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History for Mainland FC

WPM 2025/26 Squad Speculation, Confirmation and Mutual Termination

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Posted September 18, 2025 05:16 · last edited September 18, 2025 05:23

martinb
Mainland FC
Galloway went home to Melbourne when his contract ended, as per Transfermarkt, whereas our Japanese lads both have a contract to play out.  
"Wanting to stay" is not necessarily a compliment to the club, but also perhaps lack of interest from any potential clubs to go to, on a mutual, let alone on a buy-out.


Well, for what ever reason didn’t want to cut their contracts short simply because they’d been identified as the main scapegoats. 
And fair play. While the ethnicity of our imports have changed, our strategy seems the same. Before we looked for imports from higher levels than ours, but with career blockages due to injury or personal reasons. 

Now we seem to be looking at imports (and Retre) who are playing at a lower level than us, but who have recently played at a higher level with the potential hope of getting that higher level performance from them. 
That’s J2 (J1 and Germany), Canada (EFL), ISL (Sydney FC) and Eze from a lower level on the basis he can improve and is motivated to join a higher league. 

If the problem was sincerely and entirely the imports Chief should have changed the strategy, perhaps by investing more in one or two marquee imports, if we are short on readies. 

The same argument may apply here as that regarding playing youngsters.  There needs to be a mature / experienced core squad, so that youngsters can learn and improve next to the experienced guys. Same story if we are bringing in guys from lower leagues  who may want a step-up - the importance of a strong established core that serves as a benchmark for the incoming guys from the "lower leagues".
At present that core is limited to Tim Payne, Alex Rufer, and - by age and experience - it should be Paulo Retre.  Even if Retre does not have the legs anymore, he should still model the values (commitment, temperament, on-field manners etc) that would benefit the younger / newer / players.
By giving Nagasawa the captaincy in some of the games, Chiefy may be also pushing Kaisuke in that direction.


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Unknown editor edited September 18, 2025 05:23
martinb
Mainland FC
Galloway went home to Melbourne when his contract ended, as per Transfermarkt, whereas our Japanese lads both have a contract to play out.  
"Wanting to stay" is not necessarily a compliment to the club, but also perhaps lack of interest from any potential clubs to go to, on a mutual, let alone on a buy-out.


Well, for what ever reason didn’t want to cut their contracts short simply because they’d been identified as the main scapegoats. 
And fair play. While the ethnicity of our imports have changed, our strategy seems the same. Before we looked for imports from higher levels than ours, but with career blockages due to injury or personal reasons. 

Now we seem to be looking at imports (and Retre) who are playing at a lower level than us, but who have recently played at a higher level with the potential hope of getting that higher level performance from them. 
That’s J2 (J1 and Germany), Canada (EFL), ISL (Sydney FC) and Eze from a lower level on the basis he can improve and is motivated to join a higher league. 

If the problem was sincerely and entirely the imports Chief should have changed the strategy, perhaps by investing more in one or two marquee imports, if we are short on readies. 

The same argument may apply here as that regarding playing youngsters.  There needs to be a mature / experienced core squad, so that youngsters can learn and improve next to the experienced guys. Same story if we are bringing in guys from lower leagues  who may want a step-up - the importance of strong core that serve as a benchmark for the incoming guys from the "lower leagues".
At present that core is limited to Tim Payne, Alex Rufer, and - by age and experience - it should be Paulo Retre.  Even if Retre does not have the legs anymore, he should still model the values (commitment, temperament, on-field manners etc) that would benefit the younger / newer / players.
By giving Nagasawa the captaincy in some of the games, Chiefy may be also pushing Kaisuke in that direction.


Unknown editor edited September 18, 2025 05:22
martinb
Mainland FC
Galloway went home to Melbourne when his contract ended, as per Transfermarkt, whereas our Japanese lads both have a contract to play out.  
"Wanting to stay" is not necessarily a compliment to the club, but also perhaps lack of interest from any potential clubs to go to, on a mutual, let alone on a buy-out.


Well, for what ever reason didn’t want to cut their contracts short simply because they’d been identified as the main scapegoats. 
And fair play. While the ethnicity of our imports have changed, our strategy seems the same. Before we looked for imports from higher levels than ours, but with career blockages due to injury or personal reasons. 

Now we seem to be looking at imports (and Retre) who are playing at a lower level than us, but who have recently played at a higher level with the potential hope of getting that higher level performance from them. 
That’s J2 (J1 and Germany), Canada (EFL), ISL (Sydney FC) and Eze from a lower level on the basis he can improve and is motivated to join a higher league. 

If the problem was sincerely and entirely the imports Chief should have changed the strategy, perhaps by investing more in one or two marquee imports, if we are short on readies. 

The same argument may apply here as that regarding playing youngsters.  There needs to be a mature / experienced core squad, so that youngsters can learn and grow. Same story if we are bringing in guys from lower leagues  who may want a step-up - the importance of strong core that serve as a benchmark for the incoming guys from the "lower leagues".
At present that core is limited to Tim Payne, Alex Rufer, and - by age and experience - it should be Paulo Retre.  Even if Retre does not have the legs anymore, he should still model the values (commitment, temperament, on-field manners etc) that would benefit the younger / newer / players.
By giving Nagasawa the captaincy in some of the games, Chiefy may be also pushing Kaisuke in that direction.


Unknown editor edited September 18, 2025 05:21
martinb
Mainland FC
Galloway went home to Melbourne when his contract ended, as per Transfermarkt, whereas our Japanese lads both have a contract to play out.  
"Wanting to stay" is not necessarily a compliment to the club, but also perhaps lack of interest from any potential clubs to go to, on a mutual, let alone on a buy-out.


Well, for what ever reason didn’t want to cut their contracts short simply because they’d been identified as the main scapegoats. 
And fair play. While the ethnicity of our imports have changed, our strategy seems the same. Before we looked for imports from higher levels than ours, but with career blockages due to injury or personal reasons. 

Now we seem to be looking at imports (and Retre) who are playing at a lower level than us, but who have recently played at a higher level with the potential hope of getting that higher level performance from them. 
That’s J2 (J1 and Germany), Canada (EFL), ISL (Sydney FC) and Eze from a lower level on the basis he can improve and is motivated to join a higher league. 

If the problem was sincerely and entirely the imports Chief should have changed the strategy, perhaps by investing more in one or two marquee imports, if we are short on readies. 

The same argument may apply here as that regarding playing youngsters.  There needs to be a mature / experienced core squad, so that youngsters can learn and grow. Same story if we are bringing in guys from lower leagues  who may want a step-up - the importance of strong core that serve as a benchmark for the incoming guys from the "lower leagues".
At present that would be Tim Payne, Alex Rufer, and - by age and experience - it should be Paulo Retre.  Even if Retre does not have the legs anymore, he should still model the values (commitment, temperament, on-field manners etc) that would benefit the younger / newer / players.

Unknown editor edited September 18, 2025 05:19
martinb
Mainland FC
Galloway went home to Melbourne when his contract ended, as per Transfermarkt, whereas our Japanese lads both have a contract to play out.  
"Wanting to stay" is not necessarily a compliment to the club, but also perhaps lack of interest from any potential clubs to go to, on a mutual, let alone on a buy-out.


Well, for what ever reason didn’t want to cut their contracts short simply because they’d been identified as the main scapegoats. 
And fair play. While the ethnicity of our imports have changed, our strategy seems the same. Before we looked for imports from higher levels than ours, but with career blockages due to injury or personal reasons. 

Now we seem to be looking at imports (and Retre) who are playing at a lower level than us, but who have recently played at a higher level with the potential hope of getting that higher level performance from them. 
That’s J2 (J1 and Germany), Canada (EFL), ISL (Sydney FC) and Eze from a lower level on the basis he can improve and is motivated to join a higher league. 

If the problem was sincerely and entirely the imports Chief should have changed the strategy, perhaps by investing more in one or two marquee imports, if we are short on readies. 

The same argument may apply here as that regarding playing youngsters.  There needs to be a mature / experienced core squad, so that youngsters can learn and grow. Same story if we are bringing in guys from lower leagues  who may want a step-up - the importance of strong core that serve as a benchmark for the incoming guys from the "lower leagues".