HFX Wanderers Season Thread 2020

[MM3/MM2/MM]

Time to start new thread with roster announcements starting to leak out.

 

Edited November 1, 2019 by MM3/MM2/MM

[HfxCeltic]

Elliot Simmons release was a club decision apparently. A little disappointed as I thought he played really well for us and made the whole squad better when he was on the field.

Hart talked about players pricing themselves out of a contract at the  Q&A, so perhaps this is an example of that. Sure the younger players saw guys like Perea and Williams making quite a bit more and contributing less, then felt a little undervalued.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

 

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

 

 

[MM3/MM2/MM]

So do some of these players end up with other CanPL teams, they are not all ready to move to a higher level or do they go to L1O or other lower regional leagues?.

[Bison44]

Come to the Peg Skublak.

[grasshopper1917]

4 hours ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

 

I hope this is not ture - he was one of out top midfielders. The results with him in the lineup spoke volumes. I mean what did the guy make 15k? 20k? If this is true.... Im just going to pretend its not - I hate 'I was told' or 'I heard from a source'. 

However if clubs are releasing player because they are in line for a 750$ or 1000$ raise thats just kinda crazy.

[Ansem]

 

[youllneverwalkalone]

Jeez, I hope some of these guys are surfacing closer to home. All decent players based on year 1. It will be interesting to see who replaces them.

[toontownman]

1 hour ago, youllneverwalkalone said:

Jeez, I hope some of these guys are surfacing closer to home. All decent players based on year 1. It will be interesting to see who replaces them.

Yeah, hard to judge not seeing the big picture yet. 3 players I would have retained over lots of their foreign contingent that disappointed. 

I know Langwa butted heads with Hart and was deemed to be a bad apple attitude wise. Have to think he will be picked up somewhere though. Too much upside. Likewise Simmons and Skublak. 

[grasshopper1917]

4 hours ago, toontownman said:

Yeah, hard to judge not seeing the big picture yet. 3 players I would have retained over lots of their foreign contingent that disappointed. 

I know Langwa butted heads with Hart and was deemed to be a bad apple attitude wise. Have to think he will be picked up somewhere though. Too much upside. Likewise Simmons and Skublak. 

Well I think Langwa has potential but he had that screaming match with Hart which pretty much sealed his fate. Lots of rumors he had some dust up with his team mates as well. Might be a case of potential on field but a nightmare in the locker room. However a young guy like that tearing into Hart in front of 6000 people is pretty well a ticket out of town.

Skubi I love but he was a forward who doesn't score many goals and sets up just as few. I don't see why you would keep him - great guy -plays all out all the time but cant produce. Im assuming he was pretty good in Vaughn - that's likely the level he should be playing at.

Simmons I don't get at all. To me we were always a better team with him in the lineup. For me he was a no brainer to keep.

[HfxCeltic]

On 11/1/2019 at 2:51 PM, HfxCeltic said:

Elliot Simmons release was a club decision apparently. A little disappointed as I thought he played really well for us and made the whole squad better when he was on the field.

Hart talked about players pricing themselves out of a contract at the  Q&A, so perhaps this is an example of that. Sure the younger players saw guys like Perea and Williams making quite a bit more and contributing less, then felt a little undervalued.

Apparently this was more likely Skublak than Simmons. Heard Duane Rollins source is shit for the Simmons comment. I guess he just didn’t fit the preferred system in Hart’s eyes - although we seemed a better team with him in the squad.

Langwa I understand.

[Ansem]

 

[toontownman]

[Copes]

Skublak and (unfortunately) Langwa I expected. The former due to what I perceived to be a lack of production, the second because of attitude issues. 

Simmons and Iida though - I expected both of them to stick around. I thought both showed a lot of heart and a lot of upside. 

Prediction game. Who weathers the storm and returns next year? 

Just rolling through the Roster page on the website, I'm guessing that we maintain Arnone, Bona, De Carolis, Firth, Garcia, John, Kourouma, Oxner, Perea, Sukunda. Maybe Guti but that's a long shot. I don't think he lived up to expectations but maybe Hart wants to give the gabled Guti / Perea combo another season with some more support to try and work?

 

[Zem]

48 minutes ago, Copes said:

Just rolling through the Roster page on the website, I'm guessing that we maintain Arnone, Bona, De Carolis, Firth, Garcia, John, Kourouma, Oxner, Perea, Sukunda. Maybe Guti but that's a long shot. I don't think he lived up to expectations but maybe Hart wants to give the gabled Guti / Perea combo another season with some more support to try and work?

I don't see how we definitely keep Perea but only keep Guti for novelty, they had very similar seasons overall. Both were held back by injuries and Perea was good at the start of the season and frustratingly poor toward the end, while Guti was the opposite.

I reckon we could go either way on both of them, maybe with a full preseason and good health we get the better Perea or Guti for more of next season, or we could just find a replacement who is probably just as likely to do well. Frankly I would see Perea as the much more uncertain one since he's 33, only managed to score two goals from open play in all competitions and the last time he did so was in July.

Sukunda I can only see being resigned as a flexible depth option, he was also quite disappointing overall. I feel like career-wise he might be better off looking for somewhere he'll get a good shot, rather than being stuck behind Bona, De Carolis and Garcia/Guti/Kourouma.

Also, we're obviously keeping Rampersad unless he decides to sign somewhere else, his tandem with John was one of the few highlights from the last few months of the season.

[deschamp86]

1 hour ago, Copes said:

Simmons and Iida though - I expected both of them to stick around. I thought both showed a lot of heart and a lot of upside. 

Its always possible that they could still re-sign. Perhaps their contract numbers didn't make sense. Now that the level of the league is known the coaches will know more of how they need to make the numbers work

[dyslexic nam]

10 minutes ago, deschamp86 said:

Its always possible that they could still re-sign. Perhaps their contract numbers didn't make sense. Now that the level of the league is known the coaches will know more of how they need to make the numbers work

That's what I wondered about.  Does the current cut mean gone forever or just re-evaluating their contracts.  I know HFX has other irons in the fire so some room may need to be made within the squad for incoming players.  This could just be a way of making sure they have options when it comes to signing guys and balancing all of their contracts. 

[Copes]

3 hours ago, Zem said:

I don't see how we definitely keep Perea but only keep Guti for novelty, they had very similar seasons overall. Both were held back by injuries and Perea was good at the start of the season and frustratingly poor toward the end, while Guti was the opposite.

Fair - I think I valued Perea a little higher than Guti, but you're right that he kind of became lacklustre as the season progressed. 

Quote

Sukunda I can only see being resigned as a flexible depth option, he was also quite disappointing overall. I feel like career-wise he might be better off looking for somewhere he'll get a good shot, rather than being stuck behind Bona, De Carolis and Garcia/Guti/Kourouma.

Flexible depth is exactly why I expected Sukunda to stay. Provided he wants to. 

Quote

Also, we're obviously keeping Rampersad unless he decides to sign somewhere else, his tandem with John was one of the few highlights from the last few months of the season.

Agreed, forgot him. 

[Copes]

Following up, looks like our first 2020 signing TOMORROW?

Email from Derek Martin:
 

As you may have noticed over the past few days, several players that were part of our inaugural 2019 Wanderers roster have expressed their thanks to our fans and our club on social media as they pursue new professional opportunities.

While we are sad to say goodbye to these young men, we also want to thank them for making the commitment to play for us this past season. Joining a new league, a new club and new city was a courageous decision and we appreciate their contributions to our club. They all played with heart and passion and for that we will be forever grateful and they will forever be Wanderers.  They are also professionals however, so they understand that results matter and the hard truth is that our 2019 squad did not perform the way we had hoped on the pitch. Our last place finish in the standings and lack of goal production are not the results we expect at this club so change is necessary, however difficult it may be.

We have been diligently at work, since long before the end of the season, identifying the areas where we need to improve and we are now beginning to execute on our strategy to bring an exciting and winning team to the best fans in the league. We have been impressed by the quality of players that have expressed an interest in joining our club, as the story of the Kitchen and our fabulous atmosphere have reached the far corners of the soccer world, and we are excited to start sharing the roster we are building with you! Beginning tomorrow, we will start announcing the players we have signed for 2020 that we believe give us the best opportunity to compete for a CPL Championship. We look forward to continuing this exciting journey with you and thank you for your continued support of our club and our mission to unite our community through the power of sport. Sincerely, Derek Martin Founder & President HFX Wanderers FC P.S. Rover isn't going anywhere!

[Zem]

2 hours ago, Copes said:

Following up, looks like our first 2020 signing TOMORROW?

Email from Derek Martin:
 

As you may have noticed over the past few days, several players that were part of our inaugural 2019 Wanderers roster have expressed their thanks to our fans and our club on social media as they pursue new professional opportunities.

While we are sad to say goodbye to these young men, we also want to thank them for making the commitment to play for us this past season. Joining a new league, a new club and new city was a courageous decision and we appreciate their contributions to our club. They all played with heart and passion and for that we will be forever grateful and they will forever be Wanderers.  They are also professionals however, so they understand that results matter and the hard truth is that our 2019 squad did not perform the way we had hoped on the pitch. Our last place finish in the standings and lack of goal production are not the results we expect at this club so change is necessary, however difficult it may be.

We have been diligently at work, since long before the end of the season, identifying the areas where we need to improve and we are now beginning to execute on our strategy to bring an exciting and winning team to the best fans in the league. We have been impressed by the quality of players that have expressed an interest in joining our club, as the story of the Kitchen and our fabulous atmosphere have reached the far corners of the soccer world, and we are excited to start sharing the roster we are building with you! Beginning tomorrow, we will start announcing the players we have signed for 2020 that we believe give us the best opportunity to compete for a CPL Championship. We look forward to continuing this exciting journey with you and thank you for your continued support of our club and our mission to unite our community through the power of sport. Sincerely, Derek Martin Founder & President HFX Wanderers FC P.S. Rover isn't going anywhere!

I assume that might include re-signed players, not necessarily new signings. Exciting nonetheless though!

[HfxCeltic]

19 hours ago, Copes said:

Flexible depth is exactly why I expected Sukunda to stay. Provided he wants to. 

I’ve heard he is very keen to stay, but haven’t heard if that will be the case.

[Ansem]

 

Edited November 5, 2019 by Ansem

[narduch]

Good move.

I think they would have defeated Ottawa in the V's Cup had they started him.

[deschamp86]

1 hour ago, narduch said:

Good move.

I think they would have defeated Ottawa in the V's Cup had they started him.

Hard to say. I thought he looked pretty shaky early in the season but definitely grew as he started getting more games. He certainly deserved to be the starter by the mid point