like for like then

[Fonda]

Buckle is seemingly intent on taking all of our talent. Only a matter of time until he remembers Ellis presumably...?

[royalgull]

We shall see. As Rich suggests above, we'll see his thinking in the friendlies. A lot depends on Leadbitters readiness for first team action. If he's ready for the RB role from the off, Oastler might be used elsewhere.

my gut feeling is Oastler will start the season at right back. Leadbitter being sub, he's had no first team experience so I think it would be a big ask to be chucked in straight away. We might see him play at Saints, JPT that sort of stuff plus a few sub apps just to start with.

[Jeff]

You also don't score 17 goals by playing CB!

Point taken, should have realised someone would have picked up on that!

I was merely highlighting the point that I remember McPhee being quite effective against us at Centre Half for Weymouth, and it seems he was selected for the National Game XI at Centre Back as well so he's done a recent good job there. I'd only want him to fill in that role in a dire emergency though, I want to see some of this 17 goal return!

I think Oastler has the attributes of being a good centre half (less so Right Back, not sure about his mobility), but he said himself he prefers Centre Mid which is fine with me as I looked the look of him in there. But my gut feeling is Saah and Ellis would be the better partnership initially as they are out-and-out Centre halves. Pre-season is for experiments though, plenty of opportunities to see if Oastler can cut it there.

[Fonda]

my gut feeling is Oastler will start the season at right back. Leadbitter being sub, he's had no first team experience so I think it would be a big ask to be chucked in straight away. We might see him play at Saints, JPT that sort of stuff plus a few sub apps just to start with.

I think you're probably right.

[stevegull]

A quick search of the Herald Website has a few results.

Bid rejected in January 2011, unnamed L1 club:

http://www.thisissouthdevon.co.uk/GULLS ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Last August too:

http://www.thisissouthdevon.co.uk/UNITE ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks for backing up my somewhat evidenceless (pretty sure that's a word) statement.The more i think about it the more i am getting excited about a Saah - Ellis combination at the back. By all accounts Saah was a leader at Cambridge so he could replace the leadership qualities many rave about Branston for.

[Richinns]

stevegull - Maybe one day, Carayol will find London...

Brilliant!

[stevegull]

stevegull - Maybe one day, Carayol will find London...

Brilliant!

I aim to please. Glad to know it got a good reception on your computer!

[yellowforever]

stevegull - Maybe one day, Carayol will find London...

Brilliant!

haha!

[hector]

I think Charnock would have been out of contract this summer, and given who things were going he would have been first on the released list.

If Robbo does go, I don't feel that we'll need another Centre half. I'd imagine that Saah and Ellis would then start as first choices, but in terms of back-up we'd then have Oastler, Leadbitter, LRT, McPhee and Palmer in reserves who could all do a capable job. We'd have to hope that we didn't lose both first choice centre halves in one swoop, but if we did (and didn't sign a permanent back up) then Ling would hopefully have the space in the budget to dip into the loan market.

Given the current state of the squad, I think that even without Robbo we'd have adequate cover at the back. I'd like to see any money re-invested in the attacking areas as that is so obvious where we are lacking at the moment.

And for what its worth, I think we'll be pleasantly surprised by the type of player McPhee has become. You don't score 17 BSP goals if you're as bad as he was when he left. He's obviously improved and I hope this time he can show us.

Not sure I would feel as comfortable with an Ellis/Saah partnership as I did with the Robertson/Branston one. But to suggest that the likes of Oastler/LRT and even Palmer could do a job there is really quite something. On what evidence do you base this. Palmer is a kid as is Leadbitter who is a full-back anyway. LRT is like watching bambi play and Oastler is not a central defender. So imagine a central defensive partnership of LRT/Palmer playing against Bristol Rovers. We would be annihilated.

We are seriously lacking all over our squad. No wingers of any quality. One forward and about to be weakened further in defence. Not really looking forward to the season with any confidence.

[Jeff]

Not sure I would feel as comfortable with an Ellis/Saah partnership as I did with the Robertson/Branston one. But to suggest that the likes of Oastler/LRT and even Palmer could do a job there is really quite something. On what evidence do you base this. Palmer is a kid as is Leadbitter who is a full-back anyway. LRT is like watching bambi play and Oastler is not a central defender. So imagine a central defensive partnership of LRT/Palmer playing against Bristol Rovers. We would be annihilated.

We are seriously lacking all over our squad. No wingers of any quality. One forward and about to be weakened further in defence. Not really looking forward to the season with any confidence.

Which is why I said if we were to lose both Centre Backs we would need to dip into the transfer market again. Your quite right, a centre half partnership of LRT and Palmer doesn't bear thinking about, but for that to happen I would reckon 5 other players would have to be unavailable. You make 5 defenders unavailable for any club in this division and they'd have a problem.

I said last season that having Charnock was an extravagance and he was probably the best 4th choice Centre back in the division. It was a luxury we couldn't afford and he was first out the door. We are in a similar position this season - as things stand we have 6 players who could play Centre half if it came to it, but 1 forward and no quality wide men (you make that point yourself). If we don't sign another defender, but bring in 3 forward players as Ling is suggesting that would be the best use of the resource he has available.

[Southampton Gull]

Linked by our own supporters perhaps.

Rochdale were definitely interested in taking him off our hands.

Buckle is seemingly intent on taking all of our talent. Only a matter of time until he remembers Ellis presumably...?

I doubt it, it was well-known that Ellis was the one player not scared to open his mouth about Buckles antics on and off the pitch

[HRG]

I also doubt that Ellis will end up rejoining Buckle for the same reasons as SG. It has been said many times that they did not see eye to eye.
Regarding Mcphee. I do not remember him first time around, but he sounds a completely different player to the one you all speak about in his first stint with the club. So I will treat him as if he is shiny and new.
After a night attempting to sleep on the sofa I'm not feeling positive about much today, but I am not going to write us off as relegation candidates as our resident miserys have, though they can be as miserable as they like, I'm hardly a ray of sunshine today myself. But I don't see us being play-off contenders either. Lower half mid table I see as reasonable for a difficult season with a lot of changes. I'll still hope for better though, or else what is the point.
I see potential in Oastler and LRT which I hope starts to be realised this season.
I am confident we have improved our goalkeeping situation but would like to see a second come in soon.
Pre-season friendlies will give us an idea of what to expect. It is hard to predict how the new players will slot in and how Ling operates without seeing them in action.
Now to find some caffeine to improve my mood.

[tufcbrett]

I also doubt that Ellis will end up rejoining Buckle for the same reasons as SG. It has been said many times that they did not see eye to eye.
Regarding Mcphee. I do not remember him first time around, but he sounds a completely different player to the one you all speak about in his first stint with the club. So I will treat him as if he is shiny and new.
After a night attempting to sleep on the sofa I'm not feeling positive about much today, but I am not going to write us off as relegation candidates as our resident miserys have, though they can be as miserable as they like, I'm hardly a ray of sunshine today myself. But I don't see us being play-off contenders either. Lower half mid table I see as reasonable for a difficult season with a lot of changes. I'll still hope for better though, or else what is the point.
I see potential in Oastler and LRT which I hope starts to be realised this season.
I am confident we have improved our goalkeeping situation but would like to see a second come in soon.
Pre-season friendlies will give us an idea of what to expect. It is hard to predict how the new players will slot in and how Ling operates without seeing them in action.
Now to find some caffeine to improve my mood.

The way i see it going this seson, is we will have a slow start. Then we will pick up come the end of the season and who knows we could even get play offs or just outside.

I dont understand why people just assume were going down because a few players have left? Our back line is as strong if not stronger at the moment which is good as we wont be letting goals in for fun.
Some fns say our defence is rubbish because if we get a few injuries we would be left with Palmer ect. I would like to remind people it was the same situation last season and noone was to worried by it then.

Yes ok the forward line is weaker but its going to be made stronger so no need to get all depressed about that.

I honestly think people are trying to find any little reason to find any negatives. This then spreads to other people who also then start to worry.

We have replaced very well for Bevs and Branno. I reall feel we will for the others we lost.

[Fonda]

I should clarify, i was being sarcastic about Ellis to Rovers. My point was, if he was as talented as some make out, he'd be after him. And i get the feeling the reason Ellis was evidently so outspoken is because Buckle didn't rate him highly enough to pick him regularly. That was obviously the cause of some annoyance to Mark.

[highweekgull]

Buckle didn't have a clue about how to get a good defence working - that's why he's taken Branno with him to run that show for him.

If we'd kept Steve Woods with Mark Ellis - Ellis would now have been sold on to a bigger club.

Mark my words, Taylor will coach Ellis into being a much better defender (think he would help Robbo too if he stays) and they'll be knocking on our door again.

Like others have said we still need a good playmaker and a goal scorer...