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there are a bunch of threads at the moment related to players and transfers etc, but i thought i'd attack it from a different angle, hence the new post :-

i'm sure you'll all be able to help me here (or correct me where i'm wrong), my memory ain't so hot, but going back over the past few seasons, we seem to have got to the close season with a few loan players on the books, that we've hoped to keep. a few that spring to mind :-

1st year in BSP - Zebba........
2nd year in BSP - Sturrock(?)....
Last season - Branston, Rendell, Poke..........
This season - Tomlin, Robinson, Stanley, Branston (kind of), Oastler.........

so, my question, apart from if any of you can amend the above, is where we haven't sealed signings at the end of the season, have we made better signings the following season ?? Maybe i'm grasping at straws, but trying to tell myself if we don't sign this years crop, it's not the end of the word ?!?!?

thoughts ??

when we failed to get rendell we opted for martin gritton, great player in his day but did't really do it for us this season. I believe when zebs left we go carlisle who then in the bsp was a very good player. we've had good and bad replacements. Im hoping we can sign stanley ( like most people), and i think we have a good chance of signing Oastler.

yeh, that is true! remember jake thompson? everyone used to love him but now no one ever mentions him, he use to be a star! Buckle used to have a good habit of finding great players on loan, however the only worry I have now is that when we get a new manager, he many not have the same skills as Buckle in finding these people, is this fair to say?

tufcfans wrote:however the only worry I have now is that when we get a new manager, he many not have the same skills as Buckle in finding these people, is this fair to say?

And it's also possible that we could end up with a manager that is better at unearthing talent. And don't forget John Milton is responsible for a lot of it. as he is head Scout. DIB DIB DIB DOB DOB DOB

Although Milton did do a lot of work, let's not play down how well Buckle did to construct a squad and find players, especially in the BSP.

I've read a great deal of comments about people being anxious to sign up our former loan players, frustrated that nothing's happened which I can fully understand - but the fact is these were all players who were brought in and played for Buckle. The chances are our new manager whoever he may be will have a different idea about the way he wants things done, and just because player x has performed to a certain standard under one manager and doesn't mean that form will continue under the next. PB did an exceptional job of bringing a quality bunch of players together which saw us 90 mins from league 1 football, his talent was spotted by another club who have gone on to poach his services. I have a slightly uneasy feeling about next season as most seem to but I think what should take priority for the board is concentrating on making the right appointment. As has been pointed out elsewhere surely it would be worse to blow our budget on players who played well under PB but may not fit in with what the next manager wants to do?

There are several players who have been in the side this season who have performed very well but nonetheless have had a varied career. Guy Branston being one (I appreciate he is not a 'loan' player this season). Before his move to Burton he may have felt his league football days were behind him during the time he spent at Kettering. But the fact is PB saw something in him and in the end he's proven what a quality defender he still is. However, had he stayed under a new manager isn't it possible he could revert to the form which saw him leave league football for a time? Gavin Tomlin is another example. I was far from impressed with his track record at the age of 28 but he displayed a few exceptional performances with Torquay which may not have been consistent with his form at Brentford or Dagenham. I just don't think you can undervalue the situational factors with a lot of these players. Craig Stanley is another player who reacted very positively to a change of gaffer but may not fit in with the next one here. It strikes me that with loan players it is very much the 'shop-window opportunity' - I got this feeling with Jake Robinson.

Don't get me wrong - the players we have taken on board have all done an unbelievable job - but for me I would rather the new manager decides who he wants instead of signing up the previous manager's loan players. It appears as though that will now be the case anyway as the guys who were here are now in the process of getting fixed up (most likely by BR!) I don't think anyone is under any illusions that next season will be as successful as this, but that doesn't mean that an incoming manager can't assemble a group of capable players to do a decent job. It has been the end of an era with PB moving on but lets remember despite what he would probably think we can still be a strong league outfit moving forwards.

maybe i'm wrong, but i'm not convinced buckle was that good in the loan/transfer market.

when we were REALLY struggling last season, i seem to remember we had a couple of players on loan from spurs, Adam Smith, who was a good player, and some other full back, can't think of his name, little bloke with dreads (wasn't musch cop), Cox was it ?, and then he brought in mo camara (WTF ??), and i'm sure there were others, but my minds gone blank. anyway, my point was going to be, he had poor players on the books, and KEPT playing them. Nico didn't get a look in, yet finished the season as one of our best/most consistent performers, once the loan players naffed off and he got back in the team.

yes, i'd like to keep stanley, he is a GOOD player, that was out of favour with his manager, so came to us. he wasn't out on loan because he wasn't good enough for the first team, and the same can be said for Jakey, and even Branston last year. this is why it seems a shame that we apparently haven't moved, yet, for the loan players we finished the season with.

Wasn't Mo Camara one of our ex chief execs signings? I am sure I read that on here at the time.

Whenever Bucks rested players for a prolonged period of time they always came back hungry and ready to prove a point. I recall at the start of last season many people were saying Nico was not good enough for league 2. Bucks "rested" him, Nico spent time working on whatever he needed to work on, and then came back better than ever. Whether it was more luck than judgement, it certainly worked in our favour!!