Retained list.

We haven't done this, have we? As the season fizzles to a close, who would keep from this squad and who would you get rid of? I have to admit that I am going to be very boring and say that, aside from Diallo who I am not yet convinced about (although he still has games left to impress), there isn't anyone that springs to mind that I would let go and I agree with Howells' assessment that we need a new centre half. As mentioned on another thread, I am not sure that we need another striker necessarily but I am not privy to who is going.

Last season's clear-out of the pensioners means that we have a young squad with only Gallinagh, Walsh, Watkins and Simmo at the upper end. The latter, I would hope, isn't going anywhere and I would obviously keep Gallinagh. Walsh has done enough to stay for another year and, while I would be happy for Watkins to stay another year, it wouldn't be a disaster if he was fed up with the travelling as long as we got an adequate replacement (that's a big 'if' with our patchy recruiting record). All the young kids have impressed me for the most part especially Bowman and Keary (I am not sure whether Hemmings counts as young) and all those in their mid-20s are well-established and worth keeping. If I was being extremely critical, Adelsbury is mistake-prone and patchy and Slocombe doesn't stick in my mind as being particularly impressive. However, neither have done enough wrong to be let go, I think.

Carry on with largely this squad, add what Howells wants (but get someone else to scout them perhaps) and bring some more kids through and I will be happy. As we are going to be looking at more of a consolidation year with the community ownership hopefully bedding in, I would even be happy for Howells, Britton and Rollo to stay. At least they are cheap/free, produce a pleasing quality of football and will give Rollo another year's experience before he, I imagine, takes over.

Diallo is a must stay, I've been impressed. Slocombe has other things on his mind I imagine. Keary might be looking for more starts elsehwhere, signals about another strong centre half (can see where the Steve Elliott interest was coming from) means he might be gone. Consolidation year? whileI think this was the year to win it, the points per game at the top shows it could have been anyones, next year this squad plus a couple must have their best chance even if the likes of Maidstone, Ebbsfleet plus Welling or Dartford will be coming strong.

I think it will be another year where there will be a lot of candidates and I think, realistically, sneaking into the play-offs will again be our best chance of elongating the season. I don't mind that either.

Marc Monitor wrote: only Gallinagh, Walsh, Watkins and Simmo at the upper end.

Gallinagh is 30, Walsh 31, Watkins 29 and Simmo 31 so we do have a very young squad.

Whilst it is probably unlikely I would have no problem if we kept exactly the same squad.

Release Walsh, keep Keary.

Luton Roman wrote:Diallo is a must stay, I've been impressed. Slocombe has other things on his mind I imagine. Keary might be looking for more starts elsehwhere, signals about another strong centre half (can see where the Steve Elliott interest was coming from) means he might be gone. Consolidation year? whileI think this was the year to win it, the points per game at the top shows it could have been anyones, next year this squad plus a couple must have their best chance even if the likes of Maidstone, Ebbsfleet plus Welling or Dartford will be coming strong.

He had a good game against Bromley.

Perhaps we should forget community ownership. Sell the club as a franchise and relocate it to Kent, saving a fortune in travelling.

This is always a hard thread to do. My view is that I suspect Walsh and Watkins will go.

Travelling and all that.

Elliot will join.

And there will be a hung parliament.......

.......and the euro will strengthen against sterling.

I assumed - and hoped - the Steve Elliott interest was over. I just can't see any point unless he is on a pay-per-play contract.

pete mac wrote:This is always a hard thread to do. My view is that I suspect Walsh and Watkins will go.

Travelling and all that.

Elliot will join.

And there will be a hung parliament.......

and Somerset will narrowly lose out to Middlesex for the championship title.

Yes, I wonder if Walsh will be retained. Apart from the travelling, I don't think he has been as dominating as when he first returned. We definitely need someone to bolster the central defence and I'd imagine Walsh would expect to be starting every game. Having said that, he has been excellent in some games and provides the leadership we often lack on the pitch.

Archie indicated very clearly that they wanted people at training......conclusions follow........

Let Watkins go. With Diablo and Stearn we have two short speedy players. Do we need a third?

Stearn's goals and great photo poses for yuffie win him a place.

The team is not young, however much it has been advertised as such. According to the website*, we have just 4 players (Ball, Bowman, Hemmings and Keary) who are under 24 but all over 21. Young players are 17-18 year-olds. We could use more of the Academy and University players.
*The website does not include players like Perry, Elliott Gibbons and some more. These players have played very few games.

Steve Whites Missus wrote:Stearn's goals and great photo poses for yuffie win him a place.

I'm sure he's read some of Yuffie's comments about him!!

My immediate thought is that, as Yuffie says, I would be happy if we were to keep the same squad - but we need to increase it with a couple of Academy/U21 players (thereby at little extra cost) that were deemed worthy of more fully integrating into the 'regulars', as we have operated this season with too few to pick from (noticably short on the bench too often).

I don't like talking about this much when there are still several games to go.

I believe Diallo has been played out of position ever since the Farnborough home game out wide left. He does not look the same player here at all but he is gradually getting used to the role.

What we really need is a real leader at the back. Presumably to get one who is also of at least the standard of player we have already got will mean someone will have to leave.

Adie decided to sacrifice having a back up goalie to maintain the quality of the outfield players. I can see his point. Would someone want to sit on the bench all the time - even Barrington?

I wouldn't have said goals were our problem.

An additional keeper doesn't have to sit on the bench if he has dual registration as I believe Barrington has with Larkhall. Maybe it's not as simple as that, but I think you have to be a hell of a keeper to be the club's only choice.

but when would he play? How would that create competition?

http://www.bathchronicle.co.uk/Bath-City-forward-Andy-Watkins-says-lowly-Hayes/story-26270180-detail/story.html

Andy Watkins pretty clear where he wants to be next season.

I don't see why the situation for a keeper is that different to any other position. We have more than one player to fill most on field positions. It's true that many players can fill more than one position, but fans don't show concern at a player who may sit on the bench for many weeks. Would be interesting to see how many clubs at this level just have the single keeper in their squad.
Still, we'll have Trego to provide that competition next season!

Luton Roman wrote:http://www.bathchronicle.co.uk/Bath-City-forward-Andy-Watkins-says-lowly-Hayes/story-26270180-detail/story.html

Andy Watkins pretty clear where he wants to be next season.

I think Jason has been working on his distribution. He is looking to throw out as often as he can and there are noticeably less back passes to him. Dan Ball has been clearing to row z all season and Keary seems to have taken the same view.

The point about goalkeepers is that they are never substituted except for injury. A reserve goalie will be on the bench the entire game. If we paid for one good enough to wear the jersey would that be a good use of money?

No, perhaps not. But was it sensible 12 months ago to rely on Jason always being available? His 3 match suspension led to us bringing in the bloke from Reading, whose short stay ended with the Gosport incident. I'd hope that a repeat for Jason on Monday would lead to a call up for Barrington at Larkhall, but I'm never sure how immediately we have access to a dual registration.

That was worth it to see Josh Low don the gloves.