The excessively long wait before the club's eagerly-awaited Retained List was finally published on Wednesday morning, especially in relation to other sides whose campaigns also didn't extend into the play-off phase, at least gave supporters ample time to deliberate upon which players would remain at Victoria Road beyond the summer. Yet, even given the club's notorious lack of ruthlessness in such situations, surely nobody would have anticipated the extent to which lenience has been shown to those deemed surplus to requirements as we ultimately failed in our ambitions last term, many of whom have either been awarded new contracts or are currently involved in conversations towards that conclusion. Primarily Yoan Zouma and Harry Phipps, both having struggled here albeit for very different reasons. The latter has been an unmitigated disaster on and off the pitch, bringing the club's moral image into temporary disrepute with his complicity in the animal abuse scandal, before then denying us a realistic chance of getting to Wembley on his return by clumsily giving a last-second penalty away in the FA Trophy Quarter Final against York, who then triumphed via a penalty shootout at our expense. The enhanced spotlight now projected onto us as a result of this decision is simply not worth it for a player not good enough to make our best centre half combination last season, let alone when we look to improve this time around. It doesn't exactly equip the fanbase with significant belief, either, that we'll learn from the mistakes made in the last few months, especially with other prominent defenders rumoured to be departing. Moving onto Phipps now, a hugely talented player we really root for because of his age-defying maturity showcased during the financial crisis of 2018 and the devastating misfortune he has suffered through a series of severe injuries thereafter. However, there reaches a period where common sense has to supersede sentiment and we've long surpassed that point to be honest. It felt like the end when he ruptured an ACL during pre-season two years ago, yet he's somehow still here having only made four appearances for us since. There's not many players I'm more desperate to succeed here, but it feels like another Zavon Hines. Conversely, the other two players whose options have been triggered are Mo Sagaf and Myles Weston, which are comparitively far more sensible decisions as they have have been absolutely integral to us. They are crucial to our fast-paced attacking style, shouldering a huge creative burden too having registered a combined seventeen assists last season, and are very rarely injured. We simply don't look the same team whenever one, let alone both, so it is really brilliant news. The above-mentioned quartet join the following players - already under contract - as our initial 2022/23 squad pending inevitable signings: Ángelo Balanta, Josh Hare, Ansu Janneh, Elliott Johnson, Elliot Justham, Sam Ling, Paul McCallum, Junior Morias, Manny Onariase, Matt Robinson, Ryley Scott, Mauro Vilhete and Josh Walker. It's a strong core but lacks in defensive solidity, which simply has to be our primarily area of targeted improvement.
Trimmed from that squad are five departing players, none being a particular surprise. Mr Intensity himself, Joey Jones, is the only one who will leave without any real well wishes from anybody after burning bridges here, which undermined the fact he was occasionally a quality midfielder capable of completely running the show. Grimsby Town, for whom he spent the last few weeks of the season, also seemingly worked out very quickly that he was an inconsistent maverick not worth the hassle. Another whose loan foreshadowed the end of the road was Kenny Clark, a previous mainstay gradually phased out in his final year but he still filled in commendably on the rare occasion he was utilised. Probably never quite good enough for where we wanted to be, however still a very good servant and absolute gent too. Whether he retires or joins someone else, it will be with the genuine regard of us all. Then there's three strikers moving on, namely Darren McQueen, Scott Wilson and Ibby Akanbi. Unlike the other two whose goal records were nowhere near satisfactory, Akanbi's case is slightly different because he was an impressive stopgap player simply disadvantaged by the quality and depth he was competing with. Despite registering two goals and four assists from just three starts around late November/early December, he didn't make another but could now prove a real asset elsewhere in this division. Finally, it has since been announced that Will Wright has joined Gillingham upon the expiry of his contract here. You cannot begrudge any player seizing an opportunity higher up the pyramid, let alone one who has been at the club for four years, during which we've watched him evolve into a ball-playing defender that regularly contributes at the other end too, particularly through set-pieces. Over ten assists two seasons running underlines his ability, but in truth the whole backline needed restructuring regardless and he was complicit in it's leakiness. There could be further outgoings yet amongst the others still involved in current negotiations, so our predicament remains somewhat unclear as the amount of those who eventually leave will consequently shape how extensive our summer recruitment needs to be.
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January 2024
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