The unofficial AFC Rushden & Diamonds messageboard

Not sure releasing such a sparse list is the best approach - especially with such social media frippery. Compare and contrast with previous examples of pre-season announcements.

https://www.afcdiamonds.com/retained-list-announced/

https://www.afcdiamonds.com/2018-19-squad-update/

Formic wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 3:59 pm Not sure releasing such a sparse list is the best approach - especially with such social media frippery. Compare and contrast with previous examples of pre-season announcements.

https://www.afcdiamonds.com/retained-list-announced/

https://www.afcdiamonds.com/2018-19-squad-update/

To be fair Peaks had just managed those players for a whole season, he knew them inside out.
Burgess has only had a few months with them so for that reason I would expect to see more of last seasons squad being retained after he's had more time to work with them in pre season.

davealbon wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 3:34 pm We already have a few players who've come from professional academies (e.g. Tshikuna, Furlong), so in order to retain them and attract others like them we need to be as professional as possible in what we do.

Here's a few that are available,

Josh Flanagan - Defender (Northampton Town)
Has had 2 loan stints at St Ives Town, the first of which was successful.

Kyle Barker - Midfielder (Peterborough United)
Has had loan stints at K*ttering Town, Lowestoft Town, Wrexham and King's Lynn Town.

Leon Chambers-Parillon - Midfielder (Oxford United)
Has had loan stints with us, Biggleswade Town, Havant & Waterlooville x2, Gloucester City and Slough Town.

Michael Elechi - Defender (Oxford United)
Has had loan stints with Gosport Borough, Oxford City, Chippenham Town and Salisbury.

Jay Bird - Forward (MK Dons)
Has has had loan stints with Hitchin Town and Wealdstone.

John Freeman - Midfielder (MK Dons)
Has had loan stints with Kempston Rovers, Wantage Town, St Neots Town, Woking and Chelmsford City.


Kyle Barker I think should be avoided, upon signing for clubs there are comments from fans about him being a good signing and managers saying he is highly rate by Peterborough yet for whatever reason he played a total of 1 game for K*ttering which was a 4 minute appearance off the bench, a total o 1 game for Wrexham which was an 11 minute appearance off the bench and a total of 1 game for King's Lynn which was a 9 minute appearance off the bench, although he did play 2 games for Lowestoft which were starts... just seems unusual that injuries do not seem to be the reason for the lack of game time.

I think it may be about loaning players from possible step 2 or even maybe League clubs which will expect a more professional system
which would look after the Performance/fitness of the Loanees.

I assume it was difficult for the club, with half the players leaving, some who would have signed on holiday, a raft of new players too look at, and the criticism that nothing had been announced before today it was a no win situation. Just releasing an article which was released this afternoon would have been a bit of a damp squib so at least it was different. In hindsight probably not worth everyone’s effort though.

Regarding the players, it’s clear these are ones who want to play for the club, Connor sounds like he is really enjoying working with Burgess so am really looking forward to him this season.
For me strength and conditioning is something we really needed to be doing properly, and it’s great that we will be as we will need to get an extra 5% here and 5% there on wherever we can, and if that’s one area then why not.

davealbon wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 3:34 pm

diamondsteve wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 3:08 pm On the head of performance side of things does any other club in our league do this? We ain’t going too deep into this are we? Players at our level wouldn’t be put off?

Walley mentioned trial & error and what they do in daily life etc.

Am I just just looking too much into this and things like this already happens at clubs which want to progress?

It's a fair question, and I've no idea what the answer would be regarding other clubs at our level. However, the way I would look at it is that clubs at a higher level take this approach, so if we're the only one at our level doing it then that gives us an edge over the competition which could help us attract players. We know we can't compete on wages with a lot of other clubs at our level, so we need to be doing something different. We already have a few players who've come from professional academies (e.g. Tshikuna, Furlong), so in order to retain them and attract others like them we need to be as professional as possible in what we do.

Oh I see . Makes sense then.

So gone are the days of getting a 25yr old which also enjoys a pint or two and a takeaway lol

bozzer wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 5:19 pm I assume it was difficult for the club, with half the players leaving, some who would have signed on holiday, a raft of new players too look at, and the criticism that nothing had been announced before today it was a no win situation. Just releasing an article which was released this afternoon would have been a bit of a damp squib so at least it was different. In hindsight probably not worth everyone’s effort though.

I wouldn't go along with that bozzer, I think the execution was decent, just the lack of signings is what I find underwhelming. I think we've all been told (on here admittedly by nobody actually associated with / directly told by the club) that it's all being looked after behind the scenes and there's no announcements until 1st July as we don't want to have egg on our faces, and it's led us into a belief that 1st July was Christmas morning and there would be a while load to unwrap.

In reality, it's Christmas morning and mum and dad have just wrapped up the toys we got last year.

I still believe we'll be in a good place, I obviously don't expect us to have only four people line up tomorrow afternoon, and I genuinely trust Burgess in what he wants to do going forward. I do think it's alarming though that if the club have been working tirelessly all over the summer that on the day we're able to sign forms we've only got four players who have committed.

In no way is the dissapointment through the effort of the volunteers or the delivery of the announcements, I actually think it's been handled really well. If there had been another couple of players to announce, particularly a new name or two, I think today would have been fantastic.

On another note though, absolutely buzzing that Paddy has stayed on, was the best player on the pitch most of last season and the most consistent by far.

rdusher wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 5:54 pm

bozzer wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 5:19 pm I assume it was difficult for the club, with half the players leaving, some who would have signed on holiday, a raft of new players too look at, and the criticism that nothing had been announced before today it was a no win situation. Just releasing an article which was released this afternoon would have been a bit of a damp squib so at least it was different. In hindsight probably not worth everyone’s effort though.

I wouldn't go along with that bozzer, I think the execution was decent, just the lack of signings is what I find underwhelming. I think we've all been told (on here admittedly by nobody actually associated with / directly told by the club) that it's all being looked after behind the scenes and there's no announcements until 1st July as we don't want to have egg on our faces, and it's led us into a belief that 1st July was Christmas morning and there would be a while load to unwrap.

In reality, it's Christmas morning and mum and dad have just wrapped up the toys we got last year.

I still believe we'll be in a good place, I obviously don't expect us to have only four people line up tomorrow afternoon, and I genuinely trust Burgess in what he wants to do going forward. I do think it's alarming though that if the club have been working tirelessly all over the summer that on the day we're able to sign forms we've only got four players who have committed.

In no way is the dissapointment through the effort of the volunteers or the delivery of the announcements, I actually think it's been handled really well. If there had been another couple of players to announce, particularly a new name or two, I think today would have been fantastic.

On another note though, absolutely buzzing that Paddy has stayed on, was the best player on the pitch most of last season and the most consistent by far.

Agreed, definitely somewhat underwhelming since we knew about 3/4 on Tuesday from the training photos. Hopefully we can announce a few new faces tomorrow or else again I feel people will start feeling like we’re a step behind other teams.

Buzzing we have kept Casey by the way. He’s a breathe of fresh air on that right side.

Three excellent signings. Have Snedker and Tshikuna actually re signed yet. Hopefully Hicks will sign and Jensen Cooper. We need a proven goalscorer now, not an easy position to find.

sussexdiamond wrote: Thu Jul 07, 2022 10:38 am Three excellent signings. Have Snedker and Tshikuna actually re signed yet. Hopefully Hicks will sign and Jensen Cooper. We need a proven goalscorer now, not an easy position to find.

Not sure about Hicksy but Cooper could be good if we can get him a big, powerful striker alongside. I want to see some "presence" on the pitch.