Lower league signings

I can see the potential in our signings. Get in a centre back who can slot straight in to the side and I think we’ve got a good squad and should challenge the top 6 again.

Said it a couple times now but I feel like Lopata will be another gem we’ve found.

 

Luca Connell. Technicaly from Celtic but last played for Queen's Park. Brad Collins was from Chelsea but was playing in League One before we signed him for the Championship.

I think it's probably more difficult to list the players we've signed who played a decent number of games (>50) for teams above us in the Pyramid. Marlon Harewood? Excluding loans (Kevin Long) it's a short list.

 

I'm all for it. But there's not a huge amount of success stories, particularly instantly, from players signed from two tiers below. If the expectation is that these lads come and slot straight in then it's a tough gig. If it's to give them a year to bed in ready for next then fair play.

 

Martin Bullock signed from non-league Eastwood Town to premier league with us.

 

Alot of league footballers in there...... But I get your point

 

Spot on! Hopefully we can unearth another Hourihane or Connell. You never know.

 

Whilst I don’t mind us signing lower league/ now non league players, it’s something we’ve always done and always will do, there are a lot of failures that come from these signings too. That’s the counter argument here. I’d imagine that the list of failed Lower league signings is alot larger than the one above, we don’t always remember the rubbish (thankfully). Like I said though, I’m not against the signing of these players. I would like to add though it’s a gamble, of course, so would be signing players from Arsenal. Like a Frimpong

I obviously hope every single one of these guys are added to your list of successful Lower league signings, I’ve no doubt our scouting system have been watching these guys for a while and believe they’re just what we need.

 

Some will come good, some won’t. Nature of the beast

 

George Williams signed from non league while we were league one.

Good post give them a chance.

 

I get your point but a lot of players go full circle. Wasn't Hourihane rejected by Sunderland? Kitching started off at Leeds. Wasn't Cameron Mcgeehan Norwich or Chelsea? Even Mcnulty started off at a higher level. Majority of players in top five tiers can kick straight. Which takes the gloss off these success stories.

 

Just to point out the seemingly obvious to the seemingly oblivious....Despite those signings mentioned in the OP, as of 28th July 2023 we find ourselves mounting up for another tilt at League 1. All those comings and goings haven't benefitted our club in any lasting way. Sure, we've had a few ups, but a hell of a lot of downs.

When it comes to the crunch, we always seem to sh*t in the pot and bottle it. We wouldn't get the signings that Mark Robbins wanted, he left - look what he's doing when given the tools at Coventry.

We completely dismantled the squad in the Championship season when we we're 7th iirc in January, then sold the spine of our team for peanuts. Some might say that we had no choice, or that we need to cut our cloth accordingly.

We've systematically, for years, sold ourselves short. We've slowly developed a mentality both at the club and amongst the fanbase - that we are a League One club and we should be grateful for that.

I say no. Where has that ambition gone? We should easily be a top-half Championship team, a stable, well-run club on the up. We have so much going for us as a Club yet we seem to be willing to just accept our mediocrity.

We've painted ourselves into a corner with managers and players alike with the insertion of pitifully low release clauses. What happens then? We lose our team over and over again. That needs to stop - hopefully that is starting to be rectified.

I know we're not awash with money, but the amount of cheap gambles we seem to be taking this close season should be of concern to all fans. Should we support them? Ofcorse. Those two viewpoints aren't mutually exclusive in my opinion.

I really hope we do well this year, the open letter stated promotion as the aim - awesome. I just hope they weren't empty words.

I think we need to speculate on a proven CB with THIS league experience and we may have a good year barring injuries.

 

I'd like us to sign another midfielder too because Benson is made of glass.

 

Darren Sheridan

 

I understand the Op and he comes up with some good examples there. But I hate having to do what we do, for the benefit of other clubs.
If or when we do discover certain gems, they are quickly off to a bigger and better club unfortunately, and then we're back at square one again, every single time.

 

Mike Phenix, Harry White, Mike Turner, Tony Bullock, Dwanye Mattis, Onome Sodje, John Rooney, Andrai Jones, Shaun Tuton, Stefan Payne, Elliot Simoes... the list goes on.

It's always a gamble and a few fans are right to be concerned that many of our signings now seem to be inexperienced gambles, rather than there being a healthy balance of non league punts and established pros.

Hopefully all of the new signings do well and a centre half with 150+ League One or higher games under his belt would go down nicely for me.

 

Phil Gridelet

 

We've never, ever existed as a top half Championship team for any sustained period of time. We've finished in the top half, granted, on occasion but not regularly. Our average position in the Championship is bottom third.
Without wealthy owners willing to plough in a lot of money over a long period what you expect isn't tenable.

 

This. Whenever we bring any success through Managers or Players, we instantly dismantle it. What if these new lads gel with the existing ones, succeed and we get promoted. What then? I’d like to think we built on that and pushed on in the 2nd tier. However, their is a lot of evidence that we will take a very different approach. Rinse, repeat, etc….

 

Tom Bradshaw