Hemel latic

Leutweiler to Port Vale, confirmed.

No one's pulled up any plants in recent years. You'd have to go back to 18/19 when Stockport and Torquay were promoted. Might expect Fylde to do best out of this year's crop, with their financial clout.

If I was going to the fans forum tomorrow night my question would be what's the target in the league this season? If I was the CEO setting the target in consultation with the manager, the target range would be 2nd-5th.

Rooney, Leutwiler, Burgess and Windass could have all moved on by the end of the week, with Leutweiler on the verge of a move to Port Vale. Any potential misgivings about Rooney aside that would be really good business.

I'm also a fan of the strategy of signing relatively young, hungry players, based in the North, whose careers are on an upward trajectory and come with good fitness records, they all played plenty of games last season. It's a massively welcome change from recent years. RB and a LW or LM are the two I want to see in now. They're clearly working on a RB and it sounds like there are a couple of irons in the fire. I'm confident we'll get our business done in good time. Even if nobody else came in we're light years ahead of where we've been in any pre-season for a number of years.

That's a nice little summary for me. I'm generally well disposed towards him. Last season was frustrating, he can't afford another like that at his age. I hope he has a really good pre-season and rolls back the years, it's probably unlikely but let's hope.

Is it right that two of the U18 lads (Atkinson and Okeke I think) haven't accepted the deals they were offered? Will we get fees if they rock up elsewhere?

I'm content the club will make the right decision in respect of fee v. free agent. Had been wondering, as with others, about the number of fees we've paid since Frank came in, think there's a few. I imagine you may have to wait longer for free agents as they weight up different options and their agent touts them round. Might be that where you pay a fee you can get the player, or the type of player, you want in quicker. As @Monty Burns says, having a settled squad for pre-season is very exciting and means we should hit the ground running on 5 August. Financially as well if it's in the region of £50k which was rumoured with Lundstram you can price it into the budget for a player in that position. Over the course of a 2 year contract 50k, or £500 a week, doesn't sound very much. Which is why I should never be CFO.

Courtney Duffus to Barrow, one year contract.

Of course I should have said, best chance to play in a cup final at Wembley again.

I really hope a good run in the FA Trophy is one of our objectives next season. Hopefully our last ever chance to win it and the best chance we'll ever have to play in a cup final at Wembley. We would take so many it would be an amazing day out.

Thanks @Frankly Mr Shankly, this is what i was referring to, really interesting . And yet, I maintain ex-league clubs initially underestimate the opposition. Perhaps it's unavoidable? One slight inaccuracy, presumably Cheltenham were promoted as champions but still, only 3 relegated clubs promoted at first attempt over a long timeframe.

I also think he was probably brought back before he was fully fit, think this happened with a few players. Hopefully this will happen less frequently next season with a stronger squad.

Someone posted on here (apologies, can't remember who for a credit) that teams often struggle in their first season in this league before mounting a promotion campaign in season two. I do think our players, club and fans all made the mistake of underestimating this league last season. Some of it in jest from the fans, "Southern Leisure Centres" etc, and it's difficult not to be sniffy given our history. But it's a tough league with teams that are used to winning, teams that are ambitious, ex-League teams desperate to escape. Attitude is going to be important next year and hopefully there will be a realisation that you can't just turn up at Boreham Wood on a Tuesday and expect to win because we are Oldham Athletic. I think the attitude was good in that second half of the season and I do think the winning run helps with confidence. Many reasons for optimism.

J-Low! Loved him, pace to burn. J-Low's son, also J-Low, plays for Bristol City. How is that even possible??

Time to get on board the charabanc.

That's a good day out.

I would imagine the ideal is to go into pre-season knowing with some certainty the likely composition of your squad. When does pre-season start, around 1 July? With the contract offers I guess we want them signed asap, the players may want to tease it out. If someone comes in for them that will give them greater bargaining power on the contractual terms.

First three for certain, haven't figured under Unsworth. Possibly Ben Tollitt for the mystery fourth man? Used sparingly in 2023.

Is there any word from the club on the number of deals offered? I thought they'd said at the forum that they were going to offer three deals for three years. Perhaps there's interest from other clubs and some of those offered terms are unlikely to accept.

Writing a Mark Benton vehicle may have led to the demise of your promising script. Perhaps we could put it on at the Coli.., oh hang on.

I disagree on that point Monty. The list is very clear in respect of who is under contract for 23/24, who has been released at the end of their new contract and who has been offered new terms. The only slight confusion was over Yarney, still under contract but offered improved terms whereas the other players on that list have been offered new terms at the end of their contracts.

This looks much less of a problem now with only 3, possibly 4, players in the squad that won't figure in the manager's plans next season. Leutwiler is the one that really stands out for me. It seems to have been made really obvious he has no future at the club with the signing of Hudson, and Hudson being offered new terms. However this has been the case for at least six months and he's still here. Poor Windass is probably also stuck. He went out on loan last season to Buxton in the NLN, surely needs to be playing at his age. And Luke Burgess. Loan to Alty but featured exclusively as a substitute. I suppose there might be the prospect of him moving on. I reckon McGahey might feature if, IF, he's fully fit after his back problems. Everyone else in the squad has featured under Unsworth. Suspect the Luamba contract offer is either because there's interest, or he's been showing in training, or a combination of the two.

No real surprises, perhaps Luamba aside despite his undoubted promise. Getting this sorted early is professional and compassionate, let's everyone know where they are and begin planning for the future.

Impressive in the couple of games I saw him play, performances that belied his years in a struggling team.