"doctrine proclaimed as unquestionably true by a particular group:the difficulty of resisting political dogma." Players our current regime wouldn't have signed include: Allen clarke Ronnie glavin Norman hunter Ian evans Paul futcher Danny Wilson Neil redfearn John Hendrie Paul Wilkinson Ashley ward Jan aga fjortof Craig hignett Stephen mcfail Adam hamill We all know it's not easy recruiting players. I don't know about you guys but strip that lot out and that's some of the best we've had and given me the best memories I can think of as reds fan. The list should highlight the utter folly of our current owners policy.
McPhail was only 24 when we signed him? But it is a fair point you're making. We would've missed out on some of our best ever players
I could name plenty of players over 25 that have been garbage too. However I won't because I'm of the opinion that the policy shouldn't be as strict and restrictive. But for every great player over 26 I can name 30 who weren't great. For every amazing youngster I can name 30 who weren't amazing. But the window closed. As the coach said on Saturday this is our team now so we have to support them and hope they learn fast.
Without the first one on the list we'd possibly still be languishing at the bottom end of the bottom tier of English Professional football I'm all for the idea behind the master plan it's the inflexibility in the way it is being implemented at the moment that causing the problems that and the inability to secure best value when selling our prize assets along with a disregard of the damage poorly timed and or multiple departures will do to the squads ability to achieve success.
Not half. The gap between the haves and the have nots is significantly wider, even within a single tier, than it was when I enjoyed watching The Reds in the 70s and 80s. Even though we moaned about selling players back then, I don't remember worrying too much about teams at our level with more financial clout. Now it seems everybody is richer than us. We can't match the wages offered anywhere these days (ok, that's an exaggeration, but that's how it feels most of the time). Maybe I wasn't as interested in off-field stuff back then, or maybe we didn't have all this info at our fingertips, but there's no doubt that the world has changed. Not for the better.
He was one of the best strikers Chelsea have ever had... I'd take him now at Oakwell no matter what his age.
We basically have become the ultimate selling club. Once a player reaches the dreaded 27 or 28 they must be sold or released. How can the fans build an affinity with players when you kno they are going to be sold in a few years time. Are we never going to have club men who play 300 games and retire with us in their 30s anymore?? And to agree with the original thread we would have never gone up to the prem without hendrie wilkinson and neil thompson their experience and goals were crucial...
No, but the average Barnsley fan I think we’ll just have to agree to disagree as to the extent to which football has actually changed in terms of player age, fitness etc.; although I do accept that some players are opting to retire earlier because they are financially set for life by their mid-20’s. But our club has set its stall out to only acquire players with potential resale value so, as a consequence, we are signing bairns. To extrapolate this policy to the whole of football is somewhat questionable in my humble opinion.
it clearly isn't a model everyone could use - that's the whole point. Where's the market for our 'developed' players if every team is only interested in 21 yr olds?
Dare I say. None of those players. ( Hamill excepted) would have come into our wage structure as they would have been on and demanded. ( Rightly so ) far more than we could afford under fair play rules. We could compete in those days to a degree. But nearly everyone of those if playing today and at the age they signed for us would have commanded astronomical wages compared to what we could offer. Emylin Hughes's best wages were at wolves. Not Liverpool as you would have thought. £500 + bonus. Players even without a team today still think and want the type of wage at previous clubs. Some may reluctantly take a cut*. But agents still promise them the world. *Eg Darren Barnard. 90% pay cut to play for Grimsby.
Its interesting that more and more players are more than happy sitting it out as a free agent rather than playing at a much lower salary. If say a 15k target for first team players for a couple of seasons taking I'm guessing at 8m extra cost for per season would it make us more competitive and would we recoup the extra money per season to cover it? If we bring in say 3 experienced players at 15k would it upset the motivation and balance of the squad? Personally i think our plan works well to get us into the championship. My worry is we then don't adapt. Can we afford to adapt? I think loanees can help solve things or a few shorter term experienced ones. However i agree that comparing football and especially the championship with the past 70’s, 80’s and 90’s is a difficult thing to do. It seems sustainability is our primary objective rather than immediate on field success
