TT BLOG

Tom Diamond – @GullsSoc

Tom discusses how the TUFC squad is shaping up

With an eagerly anticipated trip to Buckland on the horizon, United’s squad, which consisted of Austen Booth…and Austen Booth not too long ago, is beginning to take shape. However, what shape this will be is still to be discovered, but with 16 players having put pen to paper it gives us a chance to consider how the Gulls may line up this season, and which positions we may look to further invest in through the loan market.

Since the Bryn Consortium takeover, we have seen new signings announced in a plethora of both nostalgic locations (Babbacombe Model Village), and less nostalgic locations (Wickes). But one thing is for certain, Gulls fans near and far are filled to the Bryn with optimism following Paul and Neil’s recent squad assembly. My Year 8 students are currently rehearsing for a high school musical performance, and it really does feel as though we are all in this together as we head into the 2024/2025 season. The consortium has made no secret of the fact that this year’s budget will be lower than that of the forgettable season that has just passed, but have we utilised this budget in a much more effective way? Let’s discuss, starting with the defence.

Goalkeeper

Whether explicitly or implicitly, Wotton has made it clear that a solid defence is a priority for this upcoming season through the addition of one goalkeeper and eight defenders so far. Firstly, goalkeeper James Hamon was one of the two most likely options to replace Halstead as United’s new number 1 this season, the other being former Bristol City number 2 Harvey Wiles-Richards who opted for a return to his hometown of Bath despite interest from Plainmoor. Hamon will be well known to Gulls fans having previously played for the club, albeit only in a brief cameo away at Solihull in the 2020-2021 season (I refuse to call it the ‘Ashton Gate season’), but comes to the Riviera on the back of a solid season as Truro’s number 1. It is yet to be seen if Wotton will look to recruit externally for a back-up GK straight away, or utilise a member of the successful United U18 team to sit on the bench, with the option to employ an emergency loan should anything prevent Hamon from starting a game during the season.

Defenders

In defence, United’s eight signings so far have a wealth of NLS experience between them, something which was desperately lacking during the 2023-2024 season. At left back, or wing back depending on the shape which is preferred, Jay Foulston who made 20 appearances for last year’s NLS champions seems the likely starting option with back up being provided by the talented Matty Carson who has signed a permanent deal from Premier League returnees Southampton. The addition of two left backs seems to make it clear that Dean Moxey is much more likely to be deployed as a centre back, or perhaps as a left sided member of a back three. If we can keep the squad fit, centre half seems an area in which there will be particular competition for places with Moxey, Palmer, Dyer, Dreyer and to a lesser extent Booth all eyeing up a spot in the middle of United’s backline. On a side note, do go and read the excellent ‘Gulls profiles’ written by my TT colleagues on all the players mentioned in this blog if you have not already. Wotton has made it clear that he is a big fan of Finley Craske who had an injury hit first season at Plainmoor but did show his potential at times when playing. It seems fairly certain that Craske will occupy either the right back or wing back position on the opening day with a few backup options being available, such as marquee signing Oscar Threlkeld, if needed.

Midfielders

As just mentioned, our midfield recruitment has seen the addition of arguably our most marquee signing in the form of Oscar Threlkeld who has well over 100 EFL appearances to his name and can also play across the backline if needed. Joining him in the midfield union is Dan Hayfield, who along with Jordan Dyer and Dean Moxey, was announced at the Princess Theatre on Friday night in front of 1000+ Gulls fans. Both Dan and Jordan join us from Bath with Dan in particular having left an extremely positive impression with the Romans faithful in his 92 appearances for the club. Another interesting addition to the midfield is Roddy Collins who until 2018 was playing his football in Ireland. The strong defensive midfielder who was a part of the recently promoted Chesham United squad will no doubt be eager to continue to play as much football as possible following his return from an ACL injury last summer. In terms of creativity, whilst Dan Hayfield will no doubt provide great energy as he has done for Bath, it seems our final midfield signing, Lirak Hasani, has the best potential to be the playmaker we have often been crying out for in the past couple of seasons. Like Threlkeld, Lirak has EFL experience with Doncaster as well as many non-league appearances for some niche northern outfits, such as Boston United.

Forwards

Forwards are more often than not the signings that provide fans with the most excitement as they visualise their new heroes scoring 35+ goals and leading their team to glory. Luckily, we have signed someone who did just that last time out with Jadyn Crosbie having scored 37 goals for Mangotsfield in the Hellenic League. Whilst that may be a few levels below, it was clear that Jadyn was a class above and his physical presence may give him the edge he needs to succeed at a higher level. Personally, I’d like to see him start alongside one of either Ash or Seymour who have both also put pen to paper for the upcoming season. We know all about Brad Ash, and Ben Seymour comes to us on the back of a very positive season for Hampton and Richmond in which he scored 14 times, including a penalty in United’s 3-1 away defeat back in October (how times have changed since then!).

Possible Line-Up

So, based on the aforementioned signings, what would be our best XI? This is subjective of course, but I am going to have a go at being Paul Wotton here and picking what I currently believe is our best team.

Arguably my most notable exclusions are Ash upfront and Collins in midfield. If this was a predicted line-up for a National League game, I may well have included Collins for extra security but I feel in the NLS, especially at home, we should be taking the game to teams as we failed to do last season and Hasani may well provide that link between the strike-force and the midfield. Leaving Ash out may just be something I’m doing to provide a bit of controversy and hopefully up the awareness of the blog but something tells me that Crosbie’s hold up play and Seymour’s pace in behind could be a lethal combination. It is also worth remembering that with midweek fixtures and inevitable injuries we are most likely going to need our full squad to be firing and raring to go.

Still Required?

My final section of this blog is on where we need to strengthen. One would assume based on Wotton’s recruitment that a 3-5-2 formation of sorts is fairly likely with both Foulston and Craske keen to get forward. However, if this is not the case and we do play the more traditional 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1, then it is more than likely that Wotton will be in the loan market for a winger or two. He has also mentioned that he wants a target man, this may hint at Crosbie not being ready to start at this level yet, as based on his playing style at Mangotsfield you would expect that he has been brought in to do a target man style role. In terms of who is going to be warming Hamon up as sub keeper, this also remains to be seen but this is probably unlikely to be a loan signing as Hamon seems a dead cert to wear the number 1 shirt. Depending on the success of Hasani, we could also be looking to bring in some more creativity to compliment the hard working figures of Hayfield, Threlkeld and Collins. So, a playmaker, a striker and a winger…surely no other managers are looking for them are they?!

It is unfortunately time to wrap this up, and if you have got this far then thank you for sticking with me. Has the recruitment been better than the year before with a lower budget? The early signs suggest that a lot of thought has gone into the signings we have made with a large number of players being from the south-west and having considerable men’s football experience. Of course, on paper the 2023-2024 team had a large proportion of the nearly successful great escape side which finished the previous season so strongly. However, they were unable to reach the same heights and gave us one of our most disappointing seasons to date. A new leaf has been turned, and Wotton promises a squad who will give everything for three points. Opposition fans generally seem gutted to have lost the players we have signed, and seeing them on the stage of the Princess Theatre on Friday night gave us a sense of unity of which we have been void in recent times. I am positively Brynning with excitement and cannot wait for the 10th August!