[bluepooch]

The lack of quality amongst the forward players has been the key to our poor season ,the 3 behind the 1 haven't performed 9 times out of 10. Apart from Kellett and Denno most combinations have failed and there has only been a handful of goals between them.
The ones who maybe have got a goal or two in them, namely Ugwu and Sinnott, have hardly played .
Defensively in the last few months we have done ok on the whole and I feel the back 5 who played on Saturday are good enough .I hope we can keep the back 4 and Whits next season and bring in a good quality keeper .Ramsdale has been great but he will probably play in League One next season.

[Devongone]

I think our goalie recruitment will show whether the club has a serious future or is prepared to drift quietly out of existence. If we wanted to do well we'd try to tempt Grant Smith to come north from Boreham Wood. He's the England C keeper and is only 24. If we opted for a young developing non-league keeper it might be Nathan Baxter at Woking, or McHale at Truro (but he's been going through a poor spell of late!) The alternative to non-league recruitment would be to discover an under rated keeper marooned gameless in the EFL, who sees dropping down to the Conference as a way to prove himself.)

My fear is we could give Dylan Parkin another year to act as reserve to the keeper we currently have on a two-year deal. My thought is anyon-but.

[Dancingwilldoit]

Anyon has another year? God help us.

[spireitematt]

I think our goalie recruitment will show whether the club has a serious future or is prepared to drift quietly out of existence. If we wanted to do well we'd try to tempt Grant Smith to come north from Boreham Wood. He's the England C keeper and is only 24. If we opted for a young developing non-league keeper it might be Nathan Baxter at Woking, or McHale at Truro (but he's been going through a poor spell of late!) The alternative to non-league recruitment would be to discover an under rated keeper marooned gameless in the EFL, who sees dropping down to the Conference as a way to prove himself.)

My fear is we could give Dylan Parkin another year to act as reserve to the keeper we currently have on a two-year deal. My thought is anyon-but.

What we need Dev is players who are good enough for the National League who will also be good enough for L2. There will be players getting released at L2 clubs who could come in on free transfers if they are willing to drop down a division.

[Devongone]

Most of Hartlepool's squad dropped down a division and they've struggled all season. We need a mixture of current EFL players and very good National League players ........... otherwise we are going to struggle. It really is no use having players who are looking down, who assume the Vanarama will be an easy ride ......... and find they can't hack it. You have to have players who are on the up. Our young players should be on the up, Whitmore will be up for a battle, Ugwu knows what it is about, for a Rowley or a German everything should be new and exciting.

If we go down with a team full of ex-League Two players we'll need a manager who is an exceptionally good motivator. Does that sound like Jack? Maybe it sounds like John Sheridan who just won the Joey Barton prize for saving Fleetwood from relegation?

I've been studying this for two years at least and League Two players who are willing to drop down are going mostly to lack the attitude and the spine to get back up. Players who are good, who may have been rejected at 17, and want to go up the ladder and prove themselves are what we need. The sort of player would be Mitch Brundle, rejected at Bristol, at 24 captain at Dover, their rock in midfield, would love the chance to prove himself an EFL player. Pair him with Ady Pinnock from Dover too and already our midfield would begin to look as though it might be able to handle itself in either the Vanarama or League Two.

"What we need Dev is players who are good enough for the National League who will also be good enough for L2." By the way Matt that is exactly what I said. BUT players being given free transfers at the end of the League Two season are specifically being told they WEREN'T good enough for League Two. So how can signing more than perhaps one wrongly-released player be a good thing?

We have to recognise we are a Vanarama Team, not an EFL team and aim to win the league we are in.

[bluepooch]

Dev I've said this before ,The club should recruit you as the scout for the south west .Your knowledge of non league football is second to none .
I may be wrong here but I think I read Lincoln held on to most of their squad and have proved easily good enough for league two if not better so its an indication you do need a fair proportion of the team to be better than that level to succeed and I think most of our players have proved they are not up to league standard .It will be interesting to see where they go if they leave us.Lets revisit this in 6 months.

[Devongone]

I just think you need players with a desire to improve and make their way. I wouldn't object to a free transfer League Two player who has spent this season chomping at the bit for first team chances and then got released. He'd want it, whether he was in the National league or wherever. I worry we might fill our team with Robbie Weirs who'll remember better days, expect Vanarama players to show them a bit of respect and be surprised to find themselves hustled out of every tussle.

You are right Pooch when you point to our defence. It IS on the way to forming. Smith and Whitmore are young, contrated to us, and have non-league experience. Maguire is young, had a couple of loans and having an older brother in the England team he's going to want to make his own name. And Talbot would probably stay too if asked. Willock will continue to mature. Where we are weakest now is midfield and up front.

Lincoln grabbed Sean Raggett from Dover, who everyone said was really a league player (like many of those I mention - a known name), built a defence on that rock and when they were forced to sell him, still managed to loan him back till this Christmas. They had physical non-league forwards who scared everyone and their midfield moved the ball on and won it back. They scored a lot of goals from dead balls and instead of conceding in the last five minutes they regularly snatched winning goals. Nobody enjoyed playing them because they disrupted the opposition. They didn't think they were Barcelona on the ball, but they'd work like them to get it back!

[Devongone]

A non-leaguer who is interesting me at the moment is Mike Fondop-Talom who is on loan from Guiseley at Halifax. Since being at Halifax he's been in the goals. He's 24, previous experience includes Whitehawk and being spotted in the amateur game by Billericay's manager.

I love almost any player with Whitehawk on their CV. They find such interesting sounding players. At the moment they have Gold Omoloya and now getting rave reviews out wide is Nassim L'Ghoul. I guess he's ghosting past the full back.