The recruitment/transfer policy

Whilst the current owners are involved with us will it ever change? (Buy young lower league or overseas players develope and hopefully sell for a profit? Repeating year on year regardless of division and league position)

To remain so constantly stubborn to never tweak it occasionally is very frustrating.

Is it really so bad to get in the odd experienced decent player once in a while?

 

No it won't, They've set their stall out and told us what it is going to be like. All they want is to use us as a cash cow, simples.

All we as fans have asked for is the plan to be tweaked a little. To bring in 2/3 older heads to nurture and help the young lads but as they won't bring an re-sale value then it's a non starter. With the current plan all we are ever likely to be is a yo yo club between L1 and the championship.

 

Of course it's not against the rules to get experienced players in.

We got Matt Mills didn't we!

 

And Matty James but both under previous owner.

 

Name the 2 or 3 please that you refer to

 

I just cant help but think of the young squad Lee Johnson had, a hell of alot of talent but it needed a player to grab it by the throat and to guide them through a 90 minute game, up stepped Adam Hammill.

We need something similar, a 7/8 month deal would be ideal for all parties. I dont know if the rules have changed RE free transfers but I'm assuming you can still sign them outside the window and them being allowed to play straight away?

A big horrible center forward would be ideal, or a center half. It could be the difference between this side staying up or not.

I would be gobsmacked if it happened though.

 

Which centre forward, or are we still pretending 1 in 10 Moore would have been the answer?

 

Was that his record with us? I will just check the stats I thought it was better. I was never a massive fan but any option is better than no option.

 

Having checked. 44 starts with 23 goals. That’s a little better than 1 in 10.

 

Matt Mills was brought in under the current regime. They took over in December 2017 and Mills was signed on the last day of the January 2016 transfer window.

 

Aye your memory is better than mine. January 16 is before December 17 though!!!

 

Oops! What a dozy, old muppet I am. I meant January 2018. Old age and insanity on my part is the pitiful excuse!
You just can't get the staff these days!

 

1 goali every 10 chances. He would get 2 chances a game in this league if that. His season with Wigan will bear that out as he still struggles to complete a game.
I thought he was a top player for us last season but he would get nothing versus stronger and faster defenders against whom he’d spend even longer on his arse with his arms out wide appealing for a free kick

 

Ah, I see. No you are right then, I now fully understand why the owners took the decision to sell him and not even bother replacing him.

 

Come off it. Surely you can’t actually believe that?

And it’s not just his goals that we’re missing it’s his assists & link up play.

Just look at the amount of goals we scored with Woodrow as a lone striker compared to how many more we scored with either Moore on his own or up top with Woodrow.

We went from looking like we could score at any moment to fighting for every result after Moore’s head injury & that was at league one level.

Even if for some bizarre reason you didn’t rate him surely you agree it was crazy to not replace him & to start the season without a forward that can win headers & hold a ball up?

 

Billionaire consortium using us as a cash cow by selling a few players for a few million?
I think that's a ridiculous claim.
What I believe is that the club are operating a strategy where young and hungry players are seen as cheaper to buy (and pay) and we develop them hoping they do the business for us and make us money down the line.
It's self-sustainability and makes complete sense for a club of our size that doesn't make lots of money in other areas be that through the gates or commercially.

Because the consortia are said to be wealthy some our fans assumed we'd go down the route that other clubs have taken and that is spending big money and wages.
But it looks like the same plan of action as was in place under Mr Patrick Cryne.
That means we are likely to be too good for level three but struggle in level two.

I've stated my own opinion countless times and that's that a few more experienced players would have been ideal to help bring the younger element on.
Not necessarily old players but players with 200 games at the level in key positions.
I'm not sure it would make a great difference but it's my uninformed opinion.
But to go back to your point, I think it's silly to suggest the ownership are here to use us as a cash cow.

 

We are not Wigan. Nobody knows if Moore would have scored ten goals for us by now or none at all. There's a strong possibility that he'd be ahead of Schmidt at this stage. Other than that, who knows...?

 

I did rate him highly at league 1 level but seriously doubted his ability at championship level.
I’m going to bore you and ask once again, who do you reckon we could have got in as a replacement?

 

Replace him with who?

 

I don’t know. The teams I watch regularly are Barnsley & then the top 6 in the prem when they’re on the tele along with a few La Liga games & champions league games.

But I also wouldn’t have signed Bambo Diaby, Mads Anderson, Sami Radlinger, Toby Sibbick etc as I’d never heard of them.

If our scouts can’t identify a 6 foot 2 plus striker who can win headers & hold a ball up when we’ve got a scouting network that covers all of Europe then they want replacing.

It’s the most important position in the team as it’s not one that can be easily learned. If you have an injury at full back the odds are that you can convert a centre back, central midfielder or winger to do a reasonable job there.

If you leave yourselves short up front it’s bloody hard to convert a player in a different position to that role.

Also Woodrow’s playing as a lone striker so he’s not going to be able to do 90 minutes very often as it’s the most physically demanding position on the pitch.

Wilder’s got Sheff Utd up & he’s ensured that they’ve got 5 centre forwards to rotate between & I don’t think one’s finished a match yet as he constantly freshens it up after an hour or so.

When we were successful last time round in the championship pre-January 2017 we’d regularly rotate our forwards & score goals late on when we had Winnall, Watkins, Bradshaw & Armstrong.

We’ve shot ourselves in the foot big time.