Jason Mellor released

According to his twitter account he is "gutted" not to be signing and have the opportunity to "right a couple of wrongs" and "give it a good go". Thanks the fans etc.

Sorry to see him go. My view is that with some proper coaching and a good organising centre back in front of him he would be a very good keeper.
Can only assume they have someone else lined up.
Good luck Jason.

Fully agree, Steve.

Whoever we get in I hope we don't end up wishing we'd kept Jason.

Also means we won't have Steve filming our games next season.

Bloody hell, that is a surprise. I know that he dropped us a couple of goals and possibly a couple of points as well and also almost got us knocked out of the Trophy but he also kept us in a lot of matches. Big shoes to fill.

This suggests Archie/Adie have lined up a replacement.

I am less surprised. Jason made some great saves but the individual errors were always costly. If we want promotion we need the cut out the defensive errors.

I wish him all the best as he has all the attributes......

I do think he was (is?) a good shot stopper and a generally decent keeper.  The problem with the lapses and the kicking was that;
a) it makes the defence nervous and leads to unforced errors on their part as they hesitate or are reluctant to pass it back so make mistakes in trying to clear it.
b) the opposition work it out either before the game or during (see WSM away) and they play to it by playing a high line to keep the pressure on.

Think while I agree with Roman Mike/Pete Mac to an extent, I am more in the SteveS camp.
Jason did make some mistakes, but he was a sodding good goalkeeper, who at 25 (?) had plenty of time to improve. Am really not sure about this one, can see this properly biting us in the arse.

I think the management must have found a replacement otherwise he would have surely stayed.........

pete mac wrote:I think the management must have found a replacement otherwise he would have surely stayed.........

You'd assume so! Maybe when we asked the WsM keeper if he was joining us when we played at their place and he said yes he was telling the truth!

(Disclaimer, we were joking when we asked it, and the keeper as soon as he said "yes", joked and made it clear no, no, no)

This is what happens with a one keeper policy and that keeper loses form. It was obvious to me that Jason needed a break during the spring, having lost his confidence. Hopefully he will regain it next season at a new club and will come back all the stronger for it. Good luck, Jason!

And thanks to his dad for taking the trouble to post footage on here - much appreciated.

I wonder if ex City/Rovers keeper Steve Philips would be a rumoured signing? I believe he was helping Jason out with some coaching last season.

Peter Trego
Just means we might have to play rush goalies at the start of the season but once the cricket is over

Puddy

Diallo too- see the website.

I would have let Chris Allen go. Someone stronger needed in the midfield for this league.

yuffie wrote:Puddy

I thought that some weeks ago and now that they have got promotion I can't see them keeping him.

I'm sure I heard a rumour about a former short-lived keeper coming back to us at the end of the season. Someone like Pentney or Bittner or someone.

Evans?

To be honest I think Jason's days were numbered when Lee Howells gave him 10 games to prove himself at the end of last season. Will be interesting to see who comes in to replace him.

Like others, I was surprised to read that we were offering terms to all of last season's squad except for Jason, Ross Stearn and Naby Diallo. Presumably the idea that all players should live no more than an hour from Bath has been shelved, as that would have ruled out Andy Watkins, Ben Adelsbury and Phil Walsh to name but three. Particularly surprised that we have retained Ben Adelsbury and Chris Allen, because they hardly featured after the F A Trophy defeat.

At the risk of being accused of making a snide comment, I assume from the player comings and goings that Adie Britton and Lee Howells have now signed their contracts for next season.

LB wrote:At the risk of being accused of making a snide comment, I assume from the player comings and goings that Adie Britton and Lee Howells have now signed their contracts for next season.

I bet they were kicking themselves when the Real Madrid role came up for grabs

LB wrote: I was surprised to read that we were offering terms to all of last season's squad except for Jason, Ross Stearn and Naby Diallo

The statement on the club website doesn't suggest that Diallo was released - it merely states that he is to have a trial with a Conference Premier club. I would hope that if the trial proves unsuccessful we would snap him up as quickly as possible.

Manchester Romans wrote:

LB wrote: I was surprised to read that we were offering terms to all of last season's squad except for Jason, Ross Stearn and Naby Diallo

The statement on the club website doesn't suggest that Diallo was released - it merely states that he is to have a trial with a Conference Premier club. I would hope that if the trial proves unsuccessful we would snap him up as quickly as possible.

Yes indeed.  I think he's a pretty good player who covers a lot of ground and looks comfortable with the ball.  Not the finished article maybe, but still quite young.

As I said before Jason will do better elsewhere. Before he came we were absolute suckers for headed goals. My heart was in my mouth every time we conceded a corner. He sorted that out.

I have never been a big fan of the big boot out of the penalty box. If it is absolutely necessary why didn't someone else take goal kicks? Jason has a great throw so players should have been coached to provide the outlet for it.

I expect him to do well elsewhere. Best of luck to him.

I think Naby was played out of position. We need left sided players so someone had to go. Personally I would have preferred to keep him but his sendings off may have been influential.

BenE wrote:I think Naby was played out of position. We need left sided players so someone had to go. Personally I would have preferred to keep him but his sendings off may have been influential.

Both by the same referee and the double yellow was certainly soft (influenced by the st. red?).