Who would you like to see at D & D next season?

[sussexdiamond]

Which of our existing squad would you like to see stay with us for next season?.

Definites for me are: Finlay, Dolman, Ashton, Kennedy, Quigley, Harris, Hoban, Richards, Sandy, Lorraine and would love Sam Brown to return in time for the new season and if he is fully fit then obviously Bunting.

Towards the end of the season some players impressed and I would not like to see them discarded, but where would they fit in if Peaksy has some new players in mind. In this category I put Lee, Liversedge, Bowen, Shariff and Parsons. In the K*ttering match Manship showed he is capable of putting in a good performance although he did not impress in his other appearances.

Of course as we are now playing in the Northern League some players may not wish to stay, just like last season when we lost a few.

I am concerned that we do not lose some of our excellent Under 18's, unless they are going on to Uni. Do we have a robust enough progression system in place for them to want to stay? Is the Under 21 League the best option or should we put them on dual registrations.?

[ParcelFace]

GK - Finlay (but I wonder how much longer he'll be in his prime), Vitue as his understudy although I'd prefer to see him get some game time elsewhere.
RB - Kennedy, new RB/LB cover
CB - Dolman, Ashton, Lee(Good defensively but not a fan of his going forward)
LB - Brown, new RB/LB cover
CM/CAM - Harris, Quigley, Manship, Leslie, Bunts
LM - Claudio, new RM/LM cover
RM - Richards, new RM/LM cover
ST - Lorraine, Bowen, Shariff, Sandy

Absolutely imperative that we keep Jack Ashton in particular. Would love to see Sam Brown back in a Diamonds shirt too!

[sussexdiamond]

Sorry, but how did I miss out Lewis Leslie, a must for next season.

[BartonRaz]

Isn't Connor Kennedy a Corby player first and fullmost? As they've dropped back to Step 3 I can see him going back there any playing regularly again so we might have to look elsewhere.

As I mentioned before, we can't afford any passengers next season. The team carried Wilkinson throughout the first half of the season and when it came to the crunch in the big games the better sides exposed him. I don't think i'm asking for too much for us to enter this coming season without such a blatant weak link.

If i'm being totally honest:

Definitely keep: Finlay, Ashton, Dolman, Brown, Harris, Quigley, Leslie, Bunting, Hoban, Richards, Lorraine, Bowen, Shariff, Sandy, ELJ

Unsure: Lee, Liversedge, Stevenson, Gordon, Manship, Parsons

Lose: The rest. Don't need to name them.

Of those i'm unsure about you could make a case for all of them staying or going. Lee looks a good solid defender but I don't think his style of play did us any favours at times. Liversedge had some very good games but does he really offer anything different to Lorraine/Sandy/Bowen? Stevo was either outstanding or ****ing awful. Manship looked OK but I feel he could become useful with a good pre-season under his belt and some regular games. Gordon i'd keep personally and seemed to be a little bit on my own in suggesting it was a bit silly of us to have sent him to Cogenhoe. Parsons seems to have something but he didn't seem to be physically ready for the demands of this level of football.

I see Cogenhoe have appointed a new manager, the former assistant manager at Spencer. Given that they've folded it'll be interesting to see how many Spencer players pitch up at Cogenhoe and how the changes there might affect our relationship with them.

[davealbon]

I look forward to OD#2's comments on this thread.

I'm broadly in agreement with the above, although I would put question marks next to Bunting and Shariff. Bunts' age and continued injury problems are a concern, and I'm not sure how long he can continue at this level. Our other CM's all offer something different, but none of them can dictate the game from midfield like Bunts can on his day (maybe Manship can, but we've not seen enough of him to pass judgement - he does have good pedigree though). If Bunts can't continue at this level then we must find a similar replacement if we are to really challenge next season, although I fear that will be very difficult.
Our striking options look good, although I think we're missing that star striker we need to take us to the next level - the sort of player that Berwick threatened to be/should have been, but never quite was. I think Sandy has the potential to be that player, but (a) I don't think he has the fight for it, and (b) I have a hunch he won't be here next season. That leaves Shariff, who has the potential to shine at this level, but his career has been on a steady decline for the last few years, and we've not seen enough to know whether he's got it in him to turn it around and get back to anywhere near the level that saw him impress in the BSP. I suspect he will either excel (fingers crossed), or continue to decline and be playing UCL football by Christmas.

[Oundle Diamond #2]

Given I've only attended 7 games this season (2014-5 was about 15) I wasn't going to initiate this thread, nor comment on it, but seeing as I've been called out by name, I best offer some sort of opinion...

... For me, Dolman, Ashton, Hoban, Bunting and Finlay should be the priority retains. Hoban should be put on a long term contract. He's by far the most talented attacking player we've had at AFCRD.

I would also be happy to see Gordon, Lee, Leslie, Richards, Quigley and Sandy stay.

I wouldn't be fussed if Lorraine, Kennedy, Harris and all the new players that came in March who didn't make an impact were not retained. I stand by the fact that Lorraine isn't good enough and if we had a better striker up front this season we would have been promoted.

Last year I identified centre back, left mid and striker as problem areas, and was happy when we signed Gordon and Hoban. This year I would like to see us sign a right back, a centre mid, but most important a striker who knows where the back of the net is. 15 goals in this side isn't good enough. I haven't seen enough of Sandy or Sharif to comment on whether they are good enough, but I don't think Bowen is the answer.

Starting XI next year:

Finlay

New right back
Dolman
Ashton
Lee

Bunting

Richards
Quigley
Leslie/new centre midfielder
Hoban

New st

[AFCRD_Dan]

GK - Finlay (but I wonder how much longer he'll be in his prime), Vitue as his understudy although I'd prefer to see him get some game time elsewhere.
RB - Kennedy, new RB/LB cover
CB - Dolman, Ashton, Lee(Good defensively but not a fan of his going forward)
LB - Brown, new RB/LB cover
CM/CAM - Harris, Quigley, Manship, Leslie, Bunts
LM - Claudio, new RM/LM cover
RM - Richards, new RM/LM cover
ST - Lorraine, Bowen, Shariff, Sandy

Absolutely imperative that we keep Jack Ashton in particular. Would love to see Sam Brown back in a Diamonds shirt too!

I agree with all of those, would love to keep Conor, but I guess we'll see how that goes. I don't think he was particularly happy at Corby, so that may work in our favour.

[Three of Diamonds]

GK - Finlay , Vitue
RB - Kennedy, new RB/LB cover
CB - Dolman, Ashton, Lee
LB - Brown, new RB/LB cover
CM- Harris, Quigley, Leslie -- personally I'd like to see Confue here again, but we need 1 more whoever
LM - Claudio, new RM/LM cover
RM - Richards, new RM/LM cover
ST - Lorraine, Bowen, Shariff, 1 new striker

[SouthRushdenJFC]

but I don't think Bowen is the answer.

What are you basing that on?

[Dowlo]

I honestly think OD#2 is writing this garbage just to get a reaction?! Well here's mine.

Tom Lorraine has just been voted Manager's player of the year! He will chip in with 15 goals and will run and run for the team for 90 minutes. If we has going to score 25+ goals and tear defences apart each week, which is what I'm assuming you'd expect he wouldn't be plying his trade at this level would he! He'd be playing Conference North/South or National!

Kennedy is a young player who has come in to the side and has put in some solid perfomances and is a good honest player who given game time will only get better. He can't be that bad if Corby who are the level above had him on their books.

Then that brings us on the Brad Harris, who has year on year got better since we got promoted from UCL Division one. He can play in numerous positions, whether that be Centre Mid, Centre Back or Right back! 3 players for the price of one, and each time he is called upon to a job in any of those positions he does it exceptionally well! He was a stand out player in the Play Off Final and Semi Final, he makes crucial tackles and breaks up play as well as very rarely wasting a pass when he is on the ball! I honestly don't know who you are watching when it comes to him. He is the Stuart Gray of AFCR&D, not the most glamorous or expansive player but if he isn't playing you will definitely notice! Add to that he is a solid fans favourite and you don't get to be that if you are a crock of sh*t! We've been over all this before though.

Next season we could have a strike force of Sharif, Lorraine, Sandy, Bowan. I'm not sure Stevenson will stay on, but to be honest I don't think he has shown enough to say he will score goals next year. So naturally he will need to be replaced.

As for Bowan "not being the answer". He is only 18 and clearly has bags of potential! He make great runs for himself and for the benefit of others, controls the ball well, takes on players, and is calm under pressure. Add to that he clearly knows where the goals is!

I hope you manage to get to more games next season so you may be able to form a more educated view on players. However sadly I think you could watch all of next seasons games and still come up with some ridiculous ideas about what makes a good player!

As for my team next season I think you have to really stick with what you ended up with this year, minus some of the January/February flops! Obviously the below is all depending on if players will stay on if we are playing in the Northern League section. The players in bold are vital to retain as the make up the core and "heart beat" of the side. In brackets is what I feel we need to add.

Finlay, Vitue

Lee, Ashton Dolman Kennedy, Gordon, Sam Brown?? (1 more player who can cover left or right back)

Harris Quigley, Leslie, Richards, Hoban, Bunting, Hall. ( 1 more addition who can play in the centre )

Bowen, Sharif, Lorraine, Sandy ( 2 more to replace Stevenson and Liversedge)