Why have we 3 goalies as well as an U23’s keeper ? I was expecting Collins or Walton to move on but there doesn’t seem to be any speculation. Perhaps we could get Searle to become our “ big ‘un up front ?” OR … have I missed summat ?
I don’t know, but if I had to guess, I am thinking we expected Collins to move on, Walton to step up and then a fight for the no.2. Maybe we will keep Collins and then makes sense for a loan out for Searle.
Yeah that seems the most logical reason. Duff and Searle arrived at the same time approximately so it would seem unlikely that our manager had any say. Anyway, it’ll be sorted soon
We’ve always had that many goalkeepers. We just went like for like in the Summer and replaced one that we had released.
So, in our full playing squad of about 36, we’ve 5 keepers ? Obviously one will depart soon by whichever method
No not necessarily, we have 4/5 keepers spread across 3 teams the club has. Collins and Walton are the two for the first team. Searle has been playing in the u23s games recently then the other two are academy keepers who will battle it out to play in u18s. I am also only aware of 4 keepers at the club personally. Collins, Searle, Walton and Flavell but there could well be one I have missed. I must admit I am not that up to speed with the current crop of academy players etc.
Nothing new here is there. This sudden desire to start including some of the academy prospects as evidence that the squad is bulky is pretty new. There’s always been layers to the squad, otherwise how do you field all the different teams?
As a league 1 club with a huge revenue deficit, we can't have the largesse of squad we had in the championship. Kids are going to have to step up and fill holes when we have injuries or suspensions. We couldn't really afford to have the approach we did one league up. So something has to give. 3 possible keepers at first team level is too much to me and seems an obvious way of saving a salary.
Yeah it is all pretty standard to me, most clubs have 3 keepers (2 for first team and then one is in youth side) then every club with an academy will have one or two more that play at that level. All pretty normal.
We only have 2 senior keepers. It is very normal. The other keepers we have are 'kids' and will be on very small wages. Searle is very young and has 3 first team appearances to his name which came for a team called Melville. There is no need for any of them to go anywhere. The area that needs trimming is the attacking area if anything. We have a lot of attacking players at the club but none of them are very good.
Every little helps. And I agree with you with front players, but we're not going to get rid of Oulare anytime soon, so we have to be realistic as to where savings can be made. But then you look at our front players and we've just played a game where 19 year old Marsh played and 16 year old Jalo was brought on (for his first kick at professional level), so we have under 23's and under 18s in and around the first team and picking up game time. On our website, Flavell is listed as under 23's keeper and we then have Searle listed with the first team squad, granted he's only 21, but Walton wasn't very old when he made his debut for us either and is still only 24 I think. You also have the benefit of using an emergency loan if you get multiple keeper injuries. So I stand by my view that 3 first team keepers in league 1 is an excess we can't afford and arguably blocks Flavells progression.
Ravenhill has stepped up and has been playing for U18’s and Flavell is listed as being the U23’s goalie. One of the main three should go methinks
Duff did say some signings were agreed before he came in... Maybe Khaled was expecting Collins to go but dint get an offer.. People when we sell a player say... why don't we get a replacement in first.. Well here we may have done just that.. but no one's left. Yet
Searle isn't one of the main three. He's there to develop as our U23's keeper and step on to the bench if we get an injury to our two genuine first team goalkeepers. Our Academy keepers are there to develop ongoing. As kids should be allowed to do. Start cutting at that level and we'll be involving them too early or won't have a development programme worth talking about.
Completely agree. The club think we currently have 3 first team goalkeepers. We can't afford that. It's that simple really.
We list three goalkeepers on our website as part of the first team squad. Shrewsbury have four goalkeepers listed in their first team squad. Morecambe have three. We really need to stop looking for faults because almost always there's an example of another team doing the same and proven it's fairly common.
I just feel for Flavell … He was on the bench for last 2 games and has been given a pro contract this summer only to find that he is potentially number 4 in the pecking order. I suppose that’s football though. It’ll be right on the night !
Agree. I'll be surprised, and dismayed if we still have 3 first team goalkeepers come the close of the transfer window. I suspect Collins and Walton are on a decent amount too. No brainer to offload one of them and then move the conveyor belt along.