Tremarco On His Way

So Carl Tremarco has been farmed out on loan to Darlington. I'm torn over this one, to be honest.

When Sam Williamson was brought in I was rather surprised, as I felt the left back position was hardly one which required reinforcement; after all we already had Tremarco and Neil Taylor, both of whom done well for us.

However, having seen Williamson I soon got it; there might have been no urgent requirement to bring in a left back, but if you can get one as good as Williamson you don't want to let the opportunity pass. It's an argument Brian Little used when signing yet another centre back last Summer in Darran Kempson, although it didn't look like a particularly clever piece of reasoning as the season wore on.

Tremarco's a good, determined full and the fact that it's a league club which has picked him up reflects that. I was surprised when he signed for us in the Summer as I felt he was good enough to hold out for a deal with a Football League club, and I suspect he would never have got into that position if he hadn't suffered so badly with injuries over his career.

However, his last game, at Kidderminster, saw him blamed publicly by Dean Saunders for allowing too many crosses to come in from that side of the pitch, and now he appears to have paid the price for perhaps being a little too buccaneering in his approach.

Northwich Podcast

The Northwich podcast is now up at www.wrexhamfan.co.uk featuring Terry Darracott and Patrick Suffo, plus an interesting interjection from Jeff Louis!

New Dragon Talk Podcast

There's a new Dragon Talk podcast up at http://www.wrexhamfan.co.uk/ featuring Northwich Victoria's plight and a look at Workington's form. They sound worryingly good!

Never Mind The Bollands

Phil Bolland's return to The Racecourse was anticipated by many of us with a great deal of curiosity, but like many things you look forward to, it didn't turn out as one might have expected.

Bolland was a steady presence in Brian Little's doomed side last season; indeed, he was one of the few players Little signed who could be judged a success. Thus Little's decision to release him was something of a mystery to many, although with hindsight it made sense as Little's decision-making was hardly the most reliable!

His performance at The Racecourse last Thursday raised a few eyebrows. His angry reaction to Andy Fleming's high tackle is open to interpretation-I wouldn't be too bothered if one of our players reacted like that to a poor challenge, but he went in with his studs showing too. The ref probably got it about right in showing them both the yellow card.

His forearm smash on Marc Williams was a totally different matter, a nasty attack on a player when the referee's back was turned which, if it had been spotted, would have been an easy decision. If only this was the Premiership, where the TV evidence would have brought him the retrospective he deserved. At least he was punished when his moment of clumsiness teed Jeff Louis up for our second goal.

He played like a man with a chip on his shoulder, and perhaps that's explained by the fact that apparently he has been telling people at Cambridge that he wanted desperately to stay at The Racecourse but couldn't because of his serious differences with Brian Carey. Well, judging by what we saw on Thursday he's welcome to feel that way; Westwood and Williams look like more than adequate replacements!

Is this one of the triallists?

There's a cryptic comment on the bottom of the TNS match report, which saw us field a raft of triallists, about one of the triallists being a German who'd been at Red Bull New York and Arminia Bielefeld.

Well, trawling through the internet initally turned nothing up, but then I found some stuff on a guy called Sahr Senesie. A German website (I knew doing that O Level would come in handy one day!) said he had a trial in New York, and Bielefeld were interested in him. He never signed for wither, but his pedigree is good-quite apart from playing for Borussia Dortmund he scored at The Racecourse three years ago for the German Under-21 side, playing alongside the likes of Michael Rensing, Moritz Bolz, Marcell Jansen and Patrick Helmes, and played in the Under-20 World Cup.

He sounds a bit rich for our blood, but had a trial at Nottingham Forest at the start of the season, so maybe there's something to it!

Admittedly the thing about him having a father from Merseyside seems to blow it out of the water, as it seems to contradict his wikipedia entry, and who would dare question wikipedia's veracity? My gut feeling is I'm day-dreaming, but everyone else enjoys some daft transfer speculation, so stuff it; I'm going for it!

Torquay Podcast

The Supporters Association podcast's now up at www.wrexhamfan.co.uk. No interviews, I'm afraid, as I couldn't get to Torquay after work and therefore had to do the commentary off the TV in my front room!

Are We A Smith Light?

So did we miss out on a bargain in Adam Smith?

He arrived on trial, virtually out of nowhere according to Brian Little, alongside Christian Smith in pre-season, and frankly didn't make all that much of an impression. He did little to suggest he'd earn a contract in the friendly I saw him play in, his performance being rather inispid and anonymous.

That didn't mean he wouldn't get a contract though, as Little seemed to offer rather too high a ratio of triallists a contract for my liking-I feel there's a lot to be said about the Tom Taylor fiasco which hasn't come out yet for example, but that's just the most glaring example. However, he decided Smith was not for him, although he did haul his namesake in.

With hindsight it looks like Martin Foyle might have been the prime mover behind Adam Smith's trial, as he was a virtually immediate signing once Foyle was bizarrely appointed as boss at York City. And he has been delivering. He has a couple of goals to his credit already and they were good ones too.

I suspect he won't turn out to be someone who we look at with a certain regret. Having said that, football's hardly the most predicatable thing in the world is it? Perhaps we passed up a gem.

What's Going On Wes?

So what's going on with Wes Baynes then? He's managed, in the space of one day, to promise to knuckle down and fight for his place, hand in a transfer request and apparently offend Dean Saunders!

It's an odd story, and hard to work out just what's going on. In The Leader Baynes says he's going to get his head down and work for his place, although he's the man in possession as he played in our last game, against Woking.

Yet by the time of his transfer request he's complaining he should be given a chance in the team. Let's trace back his recent appearances then; he was a regular under Saunders until the win at Stevenage, when he had a poor game and was subbed at half time. That was Saunders' seventh league game in charge, and Baynes featured in every one of them. He was then injured and returned for the Woking game, which as far as I can work out was the first one he was available for once he was fit again.

So why is he frustrated at not getting a chance? Has someone expressed an interest in him? Is his agent agitating for a move?

If it's the latter he's being poorly advised, I'd suggest. Looking round the Conference I don't see too many better young talents than him, and he has a chance to gain valuable experience at the heart of a side pushing for promotion, under a coach who appears to place a lot of importance in what happens on the training ground, and who has excellent facilities at Colliers Park at his disposal.

Saunders' comments are consistent with how the situation appears from the outside. He knows ability when he sees it, and has not only consistently picked Baynes but has made the most of his delivery from set pieces. We look more organised from dead ball plays than we have done for a long time and Saunders isn't stupid; he recognises the crucial role Baynes plays in that.

I hope this gets sorted out the right way, although Saunders' comments in The Post don't necessarily sound promising. Baynes is only just twenty, and the club's the right place for him to develop. I remember Neil Wainwright making a fine initial impression, being badly advised and leaving too soon, only to go backwards on the fringes of Sunderland Reserves when he should have been developing in the first team at The Racecourse.

From a selfish point of view it would clearly be for the best for us if he stayed, and most importantly of all, he's my lad's favourite player and we bought him an away shirt with his name on it for Christmas. If he leaves I'm billing him for the replacement; if I get Williams on the back of that one we should be pretty safe-we've got dozens of them!

The Soap Opera Ends

So Clough has finally gone to Derby. That's a relief; for now! If Saunders continues to succeed, teams will continue to be interested in him, but I'm happy to pay that price and live with the anxiety if we continue to be on the up!

Say It Ain't So, Deano!!!!

And little did I know, as I was wittering away a couple of hours ago, that I have more of a vested interested in Clough getting the Derby job than I realised!

Dean Saunders on a four man shortlist for the Derby job? Dear God, what did we ever do to them? After they vetoed the Robbie Savage deal, they're going for the kill!

The article isn't totally clear. That's what it says, but it also says Geoff Moss is confident Saunders is going nowhere-so how could he be on a shortlist? I think-or perhaps hope-the use of the word shortlist is sloppy journalism.

It looks to me like Derby want Clough, odds on favourite according to my last fab blog posting remember, and have other names in reserve should they fail to get him. Mind you, it sounds like Clough's pretty happy where he is, and Darren Ferguson is in charge of a wealthy club that is on the up.

I wonder what Nottingham Forest's courtship of Clough did to him last week. He must have come given it serious thought, as he was clearly close to getting the gig, so did it make him realise it was now time to move on, or did he return to Burton knowing he had a job to do there?

I hope Moss is right, as the loss of Saunders would be absolutely catastrophic. I don't want to think about Saturday's game being 1 A.D. (After Dean). The upheaval of yet another managerial change, not to mention the impact on the players, would surely end any hopes of promotion, not to mention probably saddle us with yet another squad reshaping which hardly helps stability. I don't mind Saunders doing what he sees as necessary this wondow, then retooling the squad for League Two in the Summer; I don't welcome a new man coming in and hoping for the best.

Or Maybe Not...

Clough is now a hot tip for the Derby job, although The Independent suggest he won't take it if offered. However, having taken stock I think I should ditch my obsession with the bloke and his side's possible collapse. They're so far ahead of everyone else that a more realistic attitude to strike is to give up on the title, I suspect, and focus on the play-offs. If Burton implode then I might revise that, but with no sign that this will happen, I'll be adjusting my stance and rooting for them to beat Torquay tomorrow night.

Drat!

So Clough didn't get the Forest job! Ah well, maybe Bournemouth'll tempt him!