Squad for 2025-2026

[Royal_jimmy]

The big advantage with Category 1 Academies is they can recruit players nationally from U15 provided the Academy player is guaranteed access to a full term education programme. Cat 2 and 3 recruitment has to be local. No idea what local actually means in distance. If it was say 40 mile radius we'd still have access to much of London.

It's surprisingly difficult to access up-to-date info on academies, this list was correct August 2024:

Category 1 Academies
Arsenal, Aston Villa, Blackburn, Brighton, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Derby, Everton, Fulham, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Norwich, Nottingham Forest, Reading, Southampton, Stoke City, Sunderland, Tottenham, West Brom, West Ham, Wolves

Category 2 Academies
Bournemouth, Barnsley, Birmingham City, Brentford, Bristol, Cardiff, Charlton, Colchester, Coventry, Crewe Alexandra, Fleetwood, Hull City, Ipswich, Millwall, Norwich, Peterborough, QPR, Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday, Swansea, Watford, Wigan

Well in terms of local then Bournemouth as a Cat 2 academy have been tapping youngsters from around our area for the last 5 years so it can't be that local

Think Boremuff will be Cat 1 soon given they’ve apparently upgraded their facilities recently.

Interesting to see. Imagine Saints might well poach talent off them considering Saints are playing in a lower league next season so more likely to get game time.

[Stranded]

Oh course being Cat 2 would make life more difficult in some ways in attracting players and fending off Cat 1 but the one thing we do appear to offer much more than virtually any Cat 1 club is a clear, currently sustainable path to the first team.

Of course picking say Chelsea over Reading will often appeal but a lot of 14/15 year olds will see someone like Garcia getting multiple 1st team minutes at 16 and think if they join us that could be them.

Yes, we should have a bit more freedom in the market now but I still expect us to use the Academy much more than we ever did before the shitshow.

[WestYorksRoyal]

I normally say look forwards and not backwards for recruitment, but I wonder if one option worth looking at could be Dom Ballard. He had a good loan here and clearly fitted in with the squad; I think he would have got 10+ goals that season. Since then, it hasn't quite worked for him but the potential is definitely there, and young players learn from unsuccessful loans too. He's 20 now and some way off Southampton's 1st team, so I wonder if he may be available for a cheap permanent deal plus sell on

[Stranded]

I normally say look forwards and not backwards for recruitment, but I wonder if one option worth looking at could be Dom Ballard. He had a good loan here and clearly fitted in with the squad; I think he would have got 10+ goals that season. Since then, it hasn't quite worked for him but the potential is definitely there, and young players learn from unsuccessful loans too. He's 20 now and some way off Southampton's 1st team, so I wonder if he may be available for a cheap permanent deal plus sell on

Whilst he definitely had potential, I do wonder if the unfortunate injury he had has stalled his development and as a result, he may not end up being the player that was hoped. I'm sure Soton had eyes on him being a top end Champ striker by now.

As with any player, if Carey/Hunt think he will fit and he is available on a perm then fair enough.

[Snowflake Royal]

Open to the idea. But he didnt really do anything at Cambridge or Blackpool this season. Now yeah, Cambridge were shit. Blackpool I think he played more wing.

But what we need is an experienced goalscorer for Wareham to learn from, not another promising young striker who isn’t really ready to start for a full season.

[Royalwaster]

I normally say look forwards and not backwards for recruitment, but I wonder if one option worth looking at could be Dom Ballard. He had a good loan here and clearly fitted in with the squad; I think he would have got 10+ goals that season. Since then, it hasn't quite worked for him but the potential is definitely there, and young players learn from unsuccessful loans too. He's 20 now and some way off Southampton's 1st team, so I wonder if he may be available for a cheap permanent deal plus sell on

I think he's probably too similar a player to J Wareham - we probably need someone else to complement him / offer an alternative.

[Sutekh]

I normally say look forwards and not backwards for recruitment, but I wonder if one option worth looking at could be Dom Ballard. He had a good loan here and clearly fitted in with the squad; I think he would have got 10+ goals that season. Since then, it hasn't quite worked for him but the potential is definitely there, and young players learn from unsuccessful loans too. He's 20 now and some way off Southampton's 1st team, so I wonder if he may be available for a cheap permanent deal plus sell on

I think he's probably too similar a player to J Wareham - we probably need someone else to complement him / offer an alternative.

Could try York’s Ollie Pearce, mere 31 goals this last season

[Snowflake Royal]

Stepping up 2 divisions at 29 seems rather unlikely.

L2 seems a better hunting ground than NL.

[andrew1957]

There are rumours that Mbengue would like to play at a higher level. He is out of contract but under age 24 on 30th June and so I assume that if we offer him a new contract and he refuses, that we would be entitled to compensation. Am I right?

[Sutekh]

There are rumours that Mbengue would like to play at a higher level. He is out of contract but under age 24 on 30th June and so I assume that if we offer him a new contract and he refuses, that we would be entitled to compensation. Am I right?

Doubt it, Mbengue was a free transfer signing from Metz in 2022 and don’t think he ever got involved with Academy sides (unless recuperating). He’s been pretty much around the 1st team since signing.

[Tinpot Royal]

There are rumours that Mbengue would like to play at a higher level. He is out of contract but under age 24 on 30th June and so I assume that if we offer him a new contract and he refuses, that we would be entitled to compensation. Am I right?

Doubt it, Mbengue was a free transfer signing from Metz in 2022 and don’t think he ever got involved with Academy sides (unless recuperating). He’s been pretty much around the 1st team since signing.

The under 24 rule is a Bosman thing rather than an academy thing I believe, so I think it would go to tribunal (if no fee could be agreed)

[MartinRdg]

So new deals can be signed from the 1st June https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c2kqx3724zdo

[Sutekh]

So new deals can be signed from the 1st June https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c2kqx3724zdo

Largely irrelevant really, players can be signed any time after a club’s season finishes, just won’t get clearance to play until 1st June but as the next season doesn’t start until August anyway it hardly matters.

[Snowflake Royal]

Most importantly we should now get an update relatively soon on the first team and academy released list, plus maybe who from our ooc list we're in negotiations with.

Which starts to give us a much better idea about how big a rebuild we're looking at and what our ambitions for next season should be.

[MartinRdg]

Most importantly we should now get an update relatively soon on the first team and academy released list, plus maybe who from our ooc list we're in negotiations with.

Which starts to give us a much better idea about how big a rebuild we're looking at and what our ambitions for next season should be.

And, hopefully, some ooc players haven't already decided to leave and the sale should be enough to change their minds and make them want to stay (if they are offered an extension).

[tidus_mi2]

Most importantly we should now get an update relatively soon on the first team and academy released list, plus maybe who from our ooc list we're in negotiations with.

Which starts to give us a much better idea about how big a rebuild we're looking at and what our ambitions for next season should be.

Would hope the majority of the squad gets offered contracts because at some point we need continuity, even if some players aren't necessarily of the required quality for this division. It sounds silly but I feel a big overhaul of players could just curtail our start to the season. Looking at our current squad, the only ones I'd 100% get rid of are Button and Boyce-Clarke, I could maybe see Rushesha staying as a back-up option due to his positional versatility but there are several like him who should have been 2nd/3rd choice and started way too many games.

We'll have unrestricted access to the loan market which should be huge for League One and add some missing quality in depth and I think we can have a solid season.

[Snowflake Royal]

Most importantly we should now get an update relatively soon on the first team and academy released list, plus maybe who from our ooc list we're in negotiations with.

Which starts to give us a much better idea about how big a rebuild we're looking at and what our ambitions for next season should be.

Would hope the majority of the squad gets offered contracts because at some point we need continuity, even if some players aren't necessarily of the required quality for this division. It sounds silly but I feel a big overhaul of players could just curtail our start to the season. Looking at our current squad, the only ones I'd 100% get rid of are Button and Boyce-Clarke, I could maybe see Rushesha staying as a back-up option due to his positional versatility but there are several like him who should have been 2nd/3rd choice and started way too many games.

We'll have unrestricted access to the loan market which should be huge for League One and add some missing quality in depth and I think we can have a solid season.

I would be looking to lose those with injury issues as well

Take Dorsett and Yiadom - firstly Yids would need to take a substantial pay cut from his Champ days, as he's no longer really a clear first choice quality and spends half his season out. Dorsett's been first choice LB for about 18 months and he's started 32 games in two seasons.

Squad needs to be tight as well. Camara, Akande, Tuma - not really space for all of them, plus whoever is next in line

[tidus_mi2]

Most importantly we should now get an update relatively soon on the first team and academy released list, plus maybe who from our ooc list we're in negotiations with.

Which starts to give us a much better idea about how big a rebuild we're looking at and what our ambitions for next season should be.

Would hope the majority of the squad gets offered contracts because at some point we need continuity, even if some players aren't necessarily of the required quality for this division. It sounds silly but I feel a big overhaul of players could just curtail our start to the season. Looking at our current squad, the only ones I'd 100% get rid of are Button and Boyce-Clarke, I could maybe see Rushesha staying as a back-up option due to his positional versatility but there are several like him who should have been 2nd/3rd choice and started way too many games.

We'll have unrestricted access to the loan market which should be huge for League One and add some missing quality in depth and I think we can have a solid season.

I would be looking to lose those with injury issues as well

Take Dorsett and Yiadom - firstly Yids would need to take a substantial pay cut from his Champ days, as he's no longer really a clear first choice quality and spends half his season out. Dorsett's been first choice LB for about 18 months and he's started 32 games in two seasons.

Squad needs to be tight as well. Camara, Akande, Tuma - not really space for all of them, plus whoever is next in line

Yep, fair points, hopefully Couhig is sensible, retains and hires the right staff to make these calls and I'll be intrigued to see the state of the squad when we see the retained list.

[Stranded]

Well contract offers went out yesterday according to the latest interview with Couhig - players we would like to keep and those we don't wish to were all informed so I imagine we will get a retained list press release shortly.

[MartinRdg]

Well contract offers went out yesterday according to the latest interview with Couhig - players we would like to keep and those we don't wish to were all informed so I imagine we will get a retained list press release shortly.

Nice turn of phrase actually from RC - those players we would like to keep and those who would be better somewhere else.