Ins and outs 2024/25 | Page 40 | Vital Football

Ins and outs 2024/25

He is a good player but central midfield is the one area of the pitch where we are well stocked. Perhaps Evans is looking to play a narrow 361 formation. So much for his promise of being in touch with the playoffs by January and then having a right go at it. When he said there would be plenty of activity in January I didn’t realise he meant six out and two in. Its a good job I didn’t take him too seriously or I would be very disappointed this morning.
 
Hahaha CS….
That was exactly my thoughts yesterday when a good friend of mine text to say who we had signed….I told them jokingly that we may play 3-6-1.
Hilarious, I wouldn’t believe a word he says.
All bluff and guff and will tell you anything to get his own way.
Constant contradictory guff in the local paper.
Why anyone would take a blind bit of notice I have no idea.

On a positive note I’m looking forward to seeing more of the new signings.
Two younger players with energy and something to prove and an experienced box to box midfielder.
Really need to get all the injured players back asap.
 
Well, to call it all underwhelming doesn't quite do it justice.
I am also much less sanguine about our prospects this season. When the manager said we needed a different kind of striker I didn't realise he meant an imaginary one.
MF looks stronger and better balanced. Several other areas of the squad look threadbare.
By the Summer using the Lindum computer I see a squad comprising the two GKs, Raggett, Rafferty, James, Jules, Powell, Kelly, McWilliams, Green, Hugill, JCH and Sam Nombe. 11 outfield players.
For various reasons I expect these others to depart: Haks, Cam, Hull, Ayres, Hatton (?), Kayode, Wilks, Holmes, McGuckin, MacDonald and the three new loan players.
I would not be surprised to see the academy closed. And despite the recent copious and embarrassing rrse kissing of the owner I suspect the captain and cabin boy of the Black Pig are not feeling well used atm and will steer a new course if another likely port is sighted.
We'll see. Happy Centennial.
Come on Lindum.
What did you expect.?
It’s gone exactly as I thought it would. We’ve been here before, trimming the finances downwards for the second half of the season. Battening down the hatches and hoping we have a better second half of the season than the first.
Still only 7 points off the playoffs and yes realistically it’s a big ask to get there but never say never.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the Management team have been instructed to cut the budget to suit.

I don’t have a problem with cutting the playing budget, it’s not my club and I’m on the outside looking in and know nothing about the current finances at the club.
We cut our cloth to suit. ( there’s a joke in there somewhere.?)
We’re going backwards compared to some other clubs and by the sounds of it’s a 2 year project.
Looks like fans will once again have to be patient.
The ones that have had enough will just walk away and pick and choose their matches next season.
 
Guy, to answer your question, I rather expected this. I am still unsure as to the 'Why?' though I have a few suspicions.
I cannot see the potential for a rebuild in Summer as the budget is likely to be further constrained. The only light in a long, long tunnel may be in Summer of 2026 when we can offload a few pedestrian high earners.
The next few games will be informative.
 
Just going through the motions now and completing the fixtures (same as the second half of last season, but a division lower). At the end of the season, our few remaining decent players will go, and so will the current loaned-in players. We will still be stuck with most of our old crocks though. After a year of SE in charge we STILL have lots of players for some positions, no cover for others. We are still unable name a full bench of substitutes too. The obvious lack of ambition will almost certainly have a negative effect on the players.

TS may escape the blame on Radio Sheffield, local media, etc., but he won't from the majority of Millers fans. It will be interesting to see how many fans renew their season tickets for 2025/26. That will be the real verdict.
 
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Gore looks like a good prospect. I have seen Pelly play against us more than once and he is a good player. We’ve already seen enough of Sibley to know that he is a good player. My issues are…
(1) they are all central midfield players first and foremost. We already have several of them. Arguably not as good as them, but it wasn’t a priority area to the extent we needed three in there.
(2) we were desperate for wide players in attacking and defensive positions and we have none in. I am envisaging a return to the narrow diamond formation that failed so often in the early part of the season.
(3) we do not have the new striker that even Evans said we needed. We are left with three who are very similar (Wilks, Green and Nombe) and two big lads who haven’t been offering anything.
(4) where is the so called rebuild? Come June we will have very few players left at the club. A number of those that are will be on big money but will have contributed little this season and will be one year older. Does anyone fancy building next seasons team around the Gaffers ‘big players’ - Raggett, Kelly, and JCH - all a year older and probably more prone to injury than they have been this season, but taking up a fair slice of the wage bill along with Hugill?

It’s been a terrible season. So many mistakes made.
 
That's pretty much my analysis too, Mike.
As Clean points out above ( sorry I mean Clean's post # 781 as I hadn't seen his latest when I wrote this!) Pelly although individually a good signing plays in an area where we are well-stocked.
To find out from Evans that he was all along our 'Number 1 target' is very odd to me. At the time SE says he began the pursuit McWilliams was coming good and (according to SE) Kelly would soon be up and at 'em. If (when) those two are fit we will have them, Joe Powell, Cam, Old Mac, Sibley, Gore and Pelly too. That's before you try and fit in Wilks and (more questionably perhaps) Holmes.
On the other hand we were told our first priority was a striker and (despite what might now be said) we tried for two from Stoke, Marsh from the Blades, Cummings from Celtic and the lad from Arsenal.
We don't now imo have much tactical flexibility. We can't play 3 at the back because I can't see anyone who can regularly and effectively play a WB role. We don't have much width or pace out wide and anyway our forwards seem to struggle to get on crosses.
It all seems a dog's dinner to me. The best I can predict is we'll play narrow with an overloaded MF getting forward to support a lone striker?
 
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The formations and game plans have ben confusing all season - even more so now. There's so much contradiction in what SE says , combined with ludicrous over-optimism about the fitness of some of the injured players (mainly his signings!), ... and it's no longer very palatable to most Millers fans.
Yes, bullshine and promises only work for so long. More and more fans see the naked reality of the emperor's new clothes. The Summer may be interesting.
 
Still only 7 points off the playoffs and yes realistically it’s a big ask to get there but never say never.
I keep thinking Guy is too optimistic about the play-offs but he may be right. Astonishingly after a really bad season we're only seven points off 6th. This I think is in large part due to the competitive (or crap?) nature of L1 this season. Orient are in 6th with 44 points from 28 games. Last season at this time Stevenage were 6th but with 52 points from 28 games. Last season we'd have been not 7 points but 15 points from a play-off place and effectively out of any contention.
 
I keep thinking Guy is too optimistic about the play-offs but he may be right. Astonishingly after a really bad season we're only seven points off 6th. This I think is in large part due to the competitive (or crap?) nature of L1 this season. Orient are in 6th with 44 points from 28 games. Last season at this time Stevenage were 6th but with 52 points from 28 games. Last season we'd have been not 7 points but 15 points from a play-off place and effectively out of any contention.
I think me and Guy are the two on here who make the most wildest predictions.
we either look daft or look like football geniuses in the end !.
We are going to have a better 2nd half of the season. Not enough to make the play offs.
 

Explains a little why we didn’t bring a striker in.

One comment below.

Evans also spoke of chairman Tony Stewart being impatient to see money being spent on new-year recruitment.
That might have been more a case of the manager's enthusiasm for more signings spilling into an on-the-record
utterance that didn't quite tally with the reality of the situation.
 
08/02/25

Matlock Town FC Official website - Josh Ayres has signed on loan for the Gladiators until the end of the season. At least it's a move up the "pyramid" to NPL Prem.
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Still no loan for Jake Hull - coild be injured?
 
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Well, Caz, a quick trawl of social media and other forums shows that of those Millers who commented 100% thought sending out Ayres to Matlock was wrong. But what do fans know? Especially daft when Ayres would not have counted in squad limits and when a majority of our forwards appear injured or not fully fit.