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Following on from something just posted in the Osano thread, and something i have been thinking about today, i'm very worried about the state of our squad come the end of Jan.

There were a few 'football faces' in the south stand today, including Jimmy Quinn, and i doubt they were here for the Diamond Burger.

I think most of us will accept that Tomlin is going to go. I think most people will even agree that we should and probably will cash in on Osano given that he has 6 months left. But i don't think thats all we have to worry about.

Kurt Robinson could easily play at a higher level, and he's still only a very young and inexperienced player in footballing terms. Any scout that has come to watch Tommo or Curtis is bound to have noticed Kurt because his performances are so solid and consistant every week. He also has 6 months on his contract. Add to that Mark Byrne who - although isn't ours - is vital to our team at the moment and could blatantly play probably at League One level, i personally think our chances of holding on to him are slim unless we have taken steps in that direction already.

Even Max Porter and Aaron O'Connor could play higher in my opinion, but i really wouldnt be surprised to see the first 4 i mentioned leave.

So what do we have left?

Well Downer/Corcoran could come in to replace Osano, but we will still need cover. We have enough central midfielders to cope but Byrne has been playing wide right recently, Patison can come straight in there, but we need cover, and then who comes in left side when Tomlin and perhaps Robinson leaves? If we are not careful we could end up with Beecroft on the right and Patison on the left. Two decent players but both out of position.

With the sale of Jackson looking very likely, and the potential sales of Tomlin, Osano and Robinson, we could easily pocket around 600/700k next month. If we could just spend 200k of that on our squad (a massive amount in Non-League terms nowadays), we could perhaps come out of the window in a better position both on and off the pitch than when we started. Lets wait and see.

It's certainly going to be a very interesting month. I can see Tomlin and Osano going, I don't think we'll sign Byrne permanently but perhaps we could extend the loan to the end of the season. I personally can't see Robbo going just yet although if he's only got 6 months left who knows? Other than that I'd be very surprised to see anyone else sold to higher clubs.

As for replacements, i think Robbo, Stuart, Downer and Corky are all more than capable. I think we should perhaps try and get Ainsley in til the summer and get someone else in permanently.

If Byrne goes i think we should take a chance - we have 3 very good cm at this level in Terry, Wolly and Porter. I'm not 100% about Macca yet but hes not played much, and we can always try Beeky, who did make 20 odd appearances last season and i think is a great youngster.

On the wing i think we need someoen badly. For whatever reason Patto isnt fancied by JEMS, so potentially after january we'll have no favoured wingers, i think this is the area we need to look at improving, particularly left.

Id also like another striker instead of Louis, unless we take a chance on Smith

A number of good points there. If we lose players, we lose them. I'm not going to start worrying until it happens, since it may not happen at all.

But if those players went or the Jacko money suddenly gave us money to help strengthen, what players would people think might be ideal? Obviously up to JEMS and no one can complain with how they've done, but wouldn't mind hearing a few (realistic) names and why.

In theory we could just get Smith back and send Louis packing, but i fear we don't have any striker that scores regularly enough, we just have a load of strikers who take it in turns.

I don't know how we would get him, but Meredith at York is a very good right back. Kept Tomlin very quiet. Perhaps we could offer 40k or so and double his money. Failing that, we could try for Lanre Oyebanje from Histon but i know Peterborough have been sniffing around.

I'd like us to try and get Jake Hyde from Barnet. I think we could afford to double his money but he'd probably cost about 80k.

Still, neither are wingers!

I think it is very difficult to pinpoint partcular players when a) we really don't know how much money we have- perhaps KC will want to keep most of the profits from Jacko and Tomlin so we only get 10% for example and b) we only get to see other teams players once or twice a season so its difficult to judge how good a player really is. Meredith may be perfect but just because he kept Tommo quiet doesn't mean he is the answer.
I think realistically loans and freebies are probably what we'll end up with, with perhaps a small dabble in the transfer market.
I also think its worth saying that out of all Justin signings so far, apart from Reid and Louis IMO, they have all been successful, so whoever we bring in i will trust JE's judgement

Midson, or perhaps even the lad from Forest Green who was banned for betting scandals?
Both score goals at this level and may be attainable.

IF, and thats a big IF, we have money to spend on the squad, i'd like to see us get some of the better players from clubs just below us in the league, as most teams have 1 or 2 decent lads, and they'd know what's expected at this level.

And if Tommo goes, we should get a player or 2 on loan from that club until the end of the season.

Byrne, Akurang, Reid, Louis, Ainsley, is there anymore?

I believe that means we still have 3 to play with?

i heard notts county have put in an offer for tommo but are willing to let us keep him until the end of the season. . . whether a deal or not was made i don't know but it's something i'd like to see. . . it looks like tommo is set for bigger and better things lets just hope he sticks around for another 6 months at least.
Surely justin has looked into extending bynres loan already so that may sort itself out

BartonRaz wrote:Byrne, Akurang, Reid, Louis, Ainsley, is there anymore?

I believe that means we still have 3 to play with?

Yeah but only 1 long term one i think. 6 months counts a as long term and thats what Reid, Byrne and Cliff were. I'm not sure if extending it til the end of the season counts as another long term or as the same one.

However a 3 month loan starting 31 JAnuary would last til April 30th so thats pretty much til the end of the season...unless the unthinkable happens ;)