+++Conor McGrandles (2024 edit - Rejoins Lincoln page 23)+++

SELR_addicks

Chris_from_Sidcup said:

NabySarr said:

sam3110 said:

A midfield 6 is needed, if we're to stick with playing 433.

Dobson, Fraser, McGrandles and 3 new, better than the aforementioned will be good enough. 

If 2 of the other 3 are Morgan and Payne, we'll have issues

It’s probably between Morgan and McGrandles for the 3rd spot. I would go with Morgan as he’s younger but happy to see McGrandles be given another chance. Think 5 options is probably fine with Henry as the 6th 

So if we want 6 midfielders for next season then unless i've read your post wrong you're happy for 5 of them to be:

Dobson, Fraser, Morgan, McGrandles and Henry. 

Fuck me, unless the 6th midfielder is De Bruyne we'll have serious issues next season.

This is the problem with keeping everyone 'for cover', you end up with a load of dross and no wage money to spend on good players. 

CL_Phantom

Chris_from_Sidcup said:

NabySarr said:

sam3110 said:

A midfield 6 is needed, if we're to stick with playing 433.

Dobson, Fraser, McGrandles and 3 new, better than the aforementioned will be good enough. 

If 2 of the other 3 are Morgan and Payne, we'll have issues

It’s probably between Morgan and McGrandles for the 3rd spot. I would go with Morgan as he’s younger but happy to see McGrandles be given another chance. Think 5 options is probably fine with Henry as the 6th 

So if we want 6 midfielders for next season then unless i've read your post wrong you're happy for 5 of them to be:

Dobson, Fraser, Morgan, McGrandles and Henry. 

Fuck me, unless the 6th midfielder is De Bruyne we'll have serious issues next season.

Fraser - Payne
Dobson - Henry 
McGrandles - Morgan

A lot of the midfield hope pins on Connor McGrandles being the player hes bigged up to be, should Morgan stay. 

Scoham

CL_Phantom said:

Chris_from_Sidcup said:

NabySarr said:

sam3110 said:

A midfield 6 is needed, if we're to stick with playing 433.

Dobson, Fraser, McGrandles and 3 new, better than the aforementioned will be good enough. 

If 2 of the other 3 are Morgan and Payne, we'll have issues

It’s probably between Morgan and McGrandles for the 3rd spot. I would go with Morgan as he’s younger but happy to see McGrandles be given another chance. Think 5 options is probably fine with Henry as the 6th 

So if we want 6 midfielders for next season then unless i've read your post wrong you're happy for 5 of them to be:

Dobson, Fraser, Morgan, McGrandles and Henry. 

Fuck me, unless the 6th midfielder is De Bruyne we'll have serious issues next season.

Fraser - Payne
Dobson - Henry 
McGrandles - Morgan

A lot of the midfield hope pins on Connor McGrandles being the player hes bigged up to be, should Morgan stay. 

Henry needs to go out on loan, he’s not going to develop getting the odd game here and there.

That should leave room to bring in a first choice CM.

Garrymanilow

I don't see how we can keep McGrandles and Morgan, unless Holden plans to go down Garner's route which was McGrandles operating in Dobson's space in a different role. I doubt Holden is at the stage where he's planning on getting rid of the man he just made captain so you'd expect McGrandles to be in that Morgan role if he stays. In that case you'd want Dobson, Fraser, McGrandles and three new players to compete with them and ideally be better than 2 out of 3 of them. Payne I see as more of an option as a wide player in a 433, he just doesn't fit so well in a central 3

NabySarr

Chris_from_Sidcup said:

NabySarr said:

sam3110 said:

A midfield 6 is needed, if we're to stick with playing 433.

Dobson, Fraser, McGrandles and 3 new, better than the aforementioned will be good enough. 

If 2 of the other 3 are Morgan and Payne, we'll have issues

It’s probably between Morgan and McGrandles for the 3rd spot. I would go with Morgan as he’s younger but happy to see McGrandles be given another chance. Think 5 options is probably fine with Henry as the 6th 

So if we want 6 midfielders for next season then unless i've read your post wrong you're happy for 5 of them to be:

Dobson, Fraser, Morgan, McGrandles and Henry. 

Fuck me, unless the 6th midfielder is De Bruyne we'll have serious issues next season.

Yeah I was meaning that Morgan or McGrandles would be 1 of them. So 2 new spots 

CL_Phantom

Scoham said:

CL_Phantom said:

Chris_from_Sidcup said:

NabySarr said:

sam3110 said:

A midfield 6 is needed, if we're to stick with playing 433.

Dobson, Fraser, McGrandles and 3 new, better than the aforementioned will be good enough. 

If 2 of the other 3 are Morgan and Payne, we'll have issues

It’s probably between Morgan and McGrandles for the 3rd spot. I would go with Morgan as he’s younger but happy to see McGrandles be given another chance. Think 5 options is probably fine with Henry as the 6th 

So if we want 6 midfielders for next season then unless i've read your post wrong you're happy for 5 of them to be:

Dobson, Fraser, Morgan, McGrandles and Henry. 

Fuck me, unless the 6th midfielder is De Bruyne we'll have serious issues next season.

Fraser - Payne
Dobson - Henry 
McGrandles - Morgan

A lot of the midfield hope pins on Connor McGrandles being the player hes bigged up to be, should Morgan stay. 

Henry needs to go out on loan, he’s not going to develop getting the odd game here and there.

That should leave room to bring in a first choice CM.

First choice over Dobson?

You keep McGrande and Morgan thats the "B2B" role in theory - McGrandles himslf says thats more his game than the one time he had to play deep for a season covering an injury. 

Or, go with 3 and hope you dont need another holding type to compete with dobson, but then youve got McGrandles, AN Other, Morgan for the one role. 

NabySarr

Scoham said:

CL_Phantom said:

Chris_from_Sidcup said:

NabySarr said:

sam3110 said:

A midfield 6 is needed, if we're to stick with playing 433.

Dobson, Fraser, McGrandles and 3 new, better than the aforementioned will be good enough. 

If 2 of the other 3 are Morgan and Payne, we'll have issues

It’s probably between Morgan and McGrandles for the 3rd spot. I would go with Morgan as he’s younger but happy to see McGrandles be given another chance. Think 5 options is probably fine with Henry as the 6th 

So if we want 6 midfielders for next season then unless i've read your post wrong you're happy for 5 of them to be:

Dobson, Fraser, Morgan, McGrandles and Henry. 

Fuck me, unless the 6th midfielder is De Bruyne we'll have serious issues next season.

Fraser - Payne
Dobson - Henry 
McGrandles - Morgan

A lot of the midfield hope pins on Connor McGrandles being the player hes bigged up to be, should Morgan stay. 

Henry needs to go out on loan, he’s not going to develop getting the odd game here and there.

That should leave room to bring in a first choice CM.

6 is too many probably. So I’d have 5 and then Henry as the 6th, but he can still go out on loan to the national league (doubt he’d get any better offer) and then we can recall him in an emergency.

McGrandles and Payne were both the ‘big’ signings of last summer so we will need to shift at least 1 of them to clear room for a new first choice I would guess. They are probably among our higher earners, keeping Morgan and Henry around is a lot cheaper 

Scoham

CL_Phantom said:

Scoham said:

CL_Phantom said:

Chris_from_Sidcup said:

NabySarr said:

sam3110 said:

A midfield 6 is needed, if we're to stick with playing 433.

Dobson, Fraser, McGrandles and 3 new, better than the aforementioned will be good enough. 

If 2 of the other 3 are Morgan and Payne, we'll have issues

It’s probably between Morgan and McGrandles for the 3rd spot. I would go with Morgan as he’s younger but happy to see McGrandles be given another chance. Think 5 options is probably fine with Henry as the 6th 

So if we want 6 midfielders for next season then unless i've read your post wrong you're happy for 5 of them to be:

Dobson, Fraser, Morgan, McGrandles and Henry. 

Fuck me, unless the 6th midfielder is De Bruyne we'll have serious issues next season.

Fraser - Payne
Dobson - Henry 
McGrandles - Morgan

A lot of the midfield hope pins on Connor McGrandles being the player hes bigged up to be, should Morgan stay. 

Henry needs to go out on loan, he’s not going to develop getting the odd game here and there.

That should leave room to bring in a first choice CM.

First choice over Dobson?

You keep McGrande and Morgan thats the "B2B" role in theory - McGrandles himslf says thats more his game than the one time he had to play deep for a season covering an injury. 

Or, go with 3 and hope you dont need another holding type to compete with dobson, but then youve got McGrandles, AN Other, Morgan for the one role. 

I’d be looking at what’s available before deciding who we might drop. If there’s an outstanding u21 we can loan from a Prem team for example we’d want to make room it it improves us overall.

killerandflash

Henry is way off the first team, and doesn't count in the squad numbers anyway. He needs a good loan, to knock out the casualness in his game first.

Richard J

Could we use him as bait for Sam Smith?

Although their manager said he is out of Cambridge's salary range maybe he could be used as a makeweight.

Garrymanilow

I thik Smith is out of contract so won't need to get into it with Cambridge at all

Richard J

Garrymanilow said:

I thik Smith is out of contract so won't need to get into it with Cambridge at all

Thanks.

He feels like the sort of striker we should be after.

SDAddick

Leuth said:

That list of midfielders in the 101-point season is hammering home one thing above all: how much harder League One is now ffs

This cannot be emphasized enough. The jump in quality over the last decade is incredibly high. I think the spine of that team, Morro, Stephens, and Yann would stand the test of time. Solly, Wiggins, and Jacko would probably be decent. But a lot of that squad would be at the bottom of L1 now or maybe even the division below. 

It's to SCP's credit that he got so much out of them. But the bar is much higher now. 

SDAddick

Scoham said:

CL_Phantom said:

Chris_from_Sidcup said:

NabySarr said:

sam3110 said:

A midfield 6 is needed, if we're to stick with playing 433.

Dobson, Fraser, McGrandles and 3 new, better than the aforementioned will be good enough. 

If 2 of the other 3 are Morgan and Payne, we'll have issues

It’s probably between Morgan and McGrandles for the 3rd spot. I would go with Morgan as he’s younger but happy to see McGrandles be given another chance. Think 5 options is probably fine with Henry as the 6th 

So if we want 6 midfielders for next season then unless i've read your post wrong you're happy for 5 of them to be:

Dobson, Fraser, Morgan, McGrandles and Henry. 

Fuck me, unless the 6th midfielder is De Bruyne we'll have serious issues next season.

Fraser - Payne
Dobson - Henry 
McGrandles - Morgan

A lot of the midfield hope pins on Connor McGrandles being the player hes bigged up to be, should Morgan stay. 

Henry needs to go out on loan, he’s not going to develop getting the odd game here and there.

That should leave room to bring in a first choice CM.

Yes, this. Henry is an investment, and I think a good one at this point, but he needs to play senior football or we risk "Albie Morganing" him wherein he doesn't play regularly enough to develop for our first team, and doesn't go out in loan to learn somewhere else, and he ends up a player with a lot of qualities but without the ability to fully realize his potential.

I don't think we renew Albie, and so I think we end up with 2-3 spots for new midfielders. I think Payne is used primarily out wide next year, maybe as a 10 if we play with one, but as we saw this season, he's not an 8.

Scoham

SDAddick said:

Leuth said:

That list of midfielders in the 101-point season is hammering home one thing above all: how much harder League One is now ffs

This cannot be emphasized enough. The jump in quality over the last decade is incredibly high. I think the spine of that team, Morro, Stephens, and Yann would stand the test of time. Solly, Wiggins, and Jacko would probably be decent. But a lot of that squad would be at the bottom of L1 now or maybe even the division below. 

It's to SCP's credit that he got so much out of them. But the bar is much higher now. 

After Yann, Solly and Wiggins were our best players that season. Hamer and Taylor / Cort were also very good as part of an excellent back five. BWP didn’t step up to the Championship but was a real threat too.

I’m not sure our fairly direct 4-4-2 would be as effective now with L1 clubs putting more focus on keeping possession. Would at the very least be a different challenge to L1 back then.

mendonca

Not surprised he's picked up another lengthy injury. He looked remarkably weak in his recent appearances. Mostly helping the opposition, more than us. 

BigRedEvil

What injury has he picked up? 

ads

BigRedEvil said:

What injury has he picked up? 

The prospect of an incoming wage cut

Lincsaddick

mendonca said:

Not surprised he's picked up another lengthy injury. He looked remarkably weak in his recent appearances. Mostly helping the opposition, more than us. 

more dead wood on the wage and medical bills .. he should have been moved on months back .. of course the problem with a 3 year contract is that if no-one wants him, we are stuck with him

BigRedEvil

Our transfer policy has been a shambles for god knows how long. The little money we do have we've wasted it 

Chizz

BigRedEvil said:

Our transfer policy has been a shambles for god knows how long. The little money we do have we've wasted it 

Cockney Rhyming Slang, lesson number 438: "Conor McGrandles, Shambles" 

Cafc43v3r

BigRedEvil said:

Our transfer policy has been a shambles for god knows how long. The little money we do have we've wasted it 

I don't disagree but every player we get though we seem to either break or make worse.

The Swansea game, playing for Lincoln, even at Cambridge last season he at least looked like a half decent league 1 player.

Most of the time he has played for us he has looked like a competition winner.  He is far from the only one.

mendonca

BigRedEvil said:

What injury has he picked up? 

The club don't seem to announce anymore. 

ForeverAddickted

‘Miles more to come’ – Conor McGrandles could still have a role to play at Charlton Athletic – South London News (londonnewsonline.co.uk)

thenewbie

ForeverAddickted said:

‘Miles more to come’ – Conor McGrandles could still have a role to play at Charlton Athletic – South London News (londonnewsonline.co.uk)

I have to admit, I'm pretty impressed with Appleton and what he has to say and this is a good example - encouraging of the player and hopeful of more but acknowledging that he is not ready yet and won't be automatically picked when he is.

Downside is that he seems to be rather conspicuously avoiding putting any kind of timeline in it which happens a lot now.

killerandflash

Even when he becomes fit, it's hardly a position we're short in once Taylor and Camara return.

Garrymanilow

killerandflash said:

Even when he becomes fit, it's hardly a position we're short in once Taylor and Camara return.

I'd be interested to see how he's used if he does come back fit and ready. Garner obviously liked him as a passing deep midfielder and liked him for that role ahead of Dobson but he's not a destroyer type. Finding a good partner for Dobson has been a problem for us and Louie Watson has looked the best so far, snapping into tackles and spraying the ball about. You'd think that would suit McGrandles based on how he's played at other clubs but he'll have competition from Watson, Anderson and Camara for that space. Appleton tried Taylor alongside Dobson as well so Conor might be a long way down the pecking order. And that doens't even count Fraser.

I think it might be the end of the road for McGrandles. After his loan at Cambridge I was hoping he could come back in and be part of the squad but Holden obviously didn't fancy him and that will have set him back. With the injury on top of that he's unlikely to feature much before November/December and there will be a lot of players ahead of him. It's a shame, he's had no luck with us.

thenewbie

Garrymanilow said:

killerandflash said:

Even when he becomes fit, it's hardly a position we're short in once Taylor and Camara return.

I'd be interested to see how he's used if he does come back fit and ready. Garner obviously liked him as a passing deep midfielder and liked him for that role ahead of Dobson but he's not a destroyer type. Finding a good partner for Dobson has been a problem for us and Louie Watson has looked the best so far, snapping into tackles and spraying the ball about. You'd think that would suit McGrandles based on how he's played at other clubs but he'll have competition from Watson, Anderson and Camara for that space. Appleton tried Taylor alongside Dobson as well so Conor might be a long way down the pecking order. And that doens't even count Fraser.

I think it might be the end of the road for McGrandles. After his loan at Cambridge I was hoping he could come back in and be part of the squad but Holden obviously didn't fancy him and that will have set him back. With the injury on top of that he's unlikely to feature much before November/December and there will be a lot of players ahead of him. It's a shame, he's had no luck with us.

Camara will be going to the AFCON (if fit) and McGrandles coming back could mean Anderson going out on loan for more minutes. He might not be as far away as all that depending on circumstances - it might even be just a case of which one of him vs Taylor gets/stays fit first.

Jonniesta

Give this a boost tonight. Irrespective of the keeping, it was a very well placed header. Here's hoping this is a new start for Conor! Well done lad. 

Valiantphil

He didn’t seem all that happy about it at the end.