Big hole in squad

[Snake]

Indeed, and the current strike force makes an interesting comparison to previous years.

2005/6 – Basham, Bradbury, N’Toya, Sabin, Davies
2004/5 – Basham, Bradbury, Davies, Mooney
2003/4 – Basham, Alsop, Rawle
2002/3 – Basham, Louis, Oldfield, Scott, Steele
2001/2 – Brooks, Moody, Scott
2000/1 – Beauchamp, Scott, Anthrobus (ok, so that lot was worse than what we have now)

How we have fallen, eh?

It’s also worth noting that Steve Basham only scored 6 league goals from open play last season.

There has never been a better time to flash some cash on a striker, imho..

I'm not convinced that cash is the problem. Availability of willing quality players is more of a problem.

Cash is king in football, just like in any other job - but hey, that's an interesting view.

[Baboo]

[. Adding another striker with &quotpotential&quot may be OK if you've already got a full set of proven strikers but I don't think we can afford it at the moment.

Our strike force looks like something straight out of the Sven-Goran Eriksson manual of squad selection.

Spot on, having seen an inept perfomance at Banbury last night. We need someone who can do THE JOB now - cos potential was the best that could be said about Yemi &amp Beechers. They just had no physical presence against much bigger and stronger Banbury defenders. They ain't going to step into the Conference and rough people up. Playing with someone who can battle and take the knocks they might be okay, but we need someone with a bit of muscle and a goal scorer imho.

Liked the look of Winters - he was skillful enough to get away with being smaller than the opposition.

[GodalmingYellow]

Indeed, and the current strike force makes an interesting comparison to previous years.

2005/6 – Basham, Bradbury, N’Toya, Sabin, Davies
2004/5 – Basham, Bradbury, Davies, Mooney
2003/4 – Basham, Alsop, Rawle
2002/3 – Basham, Louis, Oldfield, Scott, Steele
2001/2 – Brooks, Moody, Scott
2000/1 – Beauchamp, Scott, Anthrobus (ok, so that lot was worse than what we have now)

How we have fallen, eh?

It’s also worth noting that Steve Basham only scored 6 league goals from open play last season.

There has never been a better time to flash some cash on a striker, imho..

I'm not convinced that cash is the problem. Availability of willing quality players is more of a problem.

Cash is king in football, just like in any other job - but hey, that's an interesting view.

Cash ain't king of the Conference, but interesting that you think it is. Maybe if he plays well enough and we offer him enough cash, Christiano Ronaldo will sign for us. Or maybe not.

[Matt D]

Cash ain't king of the Conference

agreed. it wasn't for mcsporran. i note he's now at chester - similar level of football, and i would guess the money could well have been better at oxford. league status seems to count for a lot in my opinion.

and i agree with what was said about needing someone to do the business NOW.

looking at that list, i would say the start of season this most resembles at the moment is... er... last season. we didn't have n'toya, odubade, or sabin at that point. we had the same two goalkeepers, a decent looking defence and midfield. but they were put under too much pressure with the lack of threat upfront.

from what i read of the conference, we can expect 7 or 8 teams to pick up a lot of points to chase the automatic spot, and it will be decided on who draws when they should win, and the games between those sides. which means we need to come out of the blocks fast.

cash, connections, favours... hope jim smith's got something up his sleeve.

[Old Abingdonian]

I hope my memories of our performance at Brunton Park last season are not too relevant here. We lost 2-1, to the side which, of course, both won the league, and the Conference the previous season. We were the better footballing side, and Basham was particularly good at holding the ball up. Problem was, we lacked physical presence in the box, and the ref didn't blow for routine pushes / leans etc. by their centre backs. Tactics were poor also, since despite our weakness in the box, we kept trying high crosses. So we do need presence, or at least, if we have pace instead, then to play to it.

On the positive side, a Mansell blunder gifted them their first goal, and that can't be repeated this season......

[Snake]

I'm not convinced that cash is the problem. Availability of willing quality players is more of a problem.

Cash is king in football, just like in any other job - but hey, that's an interesting view.

Cash ain't king of the Conference, but interesting that you think it is. Maybe if he plays well enough and we offer him enough cash, Christiano Ronaldo will sign for us. Or maybe not.

Cash is king in every level of every professional league as far as I’m aware, and that’s why we can’t afford the likes of N’Toya, never mind Ronaldo. When you get into the leagues below us then things might be different, but let’s hope we don’t have to worry about that scenario for a while eh?

/

Anyway, back to this rather “big hole in squad

[GodalmingYellow]

Cash is king in football, just like in any other job - but hey, that's an interesting view.

Cash ain't king of the Conference, but interesting that you think it is. Maybe if he plays well enough and we offer him enough cash, Christiano Ronaldo will sign for us. Or maybe not.

Cash is king in every level of every professional league as far as I’m aware, and that’s why we can’t afford the likes of N’Toya, never mind Ronaldo. When you get into the leagues below us then things might be different, but let’s hope we don’t have to worry about that scenario for a while eh?

/

Anyway, back to this rather “big hole in squad

[Snake]

Cash ain't king of the Conference, but interesting that you think it is. Maybe if he plays well enough and we offer him enough cash, Christiano Ronaldo will sign for us. Or maybe not.

Cash is king in every level of every professional league as far as I’m aware, and that’s why we can’t afford the likes of N’Toya, never mind Ronaldo. When you get into the leagues below us then things might be different, but let’s hope we don’t have to worry about that scenario for a while eh?

/

Anyway, back to this rather “big hole in squad

[boris]

[quote]Anyway, back to this rather “big hole in squad

[Baboo]

Can't help thinking that if Kassam was still in charge people would be going ape at the moment over our lack of decent striker situation. (Or perhaps they are on TiU)

[GodalmingYellow]

Yeah, and maybe it’s a real pity that Jim and Nick never waited until the summer to start tinkering, because then we might have stayed up and been more able to get the more sexy strikers on board instead of having to go for the mercenary versions who want cash instead.

Sigh..

Maybe, maybe not. we'l never know the answer to that one. In my view we would have been relegated whether it was the new or old regimes in charge, given the timing of the takeover. If the takeover had happened a month earlier, we might have been saved, but that's Kassam's negotiating style for you.

But here we are, stuck between two stools – i.e. no cash to flash from the Chairman’s pocket as donations and no League status to attract decent up and coming talent.

As you ponted out in your last paragraph, you have no idea if we have cash to flash or not. I don't believe cash availability is the issue in signing a new striker as we've already discussed.

All I know is that the wage cap is the biggest advantage we have in helping us getting out of the Conference so it should never be used as an excuse for any upcoming on-the-field failures.

Are you setting yourself up so any on the field successes bring an even bigger smile to your face? You are absolutely right about the wage cap not being a valid excuse though.

[Mooro]

The wage cap does cause us more of a problem if it stops us using whatever superior finance we have to hand to &quotRoman&quot-ise our squad for this season.

Yes, we are probably allowed more to spend than almost any other club, but perhaps this year is one of those few occasions where a club (we) might be justified in spending well over the odds to get people in on 1 or 2 year deals to bounce us out quickly, rather than buying just with the long-term in mind.

Not having to worry about the cap would allow us to do that, while also allowing the three new youths to move up and the likes of Day and Duffy to join.

[Snake]

Sorry to drag this one up from recent postings, but I think the topic headline of this thread is still something that needs addressing, having had a quick look at the recent list of top goalscorers in the Conference.

Nothing against Bash, but someone like a Mooney or a McLean would make a nice foil for him and would be the missing link in making sure we went up this season.

[Baboo]

Sorry to drag this one up from recent postings, but I think the topic headline of this thread is still something that needs addressing, having had a quick look at the recent list of top goalscorers in the Conference.

Nothing against Bash, but someone like a Mooney or a McLean would make a nice foil for him and would be the missing link in making sure we went up this season.

And we'd be paying Robinson &amp Duffy to do what exactly? Or do you forsee transfer activity in this area when the window pops open again?

[Snake]

Er, it’s not a bad idea to pay those two to sit on the bench or play now and again, just in case our main striker (i.e. 15-goal-a-season-man Steve Basham) is unavailable due to injury or suspension.

We can still bring in out of contract players, by the way, or do you think it’s all sorted up front what with Lady Luck playing up there almost every time we go away?