Simon Clark

Just seen that Ryan Schofield has been released by Portsmouth. Great age at 24, decent experience with Huddersfield and a previous loan spell with us, although I don't think he's had much game time in the last couple of seasons.

That league has had some horrific fixture pile ups at the end of the season. I think at least 2 of them had to play 12+ games in the last month. Great to see Bury at Gigg Lane as well. Makes you wonder what might have happened if the Salford owners have invested in a club like this instead of one which openly wanted to be non league (from watching the documentary on Sky, which seems borne out by their low attendances).

I noticed for the last game of the season, Northampton v Notts is at Sixfields. Seems like they're doing the same as us, giving them the final game at the main stadium.

It shows what constant victories, loads of money (relative to the league) and all the publicity they get can do. Crowds are far higher than they got as a League side.

I'm guessing Loughborough gets first pick of the students. I was told Notts don't pay anything, I don't know if any other teams do, although I can't imagine it would be much given the small crowds. I agree with you regarding ML although I suppose it must cost quite a lot to open the stadium and the more games, the worse the pitch becomes. I notice there have been several Forest U21 games planned at ML and then switched, so wonder if we've asked for that.

I hope they survive and manage to build on this next season, but there's been a lot of below par stuff going on this season. I've watched them 8 times this season and they failed to score in any of the first 5. I don't know how you recruit at that level, it does seem as if some better players joined during the season but the gap between levels is absolutely vast. Only time and investment will close that and I'm sure it'll come, but after all the hard work in getting promoted last season, it would be so disappointing to go straight back down.

The club has said - including Williams - that our academy suffered massively by being NL as the better players went to local league sides, so it will take a while to build this up again. From the limited time I've seen them (first team cameos and one youth game), none of them are that close to being in a side which hopes to go up from L2 apart from maybe Brooks. McGregor is an interesting one for me. Been heavily involved in the last 2 pre seasons and then nothing. Cisse looked very exciting when he came on, can he be another Nemane? (Ideally the Nemane of April 2024) Sanderson, Gill, Mahovo all need good game time. I'm sure their games are improving in training but sitting on the bench and watching won't improve them. Although I'm not sure how much a loan to Long Eaton does either.

I think it's more important to give Cedwyn some time. There's every chance it could be him and Jatta leading the line next year so the confidence booster of a L2 goal under his belt might be nice. For all that Sanderson has looked promising, as we stand he has a lot of players ahead of him, and that's before we recruit.

Absolutely, pure click bait - and often badly badly researched with lots of errors - on that site. But let's suppose it's true, he's bound to have attracted attention, the other 2 seem better options to me. Bolton and Peterborough will certainly be pushing for promotion, Wrexham will have to invest heavily to be up at that level as there are some real big hitters in that division. And you're spot on @Robbie it will be a good deal for Notts if he leaves.

Absolutely right, Robbie. We can't defend or hold onto what we've got so let's go out there and make them worry about us. For all the recent wobbles, a defender won't look forward to playing against Jones, Macca and Didzy. Crowley and Nemane pose their own threats and can't be ignored. If we have to, let's play like basketball and just hit back at them once they've attacked. And that will help to keep some pressure off our back line as well.

@ARLukomski You know my thoughts very well - I wouldn't have given any of the defenders a new contract. They were weak in NL - bear in mind how much we dominated last season, they hardly had to defend and yet we still gave away 35 goals, was it? Mainly from individual errors. It was obvious those errors would be punished more in L2. Somehow we need to find a way to get rid of the ones under contract to free up space. I was Ok with Slocombe as a back up keeper. A solid, reliable professional who would be wanting a start but accepting a place on the bench and never giving less than 100% in training to help the senior keeper. The problem was the guy we signed isn't good enough. And neither is the loan replacement. I get the point with gambling on Gosling, we needed bodies and you'd hope his experience would have shown more than it did. A gamble that failed. Colkett strikes me as a 4 month trial period. Do we sign him in the summer and will he want to come? I'd actually like to see one or two young lads get a run out as the season comes to a close but we probably need a win or two to give Maynard the freedom to do that. Sanderson and Cisse both looked exciting players. I fear Munakandafa has missed the boat as he's done himself no favours when he has played and Williams was pretty critical of his attitude in an interview earlier this season, although he could easily have out that right, of course. I wonder if the owners / recruitment team had seriously underestimated the level of L2. Let's hope they learn quickly. I will take you to task when you say they did nothing for 5 weeks just because there were no new faces. That could have been for any number of reasons. A lot of players would be holding out for better offers and a lot of clubs would be unwilling to let someone go until they had a replacement in, so discussions could have been going on left, right and centre.

I have a friend who is a season ticket holder there. He's obviously unhappy with what's going on but doesn't seem concerned about the club folding, just about relegation and a lack of funds going forward. Shocking what's been going on there and I did see fundraising has reached around £20k. No doubt because their facilities are better than most of the league, they only have 3 home games left so that will hit their cashflow, I'm sure.

I think we're safe without another point. Sutton need to win 7 of their last 8 to catch up and Forest Green need 5 wins from 9 to catch us but still have to play all of the current top 5, 3 of them away. Although I hope it isn;t a winner takes all final day!! Play offs have gone which may take some pressure off Maynard and he can work with the recruitment team in assessing which players are good enough to stay next season and where do we need new faces. We were pretty carefree in issuing contracts last summer so we may need to negotiate to get some players out. My one concern is that Maynard is just the unluckiest manager. Disallowed 'goals' at Mansfield and Wrexham, Macca missing chances he'd normally convert, etc.

Looking at the last pre match press conference, I thought he looked pretty comfortable in his role. Anyone who has had any level of success will put themselves under more pressure than others generally would, but I felt he seemed confident. Especially when he came out and said what we all know - the system isn't the reason we're letting goals in, basic individual errors are the reasons. Then after Saturday's game, he said this team isn't equipped to deal with balls into our box. Effectively, a new manager has come in and said "our defenders within the whole club aren't good enough." I may be reading too much into this, but that suggests to me that the owners / recruitment team have admitted to him that he's been stitched up and we'll sort out the defence in the summer.

A lot of the problems began when Matt Palmer was injured. We all knew he's a great player and capable of better the L2, but I'm not sure many of us realised just how vital he was. Robertson looks to be growing into the role and it should be great having both of them next season, but our defence seems to be going from bad to worse. I'd like us to keep Macari and Brooks from the back, I wouldn't lose sleep of any of the rest going. And for all the criticism aimed at Maynard on the usual channels, no-one seems to mention that Macca missed 2 sitters on Saturday and we should have been 2-0 up before they scored. With Wimbledon's recent away record, they could easily have given up at 2 down, we have a home win, we're 5 points outside the play offs and in with a chance. As it is, I think the play offs will now take a huge run, although we are capable of that. At the other end, we could lose every game and we've already got enough points. And I've just checked the article I wrote last summer. Only 2 sides in the last 14 years have finished in the top 10 in L2 after winning the NL play offs with an average final position of 12th.

That's a great point. The owners didn't get much wrong in NL but it certainly helped that we could bring new faces in right until the end of March. January was a poor window for incomings although not losing anyone important was a huge bonus.

Unfortunately, I agree. I'd love SM to turn this around and for the players to start showing as much fight against the opponents as some of them seemed to show against the fans on Tuesday night but a run of 4 points in 7 games takes some turning round. It was one heck of a tough run and I feel for him walking into such a start, especially when our defensive frailties have been evident for a long time. I'd love Alfred's dad to be right but I can't see how we'll only concede 2 goals in the next 3 games. I think our best chance is to go full on Keegan - we'll score more than you! A main factor in our goals against record last season was that teams were terrified to attack us, because we'd destroy them if they gave us space. With players like Macca, Didzy and Jones we can get those goals flowing again.

That was some win at Brentford. Edwards seems to have avoided the hype as well, we've all been looking at Gill, Sanderson and Cisse but Edwards seems to be doing well

This could be a game for some players to show the new coaching team what they're made of - or not. Despite our recent results, we could well be close to an 11,000 crowd again and, although Crewe are in excellent form, they don't seem to have the X factor of a Stockport or Wrexham, more of an effective unhit all doing their jobs well. Maynard needs a win for his own comfort. I'm certain no-one within the club will be putting pressure on him, but successful people put pressure on themselves and no amount of support in the boardroom will replace the feeling of getting a win. I've seen comments elsewhere that the next 2 are must win. I disagree, especially with tomorrow, but I'd love at least 4 points in the next 2 games. Tomorrow? Take a point, hope for 3.

That's ridiculous. Why would it be a disaster for us not to make the play offs? The owners have repeated that it's all about progression. We have the 10th biggest budget in the division according to the CEO so play offs would be a stretch based on that. We've demonstrated you can find absolute gems if you're a well run club with good people - Jones, Macca, Ruben, etc, etc, all came to us as a Non League side (I know Jones was only on loan) - so if anyone leaves, I'd think there will be no shortage of players happy to replace them.

Thanks Robbie, this is great info. I agree that it's a pity the main club info doesn't highlight these, it would surely get a few more people there watching. I'll keep an eye on the academy info and hopefully get to a few games before the end of the season.

Quite right, his work rate is exceptional and he seems to have an incredible temperament. I think £4m+ is unrealistic for a L2 player aged 26 (or any age, really) but a £2m fee plus a decent sell on clause could be lucrative. According to a google search, the L2 transfer record is Ollie Watkins from Exeter to Brentford at around £6.5m and I'd guess most of that is a sell on when he moved to Villa. For us, £2m in the summer and then £5m in 18 months would be wonderful! Apart from that, no-one has gone for more than £2.75m.

Seems like a 'try before you buy' to me. We pay his wages for 3 months so it's low risk. If we like what we see - and he likes what he sees - we can bring him in during the summer. An extra pair of midfield legs is helpful so we can rotate a little, some players have had more minutes than I think we'd have planned, given that we expected Matt Palmer to play all of every game.

Is anyone else frustrated that they don't want to seem spectators? It's really difficult finding out when games are taking place, and almost impossible to do so any earlier than the morning of the game. Unless, of course, I'm missing something and one of you kind people can help me... It would be great to give them some support from time to time.

I saw Hibs last August - weakened side in the League Cup and just before they sacked the manager, but he looked pretty comfortable. Moving away from home has challenges, but Edinburgh must be one of the easier places to be. When I saw the move, I wondered if we might have missed out but with hindsight, if we have Warner, Macari and Baldwin then there are 3 L2 or better standard players. I'd like another but better players might help cover the weaknesses of others.