What if?

[midfieldgeneral]

lads you getting very boring on this website recently, so i have decided to give you something to talkj about.

If we go down what players do you think should be allowed leave and what players should be given a run in the first team.

Personally i would let mcdonnell, jennings, finn and gallen go and try and hang on to everyone else and add a few more young faces.

that would mean building the team around mcnally, sullivan cawley, john and rob martin and bringing through the likes of whealen mcwalther gallagher gaffney savage burke donnelly and leech.

i still believe we won't go down but sure it gives us something to talk about. what do you reckon

[Schumi]

I think players leaving would have more to do with them wanting to go rather than UCD wanting to get rid of them.

If we were to release players, Tony McDonnell would be one of the last on my list! He is a very influential member of the squad and we have to have some experienced players around. Himself, Rob McAuley and Alan Mahon are the only players who have been at the club since I started supporting the team and that's only 3½ years. I agree that the likes of McNally, Sullivan, Cawley, Whelan, Gallagher and Leech are likely to be very important players in the next few seasons (if we can hold on to them) but I'd be very slow to dispense with guys who've been here for a while and are unlikely to jump ship.

I see no real point in getting rid of Jennings, he's no Barry Andrews and IMO gets a lot more stick than he deserves. It's his first real season in the league and I remember Bazza being more unreliable a few seasons back. He's only conceded 4 goals in the last 8 games too so it's not like he's costing us games.

Sean Finn is someone who seems to have a lot of potential but has only shown it in patches. I don't think he's scored outside of the hat-trick against the Drogs last season (although I'm not sure about that). Having said that, he was played in attack when I don't think he's all that suited to the task of holding the ball up. When he gets back from his current injury, he deserves a decent run in the team and judging him before that would be hasty I think.

Gallen hasn't done much in the time he's been here and if we had everyone fit, I don't think he'd be starting regularly. What we need up front is Robbie Martin or Mark Rooney with someone who can hold the ball up for them. The only player we have who could this that I can think of is Griffin who I haven't been too impressed with recently.

The only players who I don't think are really up to it at the moment are Gallen and maybe Griffin (only maybe really because of a lack of an alternative). If some of the under 21s prove to be a serious improvement over what we have, there may be an argument for releasing some of the current first team but at the moment, it would leave big holes in the team.

[pineapple stu]

Originally posted by midfieldgeneral
If we go down what players do you think should be allowed leave and what players should be given a run in the first team.

You also have to consider who'd leave us, don't forget! However, I'll assume that no-one'll leave and that no-one decent enough will come in!

In nets, Pat Jennings has been looking very good since Pete Mahon took over - he's only conceded six goals in the last nine games, with five clean sheets and, more importantly, has looked much safer generally than the start of the season. Neil Gallagher has looked promising in the reserves, so we should keep him too. I reckon though that if he keeps up his form of late (and Jennings was brought in three years ago to replace Bazza), then PJ will be around for a few more years yet.

Defence...Definitely keep Tony Mac. He's the only player trusted enough to be on a two-year contract with us and is College through and through. He's guaranteed to be our manager within ten years and is a huge presence in centre-back or centre-mid. Robbie Mac, in my opinion, has been onthing short of sensational this season, with Allie Mac beginning to do fairly well lately too. In fact, there's a lot of players who seem to be doing a lot better since Mahon came in! Hughie Dave, if he learns how to take the ball down instead of hoof it every time, should stay, although as a winger instead of a full-back. Pat Sullivan has huge potential, although again maybe more as a winger. Alan Mahon has always been solid and would enable either of the previous two to push on into a winger position. As for the newcomers, I've been impressed in recent games with Niall Donnelly. He's a complete and utter donkey, but he's getting visibly better and has a very good cross. Maybe the new Clive Delaney in a couple of years? Ben Savage I haven't seen at all, although he hasn't really stood out for the reserves.

Midfield...if we go down, I'd say Cawley will be the first to leave. Which would be a shame 'cos he's our best player (when he wants to be!). Johnny Martin has been brilliant in recent games, while Micko's a very good player to have as he rarely gives the ball away and is a very level head - just what you want when the First Division "players" are kicking your shins to bits! Gaffney was very promising on his one appearance so far; Darragh Ryan has been playing full-back when I think he's better on the wing - haven't seen much of him there lately so can't really say much, but maybe he might be one to move on?? Robbie Griffin has been in mid also the last few games, and was brilliant in Cork, so could be worth keeping as an experienced head.

Up front...We've so much depth here now it's unreal! Shame they're always injured!!!! Robbie Martin obviously will be key for the rest of this season and beyond, hopefully. Rooney shouldn't be playing this season - too soon - but he has pace and potential to be a problem in a couple of years. Finn I'd be interested to see under Pete Mahon. He's only four goals - hat-trick v. Drogheda and free-kick v. Shels, but I reckon he could really do well under Mahon, given how some players have improved. Then there's McWalter, who impressed in Longford on one of his few outings; Leech, who's scoring regularly for the reserves, Purcell, Colfer, Burke......

Anyway, my team for next season:

Jennings
Mahon
McDonnell
McAuley
Sullivan
J Martin
McDonnell (C)
Gaffney
Cawley
R Martin
Finn


And then a reserve 11 -

Gallagher
Davey
AN Other (can't think
AN Other of anyone!!)
Donnelly
O'Donnell
Griffin
Whelan
D Ryan
Leech
McWalter

Subs for the first team would be Gallagher, Davey, O'Donnell, Griffin and Leech.

Anybody outside the second team would appear to be surplus to (immediate) requirements - that's be the likes of Colfer, Purcell, Burke, Savage, Rooney and a couple of others.

If we go down (and that's an if still as we have Waterford away and Drogheda, Derry and Longford at home in our run-in), we could afford to lose the likes of Cawley, Davey, maybe even Robbie Martin and still be very close to winning the First. And there's enough of youngsters knocking around who'd've developed into very good players in a couple of years. The future's bright?!

That enough talk for you, midfieldgeneral?!

[Aberdonian Stu]

If we go down I reckon Cawley will probably go, although he might only consider moving to one of the big three and if they don't come in for him he might give it a bash for one season in the first division.

[UCD_4_Life]

Cawley's contract expires at the end of the season doesn't it? I hope we can sign him up again and sell him off a few months later. I reckon he's worth at least €20,000.

The only player that I would possibly release is Daz Ryan.

The future's bright?!

The future's orange (sorry, couldn't resist).

Anyway, until we become something other than "the College club" the future will never be particularly bright. As long as every decent player we bring through leaves on a free transfer I don't see how we can ever hope to build a squad capable of sustaining, say, a top five finish two years running. I don't really mind so much that we're a "selling club", I do mind that we're letting go valuable players for nothing.

The First Division will be a breath of fresh air, I think. It'll give the players a break from what must've been two very draining relegation battles.

[pineapple stu]

Originally posted by UCD_4_Life
Cawley's contract expires at the end of the season doesn't it?

Everybody's contract expires at the end of the season. The club do this so that if we do go down in any given season, we can immediately renegotiate all players' wages to First Division levels to give us the best possible chance of coming straight back up again. With the way the transfer market is these days (i.e. Bosman frees, and an automatic cut for under-23s???), that's by far the best way to organise it.

The point about the College club is valid, although I do think things have been getting better in the last few years. Look at the likes of Tony Mac, Johnny Martin, Micko, Al Mahon, Robbie Mac and a few others - all of whom have been at the club for five or six years now. The last player to break into the top 10 appearances for UCD was Tony McDonnell at the start of last season. By the end of this one, Robbie Mac will be there, and Micko, Johnny Martin and Alan Mahon will be very close. That's a sign that we're holding onto players for much longer than we used to.

I think Pete Mahon will be a huge factor on who stays if we go down. If Doolo were still around, people might be tempted to just leave, but with Mahon there, there's the sense of the new dawn and all that stuff, so players might want to stay playing for him a while longer. Maybe even Cawley! He's gotten the best out almost every player so far and hopefully can pursuade most of them to stay on. And when he starts level with everyone else and morale a bit higher, he could build a very decent team!

[Aberdonian Stu]

I'm pretty certain that the cut for Under 23s only comes into play if the player has been with the club for two years.

[pineapple stu]

Originally posted by Aberdonian Stu
I'm pretty certain that the cut for Under 23s only comes into play if the player has been with the club for two years.

Covers most of our players then. Only Cawley and Davey would get away for free, or the older players. Which would imply that the board's practice is correct.

[pineapple stu]

And after wanting a bit of chat, midfieldgeneral is now suspended!!! Just like the real team...