The player recruitment as got worse

With every window since the days of Pinnock Roberts etc. Each time we cash in the better players in the squad the players signed are poorer than the players they replaced were when they were signed. The idea of the plan was supposed to be that the standard of players signed improved with every sell off. In fact the opposite is true. So we as fans suffer a double whammy we keep losing the best players in the squad and see them replaced by players of lower quality each and every time. Until the trend is reversed we will continue to struggle.

 

Relegation I'm afraid pretty much meant we'd some big losses to recover, the only way of doing this is selling players and restricting spend.
The plan though for me should have been tweaked, we basically restrict our recruitment options too much by having a set style of play and system and only signing saleable assets.
Defensively there was some good experienced defenders out of contract but because of age we decided to shop at National League instead.
I applaud us for trying to get to self sustainability but I think the way we operate at times with little flexibility in our approach probably also effects our ability to keep a head coach, once the group has been developed its torn apart and we're starting from scratch again.

 

Interesting. Who do we think our next ‘big sale’ players are to keep the club running? Cole? Jalo?

i said a couple of seasons ago that the gradual decline in quality not only makes us less competitive, less attractive but also reduces the return on investment model we have to be sustainable. Wonder if thats coming true.

 

Agreed. Whilst the recruitment is like it is, we will yo-yo between Championship and League 1 with League 1 eventually being the mainstay.

We’re signing a lot of good players for this level but are they good enough for promotion this season? I’m not so sure we will promotion with the defence we have today. There’s only Jordan Williams on his day (at right back!) who is good enough for the league above out of that current back five until Liam Roberts is back. Honestly can’t believe we’ve got from Andersen, Kitching and Bobby Thomas to De Gevigney, Williams and McCart. I appreciate we’re not gonna replace like for like but **** me, give the manager a chance. Collins isn’t good enough as it is never mind backing him up with some absolute dross as signings.

 

I agree with what you say apart from the fact we haven’t got a set style of play .. it changes massively each time we swap the manager

 

Unfortunately all that is driven by our budgets and that’s not likely to change in fact the advert for the DoF stresses the sustainable aim.
Like you say the recruitment will turn out to be good enough for L1 in time but where will the Championship standard players come from, it’s hard to see at the minute although I do think there are a couple who have the potential in time to be lower end which then means where does the next decent sales come from and adds pressure on the owners to put money in.
The need for a decent DoF becomes more apparent as each day passes.

 

I don't disagree the players we lost last season in the defence have been replaced by players of a lesser standard but we have a strong squad at this level still who are capable of alot better than last night. Aimless punts upfront, high balls into the box for Cole and mcatee when it clearly isn't there strong point, players bottling challenges, simple passes getting put out of play. And to top it all off I couldn't tell you what our style of play is.

 

The club want us to play with wingbacks and 3 at the back, whilst we might tippy tappy around now, we're still stuck on this wingback philosophy/3 at the back in its many permitations, its so fixed we even played a midfielder in styles there granted it worked and kitching even had a spell there such is the clubs reluctance to adopt other formations.

 

I don't think the issue is the budget, it's how we're spending it. The recruitment in the last two windows has lacked any sense of coordination, or logic. Watters (x2), Shaw, Dallas, McAtee. On top of Cole, Jalo and Marsh. Cotter, O'Keefe and Lofthouse whilst keeping Williams. It's been completely unbalanced. @RedfearnsRocket hit the nail on the head, this strategy will never see us build on any sort of decent season.

 

I would argue that’s a formation and just the defensive side of the formation I still would say the style of play within that formation as well as the midfield/ strikers roles as altered massively from manager to manager

 

You are right of course it is how we spend it. But we spend it the way we due to our budget.
It seems to me the ‘logic’ of this strategy is if we buy 3 there is a 1-3 chance of succeeding and they come at a significantly less cost both transfer and wages. Whereas if we buy 1 better we have to get it right every time.

Not saying I agree with it but that’s how it looks to me & you are right unless we strike lucky & all 3 are successful we are always gonna struggle to build.

 

I agree the style of play may change under different managers, but if you have recruited 4 wing backs umpteen central defenders and no wingers it's highly likely you'll be sticking to a wing back system as appose to 442.
Wing backs became the in thing again a few years ago and because of a lack of genuine quality ones the better ones became very valuable, so Conway & co jumped on the bandwagon thinking we would be selling the next Kyle Walker, instead we ended up with Cotter, cadden, okeefe etc, until we start looking at the players qualities and attributes we just end up shoehorning players into positions they don't really excel in, granted some work, take styles as an example bar 1 season we've never found out his best position to his and our detriment ,LWB, LM, CM, CAM

 

There is a bit of a spread betting feel to what we're doing. Some may look at the fee we got for Andersen, and think it justifies the signings of Diaby and Halme. But ultimately, we've not made any progress as a club. It doesn't have to be that way, regardless of how low the budget is imo.

 

The examples you give are interesting cos at the point of purchase everyone would have viewed Mads as the nationwide signing and Halme as a signing we should be aiming for yet it worked out the other way.