Cost-cutting continues

Following the release of Dorian Smith (never made the first team) and our loss of interest in Greg Halford, news yesterday that Paulo Monteiro will also be moving on. He, too, has never made the first team and actually only managed a handful of Reserve games.

In totality then, the squad has now been trimmed by 8 (Powell, Gibbs, Walker, Sankofa, McCarthy, Smith, Halford and Monteiro,) with only Hudson and Fleetwood joining. If we can move Bent and Faye out that should prepare the way for two more incomers (midfielders I would hope, or a midfielder and central defender/right-back) and would probably get us close to readiness for the new campaign.

Less can be more in certain circumstances and I think we need to show faith in the Board and Management's decision here. I'm sure Alan Pardew would have preferred more money to spend but he was confident we had the personnel to do the job last year and he acknowledged that our inflated squad probably didn't help us last season, especially the introduction of four loan players in January - all of whom expected to play and only served to upset the apple-cart.