Grant Leadbitter won't be at the club next season. Carlos Edwards might not be either.

Bold statements perhaps, but in the case of Leadbitter I see no reason to keep him at the club. Dropped as captain, a high earner, and something of a jack of all trades midfielder, he's never quite done it for us despite tidy performances and the odd glimpse of promise.

Don't get me wrong, whoever signs him on a free will have themselves a good footballer, and it seems a shame to lose a player we spent £2.65 million on for free, but with the apparent tightening of our wage budget then this seems somewhat necessary.

Besides, we're hardly lacking in central midfielders are we?

The loss of Edwards is a little more worrying. The current captain of an improving team, our right back for the past year, an ageing yet fit and experienced player who wants a new contract - and yet we still haven't given him one? Hmmm.

The situation is a little different to last year's, in that the club seem relatively willing to let these two go, whereas we made (albeit somewhat feeble) attempts to keep Gareth McAuley and David Norris at Portman Road. Oh, how I wish we'd just given both men what they'd wanted.

McAuley would have been superb alongside Danny Collins, whilst Norris's energy has been missing from the midfield all season.

But they're gone now and there's no point looking back - we can, however, look forward.

Leadbitter leaves, Luke Hyam and Andy Drury have shown themselves to be perfectly adequate replacements. Hyam more energetic and sharper in the tackle, Drury with more class on the ball. Lee Bowyer and Jimmy Bullard wait in the wings, their age and wages meaning we've almost no chance of offloading either of them, whilst new boy Ryan Stevenson hasn't even been given a chance to show what he can do yet.

But if Edwards leaves? It's yet more turmoil in our back four. We'll have to sign another right-back, to go with the pair of centre-backs we need this summer. It's going to be yet another summer where revolution is the name of our transfer game, rather than evolution.

We may be playing well at the moment, but I still don't trust this current Town side. Indeed, when we'd won our four on the trot, I still believed us capable of losing the next four - we've started by shipping three at Brighton.

I'm still angry about Paul Jewell's transfer policy last summer. The fact he continues to try and pull the wool over our eyes by saying that 'it's a two-year plan, at least' is utterly ludicrous. Why did you sign Lee Bowyer and Sonko then? One's a 34-year-old, one's injury prone. Why only sign a loan keeper? With a 24 hour recall? Why buy Nathan Ellington, who had done nothing for Preston and has lost all semblance of pace? Why pack the side which has a two-year plan with so many loanees?

A two-year plan doesn't mean you sign a whole new side, the vast majority of which are slightly over the hill. It means you sign four, maybe five Aaron Cresswells, JETs and the like. Perhaps one experienced player to help them along.

You analyse the areas of the side that need strengthening. We had one good centre-back last season and the club let him walk away on a free. So you sign two of them. We signed one permanently, on a free, weeks after the transfer window had closed, presumably because Jewell wasn't 100% sure about him anyway.

So, where are we? What do we need this summer? Firstly, I wouldn't sign Daryl Murphy, even if he was free. His wages can't be small and he's getting on in years. The two-year plan starts now, this season a write off. So put your faith in Josh Carson on the left flank, JET the other, with Lee Martin behind Chops.

Keep Jason Scotland, even if that seems counter-intuitive to the above. Yes, he earns a lot, but finding a replacement may be tough and he can do a job from the bench and hold the ball up well for the three young, whipper snappers behind him to run onto.

Bring Ronan Murray back and trust him. Give him a decent go next season. Drive Nathan Ellington as far away as we can. I'll do it if no one else will.

If possible, lose one of Bullard or Bowyer and continue to trust Luke Hyam and Andy Drury. Yes, Drury is a lot older than Hyam, but he too is new to Championship football and in my eyes, is only going to get better. Let's see what Ryan Stevenson can do too. Don't forget about Byron Lawrence either.

Now, however, we come to the most crucial part of this summer's rebuilding process.

Jewell's attempts to sign Jason Pearce must be applauded, and despite Michael Appleton's protestations to the contrary, I'm sure Pearce would like the opportunity to increase his wages substantially and come a play for a secure side in Suffolk. So, if the club think he's good enough, which they obviously do, go all out for him.

We then need another centre-back, and that is absolutely crucial this summer. We need a defence, badly.

Keep Carlos Edwards and buy a good, solid and crucially, experienced goalkeeper.

Then we go from there. A young squad, which would, I think, have the backing of the Portman Road faithful, built on a strong defence, an energetic and classy midfield, with an exciting and mobile attack.

The two-year plans starts again and it starts now.

Coastalblue added 17:03 - Mar 1 That side woud be close to going down in my opinion
0

Solly added 17:11 - Mar 1 That side? The same side that we have now, except with two new, hopefully decent centre backs, is going to go down? Erm...
0

Ipswich24 added 17:14 - Mar 1 Good blog and agree with getting rid of Leadboots just disappointed we paid all that money for him to let him go for free! Also to go should be Bowyer, Ellington, Delaney, Wright, Peters, Kennedy and McCarthy will go back. We need to sign Pearce and a right sided centre half, I would also like to see Adam Smith or Matt Lowton brought in for competion for Edwards at right back. As for the keeper I would suggest Gordon from Sunderland providing he is over his injury, If not Speroni from Palace. We need a tight knit squad of around 20 players with a few youngsters on the fringes. Team for next season. Speroni/ Gordon Edwards/Lowton New centre back Pearce Cresswell Hyam Drury Jet Martin Carson Chopra

0

Reus30 added 17:17 - Mar 1 Without the experience I would imagine we would be sitting in last place. Balance is required. No point playing loads of kids. Grab another 2 young players in the next window and maybe a top quality player and we will improve. I think Paul has done OK trasnfer wise. Also, I imagine Pearce is earning 15k at Pompey. I wouldn't want to pay more than that
0

Vic added 20:16 - Mar 1 Unnecessarily critical blog. Who's to say macca would hsave been 'superb alongside Danny Collins'? and has Norris's energy been missing all season? True is appears that the previous midfieldwas a bit sluggish - but not for want of Norris. he had his turn and we really weren't much better with him in the team were we! What we missed easrlier was energy, not Norris necessarily. I think we all accept Leadboots will go or he'd have signed a contract by now. The only way he'll stay is if he signs aconsiderably less lucrative contract. Murphy has done well when he's played - not set the world alight, but good and steady. If he'd accept the terms we offer I'd be happy to have him permanantly. Likewise Bowyer - he was very steady earlier, even if he's lost some of his pace. A very good back up to Hyam, et al. Bullard - well in my books if he gets his act together he's worth having for another year at least because he brings something different to the team. What we need is 1 decent permanant GK - Sullivan for Rangers would do nicely, and a couple of CB's.

0

Vexorg added 21:11 - Mar 1 Someone's being playing too much Football Manager. Suggest you get your CV and covering blog in the next time there's a managerial vacancy somewhere
0

sonian_blue added 08:52 - Mar 2 Excellent blog Solly and pretty much agree with all your ideas. Would add a keeper to the 'need' list though. ALB is an able number two but no more than that. Solly to replace PJ.
0

DurhamTownFan added 09:07 - Mar 2 While I agrees with most of what's been said here, we've all heard and said these things before for quite some time now. Perhaps it's time to start seeing things in a more positive speculative light rather than dwelling on the bad bits. PS-we never would have signed Collins if we'd kept Macauley, because we Would have had two experienced CBS in hima Delaney, with smith as back up

0

Tractorboy24 added 18:50 - Mar 2 Think the claim of revolution is ott. With chopra upfront I think we should bring in a young striker to replace Scotland, plus Murray. The midfield is settled, a left winger to replace murphy if he doesn't get signed, we have enough cover with Bullard and stevenson in the middle, with Lawrence and Carson as back up wingers. The defence is where a lot of changes will be required, 3 cb, 1 youngster to grow with smith, a rb with ainsley as back up, finally 2 gks, or 1 first choice with cropper as back up. This takes into account a lot of those out of contract aren't renewed, but I think this would put us in a position to either get promoted next year or build for the year after.

0

Lightningboy added 21:35 - Mar 2 Think we need around 6 new players for next season: A first choice/permanent GK - i'd try and get Devries from Wolves - good organiser & reliable. A Right Back who can defend. A centre-back to partner Sonko - Danny Collins would be ideal. A back-up centre-back..Smith's proved he's capable but we need more numbers,Delaney can go as far as i'm concerned - never been convinced by him. 2 strikers..Chopra will get better next season but we need a goalscorers to back him up/play alongside..think Scotland will be off in the summer & i'd score more goals than Ellington (truth).

0

LincsBluebelly added 11:30 - Mar 4 A sensible blog. I don't think we're that far off from being a very good Championship team (let's nail this before thinking about being a Premiership team). So, assuming that we're going to persist with the current 4-2-2-1-1 formation in to next season then I'd like to see the squad shape up something like this: GK: New signing / ALB / Cropper RB: New signing / Carlos Edwards LB: Cresswell / Wight CB (right): New signing x2 (1 young for the future & 1 experienced but not too old!) CB (left): Tommy Smith / New signing RM: JET / New signing CM (holding): Hyam / Bowyer CM (playmaker): Drury / Bullard LM: Murphy / Carson Free role: Martin / Stevenson Striker: Chopra / New signing I think we should also keep Murray and Ainsley, possibly loan them out for a season to get more match experience. Get rid of Wright, Peters, Delaney, Leadbitter, Scotland (although he may have one more season in him), Ellington, Sonko, McCarthy. So with potentially 7 new signings required, it may just take 2 more seasons until we have the squad that we need.

0

CharlieITFC added 16:57 - Mar 4 this is quite possibly the most stupid blog ive read. you are just another 'fan' who thinks they know best and that everything is possible, agree with Voxorg, you must think it is the easiest thing in the world. we would be nowhere without the experience in the squad, and, you look at our recent record, beat west ham and cardiff comfortably. in my opinion we have a very strong squad at this level and have turned a corner, jewell has finally find the right mix, albeit a bit late for this season but very promising signs for next, a few more squad players like stevenson in the summer but nothing too drastic. onwards and upwards under PJ. COYB!

0

Blogs 295 bloggers