Just playing devils advocate here but we could be about to sign 3 or 4 good players, we could be in the middle of a takeover that will move this club on massively, I've no idea if this is true or not but my point is that no one knows what's going on behind the scenes, I'm pretty sure Hecky knows that for him this job is probably one of the most secure jobs he'll have, obviously that's only my opinion
We've replaced the majority I'd say, hard to judge whether they're 'adequate' before they've kicked a ball I suppose. Hecky was critical of the Roberts situation for this reason, although we did sign Pinnock the same day.
This is it, Mowatt was signed shortly after the departure of Hourihane, it could be argued that he was Conor's replacement. Left footed creative midfield player. At present, he hasn't lived anywhere near up to Conor's standard. McGeehan could potentially when he's fit again either.
No replacements for Winnall, Watkins, Morsy or Scowen that I can see. As for the others who are more obvious replacements i.e the defence, the jury is well and truly out.
In answer to the OP, I don't fear him leaving. I do get the frustration he's hinted at in recent interviews, and the turnover has been high. But I also think, as Academy / U21 coach, he had bought into "the plan" from our side at that level, and although I can't quote directly, I'm sure Patrick Cryne cited continuity of this as a key factor in appointing PH as caretaker and then permanently. If we are struggling after 10 or 15 games, it'll be interesting to see if "experience" is sought at a price, or if relegation is seen as short term collateral damage. Yo-yo existence seems like a potential outcome.
if we went on two successive relegations through hecky he should never be sacked..its those useless tw@ts in the boardroom that have constantly let our squad be ripped apart and its those that should carry the can is there any other club that has this happen to them year in year out?
This summer we sold 2 so far - (maybe 3 if you count Kpekawa but lets ignore that) , but we also sold 3 in the January window and lost 2 other key players this summer. Dont tell me the plan is to lose 7 first team players every season because thats whats just happened
One of the 4 you mentioned was a loanee, and 2 others were out of contract so signing a replacement prior to these wasn't going to be possible. Winnall is the obvious one that we've still not replaced, and I get the impression that up front is the area where we're having most difficulty recruiting. In terms of the defence, one centre half is out injured, and the other centre half we've signed has played one competitive game. So yes the jury is still out, we're not going to be able to form a valid opinion of either I reckon until after the international break at the very earliest.
How many players from the squad that finished the season are now unavailable for one reason or another? Roberts white Yiadom Watkins Scowen James Kent Armstrong elder Jones. Nearly a full team.
You're right on Morsy (especially as by all accounts we were confident of signing him permanently), but the club will have known that Scowen and Watkins were almost certain to leave well in advance of the end of the season. Given this I'd say that it's even more surprising that they weren't replaced ahead of their departures, let alone once the following season has already begun.
all you need to keep players that wont sign a new contract is masking tape, a shotgun and the address of their families, that seems more or less what people are saying. if a player wont accept the offer there's nothing you can do, you've got to maximise his worth, suck it up and move on ( barca and p.s.g. is a prime example) as for hecky moving on at the moment he's in a win/win situation, i.e. how can he be expected to do anything with losing his players and cant get the right ones in, it aint his fault, if we get a bit of success decent cup run, mid to top half finish and some good scalps then the mans a genius and has doubled his stock. so to the usual suspects just quit with the constant moaning and get behind the club or go to watch weds or man city
Sestren has basically summed up what I would have said. I would also say that if we hadn't tried to pull Wigan's plonker we could have kept Morsy until the end of the season.
i honestly think there's more to the morsey business than meets the eye, him and sam the snake double quick out of the door and the next thing the c.e.o erm "leaves"........................................... stinks of the darkside
I think it's become apparent that we are having difficulty getting deals over the line. January was a disaster, caused in main by our head coach having to do additional roles which he shouldn't have needed to do. We'll probably never get the full story behind Linton Brown's departure, however surely it was caused in the main by the Winnall departure, the failure to sign Morsy and probably the seemingly lacklustre stance taken on offering new contracts. We desperately needed players, and this was highlighted by the signings of Elder, James, Mowatt and Hedges fairly late in the window; Hedges and Elder signing seemed a little desperate (although I'm willing to retract that based on Hedges start to this season), James was there to plug the gap left by Morsy in my opinion, which he did adequately. We probably did intend to layer more in January, however this was disrupted by the number of key players with low time left on contracts. I don't think we'll have such an ossie going forwards. The main of this squad should be here for the next 2 seasons, we should be able to layer better in the future. We just need to complete our business this window, ideally with 4 more permanent transfers, complemented with loans to fill out the squad.
I think the club have dealt with what caused the Morsy deal to collapse, although we'll never get to the bottom of Linton's departure fully. I'd say Matty James was his replacement in the short term.
That's what I thought. In that respect the plan's a good 'un. But to sell so many, all at one in big job lots, then that's just ridiculous. It's soul destroying for the fans.