In the short term, if you find a new and better way of doing things, the advantage you have over the competition can be huge. Christmas 2015 to the end of the season is the best Barnsley team I have ever seen. Maybe not in absolute terms, both Danny Wilson and Norman Hunter could have a lot to say about that, but in comparison to the opposition we were. We were the best team in that league by a country mile. Look at those last four games: 4-1 away at the league champions, 3-0 & 3-1 against the team that finished third, 3-1 at Wembley against the team that finished fourth. I didn't experience even the slightest feelings of nervousness before that game at Wembley. I knew we were going to win. I've never felt that before, but I knew it beyond any doubt. The Barnsley team knew it too. In all likelihood, so did Millwall. When you're that good, you get noticed and a few things begin to happen. Firstly, the vultures start circling and picking your team apart. This is not necessarily a bad thing, selling players at a profit is part of the plan and for once we actually seemed to get value for money for some players. Selling so many in such a short space of time however, that's never good. Secondly, other clubs start adopting the same methods, they begin analysing players in the same way, they start looking for the same type of players and begin making signings from the same market. For about a year we were the topic of many a football phone-in: "If Barnsley can sign the likes of so-and-so then why can't we?" Now other clubs are doing and there's much more competition for the same players. The advantage we had is lost, we're no longer ahead of the game, we're just one of many teams scouting exactly the same pool of players. Thirdly, the so called smaller teams, the selling clubs, the clubs from whom we are purchasing, they begin asking for more money. A lot more money. Not only have they seen how much money we've made from sales, how much of a war chest we have, they also know how we've made that money. We've made that money, not from home grown players, but from buying potential from clubs like them and now they want a much bigger slice of the pie. The price for young motivated players from lower leagues sky rockets, particularly as there's more competition for these players. Even if the signing works out really well and you are able to develop that player and sell them on, the profit is hugely reduced due to the original purchase price. And that's if all goes well. If it doesn't, if the player doesn't make it, you're making a loss and maybe a big one. There's another factor to consider: there is not a never ending, bountiful supply of Connor Hourihanes, Sam Winnalls and Marc Roberts plying their trade in the lower leagues and non-league football. There just isn't. Once you've signed them, they're gone from that market, they don't get replaced, it doesn't work like that. Crystal Palace are still waiting for their next non-league signing as good as Ian Wright and that was 32 years ago. Such players come along occasionally, they're not ripe for the picking on a yearly basis. You might be lucky to find one a year, but in all likelihood it's going to be less often than that. The idea that you can go out a sign a whole squad of such players over one summer who are going to give you a good team is pure fantasy. In reality you end up buying players who don't have the same potential, who just aren't as good. So, there are fewer good players out there, there's much more competition for what there is and we're having to pay a lot more for any that we do identify. The chances are that there'll be a number of players we signed this summer on whom we'll make a significant loss. Then there's the issue of potential. The expectation is that because we developed a number of players recently, brought them on, the same improvement is going to happen more often than not. It's not. Not every player lives up to their potential. Many don't. Many players are as good as they ever get by the time they're 20. We may sign players who initially look to have more potential than those we sold for big money, but don't improve or even get worse. It happens all the time. There was nothing wrong with the plan. Actually, it was excellent and brought some fantastic footballers and amazing times to our club. 2016 was brilliant. But it can't work long term, it's impossible. Unless we begin to sign ability rather than potential we'll drop through the leagues and we'll do it losing money hand over fist as we'll be shelling out for players who we can't resell and are not good enough for the team. I don't mean we should stop looking at this type of player, but every signing cannot be from this market if we want to remain a viable proposition. .
You missed the main point which is we're still signing from the same pot but are in a division higher. We should still keep signing the same types of players using the same statistical scouting methods but be looking at signing the top young performers from League One.
I agree alot of our summer signings were from league two Potts mcgeehan Pearson the gap is big and it will a long time to get upto speed we might be in league one by then. We should have looked at Marcus Madison and josh Morris in the summer imo. As for the plan we aren' the 1st to do it we only copied teams like peterbourgh who signed lee Tomlin, george boyd, dwyte Gayle ect from lower league
Yeah definitely not the first its being going on years. Our formula for the players we sign may be different however.
The problem with our recruitment was we signed too many players of the same type. We haven't got a balanced squad that enables the manager to select a team that is both good in possession and without the ball. Then we spend the bulk of our transfer budget on a none English speaking striker who clearly needs time to settle and adapt. Ring any bells? We will always lose players. It's about replacing them and i don't feel we have done so successfully. Brentford have lost some key players but have done better in their recruitment. For once January might come to our rescue if the club are in s position to do some business. Much is made of the Plan but it took a deviation from it and the signing of Hammill that made the difference to our league one fortunes. We need to do something similar in order to preserve our status in this league.
Correct. We needed to sign more of the good at football sort, but we've signed too many of the rubbish at football sort.
Probably the best summary of 'The Plan' and the current situation I've read or heard. Spot on for me.
That reads excellently, and makes sense - however, the alternative solution isn't so easy to come by, otherwise I'm guessing we'd be doing something else by now. So, what's the next step in the football club's journey?
