which players will leave?

I think it’s a certainty that all the out of contract players will leave so that gives us a starting list of Figueroa, Alcaraz & Di Santo plus fringe/unwanted players like Boselli, Stam & Jones
I also read the other week that Golobart is out of contract & wants out due to a lack of opportunities. Might be true, might not be.
Then like you say the loanees will go back so there’s Scharner, Robles & Henriquez

So I have as a bare minimum 9 players going & possibly 10

Of the in-contract players I think McCarthy is a cert to be sold if only to raise some cash for new signings.
I also doubt Kone will wanna hang around as he has whinged at several points about it being unusual for him to be involevd in a relegation battle. Plus they’ll be plenty of clubs wanting to sign a bloke that got 12 league goals in a relegated side
Ramis I think would want to go but I’m not sure how many clubs will wanna go in for a bloke currently sidelined with a cruciate knee ligament damage

So that now gives us 11-13 going

I think who else would wanna leave depends on Bobby’s decision to stay or not.
If Bobby stays I think Maloney, McArthur & McManaman would elect to stay for at least another season. If Bobby goes I can see them being open to offers from top flight clubs & if Bobby goes to Everton I think that it’s a cert that he’ll come back for Maloney (& McCarthy).

So by my estimates I think Latics are looking at having to bring in anything from 11-16 players over the summer just to replace those who are likely to be going.
That’s a big ask combined with expecting em to hit the ground running & mount a promotion bid. The teams who are successful in coming back up (or at least mounting a challenge) are generally the ones who keep their squads together.
If Bobby does decide to go & the numbers needing to be replaced are at the higher end of my figures then the 2 combined are gonna make it very difficult to attract the quality of player needed to be pushing for promotion. 3 away games at some as yet unknown & possibly far flung European destination is unlikely to be able to mask a general impression of a club with everybody abandoning ship & one which is unlikely to be able to match the wages paid by the likes of Leicester, Forest, Leeds, Middlesbrough, Blackburn, Bolton etc.. in a stadium that is likely to be less than half empty for most of the time.

It’s gonna be tough, very tough. Looking forward to it already (depsite being absolutely gutted by our relegation) but I’m certainly not expecting the stroll in the park that some seem to be

Martinez has built up a group of Spanish speaking players who are likely to slip away if Martinez goes;

Robles
Alcaraz
Crusat
Gomez
Ramis
Beausejour
Golobart
Campabadal
Figueroa

And there’s goalkeeping coach Iñaki Bergara too. Espinoza also speaks Spanish, but grew up in America and is now a US citizen.

Alcaraz Figs and di Santo have all indicated they won’t renew contract so no chance now we have gone down. Joel and scharner will return to parent clubs.

McCarthy has served his time with us and would have gone anyway in summer.

Kone I understand has a release clause and pretty sure that will be met as seems good value, though if he stayed reckon we would score a shedload and lead us to promotion.

Maloney and mcmanaman I think will be happy to stay, though if club receives big offers they will be sold.

Clearly majority of these players are defenders and forwards and so major strengthening will be needed in these areas. However don’t forget in championship we are allowed a lot more loan signings and given clubs reputation on playing style and nurturing players we should be first in line for any top quality loanees from parent clubs.

Whilst McCarthy fee should be used for reinvestment I also think a good chunk should be for massive incentive bonuses if we get back up for those players we want to keep like kone, Maloney etc. the players we have left in squad are all more than good enough for championship and supplemented with new signings and loan players even with above departures we should have a very good and competitive squad. Of course who stays, goes and who comes in will be influenced by who is in charge and yes plans need putting in place immediately.

I think you’re getting too tied up in me mentioning Everton in my original post
From what I can gather Bobby is on the radars of a number of clubs across Europe. So forget about Everton & call it A.N. Other FC – if they were to entice Bobby away I think that would lead to more of the in-contract players itching to move away (McArthur, Maloney & McManaman) than would be the case if he were to stay.
I also think that it would have a major negative impact on Latics ability to entice players to the club. If you’re a player with a few new clubs to choose from you are unlikely to choose the one that has been freshly relegated & where 16 players & a manager have legged it from since the previous season’s end.

The job of getting promoted or even mounting a challenge is going to be hard enough but I think if Bobby does leave it is going to be nigh on impossible – for that reason I want him to stay. Not because I think he’s one of the best managers in Europe (copyright D Whelan) because I don’t but coz I fear the consequences of him leaving more than i fear (or look forward to – either works) the consequences of him staying