Planning for next season

[Rob]

So it's done, painfully of course, as is the Leeds way - '87 at St Andrews was worse for what it's worth. Whatever the outcome it was a season of vast improvement. What counts now is a summer of focused planning for next season's campaign and that should have been in place already and must be enacted this morning. No more upheavals please.

So, aside from the need for an experienced keeper with his marbles fully attached, what else do we need. A replica of Lee Chapman, more quality on the left side and crucially holding onto our better players. Does our owner still want to be involved and does he have the resources.

Victor - this is your time.

Thoughts ?

[metalsmurf]

The system we play does not promote a striker like Bamford, so a n other in the Roofe mould?

[Mindo]

We need a replacement for Hernandez, a left winger, a mobile number 9, probably another left back as Douglas was very disappointing this year, a centre half to replace Pontus as I think he'll go in the summer

[Ponte]

We will need to replace Phillips.

[AndyPaul]

Keep Bielsa
2 new strikers as Roofe will leave and Bamford is no good
2 new keepers
A new Hernandez
2 new centre backs

Easy

[eric olthwaite]

I expect Bielsa to leave.

I think the process will be that he’ll say, ‘If you want me to improve on this season I need to buy X and I need to keep Y’. And Radz will say ‘I can’t fund that’ or ‘You can have X or Y but not both’. And Bielsa will do his ‘not honouring our agreement’ thing and walk.

As above, the trigger most likely to be the sale of KP.

[Ballgirl]

Keep Bielsa
2 new strikers as Roofe will leave and Bamford is no good
2 new keepers
A new Hernandez
2 new centre backs

Easy

This - my feeling it is far from a done deal - and if he doesn’t stay we have no chance

[Andymac-47]

Bielsa will stay imo, if Radz backs him. I think Pontus and KP will be sold off to finance possible signings. I don't want to kick Bamford but few have said he doesn't suit the style of play to which I agree. Roofe will be a good backup to a decent striker. I am looking forward to seeing a few more kids being brought through. Pablo is a worry, can't be too many good games in him, but I love the guy.

[welshwhite]

Bielsa stays.
We get an owner that yesterdays fans deserve.

Simple.

[jackos]

Bielsa will stay imo, if Radz backs him. I think Pontus and KP will be sold off to finance possible signings. I don't want to kick Bamford but few have said he doesn't suit the style of play to which I agree. Roofe will be a good backup to a decent striker. I am looking forward to seeing a few more kids being brought through. Pablo is a worry, can't be too many good games in him, but I love the guy.

Agree with all of this. I expect any investment this summer to come from the 49ers after learning that they own 25% of the club, and are expected to increase their voting rights. Highly likely we'll receive offers for Jansson, KP and probably even Roofe, and will sell at least one of them to raise funds, but Bielsa has said Jansson is our best performer, will he really stay if we sell the crown jewels? He has already said that the current squad has over achieved and that they couldn't repeat this season, so he must be looking for fairly significant investment before agreeing to stay.

[eric olthwaite]

so he must be looking for fairly significant investment before agreeing to stay.

Yep. And fundamentally that's why I don't expect things to pan out the way we want.

[jackos]

Yep. And fundamentally that's why I don't expect things to pan out the way we want.

All depends on who stays. Our permanent signings this season have all been a bit of a disaster, but Bamford, Douglas & Casilla might come good next season, especially if the first two can stay fit. I'm not very hopeful about Casilla, but he's shown that he is happy to sit on a bench or in the terraces in his a career and is probably costing us a couple of million a season, so I just bloody pray he does come good.

Loans? Harrison has been ok, Baker, Blackman, Brown a complete waste of time.

If we can keep all of our current squad we probably need max two permanent signings and 4-5 loans to replace the bunch from this season. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Harrison back for another go, and maybe Bielsa will want to see more of Brown ....

[Son of Leeds]

So that mix of fantasy and speculation begins. Haven't been posting for a while as it all got too stressful, but I can cope with defeat - as often said, it's the hope that hurts.

This is my team for next season. It's not necessarily the one that I think will get us promoted, but it's a mix of hopeful and realistic.

Bailey, Kiko really can't see another goalie coming.

First choice defence: Shacks, Cooper, Newbie, Alioski: others, Ayling, Berardi, Douglas, Loanee, Dallas and the smooth running black guy plays LB is U23s (Adoni?). Pontus me thinks will go.

First choice enforcer: Newbie, Gotts as backup. KP will go.

First choice mid: Clarke, Newbie, Roberts, Newbie. Others: Pablo, Klich, Shackleton. Forshaw away for sure. Alioski might get LS berth a bit. harrison will probably go, but then again ...

Strikers: Roofe, Newbie more in hope than expectation. Other: Bamford and that big bugger everybody raves about.

I'm veering towards Bielsa staying, but I wouldn't rule out Carlos stepping up instead.

Apart from promotion my hopes for next season are: keep playing fun football. We thrash FF's Derby County 12-0 to tule out a play-off place for them while securing us as Champions. We beat Cardiff 8-0 in Wales, Colin sacked during the game on telly, the interchange being picked up on the mikes.

[the flying pig]

urgh, yeah.

my main thoughts:

(1) keep bielsa. the main priority.

(2) as others have said, we need to make much better use of the loan system, get in four premier league guys in key positions [1-2 x winger, 1 x striker, 1 other]. wilko's law tells us that we can't possibly expect all four to work out even tolerably well, but we need to be doing much better than this year's single, and even then unspectacular, success, in harrison.

(3) in terms of players on long term contracts, we need to triangulate some kind of solution mindful of all of the following:

the value of continuity;
[presumably] a need to trade at some kind of surplus;
the number of years left on individual players' deals [none expire this summer but in summer 2020 it's pablo, roofe, klich, dallas, bpf, and klich;
the fact that the guys we'd get decent fees for are largely the same ones who contribute most on t'park; and
the fact that there's a random element to the demand for your players, driven by what particular holes the clubs with budgets have in their current squads.

my starter for ten would be:

(i) selling roofe [hsa very pleasantly surprised me this year but would fetch decent money + deal imminently expiring, apparently not up for re-signing] and pontus [huge shame given that he's near enough our best player but would fetch v decent molney +, i'm guessing, just won't be up for anoher year here]. would also be very interested in selling douglas given that we seem to have a couple of other guys who can actually run + also do a job at LB;

(ii) keeping everyone else, including kp, promising him that we'll let him go in summer 2020 if we don't go up. allow dallas & klich's [i guess berardi too] deals to run down unless we get a silly offer. kiko & bamford have both had very poor seasons by the standards of, presumably, two of our very higest paid players, but won't be in demand right now & deserve another season to sink or swim.

(iii) look to sign 3+ players, these being two centre backs + one or more of striker/winger/attacking midfielder, just depends on what positions we can fill with loans.

[eric olthwaite]

I think we have to plan to replace Pablo as a priority; it's such an important role. It's inconceivable that, at his age, he will be as good next season as he has been for (most of) this.

[emtee]

sell janson. loads of decent cbs around.
give kalvin a payrise an a buyout clause to stay. tell him bielsa will make him as a player. not enough comparable dms at our level
sell roofe if need be but not otherwise
sell douglas if anyone is willing to pay money for him. dallas did more in 2 games

reloan harrison and maybe maybe even brown too. we need players who already know bielsas system
casilla? fuk knows
promote clark shackleton n co.

buy or loan: cb, pablo replacement, cf

[BC]

I think we have to plan to replace Pablo as a priority; it's such an important role. It's inconceivable that, at his age, he will be as good next season as he has been for (most of) this.

This is pretty much impossible though, isn’t it? The fact we got a player that good willing to piss about with us for three years is weird. He’s also so important to us, he was crap last night (and I mean really really crap) which really contributed to us going to pieces.

Bielsa might think he can’t coax another year out of the guy and bail. He’s no interest in taking us to 15th place next year.

[the flying pig]

no mentions for saiz or grot?

[rss1969]

We need a CF get rid of Bamford if possible.

I think Kiko will be ok with a pre-season. He was good until a few offish games and a freakishly bad one last night.

We need to keep Pontus & KP.

Radz needs to show some balls and put up the cash now. Bielsa has shown the way forward and will walk if the club do not back him properly..........there are lots of clubs in this country who would have him after what he has shown this season.

[eric olthwaite]

I worry about next season, thinking about it.

Thing is if we had, this season, scraped into sixth on the last day and not made the final, we'd have said, 'OK, decent progress, decent platform, we push on'. But as it is, I suspect that a lot of people will now think that if we don't achieve auto-promotion next time it's a catastrophe.

I'm not sure that footballing progress is a simple and linear as people would like to believe. You'd think that if you, say, took our team and replaced the three worst players with better players it would mean that we'll finish at a higher level, but it isn't as simple as that. Cause/effect in football is so complex and margins so fine that it's easy to see how the 'improved' team could just as easily finish 7th next time.

Anyway, we get to play Hudds, Fulham and Colin (as well as one of Villa or Derby) so acres of lolz to be had there.