chris mcphee

[ferrarilover]

While we're casually disregarding divisions, Troj, that Championship is a bit of a loose cannon, so we'll kick that out, and L1 is a bit of a no-mans-land, so we'll forget them too.

Huzzah, we're in division 1!

Matt.

[royalgull]

McPhee will do ok, of our signings and the ones mooted he's the one i have most confidence in. In a way that sort of says it all.

I'm a glass half full guy than glass half empty whoever signs on the dotted line and is wearing that monstrosity of a yellow shirt next season will get my full 100% support as standard. But whilst not as blunt as brucie has put it, i'm not dismissing anybody but I have concerns of the calibre of player we are bringing in/mooted to be bringing in compared to the outgoing players. Just reinforcing my opinion of this season that anything above 23rd place and I'll be relatively happy/relieved.

[CP Gull]

Likewise I would be a little concerned too. Replacing players of the calibre of Branston, Stanley, Robinson, Bevan and Tomlin (and yes I know only two of that lot were actually our players) is not an easy task - particularly given our budget, location etc.

Whilst I am quite pleased with the signings so far, I would be concerned if we don't add real quality with the next two or three signings. If we can secure the likes of Saah, Easton and Olejnik then I would be feeling a lot more happy - if we don't and then end up losing Zebs as well then I reckon with what we've got we would struggle big time. In reality all we need is three or four quality additions to the spine of the team and things will (hopefully) look a whole lot better.

[royalgull]

Still think we need another striker. Adam Birchall maybe? although would require a fee which might rule him out. At the minute we have Kee and he's the only out and out striker. Presuming he doesn't play on the wing (Fonda's favourite). Obviously Zebroski (for now) and McPhee can play there but I'm thinking in an ideal world they are possibly starting on either flank. I know McPhee said he sees himself playing centre midfield, I think that will be O Kane and Mansell, at least to start with.

Andy Parkinson is a total waste of time, injury prone 32 years old that hasn't held down regular football at Accrington or Cambridge, i don't see him as an improvement to Macklin (who i'm convinced will do better next year) or Stevens. Surely we need to be aiming for players to come into the first XI not just occupy squad space and more importantly wages in our small budget.

I'm not bothered by Easton, Mansell is the experienced talker/captain style midfielder and I like O Kane, we've also got Lathrope and Oastler who are capable of playing there and also McPhee. I really think there are other areas of the park we need to spend the money on. centre half would be 1, trying to replace Branston, again I'm not sure Saah is in the same class in what he brings to the table. Both Robertson and Ellis are too quiet at centre back and we need that organiser to play alongside one of them.

Obviously goalkeeper needs to be filled but also like i mentioned up front. If we lose Zebroski on top of all that I'd be seriously concerned

[Alpine Joe]

With his injury record & age now starting to tell against him I don't think Andy Parkinson is the sort of player we can look at expecting to get 46 games out of him next Season. But if and when he is called upon he could well do a decent job...a lack of ability has never been his problem.

Age, injuries, released from his last two Clubs....I would think he may well be feeling grateful to have found a Club to take him on, & on that basis I can't see that he was in any position to demand a high salary. I'm hoping we've got ourselves a useful addition to the squad & one who isn't making too much of a dent in the wage bill.

Not even an expensive gamble if it goes wrong, which I very much hope it won't.

[brucie]

happytorq - why shouldn't I say what I feel is right?
Presumably the board employed Ling for some good reason, perhaps one being that he knew what he was doing or perhpas that he convinced them he could bring some decent players in.
i happen to think that Zebroski and Stanley are excellent players - however one has gone and the other appears to be on his way out.
As far as Mcphee is concerned I am quite happy to believe the evidence of my own eyes and that he is a terribly limited footballer. Granted he has scored goals at non league level but he is 28 now and presumably hasn't made it at League level for a reason ie he isn't good enough.
Even more worrying are the managers comments that he doesn't know where to play him.
As for the Newcastle lad - well i havn't seen him but my worry would be that he has not even been on loan at a league club, which might well tell a story ie no league club actually wanted him. Too inexperienced to be anything other than squad fodder at the moment.
Oastler and Stevens - not impressed by either, neither up to regular league 2 standard.
So I am not impressed with anything Ling has done so far.
If has been muted our next signing is Saah - my question is the same if he is so good why is he at a non league club and as he is available he doesn't seem to have loads of league clubs after him. Given that he is a "managers favourite" I guess he will be a first choice - that means that Robbo or Ellis is going to have to make way and they are two of his better players.
I would say that we have the following players who are capable of holding down a regular first team place.

Ellis
Robertson
Mansell
Nicholson
O'Kane
Zebroski (in the unlikely event that he stays)

So realistically thats only five playes on the books that are good enough to play regular league 2 football. Kee has ability but is far too fat so I have not included him.
Ling just has to add some quality and hasn't done that so far.
Everyone should take a reality check and realise that we could be in alot of trouble this year.

[royalgull]

Slightly harsh on Saah or players in non league to be honest. Branston was in non league when we took him. There are many reasons players go into non league, family reasons, locality of club, money funnily enough. Saah has played in the league before, McPhee living in Newton Abbot limited his choices of club. If you dig around you can find many scenarios where he's turned clubs down, he had an arrangement at Kidderminster where he could stay in Devon, not train all the time and play. Not so many clubs would do that for players. Rumours of Cheltenham and Hereford being interested in him. Leadbitter is the complete unknown, you'd hope being at Newcastle he'd have something but we'll see.

in all honesty Zebroski is a 'terribly limited footballer' He did a great job over the course of the season for us, to get 15 goals? Excellent. But actual quality he's very hit and miss. Seems to stumble his way past people more than bamboozle or beat them with out and out quality. He seems to be off balance or not in control but get the job done. At this level you can do that. I think because he's unpredictable and very unorthodox that he's effective. We'd certainly miss him because like you rightly point out so far the quality of replacement hasn't matched the quality of player going but i don't think he's irreplaceable.

[Alpine Joe]

Brucie

If has been muted our next signing is Saah - my question is the same if he is so good why is he at a non league club and as he is available he doesn't seem to have loads of league clubs after him.

That's a fair enough question posed by Brucie, & certainly one any manager will ask himself before signing a player.
I'm sure we asked ourselves why Branston had been playing Conference football with Kettering, followed by being unwanted by Burton after amassing 3 red cards in about 19 games.

If you're satisfied with the answers to the questions, then you can end up with a very useful player on your hands. If things still don't quite add up then leave well alone.

[Trojan 67]

Why shouldn't I say what I feel is right?

Absolutely agree.

99.9% of the time I don't agree with brucie. That 0.1% of time when I'm in his territory I see where he is. It's not a happy place, it's a lonely place, it's not the place to be 99.9% of the time.

The ironic thing is, he's "happy" to pitch his tent there on a permanent basis.

Until he upsticks and moves to another position, his viewpoint won't change. He still has the "right" (whether that makes him "right") to say how he feels according to the position from where he sees it.

[AustrianAndyGull]

happytorq - why shouldn't I say what I feel is right?
Presumably the board employed Ling for some good reason, perhaps one being that he knew what he was doing or perhpas that he convinced them he could bring some decent players in.
i happen to think that Zebroski and Stanley are excellent players - however one has gone and the other appears to be on his way out.
As far as Mcphee is concerned I am quite happy to believe the evidence of my own eyes and that he is a terribly limited footballer. Granted he has scored goals at non league level but he is 28 now and presumably hasn't made it at League level for a reason ie he isn't good enough.
Even more worrying are the managers comments that he doesn't know where to play him.
As for the Newcastle lad - well i havn't seen him but my worry would be that he has not even been on loan at a league club, which might well tell a story ie no league club actually wanted him. Too inexperienced to be anything other than squad fodder at the moment.
Oastler and Stevens - not impressed by either, neither up to regular league 2 standard.
So I am not impressed with anything Ling has done so far.
If has been muted our next signing is Saah - my question is the same if he is so good why is he at a non league club and as he is available he doesn't seem to have loads of league clubs after him. Given that he is a "managers favourite" I guess he will be a first choice - that means that Robbo or Ellis is going to have to make way and they are two of his better players.
I would say that we have the following players who are capable of holding down a regular first team place.

Ellis
Robertson
Mansell
Nicholson
O'Kane
Zebroski (in the unlikely event that he stays)

So realistically thats only five playes on the books that are good enough to play regular league 2 football. Kee has ability but is far too fat so I have not included him.
Ling just has to add some quality and hasn't done that so far.
Everyone should take a reality check and realise that we could be in alot of trouble this year.

Agree Brucie, Ling has done nowt so far although i do disagree with your opinion on Saah. Branston was in the conference with Kettering and look at what he did for us so Saah, although a non league player who hasn't pulled up any trees could do a job for us and i wouldn't dismiss it if he signed, McPhee on the other hand is just not up to league football as isn't Stevens. Oastler has promise though.

[Glostergull]

Agree Brucie, Ling has done nowt so far although i do disagree with your opinion on Saah. Branston was in the conference with Kettering and look at what he did for us so Saah, although a non league player who hasn't pulled up any trees could do a job for us and i wouldn't dismiss it if he signed, McPhee on the other hand is just not up to league football as isn't Stevens. Oastler has promise though.

Flippin eck Andy
What are we going to have at Plainmoor next. Tossing the caber. I never ever thought I would see anyone let alone a TUFC player down Cary park pulling up trees by their roots. I just hope they can make money by selling the logs. Otherwise it's just about the oddest turn of phrase I have ever hard!

[mickyflash]

I actually 100% agree with Brucie. He is spot on in terms of the players with proven League 2 quality in our current squad it's a worry. For people stating that Branston was a conference player when we signed him, so that means Saah can make the step up too, I have two points.

The first is, I am sure I am right in thinking that Branston had signed for too many League clubs during a 12 month period and was forced to drop down to non league football because he was unable to sign for another league club, rather no league club wanting him?

The second is we signed him from Burton Albion so another league club had taken a punt on his ability, something that a league club hasn't done with Saah.

I am not suggesting that no one can step up from non league football unless other clubs have an intrest in said player, a much better example would be to look at brucie's list itself. with the exception of O'Kane all of them played in the conference for us, only Zebs had an approach that I know of from League clubs during that time and all have managed to step up to achieve Brucie's level of League two expectations. Even Eunan had no League experience before joining us.

[bc-gull]

I actually 100% agree with Brucie. He is spot on in terms of the players with proven League 2 quality in our current squad it's a worry. For people stating that Branston was a conference player when we signed him, so that means Saah can make the step up too, I have two points.

The first is, I am sure I am right in thinking that Branston had signed for too many League clubs during a 12 month period and was forced to drop down to non league football because he was unable to sign for another league club, rather no league club wanting him?

The second is we signed him from Burton Albion so another league club had taken a punt on his ability, something that a league club hasn't done with Saah.

I am not suggesting that no one can step up from non league football unless other clubs have an intrest in said player, a much better example would be to look at brucie's list itself. with the exception of O'Kane all of them played in the conference for us, only Zebs had an approach that I know of from League clubs during that time and all have managed to step up to achieve Brucie's level of League two expectations. Even Eunan had no League experience before joining us.

About Saah, he has already played league football for leyton orient, he then dropped down to the conference! Although Branston was very much a journeyman he did also drop down to non league football, remember it is only 1 division below us. Not like it is 3 or more really, when you think about it, the conference is a very competitive league and a lot of the teams there would be fine in league two, when you have championship>Premier league you get teams which cant really cope with the likes of man utd or chelsea, but I am pretty sure crawl£y and wimbeldon will be fine against the likes of vale, gillingham and aldershot.

[Rjc70]

The only thing I would further remark on is that brucie reasonably consistantly remarked that Eunan was rubbish during the course of last season. Particularly scathing of him in central midfield, as I recall.

[Jeff]

I actually 100% agree with Brucie. He is spot on in terms of the players with proven League 2 quality in our current squad it's a worry. For people stating that Branston was a conference player when we signed him, so that means Saah can make the step up too, I have two points.

The first is, I am sure I am right in thinking that Branston had signed for too many League clubs during a 12 month period and was forced to drop down to non league football because he was unable to sign for another league club, rather no league club wanting him?

The second is we signed him from Burton Albion so another league club had taken a punt on his ability, something that a league club hasn't done with Saah.

I am not suggesting that no one can step up from non league football unless other clubs have an intrest in said player, a much better example would be to look at brucie's list itself. with the exception of O'Kane all of them played in the conference for us, only Zebs had an approach that I know of from League clubs during that time and all have managed to step up to achieve Brucie's level of League two expectations. Even Eunan had no League experience before joining us.

Branston signed for Kettering (in BSN at the time) out of choice, not out of playing for too many league clubs. They were in a boom period though, and paying league salaries so it's a hard one to judge, but he did choose to go there.

And remember Saah has played over 100 league games for Orient in both leagues 1 and 2. He's got pedigree and his highly rated at Cambridge - he's their skipper. If we complete that deal I would be very happy with it.

EDIT - and Buckle was linked to signing Saah for us 2 years ago before he went to Cambridge