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Very good signing if he stays injury free.

That is the worry though - and whether he can play 40-50 games in the season remains to be seen.

The fact it is only a 1 year deal confirms Ling has some worries but if the gamble pays off then we could be big winners here.

Great signing in my opinion. Yes, he has had injury problems in the past but let's face it if he hadn't of had those injuries we wouldn't have had a hope in hell of signing him as a fit Aaron Downes is probably better than L2.

Now that we have added Downes, I really think this years squad compares very favourably with last years.It certainly seems to have greater strength in depth.

I must admit, should Macklin go, I would like us to add one more striker if there was any room in the budget though!

CP Gull wrote:Great signing in my opinion. Yes, he has had injury problems in the past but let's face it if he hadn't of had those injuries we wouldn't have had a hope in hell of signing him as a fit Aaron Downes is probably better than L2.

Now that we have added Downes, I really think this years squad compares very favourably with last years.It certainly seems to have greater strength in depth.

I must admit, should Macklin go, I would like us to add one more striker if there was any room in the budget though!

We have a squad of 23 with Macklin and 22 without and Ling has stated he wants 24 so wondering if there is a little scope for an addition with or without Macklin?

The only place i feel we have better strength in depth is CM, and that's only because I'm certain Ling banked on O'Kane going.

Bodin improves our team although not to the extent some have made out on here but I feel defensively we won't be as strong as last year. Downes is a huge risk as a number 1 frontline CB signing. Especially when his back up has played even less!

blueboy's description of him from his time at Rovers:

"He was an absolute rock for us when he first signed on loan but then got injured and only played a couple of games at the end of the season. He didn't look fit then and put in a few shakey performances. He had a serious knee injury at Chesterfield and was out for a long time so I guess there's a risk attached with him. If fit though he's a quality L2 defender and not much get's past him."

If he impressed at Rovers last season with all the negativity flowing through that place then could be a decent bit of business.

Should injury problems arise then we always have the loan system if the talent we already have here is not quite ready. A gamble worth taking IMO.

We've taken a gamble on Cruise. Personally if this was the best experienced option there was, I'd have gone for a youngster from a big club and said Saah is experienced enough. Can't take gambles on first team choices in key positions IMO.

We'll see though

In Ling we trust.

Richinns wrote:In Ling we trust.

here here

Good signing IMO, seems like a solid defender, hopefully he doesn't get any serious injuries like last year. If he does get any little injuries, we have a fantastic physio Damian Davey to get him back ASAP, so that may have been one of the reasons why Ling was certain with Downes even though he has had injuries in the past.

Good luck to Aaron at TUFC, hope he does a terrific job!

Although he is right footed he is very experienced at playing the left side of the CB pairing so this is also a big plus.

Centre-back is one position where we seem to have been blessed with quantity and quality in recent years. No more is this evident than in our last two promotion campaigns in 2003/04 (Woods, Taylor, Hazell, Woozley) and 2008/09 (Robertson, Todd, Ellis, Woods).

Downes and Cruise are both risks fitness-wise, but I'm sure Ling will have a short-term contingency plan if injuries arise – that could be a loan move or shifting Oastler into the middle. I'm pleased with this signing, it's probably been Ling's biggest challenge in the transfer market to date. I was starting to think Cruise would start the season at CB.

Indeed and with other targets/players moving elsewhere the actual options for 'experienced CB' were reducing all the time. I get the feeling this was a little bit of a panic signing/gamble signing rather than a 1st choice well thought out Baldrick cunning plan deal.

This is a good signing for you.There is little doubt that McGhee would have taken the gamble on him if we had not already had Adam Virgo who is also returning from a serious injury. To have had both would have been an expensive gamble. Up until his injury last season he looked a class player who could without doubt play in League 1,he organised things well at the back and changed us from a disorganised mess into a reasonable defence. I believe that in his efforts to get a contract with us he returned too quickly from the injury and in an ideal world would have remained unplayed until this season.
he came back and to be honest looked pretty slow and awful particularly the last game at dagenham where he was ay fault for all four goals and did not do himself justice in those three games he played. In fact I think it was then that McGhee decided he could not take a risk on having two centre halves coming back from injury.
If you have a fit Aaron Downes I would say you have one of the better centre halves in this division.

f he stays fit, then Downes is a decent signing but it would seem unlikely, judging on his past record, that he is going to be fit for the entire season, so I would still like to see another centre-half signed. Last year we have three 'senior' centre-halfs in Saah, Robertson and Ellis plus you had Rowe-Turner and Oastler who could play there (not that I would have felt comfortable with either of those options).

Cruise hopefully, has the talent but bearing in mind Saah's own prolonged absence with injury last season, I feel we are a little short of coverage and competition in that area. In addition to losing Olejnik (even though Poke is a decent replacement) I feel defensively, we are not as strong, even though in other areas we seem a little better equipped. Another forward, however, we could really do with.