What should the club do in the summer?

Lion-in-exile

Lion-in-exile

Well-known member
I know I'm counting my chickens here, but as we have no game for nearly 2 weeks I thought I would ask the question.

Harris keeps us up, what does the club do in the summer? I think we have 3 options:

1, Keep Harris as manager, give him a few quid to freshen up the squad and see how we get on.

2, Get rid of Aldridge, make Harris Director of football, get in a young coach to change the way the team plays, move on most of the old guard and spend a fair few quid on a new squad.

3, Harris walks away after cementing his legendary status, we get a more experienced manager who knows the division.

I would go with option 2, thoughts?

Are there any other options you can think of?
 
Difficult one ,not knowing how much if any folding we are going to have. Would love to hang onto Tango , Esse ,De Norre ( got to play ,or I think he'll want to go elsewhere ).I'm afraid the likes of Bradshaw ( cannot fault his efforts for us ) Nisbet ,Whatmore purely for the fact that they seem to be injured a lot will I think have to be moved on. And a couple of defenders getting long in the tooth, Hutch , Coops , Murray.Forwards are needed ,again dependent on funds. We have some very promising young 'uns at the club , can they make the step up in 6 months time.

Bomber is doing a fantastic job but is he the right man to take us forward.
Big decisions to be made by the top bods.
First things first have to stay up
COYL
 
Harris is a great motivator and an excellent manager of men. But that can only take you so far. He was exactly what we needed at this time and his skills are light years away from what Joe had to offer. The latter might have been an excellent coach but we needed more than that at this time.
Harris’s appointment was principally due to finance. If you drop into L1 then I read that you only get around £300k from the EFL and TV money. If you stay in the Championship then you get £8/9m. It’s a no brainier really. My guess is that NH wanted an 18 month contract so that if we went down he would do all he could to get us back up….which is not an easy task. If we stayed up then he could walk away in June with his head held high and his legendary status intact. That is what I think he will do. We would then be in a position to attract a quality manager to take the club forward. There is much to do with the playing staff and I think a new broom would see the potential in the younger players and make an accurate assessment of the older players and decide who should go and who should stay. NH has a personal connection to many of the older players, many of which he signed so I am not sure he could be as objective as he needs to be.
I don’t hold the same view as many on here about Alex Aldridge. His major error was being part of the group that saw Joe Edwards as a positive appointment. It could have worked out and we would all be smiling but it didn’t but we acted quickly enough to make the change to Neil. Alex was the one who spotted Flem and Casper. Both players could command decent fees if we decided to sell. Flem cost us £2m and has a year to run on his contract. We could certainly get a decent fee for him if we decided to sell and would make a profit on what we paid for him. Maybe the same could apply to Casper. Who knows?
 
I've always had my reservations (even in his successful first spell with us) about Neil's tactics and adaptability and his first 4 games back did nothing to change that view BUT I was impressed by his substitutions yesterday (y) and, consequently, will reserve my judgement for the time-being!
 
It would take parachute type money to transform this current squad and with FFP in play, this is not about to happen.
 
I hate to keep labouring this point but it really is pertinent. Below is the amount each club in the division spends on wages. Money isn't everything - although it undoubtedly makes things easier - us even being in the Championship is an achievement.

1. Leicester City – £60,190,000
2. Southampton – £40,014,000
3. Leeds United – £39,513,000
4. Norwich City – £24,196,000
5. West Bromwich Albion – £23,060,000
6. Cardiff City – £19,444,000
7. Stoke City – £18,340,000
8. Watford – £14,952,000
9. Sheffield Wednesday – £14,584,000
10. Middlesbrough – £13,582,000
11. Birmingham City – £13,228,000
12. Bristol City – £12,894,000
13. Hull City – £12,333,200
14. Swansea City – £12,276,000
15. Queens Park Rangers – £12,020,000
16. Ipswich Town – £11,378,000
17. Preston North End – £10,942,200
18. Coventry City – £10,008,000
19. Millwall – £9,856,000
20. Huddersfield Town – £9,258,000
21. Sunderland – £9,150,000
22. Blackburn Rovers – £7,678,000
23. Rotherham United – £6,674,000
24. Plymouth Argyle – £6,060,000
 
I would be looking at the teams in League 1 that are in playoff contention, one of which we have Mitchell playing for, and pick up their top players if not promoted. I did like the look of the Newport centre forward who would give a physical presence
Other options would be to continue to sign players from abroad as well as picking up young players released by Premier league.
Of course we have successful youth teams at present, if these prospects are not quite ready, get them out on loan to get the experience.
 
Lion-in-exile said:
I know I'm counting my chickens here, but as we have no game for nearly 2 weeks I thought I would ask the question.

Harris keeps us up, what does the club do in the summer? I think we have 3 options:

1, Keep Harris as manager, give him a few quid to freshen up the squad and see how we get on.

2, Get rid of Aldridge, make Harris Director of football, get in a young coach to change the way the team plays, move on most of the old guard and spend a fair few quid on a new squad.

3, Harris walks away after cementing his legendary status, we get a more experienced manager who knows the division.

I would go with option 2, thoughts?

Are there any other options you can think of?
Click to expand...
/\ This.
 
Before making a decision it’s worth reflecting on Neil Harris signings as manager, for Millwall anyway.

Morison, brought back to Millwall
Jed Wallace
George Saville
Jake Cooper
Ryan Leonard
Shaun Hutchinson
Tom Bradshaw
Matt Smith
Bart
Murray Wallace
Mc Cloughlin
Some good loans as well, Molumby, Marshall, Tim Cahill , Nadjim Abdou and numerous more that played a positive part for MFC. There have been a few wage thieves as well I know.
Option 1 for me in the hope we can recruit several new players by Harris in the close season. Going to be a crucial summer as many expect to be moved on.
 
bazzwall said:
Before making a decision it’s worth reflecting on Neil Harris signings as manager, for Millwall anyway.

Morison, brought back to Millwall
Jed Wallace
George Saville
Jake Cooper
Ryan Leonard
Shaun Hutchinson
Tom Bradshaw
Matt Smith
Bart
Murray Wallace
Mc Cloughlin
Some good loans as well, Molumby, Marshall, Tim Cahill , Nadjim Abdou and numerous more that played a positive part for MFC. There have been a few wage thieves as well I know.
Option 1 for me in the hope we can recruit several new players by Harris in the close season. Going to be a crucial summer as many expect to be moved on.
Click to expand...
Isn't it Aldridge who (sort of) scouts players and the manager(s) have to shoe horn them in?.
 
Harris in my opinion, will have learned a lot in his spells away from the club. Would have looked at what he did wrong, and what he did right.

He knows the identity of the club and the importance of it.
He got some great players in, as stated above, and knows about big cup games and how to get a promotion.

Who's to say that he couldn't go one better and achieve a top six spot ???
 
People forget NH walked away from us costing the club zero with 18 months to run. I would add another option to the list, Harris becomes Manager/ Director of football but he brings in a new coach and Livermore departs as should Barrett. I would like to see a new young coach as his assistant, with the likes of Robbo. Becoming a defensive coach and Morison attacking coach.

Key is also securing the services of Tanganga, extending Flemming but most important building a team around De Norre.
The spine of the team is crucial Sarkic. Tanganga De Norre Flemming and possibly Obafemi.

Great servants to club need to be moved on, Bradshaw, Wallace, Hutchinson, Cooper, Bart, Harding and Saville. Leonard I would give a one year contract and possibly Saville.

Tied in are Watmore, Mitchell, McNamara, Bryan Honeyman, Emaku, Sarkic, and Esse.
 
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