cds wrote:
The geographical shift south should see a recruitment policy that sees many of the squad being made up of West Midlands-based players. Having Rob and Larry in charge gives us a boost in the market as they are well-respected, knowledgeable and have excellent contacts. It's a small pool of players we are fishing in with other sides in the locality, so convincing a player to join us instead of Stour / Halesowen / Redditch / Rushall / Stratford / Bedworth will be key for Rob and Larry. Any push towards the top of the table (which I would expect - no pressure!) will require a decent number of changes
Staying (hopefully)
Thorley - contracted
Fitzpatrick - decent ball player, but frustrating. Still young. Lots to learn
Mendez-Jones - really like this lad. Loads of potential. Adaptable. Still reckon he could turn out to be a better centre-back over time
Curley - excellent for three months, a bit sloppy in the final two months. Another young player with a lot to give and a lot to learn. Worth persevering with
Bailey - will be here if R&L are here. Needs to prove his general fitness. A stone overweight and positionally suspect at times last term. Gives the squad continuity
After that, geography may dictate the futures of a number of squad players. Lawrie, Glover and Rea are Cheshire/North Staffs-based, so you're asking a lot of them to make the extra journeys south. Rea and Glover should be on the radar of step two sides, whilst Lawrie's reputation will see him picked up by a step two or step three side easily. Fitzgibbon's trek from Gloucester can't be easy, same as Reece King's from Worcester. Again, a big ask for them to do more travelling across the country and back when they have other step three clubs on their doorstep
Wren will move on to fresh surroundings, with Stourbridge fans confident he's on his way to them at the SSC Final. Not exactly a step up is it? I like Oji - excellent organiser and good experience to call upon, but not mobile enough. As Pitmanchester alluded to, it's either him or Bailey, not both. The rest of the squad, for me, isn't quite up to the standard required - too many cheap squad fillers, has-beens and step four/five plodders
The wish-list could get overly-optimistic if you allow it to, but the budget will only stretch so far; A big, experienced step three forward is a must, with a young, pacy forward to compliment a big man. Two streetwise centre-backs in the mould of McCone and Pierpoint at Stour (thought Pierpoint was excellent at St. Andrews) would build from the back, with a no-nonsense defensive midfielder protecting the back and allowing the likes of Thorley to play his natural game. Thorley's best spell for the club in recent times was when he had Simeon Maye behind him mopping up. Wingers have always been popular at Keys Park, particularly left-wingers, so a tricky, pacy wide-man would be welcome.
Thorley and Glover are both based in the north of the County and travel in together so if Tom stays, Danny might as well.
At the HTFCSA Meeting Mr Price said we had one player on contract, who we so know is Tom and two others who the Club had an option on for another year which they were going to exercise. You'd guess that these were Danny and Wreny so Stourbridge fans may be a bit premature.
I'd also be looking to keep Mendez-Jones who seems to enjoying his football again and Fitzpatrick who could develop into a very good player, the same with Reece King.
As Alty have signed Dwyer, maybe we can get Mason Walsh back?
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