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How Big A Step Up
Comments
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I think that’s about right, just don’t be surprised if we don’t fill every gap and one or two more academy players are the cover.sam3110 said:There's 3 different steps for me.
Step 1, buy 3 or 4 players and try to survive.
Step 2, buy 6 or 7 players and try to establish.
Step 3, buy 10 or 11 players and try to springboard.
I suspect we'll do step 2.
For me it would be:
NEW GK, Mannion
NEW RWB, Small
Ramsay, A.Mitchell
Jones, Z.Mitchell
New CB, Gillesphey
Edwards, NEW LWB
Docherty, NEW CM
Coventry, Anderson
NEW CAM, Berry
Godden, NEW ST
Campbell, Leaburn
Wildcards/backups of Kanu, Dixon, Mbick, Enslin
Moved on/not retained: the loanees, AMB, Watson, Taylor, Aneke, Ahadme, Hylton
That would be the majority of the team held together, but with 4 distinct upgrades in the first XI, and hopefully stronger depth in other key areas
Asiimwe at RWB and Fullah at CAM are possible, alongside the four you mentioned. Asiimwe’s had a decent loan in L2 and Fullah is very highly rated.
They won’t want to block the pathway for players like Fullah and Enslin with Watson type signings to do a job.0 -
Only six players who were with Oxford last season have made 30+ appearances (all comps) for Oxford this season.Athletico Charlton said:jose said:What have Oxford United done (or Plymouth the season before)?Theirs is the kind of example we are likely to follow in terms of squad development following any promotion…which is still not yet achieved.
According to Transfermarkt then INCLUDING loans (number of loans in brackets). No idea how many might have been for u21 squads etc of course.
- Oxford in 24/25 have 21 new signings (4)
- Plymouth who were already in the Championship for a year made 16 new signings in 24/25 (6)
- Portsmouth in 24/25 made 24 signings (7)
- Derby in 24/25 made 19 signings (6)0 -
I’m honestly not sure any of our academy players are ready/good enough to play a role in the Championship yet.Scoham said:
Why as many as 11 new players? If we go up and that’s your expectation I think you’ll be disappointed.msomerton said:If we get to the championship, they cannot look to the U21 squad to fill in the gaps. The owners will need 11 new good quality players. I doubt they have the funding to do that at Championship level.
No doubt we’d bring in signings, but part of this ownerships plan is to bring academy players through, so there will be gaps in the squad where NJ feels we can make room for an u21 player. As long as it’s not forced on him and the players are genuinely good enough then that’s a positive thing.
In time I also see us funding a bigger budget via player sales. We’ve signed some good players in their early to mid 20s like Ramsay and Edwards will be worth a lot more than the amount we paid for them, and plenty of academy players are progressing, even if at this stage it’s only obvious with TC.
If we get there, TC will get the opportunity and we’ll see how he does (I’m hopeful though slightly sceptical). Leaburn is a mystery. Kanu and Anderson would struggle enormously. But the likes of Mbick, Dixon, Fullah, Enslin etc are miles off right now.0 -
Would you really be able to rely on Leaburn? We all love him - when fit he scores goal pretty regularly (though not many this calendar year before he got injured), he’s the son of Charlton hero’s and we feel like he’s “one of our own”. But his injury issues so far in his career are pretty profound. I think we’d need to have two additional strikers alongside Godden & TC with Leaburn as a nice to have when fit.sam3110 said:There's 3 different steps for me.
Step 1, buy 3 or 4 players and try to survive.
Step 2, buy 6 or 7 players and try to establish.
Step 3, buy 10 or 11 players and try to springboard.
I suspect we'll do step 2.
For me it would be:
NEW GK, Mannion
NEW RWB, Small
Ramsay, A.Mitchell
Jones, Z.Mitchell
New CB, Gillesphey
Edwards, NEW LWB
Docherty, NEW CM
Coventry, Anderson
NEW CAM, Berry
Godden, NEW ST
Campbell, Leaburn
Wildcards/backups of Kanu, Dixon, Mbick, Enslin
Moved on/not retained: the loanees, AMB, Watson, Taylor, Aneke, Ahadme, Hylton
That would be the majority of the team held together, but with 4 distinct upgrades in the first XI, and hopefully stronger depth in other key areas
Hopefully this doesn’t come across as overly harsh or critical. I mentioned previously that, if we get up, we’ll need to be ruthless and I really do think that. Get sentimental and we’ll get relegated.
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So half their team from league one and they only went up via play offs.se9addick said:
Only six players who were with Oxford last season have made 30+ appearances (all comps) for Oxford this season.Athletico Charlton said:jose said:What have Oxford United done (or Plymouth the season before)?Theirs is the kind of example we are likely to follow in terms of squad development following any promotion…which is still not yet achieved.
According to Transfermarkt then INCLUDING loans (number of loans in brackets). No idea how many might have been for u21 squads etc of course.
- Oxford in 24/25 have 21 new signings (4)
- Plymouth who were already in the Championship for a year made 16 new signings in 24/25 (6)
- Portsmouth in 24/25 made 24 signings (7)
- Derby in 24/25 made 19 signings (6)I still think the step up is not as difficult based on our current first choice 11. We will obv need squad depth and transition planning for berry / godden who are aging.0 -
I always feel that we start a season three quality players short of a half decent side, but should promotion happen I think four or five improvements would need to be made, and that's without losing any of our 'better ' players.0
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4 might be too few, but I think some of their players can step up. Rathbone was an excellent signing for them in January for example.AndyG said:I was talking to a Wrexham fan today and asked him how many players he thought they need to make the step up to the championship he thought 4 which surprised me as I think a lot more.
if we get promoted how many of our current squad can be competitive? I think maybe 7
And the last thing you want to do is change too many of the players, it's much better if you can to bring in quality rather than quantity, as otherwise you destroy the team spirit you had from your promotion team.
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Our squad depths is pretty awful by League One standards, it’s non-existent by Championship standards.BalladMan said:
So half their team from league one and they only went up via play offs.se9addick said:
Only six players who were with Oxford last season have made 30+ appearances (all comps) for Oxford this season.Athletico Charlton said:jose said:What have Oxford United done (or Plymouth the season before)?Theirs is the kind of example we are likely to follow in terms of squad development following any promotion…which is still not yet achieved.
According to Transfermarkt then INCLUDING loans (number of loans in brackets). No idea how many might have been for u21 squads etc of course.
- Oxford in 24/25 have 21 new signings (4)
- Plymouth who were already in the Championship for a year made 16 new signings in 24/25 (6)
- Portsmouth in 24/25 made 24 signings (7)
- Derby in 24/25 made 19 signings (6)I still think the step up is not as difficult based on our current first choice 11. We will obv need squad depth and transition planning for berry / godden who are aging.Personally, if we get up, I think we need at least six first team players supplemented by a further six’ish squad players. So something like ten to twelve players, half of whom are starting XI.Whether we get that is another story.1 -
Agree on Kanu and Anderson at the moment, but players develop at different rates and they aren’t all the same age with the same potential. I wouldn’t be surprised if Fullah and Enslin for example overtake those two during the next year. Some positions are easier to slowly involve players over time, which is one reason Zach Mitchell has found it tougher to break through, despite his obvious talent.se9addick said:
I’m honestly not sure any of our academy players are ready/good enough to play a role in the Championship yet.Scoham said:
Why as many as 11 new players? If we go up and that’s your expectation I think you’ll be disappointed.msomerton said:If we get to the championship, they cannot look to the U21 squad to fill in the gaps. The owners will need 11 new good quality players. I doubt they have the funding to do that at Championship level.
No doubt we’d bring in signings, but part of this ownerships plan is to bring academy players through, so there will be gaps in the squad where NJ feels we can make room for an u21 player. As long as it’s not forced on him and the players are genuinely good enough then that’s a positive thing.
In time I also see us funding a bigger budget via player sales. We’ve signed some good players in their early to mid 20s like Ramsay and Edwards will be worth a lot more than the amount we paid for them, and plenty of academy players are progressing, even if at this stage it’s only obvious with TC.
If we get there, TC will get the opportunity and we’ll see how he does (I’m hopeful though slightly sceptical). Leaburn is a mystery. Kanu and Anderson would struggle enormously. But the likes of Mbick, Dixon, Fullah, Enslin etc are miles off right now.
Just look at TC, a year ago Kanu was in the team ahead of him, and some on here would have released him. Now he’s probably our most valuable player in terms of the bids he might attract.1 -
Radostanradical said:
I think our starting 11 would be fine to make up the squad plus players like Zach Mitchell should be given a chance, in reality it all depends what you want to do. If we are talking about survival i think we need 3/4 more (GK, 2 Midfielders, Full back) who are first team level. If we are talking pushing for promotion I'm not sure many if any of our starting 11 would be good enough frankly, maybe Small, Edwards, Jones, Coventry and Campbell (if he becomes more consistent) would be the only ones who can make an argument but its no foregone conclusion.AndyG said:I was talking to a Wrexham fan today and asked him how many players he thought they need to make the step up to the championship he thought 4 which surprised me as I think a lot more.
if we get promoted how many of our current squad can be competitive? I think maybe 7
Equally you may have to start looking abroad for players because the quality of the players needed will be too expensive if we remain buying from other EFL clubs at that level but its also a gamble to spend money on foreign players who are unproven under the demand so f the English football season.
Looking abroad is a very good point , I think we might have to in order to find value in some positions. Feels like the Championship has had a lot of success in finding players from smaller European leagues and we might have to go down that path.0 - Sponsored links:
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Seems that’s hinting at Miles being the new Chuks. I’m hoping for more than that from him to be honest.se9addick said:
Would you really be able to rely on Leaburn? We all love him - when fit he scores goal pretty regularly (though not many this calendar year before he got injured), he’s the son of Charlton hero’s and we feel like he’s “one of our own”. But his injury issues so far in his career are pretty profound. I think we’d need to have two additional strikers alongside Godden & TC with Leaburn as a nice to have when fit.sam3110 said:There's 3 different steps for me.
Step 1, buy 3 or 4 players and try to survive.
Step 2, buy 6 or 7 players and try to establish.
Step 3, buy 10 or 11 players and try to springboard.
I suspect we'll do step 2.
For me it would be:
NEW GK, Mannion
NEW RWB, Small
Ramsay, A.Mitchell
Jones, Z.Mitchell
New CB, Gillesphey
Edwards, NEW LWB
Docherty, NEW CM
Coventry, Anderson
NEW CAM, Berry
Godden, NEW ST
Campbell, Leaburn
Wildcards/backups of Kanu, Dixon, Mbick, Enslin
Moved on/not retained: the loanees, AMB, Watson, Taylor, Aneke, Ahadme, Hylton
That would be the majority of the team held together, but with 4 distinct upgrades in the first XI, and hopefully stronger depth in other key areas
Hopefully this doesn’t come across as overly harsh or critical. I mentioned previously that, if we get up, we’ll need to be ruthless and I really do think that. Get sentimental and we’ll get relegated.0 -
I think we'd almost certainly need to get some players in on loan. Even if we did sign 10-12 players, i don't think we'd spend the money required to get 5-6 Championship level players for the starting XI. But if you can get say 3 in on loan it makes life a bit easier.se9addick said:
Our squad depths is pretty awful by League One standards, it’s non-existent by Championship standards.BalladMan said:
So half their team from league one and they only went up via play offs.se9addick said:
Only six players who were with Oxford last season have made 30+ appearances (all comps) for Oxford this season.Athletico Charlton said:jose said:What have Oxford United done (or Plymouth the season before)?Theirs is the kind of example we are likely to follow in terms of squad development following any promotion…which is still not yet achieved.
According to Transfermarkt then INCLUDING loans (number of loans in brackets). No idea how many might have been for u21 squads etc of course.
- Oxford in 24/25 have 21 new signings (4)
- Plymouth who were already in the Championship for a year made 16 new signings in 24/25 (6)
- Portsmouth in 24/25 made 24 signings (7)
- Derby in 24/25 made 19 signings (6)I still think the step up is not as difficult based on our current first choice 11. We will obv need squad depth and transition planning for berry / godden who are aging.Personally, if we get up, I think we need at least six first team players supplemented by a further six’ish squad players. So something like ten to twelve players, half of whom are starting XI.Whether we get that is another story.1 -
I think we’ll have to hope that that’s what happens because I doubt we’ll be signing 20 new players, but it’s a big big ask for lads who have been playing youth team football to be ready to play even a bit part in the Championship. For every TC who has stepped up (to League One level…) there are countless others who haven’t made the grade.Scoham said:
Agree on Kanu and Anderson at the moment, but players develop at different rates and they aren’t all the same age with the same potential. I wouldn’t be surprised if Fullah and Enslin for example overtake those two during the next year. Some positions are easier to slowly involve players over time, which is one reason Zach Mitchell has found it tougher to break through, despite his obvious talent.se9addick said:
I’m honestly not sure any of our academy players are ready/good enough to play a role in the Championship yet.Scoham said:
Why as many as 11 new players? If we go up and that’s your expectation I think you’ll be disappointed.msomerton said:If we get to the championship, they cannot look to the U21 squad to fill in the gaps. The owners will need 11 new good quality players. I doubt they have the funding to do that at Championship level.
No doubt we’d bring in signings, but part of this ownerships plan is to bring academy players through, so there will be gaps in the squad where NJ feels we can make room for an u21 player. As long as it’s not forced on him and the players are genuinely good enough then that’s a positive thing.
In time I also see us funding a bigger budget via player sales. We’ve signed some good players in their early to mid 20s like Ramsay and Edwards will be worth a lot more than the amount we paid for them, and plenty of academy players are progressing, even if at this stage it’s only obvious with TC.
If we get there, TC will get the opportunity and we’ll see how he does (I’m hopeful though slightly sceptical). Leaburn is a mystery. Kanu and Anderson would struggle enormously. But the likes of Mbick, Dixon, Fullah, Enslin etc are miles off right now.
Just look at TC, a year ago Kanu was in the team ahead of him, and some on here would have released him. Now he’s probably our most valuable player in terms of the bids he might attract.
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AndyG said:I was talking to a Wrexham fan today and asked him how many players he thought they need to make the step up to the championship he thought 4 which surprised me as I think a lot more.
if we get promoted how many of our current squad can be competitive? I think maybe 7
One step at a time. It doesn't help to think that far ahead but it's best to always be positive/realistic if we are to do that.
I think we'd have a reasonable chance of staying up. We'd need to sign a lot of players etc and try to turn the valley into a tough setting for any opposition.
A 20k + home attendance will help.
Loan in promising youngsters from arsenal/chelsea/west ham who wana show what they're made of.
Then prey to get 50 points from 46 cup finals.
It would help if we played against bottom half/mid table opp to begin with.
Our 1st fixture will hopefully not be a leicster or a Sunderland.
Charlton 2 - 0 Oxford 😮0 -
I may be in the minority but I think maybe 2 or 3 to the starting 11, with an upgrade on Mannion, Small and Berry the biggest concern with some quality depth added across the board
in regards to comparison with the previously promoted sides I think it's been missed we have a better and more experienced manager at championship level than any of the 3 sides (until Rowett went in at Oxford) and that is going to be worth a good few points on it's own
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It’s always awkward for clubs in the playoffs. You effectively have to have two sets of targets. Some on your list will no doubt cover both eventuality but by no means all. If we remain in league one I’d still expect a GK and four outfield players to come in regardless of any players leaving. Get promoted and I’d say double that.0
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Agree it’s a big step up, but rightly or wrongly it’s the route the club are going down. I’m not saying I wouldn’t like us to really go for it with signings, but I don’t see the 888 plan changing in the near future - we’ll continue to see around a third of the squad made up of academy players.se9addick said:
I think we’ll have to hope that that’s what happens because I doubt we’ll be signing 20 new players, but it’s a big big ask for lads who have been playing youth team football to be ready to play even a bit part in the Championship. For every TC who has stepped up (to League One level…) there are countless others who haven’t made the grade.Scoham said:
Agree on Kanu and Anderson at the moment, but players develop at different rates and they aren’t all the same age with the same potential. I wouldn’t be surprised if Fullah and Enslin for example overtake those two during the next year. Some positions are easier to slowly involve players over time, which is one reason Zach Mitchell has found it tougher to break through, despite his obvious talent.se9addick said:
I’m honestly not sure any of our academy players are ready/good enough to play a role in the Championship yet.Scoham said:
Why as many as 11 new players? If we go up and that’s your expectation I think you’ll be disappointed.msomerton said:If we get to the championship, they cannot look to the U21 squad to fill in the gaps. The owners will need 11 new good quality players. I doubt they have the funding to do that at Championship level.
No doubt we’d bring in signings, but part of this ownerships plan is to bring academy players through, so there will be gaps in the squad where NJ feels we can make room for an u21 player. As long as it’s not forced on him and the players are genuinely good enough then that’s a positive thing.
In time I also see us funding a bigger budget via player sales. We’ve signed some good players in their early to mid 20s like Ramsay and Edwards will be worth a lot more than the amount we paid for them, and plenty of academy players are progressing, even if at this stage it’s only obvious with TC.
If we get there, TC will get the opportunity and we’ll see how he does (I’m hopeful though slightly sceptical). Leaburn is a mystery. Kanu and Anderson would struggle enormously. But the likes of Mbick, Dixon, Fullah, Enslin etc are miles off right now.
Just look at TC, a year ago Kanu was in the team ahead of him, and some on here would have released him. Now he’s probably our most valuable player in terms of the bids he might attract.Players like Poyet, Harriott, Cousins and Fox all broke through at Championship level and helped keep us there until it went wrong under RD, and none of them were world beaters. We have several young players with similar Championship or higher potential. It’s a gamble, but so is spreading the budget more thinly and bringing in journymen as cover.0 -
I can see the logic of 8 out of the 24 being academy players, as that's a massive selling point for us as a club, the pathway to the first team. The key though is to have the right balance in the squad between "senior " academy players, with the ability and experience to step up, and talented kids who are too raw to play much.Scoham said:
Agree it’s a big step up, but rightly or wrongly it’s the route the club are going down. I’m not saying I wouldn’t like us to really go for it with signings, but I don’t see the 888 plan changing in the near future - we’ll continue to see around a third of the squad made up of academy players.se9addick said:
I think we’ll have to hope that that’s what happens because I doubt we’ll be signing 20 new players, but it’s a big big ask for lads who have been playing youth team football to be ready to play even a bit part in the Championship. For every TC who has stepped up (to League One level…) there are countless others who haven’t made the grade.Scoham said:
Agree on Kanu and Anderson at the moment, but players develop at different rates and they aren’t all the same age with the same potential. I wouldn’t be surprised if Fullah and Enslin for example overtake those two during the next year. Some positions are easier to slowly involve players over time, which is one reason Zach Mitchell has found it tougher to break through, despite his obvious talent.se9addick said:
I’m honestly not sure any of our academy players are ready/good enough to play a role in the Championship yet.Scoham said:
Why as many as 11 new players? If we go up and that’s your expectation I think you’ll be disappointed.msomerton said:If we get to the championship, they cannot look to the U21 squad to fill in the gaps. The owners will need 11 new good quality players. I doubt they have the funding to do that at Championship level.
No doubt we’d bring in signings, but part of this ownerships plan is to bring academy players through, so there will be gaps in the squad where NJ feels we can make room for an u21 player. As long as it’s not forced on him and the players are genuinely good enough then that’s a positive thing.
In time I also see us funding a bigger budget via player sales. We’ve signed some good players in their early to mid 20s like Ramsay and Edwards will be worth a lot more than the amount we paid for them, and plenty of academy players are progressing, even if at this stage it’s only obvious with TC.
If we get there, TC will get the opportunity and we’ll see how he does (I’m hopeful though slightly sceptical). Leaburn is a mystery. Kanu and Anderson would struggle enormously. But the likes of Mbick, Dixon, Fullah, Enslin etc are miles off right now.
Just look at TC, a year ago Kanu was in the team ahead of him, and some on here would have released him. Now he’s probably our most valuable player in terms of the bids he might attract.Players like Poyet, Harriott, Cousins and Fox all broke through at Championship level and helped keep us there until it went wrong under RD, and none of them were world beaters. We have several young players with similar Championship or higher potential. It’s a gamble, but so is spreading the budget more thinly and bringing in journymen as cover.
The likes of TC, Leaburn, Anderson, Zach should have a genuine chance to play decent minutes next season, with the remaining 4 being raw kids for the occasional bench appearance. That still leaves 16 "external" senior pros.
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Generally, I find that teams that easily get promoted the momentum ensures they have a comfortable next season.Aside from that, it is not uncommon for clubs to struggle in the following season. A mid table finish in the Championship would be fantastic.0
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New ST. Godden will be 34 next season and is far from prolific in the Championship.
New AM: Berry has been okay, but like Godden he'll be another year older and in a more competitive league.
New CM: I think we can do better than what we have, even if we stay in League One.
New LCB: I like Gillesphey... Maybe he can do an okay job, but not convinced he'd thrive in the division above.
New GK. There'll be more goalmouth pressure and neither of ours are good enough to make a difference.
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I think it needs to be remembered that overall this has been a very weak L1. Leyton Orient have been able to claw themselves back after an awful run. Wycombe finished 5th (with shout of automatic promotion until penultimate game) despite being all over the shop since Christmas & having mid-table form. Huddersfield Town & Bolton, two sides so out of sorts they sacked managers, were sniffing around til quite late on. Reading, threatened with expulsion, nearly made the play-offs!
What I am alluding to, is the fact that we can’t big these players up too much. I think realistically we would need at least seven / eight players ready to play Championship level football added to the squad. Minimum. I think as it stands, we’d struggle to score many & would get punished a fair bit. I can imagine a lot of tight, blood and thunder games ending 1-0 either way, mostly the other way. And the likes of Ipswich and Southampton dishing out a sound beating.Sorry if that sounds negative. But just trying to be realistic.5 -
Without the right recruitment setup in place to do this then it is very risky recruiting from abroad. I don’t know much about our set up but it seems to revolve a lot around Jones and I really doubt we have the expertise or resources to look abroad. I’d expect us to continue to look at the EFL and Scotland as we did this summerMarcusH26 said:Radostanradical said:
I think our starting 11 would be fine to make up the squad plus players like Zach Mitchell should be given a chance, in reality it all depends what you want to do. If we are talking about survival i think we need 3/4 more (GK, 2 Midfielders, Full back) who are first team level. If we are talking pushing for promotion I'm not sure many if any of our starting 11 would be good enough frankly, maybe Small, Edwards, Jones, Coventry and Campbell (if he becomes more consistent) would be the only ones who can make an argument but its no foregone conclusion.AndyG said:I was talking to a Wrexham fan today and asked him how many players he thought they need to make the step up to the championship he thought 4 which surprised me as I think a lot more.
if we get promoted how many of our current squad can be competitive? I think maybe 7
Equally you may have to start looking abroad for players because the quality of the players needed will be too expensive if we remain buying from other EFL clubs at that level but its also a gamble to spend money on foreign players who are unproven under the demand so f the English football season.
Looking abroad is a very good point , I think we might have to in order to find value in some positions. Feels like the Championship has had a lot of success in finding players from smaller European leagues and we might have to go down that path.I remember reading about Ipswich this season and they have recruited nearly entirely from the UK because they were setting up their overseas recruitment but got promoted too fast up the leagues so weren’t ready to recruit from overseas this summer. Maybe long term we will be able to become one of the teams that can exploit good value from abroad, but I don’t think that will be the case this summer1 -
I think Scotland is an untapped market, certainly below the top division. Josh Edwards came a bit out of the blue and didn't have a huge amount of interest (only one other club if I remember rightly) and he's slotted in effortlessly. No chance he's the only player in Scotland like that4
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NabySarr said:
Without the right recruitment setup in place to do this then it is very risky recruiting from abroad. I don’t know much about our set up but it seems to revolve a lot around Jones and I really doubt we have the expertise or resources to look abroad. I’d expect us to continue to look at the EFL and Scotland as we did this summerMarcusH26 said:Radostanradical said:
I think our starting 11 would be fine to make up the squad plus players like Zach Mitchell should be given a chance, in reality it all depends what you want to do. If we are talking about survival i think we need 3/4 more (GK, 2 Midfielders, Full back) who are first team level. If we are talking pushing for promotion I'm not sure many if any of our starting 11 would be good enough frankly, maybe Small, Edwards, Jones, Coventry and Campbell (if he becomes more consistent) would be the only ones who can make an argument but its no foregone conclusion.AndyG said:I was talking to a Wrexham fan today and asked him how many players he thought they need to make the step up to the championship he thought 4 which surprised me as I think a lot more.
if we get promoted how many of our current squad can be competitive? I think maybe 7
Equally you may have to start looking abroad for players because the quality of the players needed will be too expensive if we remain buying from other EFL clubs at that level but its also a gamble to spend money on foreign players who are unproven under the demand so f the English football season.
Looking abroad is a very good point , I think we might have to in order to find value in some positions. Feels like the Championship has had a lot of success in finding players from smaller European leagues and we might have to go down that path.I remember reading about Ipswich this season and they have recruited nearly entirely from the UK because they were setting up their overseas recruitment but got promoted too fast up the leagues so weren’t ready to recruit from overseas this summer. Maybe long term we will be able to become one of the teams that can exploit good value from abroad, but I don’t think that will be the case this summerScandinavia, and particularly Sweden, has been popular over the years.They are very disciplined and can normally be relied upon to be money well spent.0 -
Their best player left for Pompeyse9addick said:
Only six players who were with Oxford last season have made 30+ appearances (all comps) for Oxford this season.Athletico Charlton said:jose said:What have Oxford United done (or Plymouth the season before)?Theirs is the kind of example we are likely to follow in terms of squad development following any promotion…which is still not yet achieved.
According to Transfermarkt then INCLUDING loans (number of loans in brackets). No idea how many might have been for u21 squads etc of course.
- Oxford in 24/25 have 21 new signings (4)
- Plymouth who were already in the Championship for a year made 16 new signings in 24/25 (6)
- Portsmouth in 24/25 made 24 signings (7)
- Derby in 24/25 made 19 signings (6)0 -
Just like Ronnie Schwartz 😉 . In all seriousness, I think Scandinavia is becoming more and more saturated and harder to get value for money. League of Ireland is going the same way. I think the next place to find good value for money will be the second tiers of the other "big 5" nationsElfsborgAddick said:NabySarr said:
Without the right recruitment setup in place to do this then it is very risky recruiting from abroad. I don’t know much about our set up but it seems to revolve a lot around Jones and I really doubt we have the expertise or resources to look abroad. I’d expect us to continue to look at the EFL and Scotland as we did this summerMarcusH26 said:Radostanradical said:
I think our starting 11 would be fine to make up the squad plus players like Zach Mitchell should be given a chance, in reality it all depends what you want to do. If we are talking about survival i think we need 3/4 more (GK, 2 Midfielders, Full back) who are first team level. If we are talking pushing for promotion I'm not sure many if any of our starting 11 would be good enough frankly, maybe Small, Edwards, Jones, Coventry and Campbell (if he becomes more consistent) would be the only ones who can make an argument but its no foregone conclusion.AndyG said:I was talking to a Wrexham fan today and asked him how many players he thought they need to make the step up to the championship he thought 4 which surprised me as I think a lot more.
if we get promoted how many of our current squad can be competitive? I think maybe 7
Equally you may have to start looking abroad for players because the quality of the players needed will be too expensive if we remain buying from other EFL clubs at that level but its also a gamble to spend money on foreign players who are unproven under the demand so f the English football season.
Looking abroad is a very good point , I think we might have to in order to find value in some positions. Feels like the Championship has had a lot of success in finding players from smaller European leagues and we might have to go down that path.I remember reading about Ipswich this season and they have recruited nearly entirely from the UK because they were setting up their overseas recruitment but got promoted too fast up the leagues so weren’t ready to recruit from overseas this summer. Maybe long term we will be able to become one of the teams that can exploit good value from abroad, but I don’t think that will be the case this summerScandinavia, and particularly Sweden, has been popular over the years.They are very disciplined and can normally be relied upon to be money well spent.0 -
What Portsmouth, Oxford and Derby all have are excellent managers. Fortunately we finally have one ourselves that is good enough for the championship1
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Not too easy signing “prospects” from overseas these days.0
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True, but the rules changed in the last few years so clubs have a few slots for players who can’t get a work permit. I think you get a couple more in the Champ compared to L1.ShootersHillGuru said:Not too easy signing “prospects” from overseas these days.1 -
But unfair to tarnish him with the record of a team he doesn’t play for anymore isn’t it?Athletico Charlton said:Doc is one of our better players and wasn't wanted by Hull who narrowly avoided relegation.
Gillesphey couldn't get a game at Plymouth who were relegated.
I think Edwards, Jones, Ramsey, Coventry, Small and TC all could step up. Doc & Godden would be fine squad players. Leaburn it's unclear. We would need 10-15 new players on top which would be a sea change of investment for our owners whilst also ensuring we passed FFP rules.
Docherty made 40 apps there when they finished 19th, 14 points clear of relegation. And then 35 apps the following season when they finished 15th. Reckon we would all take that for the next couple of years.
He only played 15 times when they finished 7th in 23/24. But he played zero times for their 24/25 team that just avoided getting relegated that you reference.2
