I would think that if we have this development squad then Collins,Evans,Longe King would be part of that along with academy lads like Woodiwiss and Twamley.

Percy plunkett wrote:I would think that if we have this development squad then Collins,Evans,Longe King would be part of that along with academy lads like Woodiwiss and Twamley.

With regards to the development squad it would be interesting to see whether someone starting their Managerial career would be charged with running it or someone within the existing training team or player pool for next season. Mark O'Brien would be helpful in coaching players such as Farky, LK and Woodiwiss whereas if Ellison were still on the books as impact sub/forwards coach then he'd be helpful with the younger strikers.

From Sully's list I'd look to keep

Townsend (already signed)
Lewis (for no other reason than he can cover both full/wing back positions)
Farky (there is improvement to come)
Dolan (?most consistent player this season)
Demetriou (it all depends on players demands)
Amond (still County's best striker, surprisingly)
Ellison (worth a place as an impact sub, but surely can coach young strikers)
Bennett (possibly his worst County season but we know he's better than this)

Both Haynes and Shepherd should be kept waiting to see whether County can bring in better. I'd not offer Labadie another contract purely because of his discipline within matches. He's a guaranteed yellow card waiting for a red in most matches and for me a cooler head is needed.

Both Sheehan and King will be looking to play at a higher level next season for their Wales aspirations.

Obviously Evans, Collins and LK for development...

pembsexile wrote:

SULLY34 wrote:So who would you like to retain???

For me....

Townsend
Lewis
Haynes
Farky
Dolan
Demetriou
Labs
Amond
Ellison
Gambin
Bennett

I take it you have already accepted that King and Josh will be leaving then? I’d like to retain them.

Yes I have Pembs

Exeter City will be in their best position ever to bolster their squad in the summer, says boss Matt Taylor.

The fan-owned Grecians got more than £4m as part of Ollie Watkins' move form Brentford to Aston Villa last summer.

The likes of Joel Randall and Randell Williams could also leave after bids this season.

"We'll be in a much stronger position to recruit a serious amount of players, and players of a serious stature and a serious standard," Taylor said.

"It'll be the strongest we've been, I can't hide that fact, but also the strongest we've been because we'll still have the nucleus of the young players.

"If you've got five or six young players in the first team it really bodes well for the players you can bring into the club"

Exeter still have ambitions to make the play-offs for a fourth time in five seasons, but whatever division his side ends up in come August 2021, Taylor says the club are committed to a big budget by the club's standards.

"Next season will be a season where we're going to go strong, and go as strong as we possibly can and spend as much money as we can possibly afford, possibly money we've saved this season," he said.

"In terms of the market it will look a lot different. We tried so hard to strengthen this team in January in attacking areas, we knew what a big miss Nicky Law would be, so we tried our hardest to strengthen this team in January, but like every other manager the players just weren't out there.

"But the market at the end of the season will be a lot different because there'll be a lot more players out of contract and clubs will have a lot more time to plan for next season as opposed to the rush for this season."

Really don't understand how we can offer players a new contract as don't know what league we are in? Can't think of many players in our team good enough for league 1 if and a big if we go up

countymadbel wrote:Really don't understand how we can offer players a new contract as don't know what league we are in? Can't think of many players in our team good enough for league 1 if and a big if we go up

If we don't offer then other clubs can pinch them that's why

countymadbel wrote:Really don't understand how we can offer players a new contract as don't know what league we are in? Can't think of many players in our team good enough for league 1 if and a big if we go up

But it's the same every season if you are going for promotion.

It's the age of those offered that concerns me. As far I'm concern keep the youngsters, look for the 18--21 year olds being released and commit to developing the strenght of the club for the future. Not many of the established members of the squad are good enough for league one. Exeter City, a fan owned club, are doing very nicely have not wasted money trying to get promotion at all cost. Read the article posted

ajs wrote:It's the age of those offered that concerns me. As far I'm concern keep the youngsters, look for the 18--21 year olds being released and commit to developing the strenght of the club for the future. Not many of the established members of the squad are good enough for league one. Exeter City, a fan owned club, are doing very nicely have not wasted money trying to get promotion at all cost. Read the article posted

The 18-21 year olds are exactly the players that Flynn ignores and will be getting rid of in the close season. Why develop players when you can buy in...

wattsville_boy wrote:

ajs wrote:It's the age of those offered that concerns me. As far I'm concern keep the youngsters, look for the 18--21 year olds being released and commit to developing the strenght of the club for the future. Not many of the established members of the squad are good enough for league one. Exeter City, a fan owned club, are doing very nicely have not wasted money trying to get promotion at all cost. Read the article posted

The 18-21 year olds are exactly the players that Flynn ignores and will be getting rid of in the close season. Why develop players when you can buy in...

Hopefully,the SD will change that policy.

Don't understand the logic of buy in, we do not have a money man!!!. Developing and selling is the way to establish a financially secure club while retaining fan ownership. Exeter City are in a much better position than us read the article. We have wasted a lot of money on loan and buy-ins this season, we have no home, no ground, and no way of raising monies through investments, spending money on players who are past their best in my opinion is poor. Percy I agree with you hopefully the new SD will make a change, in fact I believe the board has done this because of Flynn's poor record in loan and permanent signings.

ajs wrote:Don't understand the logic of buy in, we do not have a money man!!!. Developing and selling is the way to establish a financially secure club while retaining fan ownership. Exeter City are in a much better position than us read the article. We have wasted a lot of money on loan and buy-ins this season, we have no home, no ground, and no way of raising monies through investments, spending money on players who are past their best in my opinion is poor. Percy I agree with you hopefully the new SD will make a change, in fact I believe the board has done this because of Flynn's poor record in loan and permanent signings.

I was merely stating the facts about Flynn's managerial career - he simply does not give youngsters the opportunity to play, make mistakes and prove that they can learn from those mistakes. My opinion is that we have had some youngsters that could have been developed into decent lower league players that would have saved the club quite a bit of money.

My personal opinion is that only way to change the attitude to bringing the youngsters through would be write into the Managers contract that every starting eleven contains one teenage player and that a teenage player needs to be on the pitch for the duration of the game (injuries excepted). Fine them for not complying...

I can see there might be some circumstances where a league should dictate the make up of squads, but the fewer rules around that the better because it just gets too complicated with scope for small admin mistakes triggering points deductions. (I think it's bonkers to allow more loanees on the books than you can have in a match day squad, for example.) We'd be tying our own hands if we did it unilaterally. No manager worth his (or her!) salt would look at a job where the board dictates who gets to play.

Flynn has said in the Argus that there is a problem with having to release kids at 18 because the budget doesn't have slack for an extra year getting stronger. I'm hoping the new limit on squad sizes + a new development squad will help sort this out.

GSB--Exeter City manage to keep a number of young players, Flynn's argument is not sound, he prefers older players as he see's them as his path to a CV with promotion on it. He has just spouted about Hartigan and how he is better suited to better pitches, not all games were played at RP, Cardiff City's pitch was very good as were some of the away games played, more bullshit from Mr Flynn

wattsville_boy wrote:I was merely stating the facts about Flynn's managerial career - he simply does not give youngsters the opportunity to play, make mistakes and prove that they can learn from those mistakes. My opinion is that we have had some youngsters that could have been developed into decent lower league players that would have saved the club quite a bit of money.

My personal opinion is that only way to change the attitude to bringing the youngsters through would be write into the Managers contract that every starting eleven contains one teenage player and that a teenage player needs to be on the pitch for the duration of the game (injuries excepted). Fine them for not complying...

There's no chance that would get past the LMA, never mind any manager accepting it. Shoehorning kids into a team just for the sake of it won't help them develop. If they aren't ready, throwing them into the first 11 won't get them there. Players need to earn their spots. The jump from youth football to the first team is incredible.

Exeter's been mentioned, the thing they do with their kids is loan them out. They use clubs like Tiverton, Taunton, Salisbury etc to bridge the gap between youth football and the first team. Ollie Watkins spent a year at Weston. They need to be playing men's football when they hit 18, then it's up to them to sink or swim. I think Collins would have benefitted more from a loan at Gloucester City, for example, than sitting on our bench.

Personally, I don't think there's been any kids that we've released that have gone on to prove us wrong.