Striker Recruitment

Collins hasn't improved any and you could argue has made several players much poorer than they were last season.

 

Pains me to say it but you’re probably spot on with this analysis.
At the end of the day there are some Clubs who we simply won’t be able to compete with financially; Charlton are an obvious one, but there are many others; Wigan, Bradford, Notts Co, Wrexham, Swindon, and of course Oldham.
We just need to come to terms with it.

 

Think Lofthouse if we’re still in league one will be one worth watching

 

Rumoured to be £290k transfer and £6k a week, sure we could have stretched to that.

 

I thought May looked extremely average, our back line exaggerated his talent!

Pretty much all season our defence has made bang average strikers looked better than they are. I have never seen us concede so many poor goals. Only reason we are in the top 6 is the piss poor standard of the opposition in the league and how poor they have been. As soon as they step up their quality we have been walked over.

Squad simply isn't good enough to be promoted, and if by some reason we do end up in the championship, the strengthening job is a herculean task.

If we don't go up, it's still a huge tasks as the teams coming down will blow the chaff away in this division IMHO.

 

Oulrae and iseka weren't from.any spreadsheet definitely a Conway master class

 

Yep we can go on about our striker recruitment but if you can't keep a clean sheet in 95% of league games then you have to score at least 2 to win those games.

 

You could argue that but it's purely opinion, you could equally argue the fact that Cole and Kane have scored more goals so have been improved by Collins.

 

Trouble is, the new sporting director is another data analyst, so not sure much will change.

 

Every club uses data analysis to find targets.

 

Has it been that bad?

Isn't it every 1 in 3 signings to work out and you're doing well?

Without thinking

Norwood
Cole
Morris
Woodrow
Dike
Chaplin (stretch for us I know, but we identified him, and he's good now)
MC Burnie
Kieffer

They've all been pretty good.

 

I would think it's the hardest position to pick by data because it's not just about goals. How you can calate clever intelligent runs when the ball doesn't come that certain something good goal scorers have that you can't put your finger on they just do. The other position's I would think there's stats coming out of your ears but goalscoring is an art on it own that's why the top men are paid the big bucks.

 

There were people on this Board who were actively against us signing May.

 

I agree but how on earth a club with aspirations to win promotion to the Championship thinks signing the likes of Shaw and Dallas is going to work is beyond me.
Watters on a 4 year deal after an ineffective half season with us was another ridiculous signing.
Just one proven player like May plus a loan would’ve made a lot more sense. Really hope we’re going to learn by these mistakes.

 

To be fair watters got plenty of positive posts when we signed him. Many predicted him to score more than Cole. I bumped a thread on this a while ago and it made for interesting read. I didn't rate him last season under Duff but it could have been worse we could have signed tedic.

 

I was one of them, and I stand by it. Breaking our wage structure for a 30 year old with 2 good seasons under his belt at this level would have been ludicrous in my opinion. He's in the same mould as Cole, another of our top earners, so you'd have been playing one or the other. We already had another ageing striker in Norwood, and were still paying ALS's wages. With the players we had on the books at the time, signing May didn't make sense to me.

Sadly, the strikers we've brought in as an alternative haven't been anywhere near good enough.

 

Yes, but other clubs will use scouting networks and football knowledge to provide some qualitative data that gives context to the quantitative data.

That was clearly missing when we chose to replace Mads Andersen with a 23 year old that has played less than 100 games in the French lower leagues, along with a couple of non-league defenders. While signing 2 more right wing backs to compliment the two already at the club and deciding that Max Watters would be an upgrade on Max Watters.

 

Poor recruitment without a doubt.

 

We're you saying that when we replaced Ethan Pinnock with a 22 year old Mads? I may have this totally wrong but I believe our recruitment will improve as the revised ownership begin to establish their position. It's like turning a battleship around and it may take more that one season. Course we could always hit an iceberg on the way

 

All down to money Marc no resale value. he was 28-29 at Cheltenham so no chance of a sell on.. That's why wre got rid if Norwood at the first opportunity our powers that be think they're ate a waste of a wage with no resale.. plus like Cole this summer who is 29 they'll be looking for their own personal best deal at that age...and that deffo won't be here