telling that of the expected/hoped for departures Jack Payne is the first in terms of effort he has been miles ahead of Shirk, MGrubbish and DJ - added together in terms of ability he's at least the equal of all 3 CAFC had least money gambled on him yet he's the only one to find a suitor is CAFC demanding ludicrous (i.e. any) money for the other chumps or expecting to pass on all their massively over generous salaries Our pals at a local tier 6 club looked them up and wouldn't offer above 10% of their salaries to loan any of them and that team has several players on £1000/wk
We need a squad of ~25, not just 11. I don’t think Payne should be a starter for any team that has ambitions of promotion in this league, but I was happy enough for him to be a squad player.
Where does he play though? He's not a CM in either a 433 or a 352. I'd argue that Chem Campbell is his replacement to be honest given he can play in AM or down the wing.
So who replaced our best player last season?
We've replaced most of our outgoings, maybe not exactly like for like but close to it in terms of squad needs.
Clare - no-one yet (Dabo maybe) Sessegnon - Edun Rak-Sakyi - May Egbo - Asiimwe is 18 yo Inniss - Jones is no better Woolacott - Isted Lavelle - technically Hector (Jan signing) briefly appeared to be an upgrade(!) now not so clear Bonne - no-one yet (maybe a loan incoming) Morgan - Taylor another downgrade on a pretty low bar Harness - Adegoke Payne - C.Campbell
so we're lighter on numbers and quality from a side that limped to 10th
Never quite worked out here, he's struggled, that said he's played most of his career in League 1 a bit in the championship and a bit in League 2. We should have got more from him.
MK Dons are likely to be pushing for promotion, I suspect he'll do well there.
Just hope we bring in someone better and it's not a case of salary saving and no (better) replacement.
Good luck to him, just was not quality enough for this level but I have never been the type of fan to hate our own players for being rubbish, he tried.
Good point Ben. I'm in awe of all these players who get professional contracts to play football. Never seemed to quite come off for Jack Payne at Cafc other than the odd game. I wish him well.
Where does he play though? He's not a CM in either a 433 or a 352. I'd argue that Chem Campbell is his replacement to be honest given he can play in AM or down the wing.
So who replaced our best player last season?
We've replaced most of our outgoings, maybe not exactly like for like but close to it in terms of squad needs.
Clare - no-one yet (Dabo maybe) Sessegnon - Edun Rak-Sakyi - May Egbo - Asiimwe is 18 yo Inniss - Jones is no better Woolacott - Isted Lavelle - technically Hector (Jan signing) briefly appeared to be an upgrade(!) now not so clear Bonne - no-one yet (maybe a loan incoming) Morgan - Taylor another downgrade on a pretty low bar Harness - Adegoke Payne - C.Campbell
so we're lighter on numbers and quality from a side that limped to 10th
And we're told if you're god enough you're old enough so what's Asiimwe's age got to do with it? We've barely seen Taylor so how can you say he's worse than Morgan? I'll bet Jones gets less red cards than Inniss, who btw is so good he's now a League 2 player. What about the other players you didn't put a comment by, are they better but that doesn't fit your narrative so you've ignored them?
Technical Director Andy Scott said: “We wish Jack well during his loan at Milton Keynes. Jack hasn’t quite been able to play as many minutes as he would have liked in his time here but has shown the correct attitude and application to prospective suitors.
telling that of the expected/hoped for departures Jack Payne is the first in terms of effort he has been miles ahead of Shirk, MGrubbish and DJ - added together in terms of ability he's at least the equal of all 3 CAFC had least money gambled on him yet he's the only one to find a suitor is CAFC demanding ludicrous (i.e. any) money for the other chumps or expecting to pass on all their massively over generous salaries Our pals at a local tier 6 club looked them up and wouldn't offer above 10% of their salaries to loan any of them and that team has several players on £1000/wk
Someone add it to the shit nicknames for McGrandles list please
Had options to go to League One clubs but went to MK, maybe to kickstart his career and that they’ve got a decent side for that level. Especially if they keep Mo Eisa beyond Friday.
He’s also very good friends with Fraser so along with the players he would know already at the club, he would have likely received a positive recommendation from him too.
Limited player but always gave his all and fans can accept that. Other players are frauds.
All the best Jack. Always gave it everything on the pitch and seemed like a good character. Some moments of quality sprinkled in there too. Just didn't really manage to hold down a position or really stake a claim to one. I'm pretty sure he'll do well up there.
Had opportunities to become a fans favourite, but never filled me with confidence, than if he shot, he'd hit the target. Seemed to work hard, which is a great attitude that some other players could learn from. Good luck.
During his career, Payne has usually played his best football as a 10.
He can create a bit of space for himself there, like he did at Swindon with plenty of key involvement, goals and assists. He's outmuscled in the CM engine room and a winger he ain't.
We generally never played a system to get the best out of him or just shunted him out to the wing. You either need to play a player to his strengths and abilities - or let him go.
My feeling with Payne last summer is the same as my feeling about him today: I think he's a good player, I don't understand how he fits into our formation.
A year on and he's played CM/8, LM, RM, LWB, and occasionally but rarely as a 10. And he was...fine but not special. I've said for a long time I felt he was the victim of his own flexibility, and as such he never really got a chance to shine.
With Fraser out injured I thought it would be a good time to give him that freer role in a 4-3-3 or as the 10 in a 4-2-3-1. Instead Holden started him on the right, then dropped him for Edun in midfield. So I don't know.
I do think he provided good squad depth because of his flexibility. I feel like when Miles comes back we're going to look very top heavy and light in terms of midfield creativity. I'm not sure Payne was the best answer to that, but I would have liked to see him start in midfield in place of Anderson the last couple of weeks.
So. The story I heard a few weeks back from a source in, let's say, the bowels lounges of the West Stand was that the hold up in bringing in new players is that Holden had been instructed we get rid of the dross first, and that he wasn't co-operating by including them in the squads. According to the source, the "dross" was five, as you'd expect Kirk, DJ, McG, but also Payne, and even more surprisingly for me, Egbo (I think Egbo goes on the long @Garrymanilow list of players we've made worse, either mentally, or by physically damaging them).
Personally I think it's obvious that Holden named them simply because he saw no other options as the treatment room filled up. And Payne was the one player he continued to name because as others have said, he always gave it his best shot. A professional, in other words. As is Egbo. And that's probably why we have managed to find a home for them. As for the other three, they are still with us. And I do not agree for one minute that that is or was Dean Holden's fault.
Given the issues around the Dabo signing, i'm still baffled we got rid of Egbo without a replacement through the door first, thus leaving us with only Asiimwe to play RB.
Comments
in terms of effort he has been miles ahead of Shirk, MGrubbish and DJ - added together
in terms of ability he's at least the equal of all 3
CAFC had least money gambled on him
yet he's the only one to find a suitor
is CAFC demanding ludicrous (i.e. any) money for the other chumps or expecting to pass on all their massively over generous salaries
Our pals at a local tier 6 club looked them up and wouldn't offer above 10% of their salaries to loan any of them and that team has several players on £1000/wk
MK Dons are likely to be pushing for promotion, I suspect he'll do well there.
Just hope we bring in someone better and it's not a case of salary saving and no (better) replacement.
Good point Ben.
I'm in awe of all these players who get professional contracts to play football.
Never seemed to quite come off for Jack Payne at Cafc other than the odd game.
I wish him well.
He may not be good enough to get us in the play offs but right now, our priority is staying up.
Unlike certain other players...
Hmmmmm, all those signings from Swindon really worked out well for us 🥴
That's the first time I have see Kirk referred to as Shirk- very good.
He’s also very good friends with Fraser so along with the players he would know already at the club, he would have likely received a positive recommendation from him too.
Limited player but always gave his all and fans can accept that. Other players are frauds.
He can create a bit of space for himself there, like he did at Swindon with plenty of key involvement, goals and assists.
He's outmuscled in the CM engine room and a winger he ain't.
We generally never played a system to get the best out of him or just shunted him out to the wing.
You either need to play a player to his strengths and abilities - or let him go.
A year on and he's played CM/8, LM, RM, LWB, and occasionally but rarely as a 10. And he was...fine but not special. I've said for a long time I felt he was the victim of his own flexibility, and as such he never really got a chance to shine.
With Fraser out injured I thought it would be a good time to give him that freer role in a 4-3-3 or as the 10 in a 4-2-3-1. Instead Holden started him on the right, then dropped him for Edun in midfield. So I don't know.
I do think he provided good squad depth because of his flexibility. I feel like when Miles comes back we're going to look very top heavy and light in terms of midfield creativity. I'm not sure Payne was the best answer to that, but I would have liked to see him start in midfield in place of Anderson the last couple of weeks.