Well this would be my personal squad for next season. Will differ to what Marc actually does though:

                                      Foulkes

                                      Norman

             Camp                   Craig            *NEW LCB*

          Francomb              Gallagher             Milsom

   Muitt                 J.Taylor            Pybus           Norville-Williams

   Briggs              *NEW CM*          McManus             *NEW LWB*

                                        Carter

                                       McShane

                         Rutherford             Prior

                          *NEW ST*             Rawlins

We can have 7 subs on the bench next season so important to have some squad depth and options off the bench. I would also expect the likes of Saunders, Marino, Gale, etc to be in and around the first team squad as well.

7 subs next season?  Do you think Marc will allow a keeper on the bench now then?

Hoping that more than 1 or 2 signings are made, would be concerning if that is the case.

Rich from BOA said last week there is 6 leaving including the loan signings. Also there is one guy who’s signed(an exciting signing) but he wouldn’t give the name 

Also I saw Marc say last night that Tom Dukes is leaving the coaching staff. 

Rumour of an experienced left winger coming in, but no idea who. 

Realistically quite a few of the old guard have been around too long and that was evident last night. Even so, Marc said in the post match that 1 or 2 players who were in contract would hardly play next season. No idea of contract situations, but wouldn't those players be better off forming an old boys reunion at a nearby club down the road and actually getting to play some football, rather than getting splinters in their backsides here?

@calvertskans When Marc said after last nights game “we are a shadow of our former self, a shadow of where we were 3-4 years ago”

You would have to agree. 

Its clear certain lads are older now and sentiment shouldn’t be coming into the decisions of who he retains but it will. We will release 4 but really should be releasing 6-7. 

The other issue is with the formation and tactics especially at home. We are too easy to defend against at home and too easy to get points against at home. That comes from playing the same way every game. 

Why don’t we mix up the formation with 4 at the back at times and become more of a counter attack team? Why are we always the ones in possession getting counter attacked? Why are we NOT using pace to hurt teams on the transition?

Why is it always the same formulaic passing patterns which if a team is well drilled and high energy they can defend against and get to the 60 minute mark at 0-0 or 1-0 down? 

Why aren’t we the ones looking to transition into a new formation at the 60 minute mark and kill teams?

Our 12-7-4 home record last season cost us promotion because the formation, tactics and personnel have become stale. It’s too predictable. 

Mark will need to factor in a new formation and tactic for home games next season, that will probably need to involve 4 at the back therefore squad planning needs to take that into account. We need a more mobile and younger CB and LWB. As good as Craig is I can’t see him lasting another season. And Milsom will get injured as well. The late goals conceded and poor home record can be addressed if these areas are looked at. 

The other key point in becoming better at home and conceding less late goals is building a squad of athletes who are in their athletic prime. The athletic prime for footballers is 23-28 years old. 

We don’t want Mark moaning for the 3rd season in a row at the start of the season about an injury crisis, and how we only have 12 players fit. If he isn’t prepared to compile a squad of players who are athletes.

The injury crisis and the shipping of a ridiculous amount of late goals is purely due to the squad of players he retains and plays. The age and the athletic ability of the players isn’t good enough. This is one point I do not see drastically improving for next season if he is only tinkering around with the squad! 

Therefore injuries will be an issue and the team will continue to ship late goals even if the tactics and formation are changed. 

Agree with all of that. The club has brought in a strength and conditioning coach who looks like a contestant on Gladiators. I am sure that is going to be of use, but the elephant in the room is that the core of the squad that Marc regularly turned to when youngsters made mistakes are past their prime. A lot of individuals were at there peak in 2020 to 2021 if we are being honest (the abandoned season 20/21 we were stronger than the play off promoted season IMO)

If BoA are saying 6 leaving, it will be key who those are. 

McShane for example could be ambitious (but realistic) and move to the likes of Farnham who have just gone up to step 3 and have another promotion in them, especially with his experience (but at a less physically demanding level)

We have a lot of true Wanderers club legends with 2 and 3 promotions in them, but like Sami el Abd or Slav Huk, there has to be a realism about what the club needs to be genuinely competitive (assuming the club is genuinely ambitious and not just sentimental)

All of our issues come down to recruitment and player turnover. We don't make enough signings every Summer and we don't clear out enough deadwood.

Chelmsford just announced a head of recruitment and I am very surprised we have never looked at adding that same role at Dorking. All of our recruitment seems to be handled by Marc and the analysts/coaches which isn't ideal.

Marc said that he gave a couple of players (who won't be retained) the option whether to play or not last night! Did the same apply to Muitt who didn't appear too bothered against Carshalton last week? What is that all about - optional if you play? It's a cup final, supporters have paid to see the club have the best crack at it as possible! 

We came up short, fair do's from the point of view that W&H were excellent and deserved it, however from a DW point of view, it seemed a very half hearted effort. From the Carshalton post match interviews it didn't sound like there would be much training in preparation for the final. It appeared to me that that translated into a fair few of the individual performances yesterday.

@dorking-eagle Muitt got injured in the Carshalton game which is why he wasn't playing last night.

I genuinely can't think of a player last night who put in even a 5/10 or better performance last night. Might be the worst collective performance i've ever seen from a Dorking side along with the Macclesfield one.

@calvertskans The frustration here is that the club keeps on making the same mistakes every single season.

As you say not clearing out enough dead wood and not bringing in enough new players. Having the traditional early season injury crisis, and being a soft touch past the 60 minute mark on the pitch. 

Mark is good at quickly shifting players he has brought in that he doesn’t rate like with Alexandrou last season.

However because 1-2 signings will not work out by the law of averages, if you are only bringing in 3-4 every summer that leaves you have having to panic buy during the season or rely on loans as we had to do last season in Young. 

Mark recognises all this I am sure. But he still doesn’t seem capable of putting it into practice.

In the 6 he says he is letting go, my understanding is that 2 of those include Williams and Young who aren’t ours anyway.

So it’s really only 4 he is letting go, when you have 12 players 30+ in the building that’s not enough. You are still left with 8 players who are aged 30+ in a 20 man first team squad of outfield players. 

Frustration as the same mistakes continue to be made. 

I think realistically looking at the squad, Bobby-Joe, Fuller, Mcmanus, McShane (loan) Moore, Francomb and Murphy would be names that you would expect to be moved on in the offseason with new signings bought in to fulfil these positions. The squad is crying out for new players to push us onto the next level. This season has shown it is becoming all too stagnant, when we need a fresh pair of legs to come on it doesnt often feel like that said player will make much of an impact/change on the game. Someone with energy/pace to run at the opposition players when they are tiring out and cause problems would be ideal. Instead its always the same rotation of players coming on.