This week on Around One, we focus on Crewe Alexandra, Plymouth Argyle, Portsmouth, and League One squad sizes.
There has been little of interest in League One this week, with most clubs focused mainly on the closure of the transfer window.
Poor Crewe have suffered more woes with the departure of star man Owen Dale to Blackpool, initially on loan with a view to a permanent transfer. Dale is the last of the outstanding crop of young players to leave after Perry Ng, Harry Pickering, Ryan Wintle and Charlie Kirk, all of whom have left the club in 2021. To compound matters, recent signing Shaun MacDonald has decided to retire from playing, incredibly the second of Crewe’s summer signings to do so after defender Tommie Hoban. Alex will not be struggling to field a team, though, if the numbers below are anything to go by.
Congratulations to Freddie Issaka, who set a new club record for Plymouth on Tuesday night when he made his debut as a second-half substitute at Newport. Issaka has become the youngest player in the club’s history at just 15 years and 34 days old, breaking the previous record by more than a year.
Portsmouth’s 19-year-old Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu almost prevented history from being made on Wednesday night when he saved a penalty from Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo. The penalty would have given Ronaldo a new world record for goals scored in internationals, but he had the last laugh with two late goals to take his total to 111. Pompey have also converted around 10,000 of their ‘flexi-tickets’ into full season tickets, giving them one of the largest season ticket bases in League One.
Now the transfer window has closed, it is interesting to compare League One squad sizes against last season’s transitory restriction of 22 players. Has the abolition of the salary cap inspired certain clubs to commit financial hara-kiri again? Will the usual suspects have built large squads at all costs to gain an advantage over the mere mortals? Well, there are some surprises to be found. As far as I can tell, squad sizes are as follows (excluding players out on loan): Accrington 25, AFC Wimbledon 25, Bolton 34, Burton 38, Cambridge 26, Charlton 27, Cheltenham 28, Crewe 33, Doncaster 28, Fleetwood 22 (restricted by terms of embargo, but see below), Gillingham 23 (restricted by terms of embargo), Ipswich 30, Lincoln 23, MK Dons 26, Morecambe 26, Oxford 27, Plymouth 32, Portsmouth 25, Rotherham 27, Sheffield Wednesday 26, Shrewsbury 22, Sunderland 26, Wigan 23, Wycombe 33.
This has to be taken with a pinch of salt to a certain extent, as some clubs such as Sunderland, Wigan, Ipswich and even Fleetwood insist on running separate development (U23) squads. For instance, Fleetwood have 22 first-team players plus a further 14 in the U23s – no wonder they are losing such extreme amounts of money for such a tiny club.
What these numbers do not reveal is how much those squads have cost in transfer fees and exactly what the commitments are in respect of wages. Michael Appleton has been unequivocal in his condemnation of overspending in League One, but it is not necessarily the bigger clubs he is referring to. Anyone fancy paying Burton Albion’s wage bill, for example? Financial analysts will have a field day when accounts for 2021-22 season are eventually published – assuming some clubs are still around to publish them by then.
This week’s transfers:
Yeboah Amankwah (20), defender, Manchester City to Accrington (season loan)
Harry Arter (31), midfielder, Nottingham Forest to Charlton (season loan)
Miguel Azeez (18), midfielder, Arsenal to Portsmouth (season loan)
J’Neil Bennett (19), midfielder, Tottenham to Crewe (loan to January)
Joe Bennett (31), defender, Cardiff to Wigan
Saido Berahino (28), forward, Zulte Waregem – Belgium to Sheffield Wednesday
Bersant Celina (24), midfielder, Dijon – France to Ipswich (season loan)
Harry Chapman (23), midfielder, Blackburn to Burton (loan to January)
Mitch Clark (22), defender, Leicester to Accrington
Leon Dajaku (20), midfielder, Union Berlin – Germany to Sunderland (season loan)
Ben Davis (20), midfielder, Fulham to Oxford
Tayo Edun (23), defender, Lincoln to Blackburn
Joe Garner (33), forward, APOEL – Cyprus to Fleetwood
Will Grigg (30), forward, Sunderland to Rotherham (season loan)
Ethan Hamilton (22), midfielder, Peterborough to Accrington
Thorben Hoffman (22), goalkeeper, Bayern Munich – Germany to Sunderland
Daniel Jebbison (18), forward, Sheffield United to Burton (season loan)
Callum Johnson (24), defender, Portsmouth to Fleetwood ( season loan)
Kyle Joseph (19), forward, Swansea to Cheltenham (season loan)
Herbie Kane (22), midfielder, Barnsley to Oxford (season loan)
Scott Kashket (25), forward, Wycombe to Crewe
Charlie Kelman (19), forward, QPR to Gillingham (season loan)
Jason Kerr (24), defender, St Johnstone to Wigan £600,000
Peter Kioso (22), defender, Luton to MK Dons (season loan)
Charlie Lakin (22), midfielder, Birmingham to Burton
Sam Lavelle (24), defender, Morecambe to Charlton
Jonathan Leko (22), forward, Birmingham to Charlton (season loan)
Jovan Malcolm (18), forward, West Brom to Accrington (season loan)
Kelvin Mellor (30), defender, Morecambe to Carlisle
Samy Morsy (29), midfielder, Middlesbrough to Ipswich
Christian Norton (20), forward, Stoke to Cheltenham (loan to January)
Josh Parker (30), forward, released by Burton
Mattie Pollock (19), defender, Watford to Cheltenham (season loan)
Scott Robertson (20), midfielder, Celtic to Crewe (season loan)
Jamie Robson (23), defender, Dundee United to Lincoln
Mahlon Romeo (25), defender, Millwall to Portsmouth (season loan)
Alex Samuel (25), forward, Wycombe to Ross County
Curtis Tilt (30), defender, Rotherham to Wigan (season loan)
Ben Tozer (31), defender, Cheltenham to Wrexham
Rodrigo Vilca (22), midfielder, Newcastle to Doncaster (season loan)
Christian Walton (25), goalkeeper, Brighton to Ipswich (season loan)
Derick Osei Yaw (22), forward, released by Oxford
Writer: Scotimp
Around One – 3 September 2021:https://t.co/BjvoTlKF5r#CreweAlex #Pompey #PAFC
— Vital Lincoln City (@VitalLincoln) September 3, 2021
