Finger Pointing

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Cjay
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Re: Finger Pointing

Post by Cjay »

weasel wrote:1) Not at all but to hear/read some people they would think we were fighting relegation rather than being just goal difference outside the play-offs.

2) At the start of last season how many people were optimistic about the signing of Bartley and the prospect of Wood having a great season? Bartley was a back up defender with no real pedigree and no reason to expect he'd be any good for us. Pontus Jansson was an injury prone player that I doubt any of us had heard of either and couldn't get into a fairly average side in Italy. Wood was fairly much derided by nearly everyone on here, no pace, no aerial ability etc etc. As it was those 3 went on to have great seasons and to replace Bartley and Wood with the same level of player but proven would have cost upwards of £30m. As it was neither of them wanted to stay so we moved on. The only one that wanted to be here was PJ and he was not only bought but then at a later point convinced to sign a 5 year contract - that I am sure would have taken a very big financial outlay.

Yes I would agree we should have signed a left back but in theory signing, albeit on loan, a player who had made a decent amount of starts for Man Utd, under Louis Van Gaal, seemed to be an excellent signing and likely if we'd have looked to sign a player of that pedigree you would be certainly looking at over £10m. Would fans have been happier if we'd have actually spent that sort of money and still ended up with a player that had flopped as much as CBJ has. That can happen with any signing.

3) The youth team was abysmal last season and has been poor for a good few years. They won't be able to suddenly transform everything overnight and especially with the huge influx of foreign youngsters it will take time for them to acclimatise - however the beauty is that they are acclimatising and so by the time they are hopefully first team ready they will be used to the country etc so it isn't then like buying the foreign player ready to go straight into the first team ad hope that they can adapt immediately. A very smart strategy in my opinion with relatively little cost and a potential huge return (I would guess if even 1 youngster makes it then the total cost of all the youngsters and wages, accommodation etc for 2 years would still be less than the amount we'd have to pay for that youngster if buying him at that point).

4) Sacko was a bizarre signing. Am guessing either we had an agreement that we had him for a year then had to sign him and it was watertight or that TC saw something in the videos of us last season that convinced him there was something to work with there. Whilst I think we do have money to spend on players I don't think we have the amount to go spending £5m to £10m on 1 position. If you take last year's squad then maybe we were moving forward to this season with just 7 or 8 players that we considered were really good enough and 4 of those (RG, CT, KB & CW) left leaving us with probably just Berardi, Ayling, PJ and Vieira that we were building the team around. As such it wasn't just replacing the ones that left but strengthening a lot of positions and as such I think we have to be realistic in saying we are probably overachieving a bit this season and that not all signings would work out.
1) And only 3 points off 12th. Think its more the perceived lack of progression thats frustrating. Off the pitch there has been improvement, on it, we are now worse off then last season points wise and possibly squad wise.

2) I was quite hopeful on Wood having a good season, and i recognised that Bartley was likely to be a better cb then Cooper, never heard of Jansson. I dont blame Radz and co for the loses of Taylor, Wood and Bartley. I do blame them for the poor attempts to replace them. Cant agree on CBJ, i was against it from the start. He couldn't get into a poor Wolves side last season, that was a red flag, combined with a widely reported poor attitude and a false sense of entitlement. As it turns out that looks to be true, again why wasnt that flagged by our scouting team? Lassie, while i rate him, he has been injury hit for years, been accused of lacking fitness and having a poor attitude. And once more all this seems true, so thats two risks on players with widely reported issues, and both have failed. I dont doubt talent is there, but why are we taking risks on players not once but twice? Not hidden risks, both were widely reported and its back fired and probably cost us a few hundred thousand. We arent a rehab, when you replace key players with well known risks then you are asking for trouble.

3) Not against recruiting youth, I'm excited about some of our young lads and do hope to see them soon. But we are stockpiling them, must have 10 strikers for example in the u23s. Building for the future is fantastic, and I'm happy for some money to be invested in the future. But, you cant waste all your resources on youth that may or may not make it. If Jack Clarke breaks through this season, gets a few goals, we finish 10th, he may stay 1 more year. But the next season, we finish 8th, Burnley come calling, he is off. Because he will see a club that has made 0 progress and he wants to further his career. Radz and co need to remember that you can have the best youth team in the country, but if they don't see a 1st team moving forward then they will leave asap, ask Crewe. I appreciate that to an extent they may leave regardless of league or position, but the risk is higher for every year we languish in this league.

4) The signing of Sacko has to have been compulsory as you say. It isnt easy, i appreciate that and we had a squad severely lacking unfortunately in depth and quality. Unfortunately it seems we havent really improved in that respect. Cooper was a back up cb last season, O'Kane was back up, Berardi was back up to Taylor, and considering we brought in so many players its frustrating that players not good enough last season suddenly become key players. I mentioned 3 names , Dack, Dean and Maddison, £3.5mil for the 3 last summer, 3 players who would have greatly improved our squad in terms of quality and depth and Phil Hay insisted we wernt in for any of them. That is poor recruitment, and suggests a lack of common sense amongst our scouting network. We recruited poorly in the summer, and i don't think anyone will disagree on that. If anything we have a weaker squad, despite spending quite a bit of money. I am not suggesting we should be spending £10mil on 1 player, but i would like to see some common sense and calculated risks, as the 3 above and the striker at Pboro would be for example.
Signed

King Cjay

Fountain of all knowledge and wisdom
Clacton White
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Re: Finger Pointing

Post by Clacton White »

Finger point .......... O'FuckingKane , most of the time .
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