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Post by dmcnally on Mar 25, 2021 11:59:01 GMT
I think it’s a given that clubs in higher leagues were sniffing around Glendon and Weeks seeing as we signed them up six weeks ago and there’s been nothing further in relation to the rest of the squad. Delighted we tied them down early given the obvious interest. “Big League Two clubs” were in for Glendon according to Jonno on the Seals Podcast.
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Post by avfo on May 4, 2021 13:55:29 GMT
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Post by bing on May 4, 2021 14:41:45 GMT
Good news!
However, can't help feeling a little deflated after our Twitter announced, "a familiar face will be joining you for 2021/22 - 2.30pm. Stay tuned". Here I was excitedly weighing up the likelihood of Sarcevic... Hughes... Crawford... Rainford... yet it turned out to be a player we already had last season.
Annoyed at myself for falling for it yet again!
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Post by lincolnexile on May 4, 2021 15:01:12 GMT
Good news! However, can't help feeling a little deflated after our Twitter announced, "a familiar face will be joining you for 2021/22 - 2.30pm. Stay tuned". Here I was excitedly weighing up the likelihood of Sarcevic... Hughes... Crawford... Rainford... yet it turned out to be a player we already had last season. Annoyed at myself for falling for it yet again! Rainford? Not too sure how many people would have welcomed him back here to be fair.
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Post by weareblues on May 4, 2021 15:12:30 GMT
Good news! However, can't help feeling a little deflated after our Twitter announced, "a familiar face will be joining you for 2021/22 - 2.30pm. Stay tuned". Here I was excitedly weighing up the likelihood of Sarcevic... Hughes... Crawford... Rainford... yet it turned out to be a player we already had last season. Annoyed at myself for falling for it yet again! It’s not that deep
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Post by avfo on May 6, 2021 19:03:38 GMT
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Post by weareblues on May 6, 2021 19:19:15 GMT
Askew Left the club.
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Post by lincolnexile on May 6, 2021 19:25:11 GMT
Shame that, thought he looked a decent prospect.
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Post by sealandender1 on May 6, 2021 20:01:52 GMT
Shame that, thought he looked a decent prospect. Wow, now that is a big surprise to me!!! Bern/Jonno must be fairly confident of having a replacement from their recent ‘trial’ sessions.
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Post by Rio Doherty on May 6, 2021 21:41:11 GMT
Currently doing a lot of assessments at the moment as part of my A-Levels so I haven’t been as active on here as usual lately, but I just thought I’d give my views regarding our recent squad news anyway! Really made up that Louis Gray has signed on for another campaign. I personally believe that Louis has been our best goalkeeper in recent years, because after a difficult start at Bradford (Park Avenue) AFC and Altrincham in the play-offs, he came on leaps and bounds last season. Watching him on the live streams made it more difficult for me to judge him than standing behind the goal as usual, but a few things I’ve picked up on are that his communication and confidence to come off his line are impressive, compared to Russ Griffiths who was low in confidence and was very afraid to command his area. His distribution could be better, but he’s a tier 6 footballer at the end of the day so absolutely everything about his game isn’t going to be perfect. Louis notched up a healthy amount of clean sheets around Christmas time before our campaign was brought to an end, so I really do hope that he can build off a strong first season, as I do have high hopes for him. Let’s all hope that we can watch him from behind the goal from next season rather than on a TV screen so it’ll be easier for us to make our own judgements of him. All the best Louis!
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Post by lincolnexile on May 6, 2021 21:48:29 GMT
Currently doing a lot of assessments at the moment as part of my A-Levels so I haven’t been as active on here as usual lately, but I just thought I’d give my views regarding our recent squad news anyway! Really made up that Louis Gray has signed on for another campaign. I personally believe that Louis has been our best goalkeeper in recent years, because after a difficult start at Bradford (Park Avenue) AFC and Altrincham in the play-offs, he came on leaps and bounds last season. Watching him on the live streams made it more difficult for me to judge him than standing behind the goal as usual, but a few things I’ve picked up on are that his communication and confidence to come off his line are impressive, compared to Russ Griffiths who was low in confidence and was very afraid to command his area. Louis notched up a healthy amount of clean sheets around Christmas time before our campaign was brought to an end, so I really do hope that he can build off a strong first season, as I do have high hopes for him. Let’s all hope that we can watch him from behind the goal from next season rather than on a TV screen so it’ll be easier for us to make our own judgements of him. All the best Louis! Agree with that. There’s no denying that he makes a few mistakes but if he didn’t he’d be in the EFL rather than in the National League North. I can see him having a decent season.
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Post by Rio Doherty on May 6, 2021 21:51:26 GMT
I don’t think the departure of Matty Hughes will be a huge miss for us in my opinion. Although Matty suffered from that lengthy injury against Hereford FC which set him back quite a bit, even when he did feature more last season his finishing in front of goal was rather disappointing, and he didn’t find the net as much as his potential suggests which must be frustrating for the lad. However, you cannot fault the effort and dedication he committed to the cause, because he always worked his socks off every time he appeared, while he cared (and still does) about our club deeply. I’m gutted that Matty was hampered by that long injury because he really could’ve created something special here, but unfortunately his second spell just didn’t get going properly which is no fault of his own. Across both spells though, he’s been a fantastic servant for our club and I wish him all the very best in his new venture at Stalybridge Celtic, which is a level where he should be hitting top form. Compared to Danny Elliott who, in my opinion, will be a significant loss for us, I don’t believe that Matty’s departure will hinder us too much because we did cope well last season when he didn’t appear, so we should be able to find a replacement rather easily. Good luck for the rest of your career Matty!
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Post by Rio Doherty on May 6, 2021 22:11:01 GMT
Well well well, the curse of The Seals Podcast strikes again regarding Josh Askew. Hopefully the ‘bad news always comes in threes’ saying will go against us for Danny Livesey, as he’s next up on Saturday and would be a massive loss. In all seriousness though, I really was gutted and still am now when I heard that Josh departed, because from what I’ve watched of him in his short spell he really impressed me. He joined us just before Christmas which was when we recorded a nice array of clean sheets, and he played a key role in that with his energetic bursts down the pitch, the ability to track back, while he also notched up a goal in our demolition of AFC Telford United. Not only on the pitch though, but off it too he’s a proper genuine chap because his enthusiasm for life in general on his Instagram page is infectious, while the 10 half marathons he ran in a month to raise money for Lewis Hardcastle was very inspiring, which reflects his positive and determined attitude towards life. You don’t come across many people such as Josh nowadays, but you can tell he puts his all into everything and I wish him every success in his next venture. Having read his excellent interview on Cheshire Live last week about him being excited to play in front of full crowds at the Deva next season, I was building high hopes for him, so it’s a real shame for this to happen now as he didn’t get to experience our fantastic support. The reason why Josh has departed is unknown, but if a club from a higher league has offered him a deal then I can fully understand why he has departed for pastures new, because he deserves a shot and is more than good enough to adapt to a higher league. Also, we mustn’t forget that he played for us for free in the middle of a pandemic which was a marvellous gesture, so we all have to understand that he may want to play for a side who can offer him a decent wage package which, realistically, we’d all opt for if we were ever in that scenario amongst unprecedented times. Good luck for the rest of your career Josh!
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Post by Neil Hunt Nonsense Potter on May 7, 2021 9:49:47 GMT
I don’t think the departure of Matty Hughes will be a huge miss for us in my opinion. Although Matty suffered from that lengthy injury against Hereford FC which set him back quite a bit, even when he did feature more last season his finishing in front of goal was rather disappointing, and he didn’t find the net as much as his potential suggests which must be frustrating for the lad. However, you cannot fault the effort and dedication he committed to the cause, because he always worked his socks off every time he appeared, while he cared (and still does) about our club deeply. I’m gutted that Matty was hampered by that long injury because he really could’ve created something special here, but unfortunately his second spell just didn’t get going properly which is no fault of his own. Across both spells though, he’s been a fantastic servant for our club and I wish him all the very best in his new venture at Stalybridge Celtic, which is a level where he should be hitting top form. Compared to Danny Elliott who, in my opinion, will be a significant loss for us, I don’t believe that Matty’s departure will hinder us too much because we did cope well last season when he didn’t appear, so we should be able to find a replacement rather easily. Good luck for the rest of your career Matty! Thought your twitter comment under the thread about MH not being a great loss lacked a bit of grace Rio. Reading you piece above you really liked him? He was tagged in on the tweet and will have read that. Maybe leave the opinion pieces to here?
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Post by Rio Doherty on May 7, 2021 10:24:13 GMT
I don’t think the departure of Matty Hughes will be a huge miss for us in my opinion. Although Matty suffered from that lengthy injury against Hereford FC which set him back quite a bit, even when he did feature more last season his finishing in front of goal was rather disappointing, and he didn’t find the net as much as his potential suggests which must be frustrating for the lad. However, you cannot fault the effort and dedication he committed to the cause, because he always worked his socks off every time he appeared, while he cared (and still does) about our club deeply. I’m gutted that Matty was hampered by that long injury because he really could’ve created something special here, but unfortunately his second spell just didn’t get going properly which is no fault of his own. Across both spells though, he’s been a fantastic servant for our club and I wish him all the very best in his new venture at Stalybridge Celtic, which is a level where he should be hitting top form. Compared to Danny Elliott who, in my opinion, will be a significant loss for us, I don’t believe that Matty’s departure will hinder us too much because we did cope well last season when he didn’t appear, so we should be able to find a replacement rather easily. Good luck for the rest of your career Matty! Thought your twitter comment under the thread about MH not being a great loss lacked a bit of grace Rio. Reading you piece above you really liked him? He was tagged in on the tweet and will have read that. Maybe leave the opinion pieces to here? Perhaps I shouldn’t have tagged his handle in it so I will hold my hands up and apologise if any offence has been caused. For what it’s worth yes I do really like Matty as a person, and he has a lovely family who went to every game home and away without fail to support him. He was a brilliant servant to our club over both spells too so I wish him all the very best, but I just feel that he won’t be a big miss as a player, because we coped well whenever he didn’t feature last season and we should be able to replace him without any issues. I believe that my opinion was a fair and honest reflection of his time here from a supporter’s point of view, and I am not afraid to voice my honest opinions either because I have done so for many players in the past, and will continue to do so in the future. If people disagree with me then that is absolutely fine and I am more than happy to have sensible debates, but from a personal perspective I just prefer to be a realist rather than a happy clapper if that makes sense. Once again I accept that it was wrong for me to tag Matty and I don’t want any negative friction to happen, but I was just stating an honest opinion 👍.
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Post by Lobster on May 7, 2021 10:32:56 GMT
Currently doing a lot of assessments at the moment as part of my A-Levels so I haven’t been as active on here as usual lately, but I just thought I’d give my views regarding our recent squad news anyway! Really made up that Louis Gray has signed on for another campaign. I personally believe that Louis has been our best goalkeeper in recent years, because after a difficult start at Bradford (Park Avenue) AFC and Altrincham in the play-offs, he came on leaps and bounds last season. Watching him on the live streams made it more difficult for me to judge him than standing behind the goal as usual, but a few things I’ve picked up on are that his communication and confidence to come off his line are impressive, compared to Russ Griffiths who was low in confidence and was very afraid to command his area. Louis notched up a healthy amount of clean sheets around Christmas time before our campaign was brought to an end, so I really do hope that he can build off a strong first season, as I do have high hopes for him. Let’s all hope that we can watch him from behind the goal from next season rather than on a TV screen so it’ll be easier for us to make our own judgements of him. All the best Louis! Agree with that. There’s no denying that he makes a few mistakes but if he didn’t he’d be in the EFL rather than in the National League North. I can see him having a decent season. Even at the top level, regular goalkeeping errors seem a lot more accepted than they used to be. Many people seem to see it as more important that keepers are good all-round footballers. I'm not so sure myself. Gray has done pretty well I think. He's an improvement on the last two keepers and other than the Altrincham game, which came after three months out of action, I can't remember too many goals I really thought were his fault.
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Post by Gandalf on May 7, 2021 10:40:31 GMT
Matty hasn't had much game time so see why he's gone but he was also duel registered with Lancaster so never looked like he was going to stay or be utilised. Brilliant character though and hope he does well with staleybridge
Askew I'm surprised about especially after how much both him and Bern & Jono have been praising each other of late
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Post by avfo on May 7, 2021 12:03:51 GMT
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Post by Neil Hunt Nonsense Potter on May 7, 2021 13:54:39 GMT
Thought your twitter comment under the thread about MH not being a great loss lacked a bit of grace Rio. Reading you piece above you really liked him? He was tagged in on the tweet and will have read that. Maybe leave the opinion pieces to here? Perhaps I shouldn’t have tagged his handle in it so I will hold my hands up and apologise if any offence has been caused. For what it’s worth yes I do really like Matty as a person, and he has a lovely family who went to every game home and away without fail to support him. He was a brilliant servant to our club over both spells too so I wish him all the very best, but I just feel that he won’t be a big miss as a player, because we coped well whenever he didn’t feature last season and we should be able to replace him without any issues. I believe that my opinion was a fair and honest reflection of his time here from a supporter’s point of view, and I am not afraid to voice my honest opinions either because I have done so for many players in the past, and will continue to do so in the future. If people disagree with me then that is absolutely fine and I am more than happy to have sensible debates, but from a personal perspective I just prefer to be a realist rather than a happy clapper if that makes sense. Once again I accept that it was wrong for me to tag Matty and I don’t want any negative friction to happen, but I was just stating an honest opinion 👍. I completely agree with your opinion, and your right to stress it. Just thought it jarred a bit on the tweet under the nice message of support from the club is all.
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Post by agl on May 8, 2021 8:32:32 GMT
Matty hasn't had much game time so see why he's gone but he was also duel registered with Lancaster so never looked like he was going to stay or be utilised. Brilliant character though and hope he does well with staleybridge Askew I'm surprised about especially after how much both him and Bern & Jono have been praising each other of late I thought Askew ticked every box. Can only assume he's been offered a better deal somewhere else and, if so, good luck to him. Baffled if he's simply been released as he seemed to be a typical Bern and Jonno type player. I suspect the former as we're presumably not in a position to offer too many deals until we know if full crowds will be allowed. Good to see Morgan is staying...another great prospect who will only get better and could make us a few quid eventually
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Post by avfo on May 8, 2021 14:02:05 GMT
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Post by avfo on May 9, 2021 17:58:03 GMT
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Post by weareblues on May 9, 2021 18:03:06 GMT
Huge we’ve kept Dudley
Grand And Livesey next fingers crossed 🤞
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Post by Frank Owen’s Paintbrush on May 9, 2021 18:20:47 GMT
Huge we’ve kept Dudley Grand And Livesey next fingers crossed 🤞 Well, one of them anyway. Need fresh blood at centre back.
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Post by lincolnexile on May 9, 2021 18:33:22 GMT
Huge we’ve kept Dudley Grand And Livesey next fingers crossed 🤞 Well, one of them anyway. Need fresh blood at centre back. I think you’re right about needing fresh blood at Centre half, but I don’t think it’d do any harm to keep Grand and Livesey to bring on Burke and hopefully another youngster.
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Post by Harry Lime on May 9, 2021 18:49:17 GMT
Huge we’ve kept Dudley Grand And Livesey next fingers crossed 🤞 Well, one of them anyway. Need fresh blood at centre back. We do need another, but we've also got Harrison Burke as cover. He'll learn loads from those two. By all accounts they are the ones that lead by example in training. Have you considered the fact that if one goes, the other might too? They are the best of mates, and were talking about retiring a year ago. It maybe that Kev Roberts is the cover for the back four. It's likely we'll need to keep the budget to a minimum again. Not sure we can have a normal season size squad. Wouldn't be surprised if the season is disrupted again, particularly with crowd restrictions. Clubs may have to cope with 18 plus a few youth type players.
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Post by rhodri on May 9, 2021 21:08:43 GMT
In addition to Livesey and Grand, I hope we see Jackson re-signing. Injury and the timing of the season ending meant that we barely saw him play last season, him and JJ are the best wingers in this league on their day
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Post by Rio Doherty on May 9, 2021 23:17:10 GMT
Pleased to hear that Jamie Morgan is staying on. Last season was a big one for Jamie which saw him receive lots of game time, and overall I’d say he fared rather well as he held his own to become a regular starter. He did make the odd error in some games which lead to the opposition scoring, but that’s all part of the lad’s development so I’m sure that he will learn and cut out mistakes, because he’s still a raw and young player. On the flip side though, Jamie scored a few goals at the right end of the field particularly in our last game at Bradford (Park Avenue) AFC where he scored a screamer, so there are some exciting aspects to his game. Next season will be another big one for Jamie, and I am very much looking forward to watching him continue to grow because he is a very bright prospect, and the more he plays the stronger he’ll be. All the best Jamie!
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Post by Rio Doherty on May 9, 2021 23:18:48 GMT
Absolutely delighted that John Johnston will be here for another campaign as well. After a sticky start it took a while for John to find his spark, but on the whole he performed really well last campaign. JJ had a difficult start to life at the Deva as the weight of the world must’ve been on his shoulders to perform strongly right from the off, but I believe playing in front of empty stands may have been one factor as to why he played like the JJ of old last season. He can often try too hard and overdo things which did frustrate me at times last year, but that’s just a case of putting too much effort in which I prefer any day of the week to somebody who can’t be bothered trying. His first league goal against Hereford FC must’ve given the lad a huge lift in confidence, and it was a peach of a strike as well. I really can’t wait to watch John next campaign as he’s a really exciting player, and from what he demonstrated last season he has loads of credentials to push on even further as he has impressive skill, while his ability on the ball can be frightening at times. All the best John!
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Post by Rio Doherty on May 9, 2021 23:21:38 GMT
Finally, I’m thrilled that Anthony Dudley penned terms for a fourth campaign yesterday. It’s fair to say Anthony is a player who has divided our fanbase on many occasions over the past few years, because one game he could play like Lionel Messi while the next he could go missing and not be involved a lot. I must admit that one game I can be left frustrated by him while the next he can blow me away with a 5 star show, but in all honesty he performed brilliantly last season. In my opinion last campaign was Duds’ best during his time at the Deva so far, because his vision and ability to unlock opposing defences caused them nightmares on a more consistent basis, while his link-up play with our fellow forwards was a joy to watch. He was particularly on fire in December when he bagged five goals, and who could forget that world class assist at AFC Telford United when he laid it off for George Glendon to score, so in that respect I can’t wait to watch Duds’ magic next season. Let’s hope he will maintain his promising form from last campaign into the forthcoming one, because on his day he is right up there amongst the best forwards in our league. All the best Anthony!
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