The 2026-2027 rebuild.

On 24/11/2025 at 23:07, prowl said:

Why?

 

Of course they might bring in their own man but I can't  see many good managers being tempted by a L1 club.

Really? 
 

“Hello mr highly rated manager. Do you want to manage SWFC in league 1?”

“No thank you.”

or

”Hello mr highly rated manager. Do you want to manage SWFC in league 1. We’ve just been bought by a billionaire, we’ll immediately support you 100% in squad acquisition, your coaching staff, your support staff, and we’re putting a long term plan in place to restructure the entire club and revitalise all the facilities. And we’ll pay you a f u c k tonne of money.”

”I’ll see you Monday morning”.

42 minutes ago, Jaybako said:

Really? 
 

“Hello mr highly rated manager. Do you want to manage SWFC in league 1?”

“No thank you.”

or

”Hello mr highly rated manager. Do you want to manage SWFC in league 1. We’ve just been bought by a billionaire, we’ll immediately support you 100% in squad acquisition, your coaching staff, your support staff, and we’re putting a long term plan in place to restructure the entire club and revitalise all the facilities. And we’ll pay you a f u c k tonne of money.”

”I’ll see you Monday morning”.

I can see Colin banging the door down 

Playing devil's advocate a bit here or self defence but...... 

Championship is bang average if Stoke, Millwall and West Brom are owt to go by.

Can't see Lg 1 being 'good' as some have implied, tough maybe.i think this current squad should pee it. (Caveat if all fit!!)

                   Charles

        Iorfa.     Cooper.  Bernard

Valery Chalobah BB Ammas M Lowe

                Ingleson 

                         Cadermatri

Horvath Palmer Weaver Fusire Thornton Johnson McNeil Lowe Brown .

A couple of additions would be welcome Obvs. 

At me

Way I see it we’re gonna need 24 players roughly - should be 2 or every position but we’re gonna need 5 CBs and CM players coz it’s us and we always get injuries !!!

Looking at what we’re likely to have left and if we can get rid of Ugbo we’ll need…

2 keepers 

RB

LB

4 CBs (unless we keep

Cooper)

3 CM

4 wingers 

2 CFs

17 new players 

On 24/11/2025 at 21:02, the gaffer said:

Id like to keep

 

Charles

M Lowe

Cooper

Bernard

Weaver

Brown

 

the rest could be sold/loaned out/released

 

Lowe wont stop, nor will Bernard or Charles. So its pretty much a whole new squad.

 

30+ year olds arent our future, id keep Cooper as an older head at the back, thats it. We need a youthful squad, that can create momentum, have hunger, have a re sale value. No I would not keep Baz or Palmer, thank them, build them a statue, give them a bonus or whatever, but no this era needs new players, and possibly a new manager, not knee jerk, but looking at HP previous record as a manager it does not make for great reading

You’d keep Cooper, who you’ve seen play for us for 90mins, but release Bannan, who’s played for us for 10 years and has repeatedly proven he is our finest player in a generation, and would undoubtedly be head and shoulders above anyone else in league one, and is never injured (there is 14 months between them in age)

Makes loads of sense that 

3 minutes ago, Dutch McLovin said:

Way I see it we’re gonna need 24 players roughly - should be 2 or every position but we’re gonna need 5 CBs and CM players coz it’s us and we always get injuries !!!

 

Looking at what we’re likely to have left and if we can get rid of Ugbo we’ll need…

 

2 keepers 

 

RB

LB

4 CBs (unless we keep

Cooper)

 

3 CM

4 wingers 

 

2 CFs

 

17 new players 

We might need them but it's going to be hard to get them in a short time. I dout we will get more than 3 or 4 permanent signings in the January window. 

We might get a few loan as well but they will go back at the end of the season.

The summer might be better but we will lose several players who don't  want to play in L1..

It's going to take time to build a squad the size you mentioned. I'd  rather have 4 players who are the right type of players than 10 who aren't.

Obviously removing all embargoes  and fee restrictions will make things much easier than I suggest.

If we're talking about having a competitive team in L1 then we need to keep the majority of this starting 11 and make about 10 good signings for the top end of L1/bottom end of champ. 

Let's not run before we can walk. This squad has been depleted but there are some good L1 players in it.

The bonus for us is the length of time and hopefully deep pockets we will have to recruit. My expectation is a head of recruitment will be one of the first signings and will spend January and the second half of the season identifying our targets, talking to their agents and lining them up one by one. I would expect 10+ to sign on day one of the transfer window, along with the 4 or 5 who stay. We will undoubtedly pick up some real quality prem loans, again 3 or 4, thus leaving the summer to pick up the 2 or 3 marquee signings looking for a big payday. I expect Pederson to be the manager and to build a team in our current shape and playing style.

League 1 is also going to be good for Cadz, Charles, Weaver and Brown, who have not looked out of place in the Championship. Hard running will be our super power, with a blend of youth and experience. Bannan will undoubtedly be our lynchpin and skipper.

22 hours ago, HendOwl said:

Playing devil's advocate a bit here or self defence but...... 

Championship is bang average if Stoke, Millwall and West Brom are owt to go by.

 

Can't see Lg 1 being 'good' as some have implied, tough maybe.i think this current squad should pee it. (Caveat if all fit!!)

 

                   Charles

        Iorfa.     Cooper.  Bernard

Valery Chalobah BB Ammas M Lowe

                Ingleson 

                         Cadermatri

 

Horvath Palmer Weaver Fusire Thornton Johnson McNeil Lowe Brown .

 

A couple of additions would be welcome Obvs. 

 

At me

I have to disagree.  That side has around 25 goals in it in the Championship. In league 1 its not going to suddenly produce 80 or so. Cadz might get you 10, nobody else gets more than 5. 

Its also built on Iorfa, Chalobah, Bernard who are likely to be injured in large patches (I know you caveated if all fit), Bannan who is a year older and a general lack of pace and height, which will be exposed in L1. Last time around we had Smith, Windass, Gregory & Pato all getting 10+ goals and we still didn't make automatics. It also had players like Byers, Neymarv etc who got goals and we dont have that in the side right now. L1 is often underestimated, it can be a real dogfight. 

6 hours ago, maldenowl said:

If we're talking about having a competitive team in L1 then we need to keep the majority of this starting 11 and make about 10 good signings for the top end of L1/bottom end of champ. 

 

Let's not run before we can walk. This squad has been depleted but there are some good L1 players in it.

The majority of our proper senior squad will either not want to play in League 1 (Lowe, Valery, Amass, Bernard and maybe Charles) or aren’t good enough to start for a league 1 promotion chasing side (Iorfa, McNeill and Kobacki)

Personally, I think we will need 10-12 signings like you said but that’s mostly because next season will be a consolidation year and to properly bed in the youngsters (Fusire, Weaver, Brown, Johnson, Otegbayo, maybe Grainger).

Someone who's a free agent come January is Sam Morsy .

Although he's a free Agent,he can't sign for anyone come until the next transfer window because he spent 2 month at a club in Dubai.

He maybe 34,but he's just the kind of combative player we lack,and will certainly need next season.