Current Squad (updated squad list for 22/23)

[Keith]

I'd love us to loan the two Burnley lads again, Phillips assists for Cole were real class !

I'm not too fussed about Phillips. Eight assists & six goals isn't great, especially for a player who took penalties, corners & free-kicks. Far too many set pieces were wasted, mainly by being over-hit. If Derek thinks he can improve him, and brings him back, then obviously, I'll be 100% behind him, but I think he's more League Two standard.

Bedeau I'd definitely have back! He was excellent.

[Freez]

I agree that Phillips can and did frustrate, but his stats re appearances were significant as he provided more goals and assists from midfield than anyone else. We do need someone, in dreamland we all hope we land Graeme Carey as he was a such a player under DA at Plymouth, however, if we don’t perhaps someone like that is needed! Not saying Adam, but we need some flair.

[SEASIDECLARET]

It looks as if Carey is going to St Johnston however,the American Ian Harkes who was reported north off the border to be of interest to ourselves hasn’t signed a new contract at Dundee United and the club had to retract the statement that said he had!! Maybe still a chance for us to sign our first American international

[Gone_Shrimping]

Arthur Gnahoua possibly signing for MOTHERWELL

Confirmed. He has completed the signing according to Twitter.

We move on and get a replacement hopefully.

Nothing about Arthur signing for Motherwell on the Motherwell OWS or their Twitter. It could be that if they don't announce him until 1st July then we (Morecambe) have to pay him his June salary. Maybe Seaside Claret could confirm that that is what happens.

What a pity that Judas didn't offer Arthur a 2 year contract instead of Wes McDonald !

[redrobo]

Have to say that to date I'm not that impressed with our signings so far but plenty of time to bring in much needed quality. Mid field creative general is a must for me to replace Aaron and possibly Arthur....

Still waiting for news about Cole which is worrying.

Also rumours concerning Port Vale signing seem to have died.

Maybe it's the financial resources that we are lacking to secure players OR is it that the players we are after can't be announced until their current contracts don't expire until 30 June....

[redrobo]

This must surely have been one of the quietest pre seasons on record for news / rumours of new signings.

Hopefully it's due to players contracts not ending until tonight but this quietness seems to be a thread running throughout the leagues at the moment.

Money is tight with huge increases in away transport costs on the horizon alone so this could have an effect on budgets meaning that those players holding out for more money could find themselves without a contract for the coming season.

Hopefully we will have some positive news from our club in the coming hours / days about new players to fill the void left following the departure of Aaron and Ayunga...and potentially O'Connor...

[Redalert1970]

Bit harsh Neil saying your not that impressed with the 5 new signings

Have you seen any of them play ???

[vvm]

Is that how it has gone in previous seasons? Things get announced after the 30th June deadline? Wasn't aware it made much of a difference if a player is going to be out of contract, can they not just be announced with their new club as soon as they sort it?

[redrobo]

Bit harsh Neil saying your not that impressed with the 5 new signings

Have you seen any of them play ???

Just my thoughts on signings to date, but others will disagree which I perfectly understand.

[redrobo]

Is that how it has gone in previous seasons? Things get announced after the 30th June deadline? Wasn't aware it made much of a difference if a player is going to be out of contract, can they not just be announced with their new club as soon as they sort it?

No doubt someone will correct me but if a player is contracted to a club until the end of June that club is still responsible for his wages even though he has been informed that he will not be retained.

However if a player joins a new club prior to the end of June and signs a contract then his new club have to assume payment of his salary from the date of his signature on the new club contract.

[RedRedWine]

I tend to agree with Neil - whilst welcome additions, I've not been blown over by any of the signings to date to be honest.... and if we don't get a few more through the door I'd be a bit worried about our chances of having a successful season.

However, I assume/hope that there will be some activity in the next few days - we will need a few more bodies through (and out) the door that will improve the overall squad. My thinking is the lads we've announced so far are players that were out of contract, but not offered new deals at their previous clubs - hence were free/able to negotiate new deals elsewhere... in fact it is prudent that they do so!

For players that had been offered contracts at the end of their current deals, those offers (and their old contracts) expire tonight; at which point they will likely announce their next move - if this is not already public knowledge. You obviously have anomalies to this theory, such as Wildig! Might be me clutching at straws though.

Interesting to see who gets a run out on Tuesday at Bower Fold for our first pre-season outing. Apparently Arthur Gnahoua is still at the club for now at least - despite rumours from unverified twitter sources linking him to Motherwell.

[vvm]

As per Salford's retained list, Donald Love was offered a new contract. Melbourne, Rawson and Ripley all released.

[CityShrimp]

I’m also a bit underwhelmed by the signings so far.

Last season I feel we didn’t recruit enough players with league one experience - we mostly took punts on players from league 2 and the Scottish leagues, and many of the players signed weren’t up to scratch in the end.

We’ve brought in a couple with some league one experience but I hope we sign more who have that pedigree at league one level.

I’m not expecting us to go out and sign top players from other teams in this division but there must be plenty of players who were at the fringes of other league one sides last season, who were released because they weren’t quite good enough for a top L1 side/are getting on a bit, but could do a job for us and help us with their experience?

A few signings like that, supplemented by a few loanees and then a couple of punts on some young players and we could have a half decent squad?

But then I’m sure Derek knows how to put a side together better than me…

[Keith]

Last season I feel we didn’t recruit enough players with league one experience - we mostly took punts on players from league 2 and the Scottish leagues, and many of the players signed weren’t up to scratch in the end.

To be fair to Robinson by the time he was appointed, the pool of available players was probably diminished. Players over the age of 24 could sign pre-contract agreements from January, and no doubt agents would have moves lined up by the start of June.

[RapidShrimp]

Last season I feel we didn’t recruit enough players with league one experience - we mostly took punts on players from league 2 and the Scottish leagues, and many of the players signed weren’t up to scratch in the end.

To be fair to Robinson by the time he was appointed, the pool of available players was probably diminished. Players over the age of 24 could sign pre-contract agreements from January, and no doubt agents would have moves lined up by the start of June.

Pre-contracts are a slightly weird one, I only found out about this a few months ago but they don’t apply domestically until a month before the contract expires.

Here’s a nice article on it:
“ Any player looking to move from one English team to another as a free agent can only open talks after entering the final month of their previous contract – with that effectively delaying discussions until any given season has come to a close.

That is because domestic transfers are regulated by individual football associations, rather than world governing body FIFA.

The FA in England is eager to ensure that there is no conflict of interest between clubs working under its remit, with mid-season, inter-competition free agent agreements banned as a result.”

[RapidShrimp]

Ripley joins for a year, Arthur extends for a year! Still a long way to go.

Squad number / Player name / Main position / Other positions / Age / Height / strong foot / Transfer listed?

12, A. Da Silva Mendes / GK / 19 / 6'1" / right
??, C. Ripley / GK / 29 / 6’3” / right
41, A. Smith / GK / 29 / 6’3” / right

22, L. Gibson / LB / CB / 25 / 6'1" / left
??, M. Melbourne / LB / CB / 23 / 5’11” / left
26, C. Pye / LB / RB / 18 / 5’7” / left / LISTED

4, A. O'Connor / CB / RB,DM / 29 / 6'0" / right / LISTED
15, R. Delaney / CB / LB / 25 / 6’4" / left / LISTED
??, F. Rawson / CB / 25 / 6’4” / right

2, R. McLaughlin / RB / LB / 27 / 5’10” / right / LISTED
21, R. Cooney / RB / LB,RW / 22 / 5'10" / right / LISTED
??, D. Love / RB / LB,DM,RW / 27 / 5’10” / right

19, S. McLoughlin / CM / AM,DM,RM,RB / 25 / 5’8” / right / LISTED
27, O. Fané / DM / CB / 28 / 6’3” / right
??, C. Watts (loan) / CM / AM,RW,LW / 20 / 5’7” / right

7, W. McDonald / LW / RW,AM / 25 / 5'9" / right / LISTED
11, D. Connolly / RW / LW,AM / 27 / 5’8” / right
24, A. Gnahoua / LW / AM,RW,ST / 29 / 5’11” / left

9, C. Stockton / ST / 28 / 6'1" / right
14, J. Obika / LW / 31 / 6’0” / right / LISTED
28, C. Duffus / ST / LW,RW / 26 / 6’2” / right / LISTED

[Redalert1970]

So with the transfer listed players we have a current squad of 21 players

[Keith]

Pre-contracts are a slightly weird one, I only found out about this a few months ago but they don’t apply domestically until a month before the contract expires.

Here’s a nice article on it:
“ Any player looking to move from one English team to another as a free agent can only open talks after entering the final month of their previous contract – with that effectively delaying discussions until any given season has come to a close.

I didn't know that, thanks for the correction. Has it [relatively] recently changed? It's a good reason for not allowing it from January, but I'm sure it used to be that way?

[redrobo]

Am seriously worried about our lack of creativity in midfield in the squad as it stands at the moment.

Just hope that we are in discussions with either a loan player of someone with experience as a creative midfielder. For me we haven't replaced Aaron and too much to expect the new midfield loanee to be that creative spark over the entire season.

[lancaster shrimp]

Starting to worry now about our lack of signings. Especially with our first pre season game tomorrow. No indication of anything imminent

[vvm]

Hopefully we might see 1 or 2 trialists at the game tomorrow. I'm sure we'll have things in the pipeline.

[RapidShrimp]

Training videos today on social media showed no news faces and just 15 outfielders (no O’Connor or Courtney).

Starting to get very worried. Much worse position than last season. Only known quantity is Cole and he had a really poor patch of form after Christmas. No guarantee that he even gets up to 15 goals this season. No spine in the team after losing Aaron who was instrumental to our survival as the captain. Still got 9 unwanted players on our books. Kit announcement seems to be tonight but we’ve got a friendly tomorrow. Add to this that the Bartercard roof still isn’t up by all accounts.

[Keith]

The name "A. Trialist" five or six times on the team sheet tomorrow would help!

[Gone_Shrimping]

Training videos today on social media showed no news faces and just 15 outfielders (no O’Connor or Courtney).

Starting to get very worried. Much worse position than last season. Only known quantity is Cole and he had a really poor patch of form after Christmas. No guarantee that he even gets up to 15 goals this season. No spine in the team after losing Aaron who was instrumental to our survival as the captain. Still got 9 unwanted players on our books. Kit announcement seems to be tonight but we’ve got a friendly tomorrow. Add to this that the Bartercard roof still isn’t up by all accounts.

Roof going on today !

[Born again Bill]

The name "A. Trialist" five or six times on the team sheet tomorrow would help!

What happened to B and C trialist , have they failed to make the grade