Possible Replacements for Long?

[DOYLERSAROYALER]

Nathan Tyson ?? ...

Ebanks Blake ?? ...can do it at this level and only bit part under McCarthy...

Rhodes from Huddersfield is a good shout though...linked with him in past and Huddersfield in Div 1

Ebanks Blake - YES!! Would be an excellent signing, only thing is would he be willing to drop down a league and how much would he cost? I expect he'd demand a high wage too. He's certainly a 20 goal a season striker which is just what we would be looking for to replace Long.

...get him on a season long loan...which I expect the club to fully utilise next season

...yes he's dropping a division but at least he'd be playing more often than not - he seems to be a last resort player with McCarthy

[The Doctor]

Possible Strikers to replace Long should he go:

Morison (Millwall) ??
Mackail-Smith (P'boro) ??
Rhodes (Huddersfield) ??
Lee Hughes (Notts C) (even though he's a murderer ) ??
Madine (Sheff Wed) ??
DJ Campbell (B'pool) ??

Any suggestions?

Rhodes (if we could afford him) and Lee Hughes are the only realistic options there.

Simon Cox on a free please.

[Super Royals]

Nathan Tyson ?? ...

Ebanks Blake ?? ...can do it at this level and only bit part under McCarthy...

Rhodes from Huddersfield is a good shout though...linked with him in past and Huddersfield in Div 1

Ebanks Blake - YES!! Would be an excellent signing, only thing is would he be willing to drop down a league and how much would he cost? I expect he'd demand a high wage too. He's certainly a 20 goal a season striker which is just what we would be looking for to replace Long.

...get him on a season long loan...which I expect the club to fully utilise next season

...yes he's dropping a division but at least he'd be playing more often than not - he seems to be a last resort player with McCarthy

Yeah that sounds like a good idea actually. Would be happy to see that happen next season.

[Super Royals]

Le Fondre?

He's done it at league 2 level but whether he could manage it at Championship level is a different matter. Would be quite expensive as well (at least £1M i should imagine). However, BMcD signed Manset who was playing in League 2 so maybe he'd be willing to take a risk

[Libertine]

Whomever it is I hope it is someone more established. We have enough "works in progress" and need a known quantity. Ebanks-Blake sounds really good to me too. I would be happy if they gave Cox a go. Please just don't spend the money on another long term project...

[1871 Royal]

I am just going to throw Kevin Philips into the mix. Has been released by birmingham.

[Focher]

ebanks blake and cox are our only realistic chances, Mackail smith would be the best option but will never happen.

Tyson too injury prone

[Libertine]

I just have this nagging thought in the back of my head that out of loyalty to his players we will go into next season with Hunt and Church up front, with Brian hoping Churchy will find his form next season like Long just did this previous season...and if we bring in another striker it won't be until the January 2012 window.

[Scarface]

Will probably be Simon Church.

Hunt, Church, Manset and Williams, there won't be hardly any signings this summer.

[Spirit of Elm Park]

Tony Philliskirk (pen)

[Focher]

Tony Philliskirk (pen)

(pen)

[Norfolk Royal]

Morrison is off to Norwich, he put in a transfer request and Norwich have had two bids turned down, just about to go in again.

Here's one worth a punt, Cody MacDonad. Scored bucket loads this season on loan to Gillingham from Norwich but will not get into their premiership team. He'd go for a million. Very quick, eye for goal.

He's no target man but him alongside a Long style player would be well worth the punt.

[West Stand Man]

Will probably be Simon Church.

Hunt, Church, Manset and Williams, there won't be hardly any signings this summer.

So there will be some signings then, according to you?

(hint - double negative. Perhaps you meant that there will be hardly any signings or that there wont be any signings?)

[Norfolk Royal]

Morrison is off to Norwich, he put in a transfer request and Norwich have had two bids turned down, just about to go in again.

Here's one worth a punt, Cody MacDonad. Scored bucket loads this season on loan to Gillingham from Norwich but will not get into their premiership team. He'd go for a million. Very quick, eye for goal.

He's no target man but him alongside a Long style player would be well worth the punt.

no he has Not

Eh?

[URZZZZZZZZ]

A FREE Simon Cox

[Spirit of Elm Park]

Tony Philliskirk (pen)

(pen)

Glad someone else got that

[DavidM62]

I remember seeing Shane at a signing session at Heelas (ok John Lewis) just over a year ago. There was moderate interest at the time at his appearance. I remember thinking how as a player he hadn't really achieved the potential I had hoped. Really its only been since Xmas that his form has been so good.

My point is that I have exactly the same view of Church at the moment. So I say in BMcD we trust and not to splash the cash if feels that is right approach.

[Snowball]

IF Shane goes

Hunt-Church might well work if Simon gets over his second-season-syndrome.

He HAS proven he can do it (2009-10)

Manset, unless he has genetically inferior VO2 capacity will be a very good player IMO
and the jury is out on Brett Williams (but we bought him for a reason)

[Hoop Blah]

The same kind of reason we bought Mooney, Bennett, Sodje, Brayson, Omar Daley, Illgusson etc etc. We've a massive long list of cheap gambles that don't come to anything (understandable as they're cheap gambles for a reason). Point is we can't just expect these lads to come good because someone at the club saw them as worth a punt.

Once Long does leave (there really can't be any doubt he'll be off) we'll be left with:

Hunt - decent and hard working but can't get through 90 minutes consistently and misses far too many games over the course of a season. He can't lead our attack as, unlike Long, he's not able to be there week-in week-out.

Church - just about adequate as 3rd of 4th choice and he's capable of flashes of excellent play but far too often he contrives to miss chances or is just half a yard too slow, to easy to knock off the ball or wayward with his touch.

Manset - he has something about him (like Kebe) because he looks dangerous at times but like Hunt he just can't get through 90 minutes. I'd be concerned if we went into the season with him as a first choice.

Williams - totally unknown

One of our problems this season was an over reliance on Long. Part of the reason we relied so much on him is that the other forwards are all flawed. Yes they can improve but that's asking a lot and would represent a huge gamble by the club if these were our only options come August.

[Sir Rodger Doyle]

Possible Strikers to replace Long should he go:

Morison (Millwall) ??
Mackail-Smith (P'boro) ??
Rhodes (Huddersfield) ??
Lee Hughes (Notts C) (even though he's a murderer ) ??
Madine (Sheff Wed) ??
DJ Campbell (B'pool) ??

Any suggestions?

We'll stick with what we've got. Church, it's his time to step up.