BigTime wrote:I doubt many of us would have envisaged Batley being a bigger draw than London so we shouldn’t rule it out but it seems to me not worth the effort for, say Beinik, to move to a team like Bradford who appear marginally better than us but if a SL club weighed in that might be different. Trinity are the X factor here. They will be in the market for players and may take a punt. I wonder if Horsman might move on/ be moved on. As for the Academy prospects some haven’t figured at all eg Howarth so it will be interesting to see what we do. One assumes we should give them time to mature but game time is needed and whilst we have flirted with the bottom of the table that has been too big a risk at times.
I think for the likes of Bienek, Butler and Walker, it would maybe be less of a consideration now, given they have already had that experience of playing up north at the highest level. You could say the same also about Davis and Stock. It didn't really work out for any of them long term, but as you say who knows? It's ultimately a very short career and why not take a gamble if someone is willing to throw a decent amount your way?
It's not often with UK players that circumstances fall into our favour regards recruitment, but I think for all the dramas of recent seasons, the club has done a decent job of bringing players back into the fold, whether more down to personal circumstances or not.
I'm surprised with the constant upheaval and disruption to the reserve grade system and with the lack of a regular 'feeder club' on our doorstep, we haven't looked more closely at running an 'A Grade' side in the Southern Conference/London League like Skolars have. It would give us an extra outlet for player development and I assume the costs would be pretty minimal.
