Who would you keep?

[Alex]

We’d be mad not to keep Barham.

Agree

[Silasgoldeen]

thought experiment: there were 152 goals in Aldershot games this season, both for and against. This is 8 more than the next highest team, and 15 more than the next after that. There are an incredible number of goals in Aldershot games. This happened last year. It's a feature of TW's play, I think we can safely assume by now.

If you offered any centre forward the chance to play for a team, would he choose a club where there are millions of goals, or one where there are hardly any goals?

He'd choose the one where there are loads of goals. This is because there's a lot of attacking play, presumably. so he'd get more chances.

So you could argue that this is a great place to be a centre-forward and a frightening place to be a defender.

That being so, I think a top CF could go bananas here. Is 11 goals enough in this context?

Against that, Barrett and Henry have scored prolifically, so maybe that's partly on Jack.

Again, see previous posts: I think he's great, and has a knack for the big moment. But this also plays on my mind a bit, I think it's a reasonable question to ask.

[Red hot shot]

thought experiment: there were 152 goals in Aldershot games this season, both for and against. This is 8 more than the next highest team, and 15 more than the next after that. There are an incredible number of goals in Aldershot games. This happened last year. It's a feature of TW's play, I think we can safely assume by now.

If you offered any centre forward the chance to play for a team, would he choose a club where there are millions of goals, or one where there are hardly any goals?

He'd choose the one where there are loads of goals. This is because there's a lot of attacking play, presumably. so he'd get more chances.

So you could argue that this is a great place to be a centre-forward and a frightening place to be a defender.

That being so, I think a top CF could go bananas here. Is 11 goals enough in this context?

Against that, Barrett and Henry have scored prolifically, so maybe that's partly on Jack.

Again, see previous posts: I think he's great, and has a knack for the big moment. But this also plays on my mind a bit, I think it's a reasonable question to ask.

That's a very good point and one I raised on another thread. If you're a defender, you'd be worried about coming to Aldershot based on the last two seasons, whereas attacking players must be excited by it.

Jack also lives in Southend, so I imagine the commute is challenging. In addition to that he was signed for a fee before Tommy came to the club, who knows, perhaps his wage is higher than the club would like and this is causing issues?

[CH]

With Tommy confirming that he will be speaking to the players this week on their futures, it made me think about who I would offer a new deal to. I've not seen a thread like this yet, so apologies if this has been covered elsewhere.

According to TransferMrkt.co.uk these are the most up to date details;

Under Contract for 2025/26 season
Marcus Dewhurst
Tyler Frost
Cam Hargreaves
Ryan Jones
Luke Jenkins
Josh Barrett

Overall happy with who we have under contract- only question mark is over Luke's fitness.

Meaning the rest of the squad are either out of contract, or will return to their parent clubs.

RETAIN
Ollie Harfield- Injury dependent of course, but was one of our best players when fit
Dejan Tetek- Again, hampered by injuries but so good when available
Jack Barham- Gives his all, 10 league goals again this season so worth keeping.
James Henry- Classy player and would love to keep him
Pat Nash- Want to take a look at him and think he'd be a good enough number 2
Ash Akpan- Seen enough in him to be worth another year
Keane Anderson- As above
Maxi Mullins- As above

RELEASE
Jordi Van Stappershoef- Bit of a luxury having two senior GK's. I'd keep him if he didn't mind sitting on the bench for another year
Christian Maghoma- Hasn't worked out for him
Aaron Jones- May seem harsh but he's lost a bit of pace and I think there are better options out there (Oscar Rutherford at Daggers for example)
Manny Maja- Hampered by injuries and hasn't set the world alight
Kai Corbett- Needs first team football at a lower level
Ollie Bray- Same as Kai
Tariq Uwakwe- Not had a chance but assuming that's for a reason
Lachlan Byrd- Tommy doesn't fancy him clearly and was average when played
Theo Widdrington- I would personally release him. I just feel we can do better and the division he causes amongst the fans doesn't help.
Hady Ghandour- National South standard striker sadly
Olly Scott- Wouldn't be unhappy if he stayed, but again he is the type of player we should be looking to improve on

RETURNING TO PARENT CLUBS
Kwame Thomas- I'd offer him a cheap deal. Good to have a target man option, although one that scores goals would be even better.
Luca Woodhouse- Top priority for a recall IMO.
Will Armitage- Thanks for everything but wouldn't bring him back
Dan Ellision- Thanks for everything but wouldn't bring him back

Curious to hear everyone elses thoughts on this.

Isn't Uwakwe on loan from Swindon?

[Alex]

Sutton have already announced 7 players are leaving

[Birdman]

Yes, CH, he is on loan from Swindon :- https://www.theshots.co.uk/new-signing-tariq-uwakwe/

[supershots]

Yes, CH, he is on loan from Swindon :- https://www.theshots.co.uk/new-signing-tariq-uwakwe/

Play him in place of Theo

[Bertie (WFC)]

Sutton have already announced 7 players are leaving

And we've published our retained / released list as well

Formal end of Sarll / Doyle era

[Triggers Broom]

If you offered any centre forward the chance to play for a team, would he choose a club where there are millions of goals, or one where there are hardly any goals?

He'd choose the one where there are loads of goals. This is because there's a lot of attacking play, presumably. so he'd get more chances.

I think a CF would choose a team with a realistic chance of winning the league or finishing top 7 than staying with a team that more often than not is battling relegation. They would also more likely choose to ply their trade for whichever team will pay them the most.

[Silasgoldeen]

If you offered any centre forward the chance to play for a team, would he choose a club where there are millions of goals, or one where there are hardly any goals?

He'd choose the one where there are loads of goals. This is because there's a lot of attacking play, presumably. so he'd get more chances.

I think a CF would choose a team with a realistic chance of winning the league or finishing top 7 than staying with a team that more often than not is battling relegation. They would also more likely choose to ply their trade for whichever team will pay them the most.

oh 100%, but that wasn't what I was getting at. Point being that if Aldershot score a load of goals and concede a load of goals, we can assume that there's a lot of open and attacking football. So, all else being equal, you'd assume that this would be a good situation for a CF. And if that's true, could we have expected more from our own CF?

[lowerbourneshot]

I liken our football to 20/20 cricket if you're a defender/ bowler no matter how you play you're on a hiding to nothing

[CH]

I feel we missed the boat at the end of last season, whereby just a sensible level of "speculate to accumulate" would have carried on the crest of the wave and pick up in attendances. By continuing to trim the budget you are making unexpected windfalls like cup runs and play off fixtures, or even player sales more unlikely and the spiral towards relegation and oblivion becomes harder to stop with each passing year.

Im not saying we should throw cash we dont have at the problem or jeopardise the clubs future at all, but I dont feel we gave ourselves much of a chance to back up the progress we made last season and thankfully the trophy run has at least kept a bit of the momentum going.

[lowerbourneshot]

With Tommy confirming that he will be speaking to the players this week on their futures, it made me think about who I would offer a new deal to. I've not seen a thread like this yet, so apologies if this has been covered elsewhere.

According to TransferMrkt.co.uk these are the most up to date details;

Under Contract for 2025/26 season
Marcus Dewhurst
Tyler Frost
Cam Hargreaves
Ryan Jones
Luke Jenkins
Josh Barrett

Overall happy with who we have under contract- only question mark is over Luke's fitness.

Meaning the rest of the squad are either out of contract, or will return to their parent clubs.

RETAIN
Ollie Harfield- Injury dependent of course, but was one of our best players when fit
Dejan Tetek- Again, hampered by injuries but so good when available
Jack Barham- Gives his all, 10 league goals again this season so worth keeping.
James Henry- Classy player and would love to keep him
Pat Nash- Want to take a look at him and think he'd be a good enough number 2
Ash Akpan- Seen enough in him to be worth another year
Keane Anderson- As above
Maxi Mullins- As above

RELEASE
Jordi Van Stappershoef- Bit of a luxury having two senior GK's. I'd keep him if he didn't mind sitting on the bench for another year
Christian Maghoma- Hasn't worked out for him
Aaron Jones- May seem harsh but he's lost a bit of pace and I think there are better options out there (Oscar Rutherford at Daggers for example)
Manny Maja- Hampered by injuries and hasn't set the world alight
Kai Corbett- Needs first team football at a lower level
Ollie Bray- Same as Kai
Tariq Uwakwe- Not had a chance but assuming that's for a reason
Lachlan Byrd- Tommy doesn't fancy him clearly and was average when played
Theo Widdrington- I would personally release him. I just feel we can do better and the division he causes amongst the fans doesn't help.
Hady Ghandour- National South standard striker sadly
Olly Scott- Wouldn't be unhappy if he stayed, but again he is the type of player we should be looking to improve on

RETURNING TO PARENT CLUBS
Kwame Thomas- I'd offer him a cheap deal. Good to have a target man option, although one that scores goals would be even better.
Luca Woodhouse- Top priority for a recall IMO.
Will Armitage- Thanks for everything but wouldn't bring him back
Dan Ellision- Thanks for everything but wouldn't bring him back

Curious to hear everyone elses thoughts on this.

Not a dig at you but you name Rutherford at D&R we should be looking at players better than ones who've been relegated ,we will just end up perennial strugglers

[Silasgoldeen]

I feel we missed the boat at the end of last season, whereby just a sensible level of "speculate to accumulate" would have carried on the crest of the wave and pick up in attendances. By continuing to trim the budget you are making unexpected windfalls like cup runs and play off fixtures, or even player sales more unlikely and the spiral towards relegation and oblivion becomes harder to stop with each passing year.

Im not saying we should throw cash we dont have at the problem or jeopardise the clubs future at all, but I dont feel we gave ourselves much of a chance to back up the progress we made last season and thankfully the trophy run has at least kept a bit of the momentum going.

especially as with every passing year there are fewer part time clubs which automatically makes for more competition. I realise Tamworth did well anyway but as a rule of thumb you'd want more of our opponents to be part time all being equal. I do think that eventually there's going to be a degree of budget inflation that more and more teams are prepared to spend, so you'll either keep up or go down. There won't be room for many teams to just muddle along and hope for the best.

[Silasgoldeen]

I liken our football to 20/20 cricket if you're a defender/ bowler no matter how you play you're on a hiding to nothing

exactly so all credit to the lads who did manage to stem the flow for a bit. I assume they'll go back to their parent clubs and really thrive after this.