May Massacre

http://www.red-passion.com/news08/news0605c.htm

I just hope Little knows what he's doing. Tearing up the squad is the right way to go, and to be fair most of the released players can have few complaints. But Neil Roberts? Danny Williams? Phil Bolland?

Little says some of the released players might be asked to come back if they don't fix somethig up elsewhere, but he doesn't want to tie us down to waiting for players to repsond to contract offers. To be fair, this might be very clever; the result of years of experience of playing the close season game. Or it might be the misjudgement of a man who hasn't done this for a couple of years and is trying to adapt to the new environment when it comes to handling out of contract players. Personally I'd rather be held to ransom for a couple of weeks by the players who will get us back into the Football League if it meant signing them. Mind you, Neil Roberts went on record saying he wanted to stay, so having shown his hand I suggest his contract negotiation might not have been too tricky.

And what of the likes of Tremarco and Done? They've been offered contracts, though both are frankly not likely to stay. So aren't we in the sort of limbo described by Little as we wait for them? Where's the difference? I'd be delighted to see us sign those two, and must stress I have no problem with how they've handled themselves; Tremarco has been particularly transparent, and should be applauded for that. It's just I don't know where I stand with Little, and I suspect plenty of players don't either.

The way I look at our drop down into non league is simple. As long as we don't collapse off the pitch we'll be back. We have to be if you look at it logically-our crowds should make us a financial powerhouse at non-league level. The only question is how long it will take. Once we are well managed on the pitch we'll be in a position to bounce back; the success of Little's gamble will determine how long we'll be in the wilderness.