Powell surprise! : Thu Dec 07, 2023 9:26 am
Well so far he's proved me wrong.Firstly, who is this man, friendly, articulate and optimistic? Not what I was expecting at all.
Secondly, and to be honest this impression came from Cas fans, he hasn't filled the team with old Cas players, in fact he hasn't signed many old players at all.
Most surprisingly of all is that he's signed a lot of young players, especially from our youth set up. TBH I didn't think they would get a chance.
I didn't think he'd retain Shaw, Law and Croft. I'm delighted he has.
I didn't think he'd go out of his way to re- sign Pratt or sign Smith, but he did.
I certainly didn't think he'd pay hard cash for a potential star in Lawford - new territory for us all.
Of the rest of his signings there is a distinctly young look about them, Cozza, Uele, Bain, Boothroyd, Doyle, Walmsley, all 25 and under. Hardly the dads army many were fearing.
True we have some old stagers, but not that many, McGillvary, Gayle, Kay, Hood, Pitts, Bowden, Griffin and Ashurst the most noticeable. But others from last years team such as Jowitt, Atoni, Lino and Franco have years left in them. So far only 8 of the 26 players signed are what you would term as older players, not bad at all. A good spine of experience.
It is in truth a fairly young team, not what I expected at all.
