Anyone know?

[dazza]

If we take it as gospel that Holloway,Daly,Finn,Wazza have gone and obviously we all know about Dunks and Harding,can anyone tell me who we actually have left? In my mind we have Harwood,Graves,Tutu,Agu,Mckenzie,Sobers. My question is more about Ide,England and the couple of players we let go earlier this year on dual registration.Obviously the likes of the Fray brothers and Jones,spring to mind as to whether we still have them?

[Mash]

I think we have to realistically presume we have no one (I can only imagine Tutu would commit defo to the team no matter what happens and harwood if he was given a contract as suggested)...the players are surely open to other offers and without a manager at the cub who can stop them jogging on.

[Swaine's Ginger Cat]

I'm gonna take the glass half full approach with all of this. We're all naturally getting a bit concerned about the lack of news & possible signings going elsewhere, but it doesn't add up to me. If there was nothing at all in place, why would HB have waited that long to resign & why would Jerry have accepted it? I can't see MG waiting ages to commit (with no players in place) if he's serious about doing the job again either. And why wouldn't anyone with ambition want to come to Bromley? The budget may not be huge, the atmosphere may not be amazing, but good players will get picked up by bigger clubs, & if MG isn't coming back, it's an opportunity for someone else to have a crack at a club with good links & good record of signing players.

I think we need a good core of established players in place, but I'm happy if 1-2 spots are filled by youngsters if MJ think's their good enough to move up. I saw a couple of them a little last season (Wedgeworth & Britnell) & TBH they looked ok & no worse than a few of the signings we made

[bromlee]

Every season the club keeps its cards close to its chest ref players etc. But with less than a month to the first pre season game i would have thought that they night have announced who, if any players we had on contract. I have to go with mash on this one we cant assume we have anyone a we have not been told any different

[exiled]

I agree with BT, it's still early days, unless a player is signed on contract, no-one can "sign" until 1 July. In the hope that the club has finally learnt it's lesson on signing people up on contracts, then I don't expect to hear any player announcements until that time or later. The managerial situation, I agree, is slightly more concerning but again, I don't believe that things are not in movement behind the scenes or that Jerry will let us start the season (or even pre-season) without a squad and management team in place.

[col]

The timing issue concerns me most of all, if Hayden was going to step down as manager why didn't he three weeks earlier?
And while the club is still sorting out investors and options for next season we have no manager and no squad.
We effectively have three weeks to get a manager and 16 players in before the friendlies start. We will be playing catch up as far as preparations are concerned with all the other clubs in the league.
Can't see there being any amazing start to 2011/12 like there was the previous season and remeber that's what kept us up in the end. From December onwards we sucked.

[grahambfc]

Looks like Braintree manager from lastr year Rod Stringer has thrown his name into mix for the managers role.

Also Justin Edinburgh looks like he may be looking for a club with Rushdens collapse.

A few names there. In terms of experience Stringer has the pedigree, Edinburgh the football background / experience, MG may come in with some extra funding and i don't know too much about the two guys that were at Croydon Ath -

Dont think it will happen but MG in some form of Director of Football role supporting Stringer or possibly Edinburgh would be my choice.

[neale]

Rod Stringer. I would really struggle to enjoy following a team that played the cynical/boring style of football that Braintree dished up. Rather have MG any day, even if the results weren't as good.

[Mash]

I was wondering about Stringer the other day, obviously Braintree were a cynical bunch but for all the people who moan constantly about wanting a proven manager and demand success he would be the one for them.

Exiled - I know there is thing about not signing til "1st July" but we havent even announced who we have retained (thats my concern). All the players from last season (admitedly i wouldnt mind if the majority jogged on) are now open to cut. Without a manager we cant hope to convince players to stick around waiting.

Still I trust Jerry to sort it....whatever the situation I would like all fans to maintain a sense of realism next season and appreciate that top 10 is overachievement for a club of our size.

[bromlee]

If Stringer came in it would be a complete reverse of the style of football were used to watching at the lane.Did he throw his name in the hat at the AGM over the weekend? But to give him credit for last season Braintree done the business under him.

I dont think anything will happen until MG is back from holiday, which i hope is sooner rather than later

[grahambfc]

Was in the NLP this week.

Yes it's nice to watch good football - but you don't win leagues by playing bad football. They may not have been pretty to watch week in week out, but success in football is about results which generates the feel good factor - if we can do that by playing good football then fine, but i'd be happier spending my cash on a day out and coming home with an efficient performance and getting the result than losing an end to end game.

I know people talk about being entertained, but this is the non league and in terms of quality of football, its not comparable to what you see in the league / premiership and if people really wanted to be entertained, i expect you'd get more value outside the non league.

Two sides to each debate, but i personally would want to see us challenging at the right end of the table and playing in big important games to look forward to, and i think the locals would come back and the crowds would reflect this also - even if it wasn't 'total' football.

I wouldn't know for sure, but i'd say that Braintree were not the highest payers in the league last year, so says something about the manager to motivate his team for a whole season, as since we dropped off the pace, they really had the title in the bag for most of it

[exiled]

Mash - even in terms of those retained they are only effectively "retained" when they sign BSS forms which they can only do on 1 July.

As for Stringer, I will really sit on the fence on this one. In recent years I have always said that we need to develop a more cynical side to our game and that will no doubt continue to be the case if MG were to take charge. Stringer, however is at the other end of the scale and I don't think I could stomach watching games like our home match v Braintree week in, week out. It's a tough decision.

[mikeyh]

In a perfect world Edinbrugh would be great for us but we have never had a proven manager at Bs south level ,he wouldnt come cheap & i dont think any of us have won the lottery lately so its not gonna happen . This is not a pop at MG at all he gave us some great times just saying Edinbrugh is probably the best avaliable.

[Swaine's Ginger Cat]

if Stringer took over & we started playing like Braintree, I'd still come, but I suspect my wife might start to waver & I doubt we'd make the effort to get to many away games. But I'm realistic, if that's the only way to do well in this division without spending fortunes, then would it be a lack of ambition to just settle for mid table & pretty football?

But going back to the BT article, isn't the reason for the delay simply because of possible investment in the club? If jerry is working hard on this area & has something that's nearly come off, he'd be silly to appoint a manager & sign players when investors often have their own ideas on who should be in place. Jerry has put lots of time & money into the club to get it to this point & I just don't see him throwing it all away just like that. There must be a very good reason for the lack of manager in place & that reason will be one that if it comes off, is for the benefit of the club. if it doesn't, then i'm sure MG could come in & pull a few loan signings off to get us through the first 3 months, then see who's available, or alternatively George Wakeling worked for many years with little budget & whilst the football wasn't as attractive as MG's, you knew he was doing as well as anyone could with the budget available.