Who should stay and who should go? Shaping 2015-16 Newcastle United: The Reserves

Two things are clear when considering the voting on the poll regarding reserve players for Newcastle.  First, people feel a lot less comfortable talking about the reserves.  This is understandable as in-depth coverage of this group is much harder to find.  Second, with few exceptions, the people who did respond (roughly 40% of the voting number compared to the senior squad numbers) are largely done with players who have had unsuccessful stints in the first team or have failed to establish themselves in loan situations (I'm looking at you, Adam Campbell) while undertaking a "wait-and-see" attitude with regard to the reserves who have not pushed the first team.

There are of course outliers from this blanket statement.  Of course there are outliers.  Haris Vuckic is retained in spite of his inability to gain a foothold in a somewhat barren striking/attacking mid situation while Liam Smith (aged 20) takes the unfortunate title of "player the voters are most ready to see gone".  Perhaps there is a bit of pragmatic thought here – we have retained Moussa Sissoko and Jack Colback and the reserves poll keeps Olivier Kemen, Gael Bigirimana and Mehdi Abeid – or perhaps there is actual thought that Liam is not good enough.  We may never know. (psst please tell us in the comments if you voted against Liam Smith!)

We do fill a lot of holes positionally with the reserves, even if they may not be ready right away, but that's got to be a good thing as the end result of this exercise is that we're going to need Mike Ashley to splash the cash to fill any significant holes in the squad (either by absence or lack of quality).  It is interesting to note that, with one exception, all of the players voted out in the reserves poll are Geordies, you big meanies.  Of course it's not inexplicable that this is the case based on the way the club are operating and the fact that precious few of our local products end up making an impact at senior level.

Here are your results and your updated squad:

Your 2015-16 Newcastle United Squad

Goalkeeper (2):  Tim Krul,
Freddie Woodman

Defenders (6)  Paul Dummett, Massadio Haidara, Curtis Good, Lubomir Satka, Remie Streete, Kevin Mbabu,

Central Midfield (9):  Moussa Sissoko, Jack Colback, Olivier Kemen, Gael Bigirimana, Mehdi Abeid,  Siem De Jong, Sammy Ameobi, Remy Cabella, Rolando Aarons

Strikers (7):  Papiss Cisse, Ayoze Perez, Haris Vuckic, Alex Gillilead, Tom Heardman, Adam Armstrong, Jonathyn Quinn

So there we have it - the 2015-16 Newcastle United squad as voted on by you.  (ed. note: I don't think we'll continue on into the Academy, so I have inserted Freddie Woodman into the squad.  Come at me.  Also, I missed Jonathyn Quinn on the Reserves poll, so he makes the squad as well unless you tell me otherwise.) At what level can this squad compete in the Premier League, if it can at all?  Where will we need to have Mike Ashley help us to fill any huge holes or gaps in quality?  Let's talk it out in the comments!