When the Yeovil Town released list came out, we sprung a snap poll on Gloverscast Twitter to ask you what you thought about the news of the six departures.
More right than wrong or more wrong than right? Well, 179 votes in at the time of writing, the overwhelming consensus (94% – it’s never totally unanimous, is it?) is that Chris Hargreaves has got it right.
I completely agree.
Anyone who listened to our Player Review of the Season (if you haven’t, either read it here or listen to it here) will know we all expected the majority of the six to depart. “So did I,” I hear you cry.
Perhaps the only surprise for me was Alex Bradley who would seem young enough and talented enough to be worth another chance. Jordan Barnett (age 22) probably falls in to the same bracket, but I suspect for both that a departure was more mutual than one way or another.
Couple this with the signing of Lawson D’Ath for a further year joining the likes of Smith, Hunt, Williams, Staunton and Knowles and you can feel a spine to build around – and, as Ben said the other week, “a spine is important.” True story.
That is a spine with a good amount of experience, a decent amount of talent and some real leadership; and there’s still the possibility of Charlie Wakefield and Matt Worthington joining them. Personally, I would be surprised to see Charlie stay (although I’d love him to do so), but I’d be very happy to keep Worthy.
But, when looking at the stats of the departing six, it became apparent that we are losing (by choice, I know) players who played a lot of games last season. Here’s the stats:
Dale Gorman
Appearances: 47 (NL 40, FAC 5, FAT 2, SPC 0)
Goals: 5
Adi Yussuf
Appearances: 45 (NL 35 FAC 4, FAT 2, SPC 4)
Goals: 10 – yes, two of them were in the Somerset Premier Cup.
Jordan Barnett
Appearances: 45 (NL 37 FAC 4, FAT 1, SPC 3)
Goals: 1 – but what a one!
Alex Bradley
Appearances: 31 (NL 22, FAC 2, FAT 2, SPC 5)
Goals: 1
Reuben Reid
Appearances: 29 (NL 23, FAC 2, FAT 2, SPC 2)
Goals: 3
Mark Little
Appearances: 20 (19 NL, FAC 0, FAT 1, SPC 0)
Goals: 0
I know there’s a lot more to it than statistics and the contribution of the six above has been limited, but Hargreaves is going to need to recruit well to plug these gaps. “He doesn’t need you to tell him that, Coates,” I hear you cry.
So what do we need the most? Attacking talent, pure and simple. If we keep Wakefield (see earlier comment) then I’d like to see more of him as “a silky winger….he’s just what we need” rather than through the middle, but there needs to be someone in the middle of the park to be creative as well.
D’Ath is great for that, but I suspect he’s unlikely to play the necessary amount of games to make the kind of impact we’d need. And, even if he proves me wrong (please do, Laws!) then we need more than one.
In the season just gone we had a team capable of making the play-offs, but a squad capable of a bang mid-table finish. Which is what we got.
Add in an experienced head who can weigh in with some goals in major competitions and we’ve got something that I think can compete.
When you think about the ‘earners’ we’ve released – Little, Reid, Gorman, all experienced heads who would have been at the higher end of the pay scale – there is money there to invest. Right, Mr Chairman?
I confess Chris Hargreaves was not my choice as manager, but I always believed in giving him a chance to prove me wrong. So far, so good.
Oh, the vote on the released list is up to 186 votes now, but still 96% in favour. Who are the 4%? What more do you want?!
Do you have a view on this? If you’re happy for it to be shared on the website, please send it to us at gloverscast@gmail.com. Alternatively, you can tell us we’re wrong (or right) on our social media channels – find us on Twitter and Facebook.