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Grays First Summer


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The summer will provide Gray with his first opportunity to really out his own stamp on the squad.
This is often the time when you really find out whether coaches can become manager.

He's done a fine job so far in getting the players to play a more expressive game. Certainly got the best out of them and ticked one of the major boxes in modern football which is -
Can the man in charge make the sum of the parts more than the individuals promise.
He's certainly done that. We've gone from a jobbing side of odds and sods to actually looking like a cohesive unit. The players are playing well, many of them seemingly above the potential we had previously given them. I may be wrong but i believe he's used nearly every available first team player and got results using them. Even the ones some think past it and some who we don't believe are good enough have played their part in a winning unit.

I have no doubt whatsoever that we will stay up.

Of course the advantage that he's had is that he already knew the players, and anyone in the game will always admit that the coach is a friend to the players.

Doesn't have to be the 'bad guy' so they will all have been onside from the start.
Especially when he replaced his dour predecessor for whom man management seemed an issue.

The two main things of interest for me will be - :
Firstly How he copes when he does have to be the bad guy. When he does have to drop players and sell players. Because sooner or later the close relationship as a comforting ear, as confidant between coach and player and into player and manager will change subtly.
That is the thing that will tell us more. How he copes in that situation.

Secondly is his dealings in the transfer market.
The ability to spot a player is an entirely different gift to to being able to get the best out of them. We've all seen managers here over the years who have signed some bizarre options out of the players available.
Also in relation to this is whether he has the pulling power.

Certainly he's well known in coaching circles. He'll have a host of contacts as highlighted with the links he has with Burton as The Arsenal.
But how many young players and agents will be aware of him?

Lots of questions and the summer will be a genuinely interesting time.

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Guest intercity0wl

This summer will be exactly same as all the other summers, free transfers, followled by a few loans, it would be very nice to think he would be backed to stamp his own mark on the suad, but nothing  that has happened in the past makes me think it will happen in the future.

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Without a takeover and fresh cash injected to the playing squad it will be noting more than papering over the cracks. Yes we may get lucky and and end up with two strikers who just end up finding the back of the net with ease. Have Burnley spent much? genuine question, Ings & Vokes 30 goals between them is it, so Yes, it can be done but it's a rare exception.

 

I fear that without some serious cash it will be the same old thing each year. Relegation scrap for the main with the odd flirtation with mid table.

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The summer will provide Gray with his first opportunity to really out his own stamp on the squad.

This is often the time when you really find out whether coaches can become manager.

He's done a fine job so far in getting the players to play a more expressive game. Certainly got the best out of them and ticked one of the major boxes in modern football which is -

Can the man in charge make the sum of the parts more than the individuals promise.

He's certainly done that. We've gone from a jobbing side of odds and sods to actually looking like a cohesive unit. The players are playing well, many of them seemingly above the potential we had previously given them. I may be wrong but i believe he's used nearly every available first team player and got results using them. Even the ones some think past it and some who we don't believe are good enough have played their part in a winning unit.

I have no doubt whatsoever that we will stay up.

Of course the advantage that he's had is that he already knew the players, and anyone in the game will always admit that the coach is a friend to the players.

Doesn't have to be the 'bad guy' so they will all have been onside from the start.

Especially when he replaced his dour predecessor for whom man management seemed an issue.

The two main things of interest for me will be - :

Firstly How he copes when he does have to be the bad guy. When he does have to drop players and sell players. Because sooner or later the close relationship as a comforting ear, as confidant between coach and player and into player and manager will change subtly.

That is the thing that will tell us more. How he copes in that situation.

Secondly is his dealings in the transfer market.

The ability to spot a player is an entirely different gift to to being able to get the best out of them. We've all seen managers here over the years who have signed some bizarre options out of the players available.

Also in relation to this is whether he has the pulling power.

Certainly he's well known in coaching circles. He'll have a host of contacts as highlighted with the links he has with Burton as The Arsenal.

But how many young players and agents will be aware of him?

Lots of questions and the summer will be a genuinely interesting time.

 

The summer will provide Gray with his first opportunity to really out his own stamp on the squad.

This is often the time when you really find out whether coaches can become manager.

He's done a fine job so far in getting the players to play a more expressive game. Certainly got the best out of them and ticked one of the major boxes in modern football which is -

Can the man in charge make the sum of the parts more than the individuals promise.

He's certainly done that. We've gone from a jobbing side of odds and sods to actually looking like a cohesive unit. The players are playing well, many of them seemingly above the potential we had previously given them. I may be wrong but i believe he's used nearly every available first team player and got results using them. Even the ones some think past it and some who we don't believe are good enough have played their part in a winning unit.

I have no doubt whatsoever that we will stay up.

Of course the advantage that he's had is that he already knew the players, and anyone in the game will always admit that the coach is a friend to the players.

Doesn't have to be the 'bad guy' so they will all have been onside from the start.

Especially when he replaced his dour predecessor for whom man management seemed an issue.

The two main things of interest for me will be - :

Firstly How he copes when he does have to be the bad guy. When he does have to drop players and sell players. Because sooner or later the close relationship as a comforting ear, as confidant between coach and player and into player and manager will change subtly.

That is the thing that will tell us more. How he copes in that situation.

Secondly is his dealings in the transfer market.

The ability to spot a player is an entirely different gift to to being able to get the best out of them. We've all seen managers here over the years who have signed some bizarre options out of the players available.

Also in relation to this is whether he has the pulling power.

Certainly he's well known in coaching circles. He'll have a host of contacts as highlighted with the links he has with Burton as The Arsenal.

But how many young players and agents will be aware of him?

Lots of questions and the summer will be a genuinely interesting time.

 

 

The summer will provide Gray with his first opportunity to really out his own stamp on the squad.

This is often the time when you really find out whether coaches can become manager.

He's done a fine job so far in getting the players to play a more expressive game. Certainly got the best out of them and ticked one of the major boxes in modern football which is -

Can the man in charge make the sum of the parts more than the individuals promise.

He's certainly done that. We've gone from a jobbing side of odds and sods to actually looking like a cohesive unit. The players are playing well, many of them seemingly above the potential we had previously given them. I may be wrong but i believe he's used nearly every available first team player and got results using them. Even the ones some think past it and some who we don't believe are good enough have played their part in a winning unit.

I have no doubt whatsoever that we will stay up.

Of course the advantage that he's had is that he already knew the players, and anyone in the game will always admit that the coach is a friend to the players.

Doesn't have to be the 'bad guy' so they will all have been onside from the start.

Especially when he replaced his dour predecessor for whom man management seemed an issue.

The two main things of interest for me will be - :

Firstly How he copes when he does have to be the bad guy. When he does have to drop players and sell players. Because sooner or later the close relationship as a comforting ear, as confidant between coach and player and into player and manager will change subtly.

That is the thing that will tell us more. How he copes in that situation.

Secondly is his dealings in the transfer market.

The ability to spot a player is an entirely different gift to to being able to get the best out of them. We've all seen managers here over the years who have signed some bizarre options out of the players available.

Also in relation to this is whether he has the pulling power.

Certainly he's well known in coaching circles. He'll have a host of contacts as highlighted with the links he has with Burton as The Arsenal.

But how many young players and agents will be aware of him?

Lots of questions and the summer will be a genuinely interesting time.

Good post and your two question marks are I think close to the surface in most fans' minds. With regards to the disciplinary side he'll hopefully have learned from his admittedly limited past managerial experiences. In terms of recruitment much will depend on the scouting /support network at his disposal.

 

Until recently I think the majority of fans couldn't see beyond him being a number 2 or coach. He does seem to speak sense and avoids just banging the drum/beating his chest and pandering to fans' egos like some managers. He's made some real changes and also so far has been able to adjust successfully to problems caused by losing players to injury, suspension and returning loanees. Some questioned his team selection at Millwall for example but given the enforced changes I'd say he proved that he called it right over the 90 minutes.

 

I am quite confident that Milan could have stumbled on a decent manager in SG.

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This summer will be exactly same as all the other summers, free transfers, followled by a few loans, it would be very nice to think he would be backed to stamp his own mark on the suad, but nothing  that has happened in the past makes me think it will happen in the future.

 

I really don't know what MM will do in the summer with regards to signings, but I do think that given how many players we brought in during the summer when we came up, that it's not as though he didn't at least back us reasonably enough back then.

 

What's changed? Well, I suppose the fact that despite us bringing in all those players, Jones still needed to constantly bring in yet more loan signings after December just in order for us to stay up. Too many of Jones' signings failed to work out - that was the real problem. Bothroyd, Rodri, Pecnik, Mayor, Mattock, Taylor, Maguire. Shambolic really. The money just seemed to dry up almost completely in the summer, and I can't help thinking that was in part due to the recurrent need to make more signings under Jones.

 

The good thing about Gray at least, is that he might just be able to look to within the squad itself and get the most out of what is already here. Speculating of course, but I'm hoping it might mean there's just that little bit more to play with in the summer in terms of budget - hopefully, MM won't be pre-occupied with trying to sell the club as much as what he was during this last summer and early season.

Edited by edwardjameswells
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 so far has been able to adjust successfully to problems caused by losing players to injury, suspension and returning loanees. Some questioned his team selection at Millwall for example but given the enforced changes I'd say he proved that he called it right over the 90 minutes.

 

 

His ability to adapt to the changing situations within the squad has been one of his stand out qualities and I hold my hands up and say I have been pleasantly surprised by that. As I have by his willingness to be flexible with his tactics and formations to suit the players on the pitch.

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Id like to think that if Mandaric is still here come the summer he will have realized that without some decent investment in a little qualityor  the best we can expect is a struggle against relegation year after year . I dont think there are any stand out teams in the championship , and anyone can beat anyone ,but with just a little quality here and there you can be up there challenging. I look at Burnley as a good example of this. A workman like side who just have that bit of quality up front we dont have . There will be quality players out of contract this summer ,and it might not be a case of having to pay a fee ,but the investment in wages could make all the difference to next season. Derby are another side who are right up there because they have that little bit of quality up front. They have signed Bamford on loan and he is banging them in .  

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Kirkland, Tony G, LLera, Loovens, Goochy all out of contract at seasons end.

I don't think he will be getting a holiday as we will need our usual influx of freebies and loans to patch us up ready for next August

I should imagine Llera will get offered another year, Loovens and Gooch will be offered a short term deal and Kirkland will be offered something. I think we'll release Gardner. If Kirkland doesn't sign a new deal it would be a bit of a kick in the gonads for all the campaigning he did to get Gray the job.

Other than that it will be the same as any other summer. Scratching around for frees and loans, missing out on decent players and lots of threads on owlstalk moaning and ppl saying FFS ITS ONLY JUNE/JULY/AUGUST

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I think one of the main things that will determine Gray's decisions will be if:

 

A) A takeover happens

B) Director of Football situation becomes more apparent i.e. who will get job etc

C) how we fair over the rest of the season

D) How much MM will back Gray in the summer

 

I'm sure SG will have already been making Summer plans by making a list of players to approach who's contracts are expiring in the summer and offering pre-contract agreements etc. SG doesn't strike me as naive and will hopefully have one eye on summer dealings already!

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Guest Big Guns

I was alluding to this in C) but don't want to tempt the fates! 

hopefully weve got rid of jones in time but youve got to look at a few games like donny and yeovil at home and a few more and hope them dropped points wont cost us

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The trick is to establish a pattern of play around a set of players who are a) capable of playing more than two games without being phooked or injured. b) can be relied upon to not get red carded at the slightest provocation.

 

At this moment the players who are fulfilling that are Kirkland, Palmer, Loovens (almost-just had a niggle) Lee, Maguire, Semedo and Maghoma and to a lesser extent Nuhui, who whilst not setting the world on fire is a part of the pattern.

 

If we can keep these players together as a group it is something to build on.

 

Others have the potential but are failing tests A or B.

 

(Or at HMP :madine: )

Edited by The Dukeries Owl
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