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According to HE Lathrope is in talks with Aldershot and is expected to sign, joining Joe Oastler.
Although I thought Damon was a useful player I'm all for as much of a clearout as possible to let CH build his own squad.

Shame. Would be close to the best defensive midfielder in the division. Steady, no frills, accurate passer, endless running, precisely the type of 'worker-bee' that allows the more expressive players to do their thing uninhibited.

Matt.

Not very bothered he has gone to be honest.

Never forgave him for whimping out of a challenge against Stevenage allowing the guy to shoot and score the only goal of the play off final.

I look forward to seeing who CH has / is going to up to play alongside Young.

Harding and Young would be creative but lack a physical edge. This is even more true with DL missing (if, indeed, he is).

Matt.

It depends on how badly we want to keep him. With Poke and Mansell you got the impression that their wages were too high for our current situation, so we offered them a much lower rate and it was basically win-win for us, either we got them off the wage bill or we signed them up at a lower wage.

Lathrope is much younger, not one of the higher earners and a first team player. If we lost him to Aldershot, another Conference side with recent money troubles and no bigger than us, it would be very disappointing, assuming that we do want him to stay.

Still a surprising club for him to go to anyway. I would like him to stay with us, but I think he could do better than Aldershot.

This one surprises me some what, not that Lathrope is thinking of moving on, but cant see how Aldershot are in a sound financial position to able to offer DL any more than our club can, if he goes shame, think he will be very useful at conference level.

Agreed Matt. We need a tigerish player who gets his foot in and plays it simple to the more creative members of the team. This is not at the club at the moment.

Shame if true. When we signed Young, a visiting Argyle fan said "don't play him in a midfield two, he's best in front of two defensive midfielders". So I was hoping for a Harding/Lathrope/Young midfield, feeding Cameron and Briscoe on the wings (and someone better than Hawley, Benyon up front).

After a tricky start at the club I thought Lathrope ended up being a very good player for us. Couldn't score for toffee but broke up a lot of play in the middle.

Perhaps CH has someone else in mind?

ferrarilover wrote:Shame. Would be close to the best defensive midfielder in the division. Steady, no frills, accurate passer, endless running, precisely the type of 'worker-bee' that allows the more expressive players to do their thing uninhibited.

Matt.

Spot on.

Rjc70 wrote: Spot on.

Really?

I always rated him as decidely 'average' truth be told.

ferrarilover wrote:Shame. Would be close to the best defensive midfielder in the division. Steady, no frills, accurate passer, endless running, precisely the type of 'worker-bee' that allows the more expressive players to do their thing uninhibited.

Matt.

This. Damon Lathrope is one of the most important players in the squad and would, I imagine, be very hard to replace.

PhilGull wrote: This. Damon Lathrope is one of the most important players in the squad and would, I imagine, be very hard to replace.

So good we offered him next to nothing and the best other option he has is Aldershot!

I trust CH's judgement on this and if he did not offer him much then he has a reason for doing so.

Would have been a useful squad player when injurys and suspensions hit but no more. Very easily replaceable in my eyes!

Our play off season under Ling was his best, as games went by you didn't notice him but he was so influential breaking the opposition play up and no doubt contributed to the numerous 1-0 we had.

But with Manse freeing up wage £, Harding under contract and Young already signed up I don't mind DL moving on so CH has a bit more flexibility to bring in another midfield option

I don't think CH wanted him that badly. Think he also got reduced terms. CH dropped him quite often last season.

The problem with Damon is his lack of flexibility. He can only play one role - the defensive anchor man in a midfield three. He plays that role excellently, even getting my player of the season vote in the ling play-off campaign, but unfortunately does not have the ability/positioning/anticipation to play in a midfield two. When he has played in a two, he's been average or poor.

I think this has meant that CH believes it's not the end of the world if he goes. I am also inclined to agree with that. Presume also we will not be playing a 4-5-1/4-3-3 this season, as I doubt there are many better player in the conference in that role. Maybe Shaun cooper...

If true, i would be very disappointed to lose DL. IMO every good team needs a DL type player. Never gets the credit he deserves. Iam also surprised to read others comments regarding his style of play. Unless we get someone else in who can do the same job i think we will miss him.