Dan Ball Leaves

Not surprised to see Dan return to Swindon. The writing was on the wall when he was substituted on Tuesday.
Dan has been a stalwart of our defence for so long but can't blame him for wanting to play regularly.
I wonder if one or two of our other contracted players, that have had limited opportunities, do likewise?

I’d like to see Tom Richards get more game time, but seems a long way down the order now.

Firstly, sad to say goodbye to Dan Ball who has been a great servant to club, but been peripheral in last few years since Jerry came in.
However, I wonder when we are going to hear what’s going on with Ben Gerring and Ryan Harley?
Gerring’s tweets (some which have since been removed), suggest he’s not playing for us again….what is happening with him being paid, as assume he isn’t going to walk from his contract?
Ryan Harley has been nowhere to be seen either…need a bit of transparency, as talk is absence isn’t due to injury.
If there is a more innocent explanation for above, Club should be subtlety putting it out there.
If these two (contracted) players are remaining on the payroll whilst not playing, this is a massive waste of what was already a very tight budget.
On other social media people are calling for Jerry to go (he won’t...just signed a new contract - club can’t afford to sack him).
I don’t go with that train of thought at the moment - I think that Jerry should be given more time, but that the Board needs to be asking questions at the end of the season re his recruitment decisions this year (which has been pretty spot on until recently).

The Gerring/Harley situation is the current elephant in the room at the club. The fans should be given some sort of update on what is going on . There is a lot of speculation out amongst supporters at the moment that isnt doing the club any favours. On the Dan Ball front I am sorry to see him leave the club (again) and wish him all the best. Got a feeling we might not see him again in a City shirt which is a shame as been a great servant to the club.

Steve Whites Missus wrote:I’d like to see Tom Richards get more game time, but seems a long way down the order now.

Agree. Richards always looks busy when he plays and can score goals unlike some who appear to be ahead of him in the midfield pecking order He must have the patience of a saint to be on the bench every week

I think that a number of people have been ticked off for speculating on this Forum in the past, so, in this example, I would just like to take what has been officially published about Dan, and leave it at that:-

The official statement on the arrival of new loan signings reads "On the arrival of these players, we have allowed Dan Ball to return to Swindon Supermarine until the end of the current season, to play some football regularly which we were unable to guarantee him."

I know that players do not often return to us after such a lengthy spell out on loan, but there is nothing to suggest that Dan's return to Swindon Supermarine is a permanent one.

For my part I hope that he does return - and even gets recalled earlier should we run into an injury crisis, or takes the place of an incoming loanee who does not turn out to cut the mustard with Jerry.

I am afraid that our squad is in quite a state of turmoil at the moment - half of me wants much more clarification about who, if anybody, has fallen out with whom, and why - but the other half of me still trusts in Jerry to sort out his own mess behind as many closed doors as he wants - and then to lead us back onto that path to the promised land.

Above all, we must all try not to speculate on here, or elsewhere. It can spread like Chinese whispers, and do no good.

Well said, Steve. Like you I hope we haven’t seen the end of Dan Ball but I’ll be very surprised if he returns. And that view isn’t based on any inside knowledge, which I’m no longer party to!

On Friday evening I commented on Twitter about Dan Ball's move to Supermarine and that we had replaced him with a 20 year old loanee with no experience of playing at this level - imagine my surprise when I received a stream of direct messages from Jerry criticising my comment. I must have a look for all of the ones he sent me when I had said something positive...

I would be very surprised if we see Dan at the club again, although from something he tweeted I think he was keen to fight for his place but he clearly doesn't fit into Jerry's plans.

I thought BCR said a couple of weeks ago that Harley had gone although the club hasn't confirmed this, but they are going to have to address the Gerring issue at some point.

Just for clarity I said on the radio pre-match Tuesday a correction to the Harley comment. There had been a mix-up somewhere and I think the words used were ‘we understand Ryan Harley has left the club.’ Key word being ‘understand’ but in the situation nothing should have been said as I have no confirmation either way. It could have been something I said off air which was misinterpreted so I take some responsibility too.

Well assuming Ryan Harley and Ben Gerring aren't injured we have a small matter of the Somerset Cup coming up. If not in the first team I would expect to see them playing this game.

I think we've got more chance of seeing Graham Withey playing!

kermit wrote:I think we've got more chance of seeing Graham Withey playing!

And he'd probably score a couple of times, too................