[Devongone]

My worry is that it was pretty obvious to all of us that we could lose five players over the summer. Four have gone so far and that must unsettle the remaining one green bottle. If Tendayi and Clucas were going to play at higher levels either we had to gain promotion last season, or they had to leave. Everyone knew Ryan wanted away. Roberts should have stayed, but perhaps he feared being the one green bottle.

As it was so obvious, even to fans, that losing half a team was almost unavoidable it must have been equally obvious not only to Mr Cook, but to those choosing our new manager. I just begin to wonder if the choice of Mr Saunders, who has not succeeded anywhere in management, might have been as potential fall guy. If he sorts out a new team for us and we fly we're all happy, and if the strategy fails he's the natural scapegoat, we're not too committed to him and we might re-energise a failing team with an incoming (or already present) hero.

It just seems odd that our CEO is telling us we'll be excited by the new signings. There's a week before the the kick-off. If friendlies have a point, it is to bring the team together, but any new signing will have missed that entire programme. How does that compute? That said our current situation is one I very much foresaw for us, except, as Dancing says, for the emergence of Armand, Harrison and our younger players. If they prove the business on the field, business off the field, which inevitably will always include sales for us, might be a stop on the road to success rather than relegation.