I think missing out on Montel Gibson may hurt us, he's shown he has goalscoring pedigree and it would seem like Southport would have been a logical destination as he'd play every week most likely, and we've shown before that we are excellent at developing up-and-coming former lower league players, if, of course he would be able to find accommodation as Halesowen is a fairly long way away when you're only getting paid the wages we pay for players, and he even said himself he has aspirations of proffessional football, hence why Grimsby would have been such an attractive prospect to him.
As for the rest, I think Carver was a mistake and Sammo should have been shown the door, and we then should've made an active effort to sign someone like Gibson or similar who has scored 20+ goals in a season and has age on their side, no matter the level of football, and whilst I think Newell will really kick on this season, one bad tackle and he'll be out for 2 years.
I have to say, the other rumoured signings we've been linked with I'm actively glad we haven't signed, with the exception of maybe Whittle, as they don't feel like players that can excel at this level, and whilst it's obvious Watson is trying to bring experience into the side, I don't think by signing players who have scarcely played above non-league we are really going about it in the correct way. Knowles doesn't seem much different from Sampson or Carver, and they're all much of a muchness as bang average Northern Prem/ low Conference North level forwards. We need to get at least 2 wingers and a versatile midfielder to finish off the squad, alongside a ball player in defence to partner no-nonsense Ali.
Do we have any update on Niall Watson? I know he's been training with the first team for the last few weeks and even played in a friendly or two, and whilst it seems apparent that we will most likely offer him a contract, does anyone know whether it will be on a permanent basis or on loan from Stanley? As all I can see when looking at their retained list that he'd been offered new terms, and there's no indication whether he has signed the dotted line yet. I think he'd be a prime example of a decent Watson signing, not only because he's likely to adhere to the same ethos but also because it's clear to me having watched him for a while that he has a little bit of flair that can get you a long way at this level, something that I don't think Conner Woods really has in abundance. I also think Jack Dunn, the lad we had on loan from Warrington last year may be worth a punt, as the only thing that's really stopped him from being a decent Championship midfielder is a number of fairly catastrophic injuries over the years. He's 25, which is a good age as he's still young enough to have potential left in there but old enough that he has his head screwed on. He's creative, fast and can take set-pieces, 3 things that we really need to turn this team from average to play-off chasers.
Would still love young Watson in the side though.
