Lathrope Out For The Season

Post by **Gulliball** » 24 Nov 2016, 13:42

Not good news for us, as Damon Lathrope needs surgery and then 3+ months recovery, putting him out until April at least.

It was a gamble to take him on. Had we got 40 appearances out of him then it would have been a great signing. As with Williams and his attitude/work ethic, a club with our budget has to put up with some negatives in order to get a good player down here for what we offer. Jason Fowler is probably the best example of this working out well.

With a small squad though, it's turned out horribly for us and we're now carrying an extra wage for the rest of the season.

The only postive is that Sparkes - Richards - Young - Fitzpatrick is a well balanced midfield, so the first XI remains strong, and gives us the width to feed two strikers. Chaney might also get more game time to aid his development.

torq2u · Post by **torq2u** » 24 Nov 2016, 14:23

It obviously comes as no surprise with his track record. I've not been impressed when I've seen him, probably the effect of his chronic condition. So no blame on Dame.

But should we have taken the gamble with such a small budget? A years wages for 10 matches is a helluva cost. Bad board decision.

Hope the op and rehab go really well, Damon.

Richinns · Post by **Richinns** » 24 Nov 2016, 14:55

I have still not forgiving him for the Playoff final when he should have taken a booking and stopped the midfielder running through who seconds later scored the only goal in the game!

I wish him a speedy recovery but it has to be said - I was not overwhelmed when he returned (never really seen much from him even when we were doing well in league 2) and his injury record was not the best so was always a double risk in my eyes!

Richinns · Post by **Richinns** » 24 Nov 2016, 15:05

Gulliball wrote:Not good news for us, as Damon Lathrope needs surgery and then 3+ months recovery, putting him out until April at least.

It was a gamble to take him on. Had we got 40 appearances out of him then it would have been a great signing. As with Williams and his attitude/work ethic, a club with our budget has to put up with some negatives in order to get a good player down here for what we offer. Jason Fowler is probably the best example of this working out well.

With a small squad though, it's turned out horribly for us and we're now carrying an extra wage for the rest of the season.

The only postive is that Sparkes - Richards - Young - Fitzpatrick is a well balanced midfield, so the first XI remains strong, and gives us the width to feed two strikers. Chaney might also get more game time to aid his development.

Yep - that midfield has a lovely balance when compared to what we started the season with and have had to field until now. I know it will prove difficult but if we could somehow get another centre-half in on loan then that would free up GG to play as a defence midfielder (his natural role) and provide competition for Richards. He looks like a round peg in a square hole at centre back and we definitely are not seeing the best of him in that position.

Jeff · Post by **Jeff** » 24 Nov 2016, 15:16

What would soften the blow here is if we are able to sort ourselves out and offer Durrell Berry something. That way he steps back in as RB, and Verma can revert to his more normal position of Midfield and thus we aren't really any weaker there.

On the subject of midfielders, what's the situation with Joe Ward? How long is he around for? Haven't seen much of him but thought he was offering more than Lathrope there

PhilGull · Post by **PhilGull** » 24 Nov 2016, 15:32

Perhaps Matt could use his crowd funder to pay off Lathropes contract so we can swap him for Raachi...

SBP · Post by **SBP** » 24 Nov 2016, 16:45

Should never had taken him. Shots fans had been saying that he had a long term problem. Did we not check his Medical records??

Post by **Dave** » 24 Nov 2016, 19:25

Well shock and horror, didn't see this coming. It was all over shotstalk back in the summer, think a fair few of their fans predicted he wouldn't last long.

tomogull · Post by **tomogull** » 24 Nov 2016, 22:27

forevertufc wrote:Well shock and horror, didn't see this coming. It was all over shotstalk back in the summer, think a fair few of their fans predicted he wouldn't last long.

He was out for most of last season as well. Sadly for Damon, I suspect his career as a professional footballer may be over.

Burnhamgull · Post by **Burnhamgull** » 25 Nov 2016, 00:26

Only a fool would offer him a contract with his past injury record....................oh hang on......

Very disappointed but like several others and half of the Aldershot fanbase, not surprised.

ferrarilover · Post by **ferrarilover** » 25 Nov 2016, 00:46

Yeah, why did our professional manager and his medical team not listen to some chaps on the Internet?

A broken watch is right twice a day.

Matt.

Post by **Dave** » 25 Nov 2016, 00:58

Yeah, why did our professional manager and his medical team not listen to some chaps on the Internet?

In this case, some chaps from the internet called it right, truly worrying when Shots fans seem to know more about a players than our medical team, mind you, I suppose it's not the first time our club signed a dud against medical advice now, is it.

Mo Camara...cough, splutter, cough.

ferrarilover · Post by **ferrarilover** » 25 Nov 2016, 01:05

As I say Dave, a broken watch is right twice a day.

Remember when the Internet identified the Boston bombers? I don't know why the FBI didn't simply visit Reddit instead of, you know, investigating.

There was a bloke on here not a week ago telling us that Kieffer Moore was shit. I'll bet you're glad Nico didn't act on that advice.

Imagine the scenario, for a sec. We're in a fans forum and the question comes from the floor, "Kev, tell us about your recruitment policy at the club" and Nico replies, "I spend 20 minutes in June looking on forums and Twitter and sign whoever Spazbot99 and ShotsFanInExile reckon is any good. I had an option on a bloke, but @Pieandchips said on Twitter that he was shit, so I binned him off."

Come on, really?

Matt.

Post by **Dave** » 25 Nov 2016, 01:43

Of course not Matthew. But we're talking about a player who spent much of last season and part of the season before injured with, what, no, a groin problem, no one needed to look at a fans forum to find that out.

Alarm bells should have been ringing here, we constantly complain about having no money, but committed a small slice of our meagre budget on a player, any number of both Aldershot and Torquay fans predicted wouldn't last the season, sadly they were right.

PhilGull · Post by **PhilGull** » 25 Nov 2016, 10:57

forevertufc wrote:Yeah, why did our professional manager and his medical team not listen to some chaps on the Internet?

In this case, some chaps from the internet called it right, truly worrying when Shots fans seem to know more about a players than our medical team, mind you, I suppose it's not the first time our club signed a dud against medical advice now, is it.

Mo Camara...cough, splutter, cough.

O'Neill Donaldson. Signed by Wes Saunders.

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