Views from the Sieve

Another departure from the club. Saunders leaves too. This is gonna be one tough job for Strevens

Unfortunately never seem to reach the lofty heights I thought he would when we signed him from Hornchurch. I think I remember his manager saying, with his potential he could one day play at championship level. Had had a lot of injuries last couple of seasons as well, which hasn't helped his progress. Still sad to see him go but perhaps needs a new start.

Didn't help that almost every time he was played the ball he was marked with his back to the opposition. We never played to his strengths.

Stevens better have some good contacts! Gonna need some proper signings if we are gonna improve

I don't think it's a bad thing Saunders decided to move on. If the player thinks it's best for him, then his heart isn't in the job at Dagenham, and it's probably better for all he moves on. It releases another wage for Strevens to utilise and yes, it makes his job that more difficult but he has the opportunity to bring in his own players. A very busy few weeks ahead but I for one do not blame Strevens for the state of our club and lack of quality in the squad he inherited. I will support him come August COYD

Strevens has a tough job to do but fortunately took over with a couple of months of the season remaining and therefore had time to assess the squad and presumably was also told it would be on a reduced budget in the future. With his time in football, he should have plenty of knowledge and contacts throughout the game to help in getting new players. I think the last couple of seasons the expectation level has been that we would get into the playoffs but that soon evaporated as the season went on. I think sometimes a new broom is needed to have good clear out and build again, so we will have to just wait and see how that goes.

len wrote: ↑Sat Jun 10, 2023 10:11 am I think the last couple of seasons the expectation level has been that we would get into the playoffs

That expectation was set by our owners and clearly communicated - it wasn't the fans driving the expectation!

len wrote: ↑Sat Jun 10, 2023 10:11 am I think sometimes a new broom is needed to have good clear out and build again

Absolutely agree, and I've no complaints that we are seeing a large turnover of players - we spent most of the past few seasons complaining that they weren't good enough, so why complain now that they've been moved on?! We do also need such a clear out at board level though... I won't hold my breath that'll happen any time soon!

Tbh I'd like to see more leave than are currently transfer listed. We can't defend to save our lives yet are retaining about 5 defenders.

Sad to see Sagaf go, he is quality on the ball, he never hides, he works hard. You could probably say he's a bit easily shrugged off to be a top top midfielder at this level but we'll struggle to do better.

Saunders for me isn't good enough. You could say he's a squad player but I don't really like keeping players in that role, everyone should be capable of pushing for a start.

If Strevs can just field 11 players that work their nuts off for this club then I'll be relatively happy. Despite our flirtation with playoffs in recent years, I haven't enjoyed it at all - we were unpredictable, always had a disaster around the corner, failed to show up too often. I'd rather a consistently hard working, committed side who are likely to be mid table but could do something special if the stars align. More like the old days.

The personnel that have left may find it difficult to get regular 1st team games elsewhere.
The latest signings at Notts County could also mean that Junior may find it difficult to get into their team.

It's going to be a tough competitive league next season. Can see us in a relegation battle tbh

I'm not expecting us to be challenging for the title, but can we have a bit of realism here - we don't know what players Strevs is looking at bringing in, we don't know what his recruitment is going to look like and we don't know what shape we will be in when the season starts in 2 months time. It may well be that we end up with a squad akin to Peter Taylors, in which case yes , we may well be in a relegation scrap. It may also turn out to be a decent squad, in which case we might do somewhat better. All we do know is that its going to be vastly different to the underperforming squads of the last couple of seasons - something that most of us have been crying for. Let's at least give is a couple of months before all the doom, gloom and predictions of relegation!

George Saunders returned to Hornchurch (Isthmian League Premier Division)

Just seen on skybet we are 16-1 for the league title next season :eek: :eek:

Only 6 teams in the division with shorter odds than us. Do the bookies know something we don’t


Chesterfield obviously favourites at 7-2
And Hartlepool, Rochdale and Oldham all 9’s.