition. 
 

If we play 3 up front that’s 7 (including Dallas) to choose from, which covers for injuries and loss of form. And Hope could move on.

1 minute ago, LightDN123 said:

Do we need him ? Would be a good signing but that’s 5 strikers that will all be expecting to start, maybe Fondop is happy on the bench. 

Depends on the formation I guess. Nuttall and Fondop play the centre, Reid, Hope and Willoughby will or can play wide. One extra striker seems no bad thing for strength in depth. 

Yeah, he’s clearly going for the diplomatic answers. Same for the Yarney question, he wasn’t going to slate him.

Sutton, 21, from the look of it.

Who’s wearing what number in the photos?

I can see:

Norman, 1

Hogan, 4

Willoughby, 7

Fondop, 9

Nuttall, 10 (I think)

Ward, 11

???, 18 (I know I should know who this is)

Reid, 25

It's a shame. Would've liked him to stay and been integral to a promotion-winning team.

Still, it won't be the first or last time a player decides to go for the money elsewhere. We move on.

Do we have a women's side? I looked on the club website and it mentions the Girls & Women's club, but that only seems to be U18, U12, U11, U9 and U8 sides.

Just curious as both of the other teams I keep an eye out for - both National League South, so lower down the pyramid - are going all-in promoting their women's sides this season. Signing announcements, cross-promotion with the men's side, etc.