Where do Wanderers go from here?

As a disappointing season draws to an end, a big rebuild looms on the horizon this summer.

A brand new spine is the key.

A new commanding goalkeeper, a dependable centre half and leader in the centre of the park to hide Sheehan’s defensive deficiencies, and a proper focal point of a striker who can allow Collins to play a wide left role, from where he won POTS for Gas, and a position that his woeful lack of physicality won’t be as negatively impactful.

I’d like the team to look something like this:

GK New

Baxter OOC and something really off with him after a promising first 9 months.

RB JDC

New contract signed, he’s just about good enough compared to him at RWB where we can’t put up with his lack of attacking output.

CB Forrester or Forino (if either can stay fit)

I like Forino a lot but the man has the muscular integrity of a slow cooked lamb shank. Forrester can’t keep himself fit either but he was superb for 6/7 games until injury struck.

CB New. Leader. Quick enough. Left footed. Good injury record. Not much to ask! 😄

Toal is also made of biscuits and Santos’ time is coming to an end. Johnston is not good enough.

LB New - keep Johnston as a defensive LB back up for here maybe. Could Max Conway be the answer?

DCM New

CM creator - Sheehan/Morley

CM/AM presser - Dempsey/New

Love Dempsey at his best and fit but that’s maybe a dozen games a season. Not enough. Need someone with a real goal threat here.

RW Osei-Tutu

On his day unplayable and talent wise our best player. But he’s another made of cheese strings. Schön might be ok here cutting in, but he needs to learn how to shoot.

CF New

LW Collins

Bench:

Southwood/Hutchinson

Toal/Forino/Forrester (whichever is fit)

Schön

Thomason

CMG

McAtee

Abimbola

OOC:

Gethin Jones - Great servant but patently not up to the level. Better at RB but apparently been told to find a new club.

Ricardo Santos - Evatt’s main man and think his Wanderers race is run. Did a great job for us on a free and at his absolute best was someone I could’ve seen stepping up to the champ. No longer the case.

Nathan Baxter - Something really off with him this season. Promising first 7/8 months but feels like his heart isn’t in it, despite recent protestations to the contrary. Prefer Southwood personally. No great loss if he were to leave.

Joel Coleman - Bye Joel! Unless you want to sit around being 4th choice GK on a pay-as-you-play deal…

Loans returning to parent clubs:

Jay Matete - Not done enough. Daft red card in Evatt’s last game vs Charlton didn’t help and struggled to nail down a place before, but especially since. Scored three goals vs Lincoln weirdly.

Alex Murphy - Scored a few goals but not the answer at LCB or LWB for me. A bit cumbersome and switches off.

Kion Etete - Less said about his contributions the better.

To loan out:

Sonny Sharples-Ahmed - Needs some L2/NL experience to bulk up and learn men’s football.

Luke Hutchinson - As above - one Crawley game hopefully not dented his confidence too badly as highly thought of.

Klaidi Lolos - He just hasn’t got going or been given a good enough run of games. A lower half L1 loan or more likely a L2 loan to get his confidence back until Jan would be ideal.

Out until Christmas - Victor Adeboyejo - ACL - not the answer to any question.

Except, who did Bolton throw the Dapo Afolayan money on?

Criminal.

Try to sell:

Thomason - if we can get a taker for him for anything like the £1m Bristol City bid for him then I think we should deal. Think he’s hit his ceiling. A series of brain dead decisions and terrible disciplinary means he’s stagnated this season. Still hold a fondness for him but he’s not improving any more.

Maybe one last chance to show an improvement. Captaincy is too much for him though. Still only 23.

Joel Randall - perhaps he needs more time, well, he definitely does seeing as he only arrived in Jan. But he really is a proper wuss. Just can’t see him improving his powder puff-ness to the point where he can impact games at this level.

Obviously did it with Posh. But he just doesn’t feel like a Bolton player. The board were mental giving Evatt over £1m to get him when he was skating on the thinnest ice imaginable.

McAtee? Not really sure where he fits in.

Or what his best position is.

Still managed 11 league goals so there’s obviously something to work with.

Not sure who comes in for him, and whoever might do certainly isn’t paying £1m+ for him now realistically.

Returning loanees:

Dan Nlundulu - No idea what to think of this guy. My instinct tells me there’s some kind of player in there. The evidence suggests there’s not. We aren’t gonna get money for him, though.

Luke Matheson - Has been at Alfreton. Think he needs a NL club like Halifax or back to Rochdale, somewhere he can be given time to rebuild his career with regular games. Out of contract upon his return so who knows if he’ll get another one.

Max Conway - I’d like to see him given a chance in pre-season at LB. Might save us some money as Schön really can’t play there.

Is actually OOC too, like Matheson.

Some young talent is starting to break through from our academy, with Abimbola, Sharples-Ahmed and Daeshon Lawrence travelling with the squad to Lincoln from our under 18 team, who’s been supplying the bullets for Abimbola. Sam Inwood, a LB/LCB is another who’s made his debut this season.

Overall, it’s probably going to end up being a mini-rebuild rather than a complete overhaul, as contracted players and a lack of a Birmingham-style budget will put paid to that idea, even if Schumacher had seen enough and wanted a big clear out.

But if we were able to ship more out than that above, then I think I’d do it. No-one is particularly irreplaceable.

It’s gone stale and we need a real injection of quality to move forwards. But Evatt spent a fair bit, and most of it very unwisely by the end.

We might need to sell a few to spend much, but there are smart deals that can be done at this level.

A huge summer awaits!

In Schuey we trust!

COYWM!!