A massive rebuild and Howe to do it?

This football year can't come to an end soon enough. To get back to a sense of normality in both life and support of the club, is something I can't wait for.

The disaster that was this season, means that a rebuild of epic proportions is needed to give us a chance to get back to where we belong - the top of the tree in Scottish football. Missing out on 10 in a row is a blow, but we regroup and start again, and that change starts in the boardroom.

Dominic McKay has taken over as CEO from Peter Lawell, who in recent years, has allowed us to decline at an alarming rate. The backing of Lennon when it was clear that he was incapable of turning round a terrible start to the season, was a decision he would never recover from, and he should be joined by the Chairman Ian Bankier.

A new Director of Football will come in and I still believe that Eddie Howe will take on the role of Head Coach. The longer it takes for that appointment to be made, the less confident I become, but I do think that an agreement was made and I hope that he doesn't wait too long to decide. He will be joined by a new chief scout, who will need to do a lot of work in the coming months to develop a new network to find talent.

If Howe does take the job he will have funds to play with to bring in talent. The biggest issue we have had this year is that too many players have wanted to leave, but the club kept them on to try and secure that much wanted tenth successive title. With hindsight, several players should have left last year and been replaced.

By my reckoning we need to lose or will lose a massive 13 players in the coming window. Below is my synopsis of who will go and who will stay - and more importantly who we should look to recruit to give us an edge over the opposition in this country and help us regain the title.

Goalkeepers - Personally I think that Barkas needs to be given more time here, but I also think we should make an offer of circa £4m for an old favourite - Fraser Forster. At 33 years old he still has a lot to offer and has one year left on his contract.

Defence - Kenny, Laxalt, Duffy and Ajer will all go with the latter bringing in a significant transfer fee. Hendry will come back off a very successful stint in Belgium and should be given a chance to prove if there is a player in there. Filip Benkovic is a free agent in June and should also be brought in at centre back.

The fullback positions should be filled by a £2m bid for Josh Doig and possibly a £500k bid for Shaun Rooney at St Johnstone. I am struggling to think of a really good right back but if Rooney doesn't fit the bill then hopefully the new manager will have someone in mind.

Midfield - Scott Brown, Ntcham, Perez, Christie, Bitton and Elyounoussi will all leave or return to their parent clubs. Soro, Turnbull, Forrest and McGregor are the basis of a really good midfield, but it needs beefed up a bit. Shaw is coming in as a free and I would keep Rogic, and Shved may add cover if he can get his head straight. Ryan Gauld is a free and should be approached along with a bid in the region of £2m for Sparta Pragues left midfielder Karlsson who ripped us to shreds twice this season. He has one year left on his contract.
I would like is to bring in Robert from Airdrie on a free and if Shaw is deemed a "prospect" signing then a bid for Ferguson from Aberdeen would be a decent shout.

Forwards - Eddy is definitely for the off but we can expect a good fee for him again. Ajeti and Griffiths are both worth keeping in my opinion, particularly if Griff can get his head right and his fitness at the right level. We will need to bring in one or even two strikers and Nebitt from Hibs should be one, but hopefully the new manager has a diamond to bring with him in that position.

The funds we get for the sales of Edouard, Ajer, Christie and Ntcham will more than cover the cost of the purchases above and give us a big fund for a REALLY top class striker.

All of these are achievable and would give us a squad better than our rivals. With a new manager in place to give much needed tactics, coaching guidance and motivation, I can see no reason why we can't retake the league next season.

Obviously I am not the doyen of all things football and I'm sure the new manager will have players of his own in mind, but he would do well to think of the players mentioned here. Karlsson, Doig and Gauld are no brainers for me. Real quality at a low cost.

If he did go for the players I suggest that would give us the following squad :

Goalkeepers - Forster, Barkas, Bain
RB - Rooney, Ralston
LB - Doig, Taylor
CD - Benkovic, Jullien, Hendry, Welsh and Hjelde
CDM - Soro, Shaw, (Ferguson)
CM - McGregor, Turnbull, Rogic, Robert, Gauld
RM - Forrest, Shved
LM - Karlsson, Johnston
SK - Griffiths, Ajeti, Nesbitt + Big signing