Moroccan Sunset
Well-Known Member
No prizes for guessing this one.
Men's Squad 2024/25
- Thread starter Pink Panther
- Start date
wphillips7
Member
Porter back. That is very disappointing.
Very.. thought we’d moved on from that season.
Didn’t have a great season at cray either.
Didn’t have a great season at cray either.
wphillips7
Member
He might be messi, but his attitude and hissy fits are so annoying to watch. I’d rather go without
Pink Panther
Well-Known Member
This one (Porter) is going to divide popular opinion, but I'm backing him to win over many doubters, as Kresh did last season. I felt Porter's best performances in a Hamlet shirt were under Hak, who wanted to retain him a year ago and clearly rates him as a known quantity. Yes, his overreactions to innocuous situations and incidents are infuriating, but I don't believe it's malicious and I think he genuinely can't help himself. The only time I've spoken to him, very briefly, was after the first pre-season game he played for us 2 years ago when I'd been doing the PA and he asked directions to the bar. He seemed very polite and friendly, and others I know have said the same. The only time he really disappointed me was that late red card at Hungerford that meant he was suspended from the crucial final match, when we needed a point to stay up, but the real damage had already been done and plenty were more culpable than he was. On balance, I think he's probably a good fit for our club.
Given how light we were on striking options last season, I think this can work if we bring in another good striker on top of porter and mills. If porter can knuckle down and focus on playing not playing up, he’s an ok backup. If we go into the season with mills and porter I’d be very disappointed
Moroccan Sunset
Well-Known Member
All fair points, but tbh, I just don't get him. I don't know what he brings exactly. He's not a goalscorer, he's not a lightning quick winger, I wouldn't label him as some kind of flashy no.10, or a playmaker. I can't even really tell if he's a winger or a central player. Maybe he's a jack of all trades, in fairness, but I think if we have designs on promotion this year we need really reliable, effective attackers. I think this squad looks short of goals at the moment, which worries me. Mills and Wanadio aren't enough, and Wanadio doesn't have a track record of getting the numbers he got last season.
Agree that Kresh was better last season but I didn't ever look at him and think 'we've got to keep him fit if we want promotion.' Feel the same with Porter. Feel like I saw plenty of opposition players last season that looked better. Hope I'm proved wrong.
Pink Panther
Well-Known Member
One of our biggest weaknesses last season was the lack of someone who can play off Millsy. The Wizard did to a degree, but his strength is as a goalscoring winger. Pingling never really got the chance, or was unable to seize the opportunity. Porter can do that. He's a forward who doesn't slot into any definite orthodox role, but he gives us a lot of options.
We're not going to sign a whole squad of new players who are all a great fit. We need to retain a core of familiar players, which includes returning ex-players. Yes, there are players out there who may be better than Porter or Krasniqi, but they may not be the right fit for our club. How many of last summer's recruits arrived with high hopes, only to fall short of expectations? We're playing stick or twist with a lot of personnel, and we need to stick with a few of them.
wphillips7
Member
I would be delighted if Porter proved me wrong
Don’t disagree with that either. Porter played his best football end of 22/23 playing as a 2 off mills. So hopefully under hak he cuts out the petulance and does the business.
Al Cunningham
Brockley Hamlet
Pleased that we have kept the better players from last season now with the addition of Jeffrey and Scott. The only other i would have kept would have been Parry but that was discounted early on. Lets hope the additions are better than last year. We have problably learned that bringing in older experienced players only works if they can maintain their fitness and form on less training time . I was excited when we signed Ricketts and Clifton but neither could put together a sustained period of form. We definitely need another central striker in the Eddie D'sane mould to give us something different. No doubt we will have triallists in the friendlies .
LinesmanIan
Linoian
On the plus side Porter could be our second Love Island contestant
Nivag
Well-Known Member
Pink Panther
Well-Known Member
Latest squads for the division attached, with this week's updates highlighted in yellow.
Players confirmed as retained are in black, new signings in red.
Asterisk = new terms offered but not yet confirmed. Names struck through have since rejected those offers.
Still no news on Josh Shonibare, who didn't feature yesterday. I'm guessing he's probably been training with a higher level club on a triallist basis. None of the Dover and Folkestone players who remain unconfirmed featured in their team line ups for yesterdays friendlies, so I'm guessing none of them will be returning now.
Newly promoted Bowers & Pitsea were the biggest movers this week. Two of their new recruits are from newly relegated Concord, and the rest are all from Step 4 clubs. Chichester "expect" to retain all but two of their promotion winning squad, according to the local newspaper, which named the 6 I've listed.
There's still a notable lack of news from several clubs, such as Hashtag, Hastings and Lewes. Those three all did fairly well last season, but my impression is that the last two (who have each changed their manager) will have a significantly smaller budget and may find it harder this time.
Players confirmed as retained are in black, new signings in red.
Asterisk = new terms offered but not yet confirmed. Names struck through have since rejected those offers.
Still no news on Josh Shonibare, who didn't feature yesterday. I'm guessing he's probably been training with a higher level club on a triallist basis. None of the Dover and Folkestone players who remain unconfirmed featured in their team line ups for yesterdays friendlies, so I'm guessing none of them will be returning now.
Newly promoted Bowers & Pitsea were the biggest movers this week. Two of their new recruits are from newly relegated Concord, and the rest are all from Step 4 clubs. Chichester "expect" to retain all but two of their promotion winning squad, according to the local newspaper, which named the 6 I've listed.
There's still a notable lack of news from several clubs, such as Hashtag, Hastings and Lewes. Those three all did fairly well last season, but my impression is that the last two (who have each changed their manager) will have a significantly smaller budget and may find it harder this time.
AveryDave
Well-Known Member
And a slew of announcements there was, including the important retentions of Jeffrey and Scott.
16 players now announced so would imagine around six to eight squad places to fill, and from Pink Panther's write up of the Fisher game there are trialists being looked at across all positions. I've left Sean Bonnett-Johnson and Josh Shonibare as 'in discussions' until anything is formally announced one way or another.
Retained:
Jerome Binnom-Williams
Michael Chambers
Kaya Hansson
Anthony Jeffrey
Kreshnic Krasniqi
Danny Mills
Ryley Scott
Luke Wanadio
Arrivals:
Dillon Barnes (Haringey Borough)
Sam German (Bromley, season loan)
Ralfi Hand (Charlton)
Max Hudson (Hayes & Yeading United)
Lorenzo Lewis (Merstham)
George Porter (Cray Wanderers)
Louis Ramsay (Billericay)
Jordan Wynter (Dartford)
In discussion:
Sean Bonnett-Johnson
Josh Shonibare
Departures:
Alfie Allen
Craig Braham-Barrett
Adrian Clifton
R'avan Constable
Preston Edwards (Cheshunt, Asst. Manager)
Alfie Egan
Harrison Hatfull (Margate)
Will Lakin (Stamford)
Peter Ojemen
Manny Parry (Hanworth Villa)
Mark Ricketts (Boreham Wood, Asst. Manager)
Ademola Shokunbi
Ayuk Tarh
Loans Expired:
Roarie Deacon
16 players now announced so would imagine around six to eight squad places to fill, and from Pink Panther's write up of the Fisher game there are trialists being looked at across all positions. I've left Sean Bonnett-Johnson and Josh Shonibare as 'in discussions' until anything is formally announced one way or another.
Retained:
Jerome Binnom-Williams
Michael Chambers
Kaya Hansson
Anthony Jeffrey
Kreshnic Krasniqi
Danny Mills
Ryley Scott
Luke Wanadio
Arrivals:
Dillon Barnes (Haringey Borough)
Sam German (Bromley, season loan)
Ralfi Hand (Charlton)
Max Hudson (Hayes & Yeading United)
Lorenzo Lewis (Merstham)
George Porter (Cray Wanderers)
Louis Ramsay (Billericay)
Jordan Wynter (Dartford)
In discussion:
Sean Bonnett-Johnson
Josh Shonibare
Departures:
Alfie Allen
Craig Braham-Barrett
Adrian Clifton
R'avan Constable
Preston Edwards (Cheshunt, Asst. Manager)
Alfie Egan
Harrison Hatfull (Margate)
Will Lakin (Stamford)
Peter Ojemen
Manny Parry (Hanworth Villa)
Mark Ricketts (Boreham Wood, Asst. Manager)
Ademola Shokunbi
Ayuk Tarh
Loans Expired:
Roarie Deacon
Any idea what we started last season with squad numbers wise?
I get the impression from Hak he’ll go with a smaller squad this season, allowing him to have a bit freedom to wheel and deal, unlike last season
I get the impression from Hak he’ll go with a smaller squad this season, allowing him to have a bit freedom to wheel and deal, unlike last season
Pink Panther
Well-Known Member
We had 23 confirmed by the opening day of the season, not including at least 2 further triallists (Lovatt, Pascal) who ultimately featured in league games.
Bugpowder Dust
Well-Known Member
We should should sign Nikita Parris and play her in central defence.
Then we'd have a back two of Parris Sam German.
Then we'd have a back two of Parris Sam German.
Or re-sign Manny Parry and speak it all with a French accent!
