50 Transfers

[Harry]

I was having a little bit of a wonder about our starting line up yesterday and how it was put together. 
I found it quite interesting that to get to the 8 non-academy players we started, you have to go back 50 transfers. 
So that’s 50 signings we’ve made, that resulted in the 8 players being fielded yesterday. 
 

That’s over 10 transfer windows - the earliest being O’Dowda in July 16. 
 

We can shorten this period down by stating that only 1 of our last 12 signings started. Read that again. ONE OF OUR LAST TWELVE SIGNINGS!! 
 

So, whilst we all knew there was a stockpiling of players under MA & LJ, since LJ left, things haven’t got any better. 
 

I keep banging on about it, I know some will be bored of me saying it, but our recruitment over the last 4 years has been absolutely shocking. And it hasn’t improved over the last 18 months either. 
 

We need to sort out the recruitment ASAP. We still don’t have a Head of Recruitment. We still don’t have a Chief Scout. We still rely upon an in house database that doesn’t send a scout to watch Cheltenham v Exeter under 18’s last Saturday morning, a database that won’t have a damn clue about Felix Miles or Will Armitage or Alex Hartridge, just like it didn’t have a clue in the past about the likes of Grimes, Watkins, Jay, Key or the likes of Twine, hell let’s even go back further and say Bowen when at Hereford. 
We seem to have once again abandoned the idea that there are potentially good youngsters on our doorstep, and we aren’t thinking about these for the future. 
 

Unless we’ve got 15 absolute diamonds in our youth set up, I sincerely worry about the next few years with the lack of knowledge of local/south west youngsters. 
 

Edited November 29, 2021 by Harry

[old parkender]

Alarming! There’s a serious lack of professionalism running through the club, too many sound bites,fancy videos and slogans but very little hands on nitty gritty practical grafting to improve our outlook. 

[Alessandro]

I admire your ongoing passion on this subject @Harry - feels like you’ve been saying this same thing repeatedly for many many years, as long as I can remember in fact! 

[Harry]

I can’t stress this enough. 
 

ONE OF OUR LAST TWELVE!! 
 

We’ve signed 12 players and only 1 was able/capable/required to play. 
 

I’m absolutely shocked. And quite frankly, ******* livid with that!! 

[Davefevs]

Keep the posts coming, always an interesting read.

You need to pitch your services to Mr Pearson directly, or get in via Tinnion.  I’m sure you could list a number of players that might pique his interest!

I’m not expecting much in January.

Having thought about it, some of the signings you’d want to do in the summer, can’t really be brought forward, because they only becoming viable when they are OOC.

Think we will be relying on keeping players fit.

[Davefevs]

3 minutes ago, Harry said:

I can’t stress this enough. 
 

ONE OF OUR LAST TWELVE!! 
 

We’ve signed 12 players and only 1 was able/capable/required to play. 
 

I’m absolutely shocked. And quite frankly, ******* livid with that!! 

Are some of those 12 no longer here….Lansbury, Mariappa etc?  Not disputing your point.

[Harry]

2 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Are some of those 12 no longer here….Lansbury, Mariappa etc?  Not disputing your point.

Jeez!! I missed those 2. Make that 1 out of 14!! 
It gets worse. 

[Midlands Robin]

Just now, Davefevs said:

I’m not expecting much in January.

This really worries me because I feel that the January window is critical for the sustainability and stability of our Championship status.

At the very, very least we need a decent forward but we need improvement in a number of other areas.

[Harry]

Just looked at Pearson’s 5 signings. Simpson, James, King, Atkinson, Tanner. 
 

20 games gone. 100 possible starting places. They’ve started 50. 
That’s a 50% strike rate from the latest crop. 
 

I’m gonna stop now - it’s gets ever more depressing!! 

[gary s]

Don't forget Tyrone Ming's played for Yate town and Chippenham town before signing for Ipswich by Russell Osman ,what do we look at ?

[Harry]

6 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Keep the posts coming, always an interesting read.

You need to pitch your services to Mr Pearson directly, or get in via Tinnion.  I’m sure you could list a number of players that might pique his interest!

I’m not expecting much in January.

Having thought about it, some of the signings you’d want to do in the summer, can’t really be brought forward, because they only becoming viable when they are OOC.

Think we will be relying on keeping players fit.

As I mentioned to you in another thread the other day. I’m not expecting much in Jan. we don’t have much money to play with and so unless we get some relatively cheap loans in we’ll have to wait til summer to hunt for freebies. 

[Rob k]

5 minutes ago, Harry said:

Just looked at Pearson’s 5 signings. Simpson, James, King, Atkinson, Tanner. 
 

20 games gone. 100 possible starting places. They’ve started 50. 
That’s a 50% strike rate from the latest crop. 
 

I’m gonna stop now - it’s gets ever more depressing!! 

Baker and Weiman? And out of those 50 games they have not played do we know how many is down to injuries?

Edited November 29, 2021 by Rob k

[Mad Cyril]

The recruitment is irrelevant.  Its this club's ability to coach the talent, skill, confidence and health out of whoever we bring in that is staggering.

Seriously, we could finish Foden if he came here.

[Gumpster1]

Interesting post. Certainly pretty damning of our recruitment policy. 

We can certainly blame Mark Ashton for some of the mess. 

In terms of the Pearson era I think that King, James, Tanner and Atkinson have done Ok. Tanner and Atkinson look like they can nail down starting positions and could attract a fee when they move on.

Simpson has been disappointing on the pitch and if he is having a positive influence in the changing room, we’re yet to see the benefit.

I trust Pearson’s judgement and expect that despite not having the £millions that were made available to LJ he will improve the squad in January. 

We just need to keep patience with the current threadbare squad and not overreact to results.

[Merrick's Marvels]

28 minutes ago, Harry said:

our recruitment over the last 4 years has been absolutely shocking. 

Which is exactly how you get relegated. Twas ever thus and we're well on course this time round. 

 

15 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

I’m not expecting much in January.

Think we will be relying on keeping players fit.

 If that happens we are f00ked. 

Edited November 29, 2021 by Merrick's Marvels

[sh1t_ref_again]

20 minutes ago, Harry said:

I was having a little bit of a wonder about our starting line up yesterday and how it was put together. 
I found it quite interesting that to get to the 8 non-academy players we started, you have to go back 50 transfers. 
So that’s 50 signings we’ve made, that resulted in the 8 players being fielded yesterday. 
 

That’s over 10 transfer windows - the earliest being O’Dowda in July 16. 
 

We can shorten this period down by stating that only 1 of our last 12 signings started. Read that again. ONE OF OUR LAST TWELVE SIGNINGS!! 
 

So, whilst we all knew there was a stockpiling of players under MA & LJ, since LJ left, things haven’t got any better. 
 

I keep banging on about it, I know some will be bored of me saying it, but our recruitment over the last 4 years has been absolutely shocking. And it hasn’t improved over the last 18 months either. 
 

We need to sort out the recruitment ASAP. We still don’t have a Head of Recruitment. We still don’t have a Chief Scout. We still rely upon an in house database that doesn’t send a scout to watch Cheltenham v Exeter under 18’s last Saturday morning, a database that won’t have a damn clue about Felix Miles or Will Armitage or Alex Hartridge, just like it didn’t have a clue in the past about the likes of Grimes, Watkins, Jay, Key or the likes of Twine, hell let’s even go back further and say Bowen when at Hereford. 
We seem to have once again abandoned the idea that there are potentially good youngsters on our doorstep, and we aren’t thinking about these for the future. 
 

Unless we’ve got 15 absolute diamonds in our youth set up, I sincerely worry about the next few years with the lack of knowledge of local/south west youngsters. 
 

Harry - we hear what you say about recruitment and have to take it on face value with regards to how the club is set up and runs this side of the business and what changes NP if any is making. It appears clear to most supporters it is an area that has been awful under MA's watch, with his business plan strategy to SL of trading players to generate profit and I guess with the right recruitment / scouting it could of worked, but has gone badly as we all know.

Your posts on this subject are nearly as often as Hampshire reds calling for the sacking of NP. You obviously have a lot of knowledge on the subject and very frustrated, you appear to have been possible involved with the club at some stage? now for the rest of us who do not know you, I would appreciate to understand your expertise and your past, perhaps you could fill us in on the detail of your prior involvement if any with BCFC and when / why it ended. Appreciate if you can't, but would help to understand your rants.

 

[Engvall’s Splinter]

13 minutes ago, Harry said:

Just looked at Pearson’s 5 signings. Simpson, James, King, Atkinson, Tanner. 
 

20 games gone. 100 possible starting places. They’ve started 50. 
That’s a 50% strike rate from the latest crop. 
 

I’m gonna stop now - it’s gets ever more depressing!! 

Somewhat skewed owing to injuries and player characteristics. Simpson and King have been brought in to strengthen a depleted and inexperienced squad. Tanner and Atkinson have been positive and both have real room to improve. James needs a partner and someone to compliment his qualities rather than match. Pearson has an eye for a player. More confident in him to spend it wisely than I was Lee Johnson/Mark Ashton. I understand some of the sentiment though. 

[Davefevs]

26 minutes ago, Harry said:

Just looked at Pearson’s 5 signings. Simpson, James, King, Atkinson, Tanner. 
 

20 games gone. 100 possible starting places. They’ve started 50. 
That’s a 50% strike rate from the latest crop. 
 

I’m gonna stop now - it’s gets ever more depressing!! 

Tanner wasn’t signed to start right away was he, let alone every game….plus he wasn’t signed til game 6!  Simpson and King were never gonna start most weeks either imho.

24 minutes ago, Rob k said:

Baker and Weiman? And out of those 50 games they have not played so we know how many is down to injuries?

Weimann - 20 squads / 20 starts / 0 missed

Baker - 16 squads / 13 starts / 2 subs / 1 unused / 4 injured

Tanner - 10 squads / 10 starts / 3 injured (2 squads missed when first signed)

King - 11 squads / 7 starts / 2 subs / 2 unused / 9 injured (1 + 8 )

James - 16 squads / 16 starts / 4 injured

Simpson - 17 squads / 2 starts / 1 sub / 14 unused / 3 squads missed

Atkinson - 18 squads / 15 starts / 2 subs / 1 unused / 2 injured

I don’t think the signings / re-signings are as bad as perhaps thought.  Not all we’re expected to play every game.  22 games missed through injury across 7 players.  An average of 3 per player, or 1 player per game.

Edited November 29, 2021 by Davefevs

[Waconda]

20 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Keep the posts coming, always an interesting read.

You need to pitch your services to Mr Pearson directly, or get in via Tinnion.  I’m sure you could list a number of players that might pique his interest!

I’m not expecting much in January.

Having thought about it, some of the signings you’d want to do in the summer, can’t really be brought forward, because they only becoming viable when they are OOC.

Think we will be relying on keeping players fit.

When fit we have a competitive if basic championship squad ,as shown versus Blackburn, which ended the "no one could coach these players" nonsense.

Sadly injuries have come back to haunt us and with having to cut the wage bill we are left with less bodies to fill the "trenches".

I would be very surprised to see much happen in January as you say gambling on the medical guy living up to the hype and get the injured back quickly.

[Pezo]

I wonder what the average is across the league. I like to think most of the time if you're the big fish (us in league 1) then you should really be getting about 1 in every 2 correct, if your the small/medium fish (us in the championship) you should probably be looking at 1 in every 4 (we can't attract the best players at this level so there is a lot more risk and likelihood of getting it wrong).

1 in 12 is frankly embarrassing and shine's a 1000 watt bulb on our problems, I wonder what the warning signs were because a lot of those players could be doing better for us.

I do wonder if the club hierarchy know this level, we do like players that seem to be average league 1 players (we never buy the best league 1 players), old championship level players that are past it and prem castoffs that think they are too good for league 1 but that would also be there natural level.

[Tin Soldier]

35 minutes ago, old parkender said:

Alarming! There’s a serious lack of professionalism running through the club, too many sound bites,fancy videos and slogans but very little hands on nitty gritty practical grafting to improve our outlook. 

Bang on the money. The club has been a shambles for years. NP will need some help from somewhere to sort it. No one can do it on there own.

[Davefevs]

1 minute ago, VT05763 said:

When fit we have a competitive if basic championship squad ,as shown versus Blackburn, which ended the "no one could coach these players" nonsense.

Sadly injuries have come back to haunt us and with having to cut the wage bill we are left with less bodies to fill the "trenches".

I would be very surprised to see much happen in January as you say gambling on the medical guy living up to the hype and get the injured back quickly.

I think generally the medical guy is getting players back quicker, and I don’t think they are suffering as long term injuries as the previous regime.  I see improvement.  Williams didn’t break down this time on the same hamstring.  That is a small crumb of comfort too.  Might not seem it I accept,

[1960maaan]

I'd be interested to see that list @Harry, doesn't stack up well though.

I would say, of the ones since Pearson came in.....
Atkinson , looks promising .         Injured
Tanner , looks promising.             Injured
James , had been playing well .  Injured
King ,  had looked ok.                   Injured
Simpson , always a stop gap. 
Baker , had looked solid 
Weimann , played most games ( I added the last 2 as it was his choice to re-sign them )

From that perspective I think that's a decent hit rate, all , apart from Simpson are worth first team status IMO.  Tanner & Atkinson were buys with an eye on the future, but from what I've seen, I've been impressed. King & James had been doing an OK job. We've had more than our fair share of injuries (again) , but it feels like more bad luck this time around with the new medical staff brought in to improve the situation. 
Those numbers are shocking, and yet not a complete surprise. We need to improve, but if Atkinson & Tanner are a sign of the future targets, I feel a little happier.

[Waconda]

3 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

I think generally the medical guy is getting players back quicker, and I don’t think they are suffering as long term injuries as the previous regime.  I see improvement.  Williams didn’t break down this time on the same hamstring.  That is a small crumb of comfort too.  Might not seem it I accept,

He is and is going to continue to be very busy.

COD is due a breakdown for instance, poor sod.

Hopefully we don't get to the mid to late stage Holden era of casualties.

[cidercity1987]

I'd love to see the list of last 50 players Harry recommended to the club. One of them would be O Watkins of course but what about the others?

[Marina's Rolls Royce]

42 minutes ago, Harry said:

I was having a little bit of a wonder about our starting line up yesterday and how it was put together. 
I found it quite interesting that to get to the 8 non-academy players we started, you have to go back 50 transfers. 
So that’s 50 signings we’ve made, that resulted in the 8 players being fielded yesterday. 
 

 

Really interesting point. What are the same stats for every other club in the Championship?

Are we the same, better or worse when it comes to transfer turnover? Stats in isolation may be shocking yet others may be more shocking. 

It would also interesting to see whether the high signings v low signings equals better/worse performance.

The points you continually make Harry are incredibly relevant when put in the exact same context of other clubs in our division and specifically those who are promoted, relegated or have points deductions.

[Red Skin]

14 minutes ago, sh1t_ref_again said:

Harry - we hear what you say about recruitment and have to take it on face value with regards to how the club is set up and runs this side of the business and what changes NP if any is making. It appears clear to most supporters it is an area that has been awful under MA's watch, with his business plan strategy to SL of trading players to generate profit and I guess with the right recruitment / scouting it could of worked, but has gone badly as we all know.

Your posts on this subject are nearly as often as Hampshire reds calling for the sacking of NP. You obviously have a lot of knowledge on the subject and very frustrated, you appear to have been possible involved with the club at some stage? now for the rest of us who do not know you, I would appreciate to understand your expertise and your past, perhaps you could fill us in on the detail of your prior involvement if any with BCFC and when / why it ended. Appreciate if you can't, but would help to understand your rants.

 

I think these comments do @Harry a real disservice.   I find his postings on targets interesting and informative. Though you do sense some (totally understandable) frustration in posts I would not dismiss them as rants made by others.   I would be interested to hear about any connection you had with the club in the past @Harry.

[Harry]

12 minutes ago, 1960maaan said:

I'd be interested to see that list @Harry, doesn't stack up well though.

I would say, of the ones since Pearson came in.....
Atkinson , looks promising .         Injured
Tanner , looks promising.             Injured
James , had been playing well .  Injured
King ,  had looked ok.                   Injured
Simpson , always a stop gap. 
Baker , had looked solid 
Weimann , played most games ( I added the last 2 as it was his choice to re-sign them )

From that perspective I think that's a decent hit rate, all , apart from Simpson are worth first team status IMO.  Tanner & Atkinson were buys with an eye on the future, but from what I've seen, I've been impressed. King & James had been doing an OK job. We've had more than our fair share of injuries (again) , but it feels like more bad luck this time around with the new medical staff brought in to improve the situation. 
Those numbers are shocking, and yet not a complete surprise. We need to improve, but if Atkinson & Tanner are a sign of the future targets, I feel a little happier.

The list of 12 was, in chronological order:

Tanner, Atkinson, King, James, Simpson, Brunt, Martin, J Williams, Wells, Rodri, A Williams, Nagy. 
Dave kindly added Mariappa & Lansbury.

Only 1 of those last 14 permanent signings started yesterday. That’s not a good look. 

 

[Waconda]

7 minutes ago, Marina's Rolls Royce said:

Really interesting point. What are the same stats for every other club in the Championship?

Are we the same, better or worse when it comes to transfer turnover? Stats in isolation may be shocking yet others may be more shocking. 

It would also interesting to see whether the high signings v low signings equals better/worse performance.

The points you continually make Harry are incredibly relevant when put in the exact same context of other clubs in our division and specifically those who are promoted, relegated or have points deductions.

Good Point.

[Numero Uno]

37 minutes ago, sh1t_ref_again said:

Harry - we hear what you say about recruitment and have to take it on face value with regards to how the club is set up and runs this side of the business and what changes NP if any is making. It appears clear to most supporters it is an area that has been awful under MA's watch, with his business plan strategy to SL of trading players to generate profit and I guess with the right recruitment / scouting it could of worked, but has gone badly as we all know.

Your posts on this subject are nearly as often as Hampshire reds calling for the sacking of NP. You obviously have a lot of knowledge on the subject and very frustrated, you appear to have been possible involved with the club at some stage? now for the rest of us who do not know you, I would appreciate to understand your expertise and your past, perhaps you could fill us in on the detail of your prior involvement if any with BCFC and when / why it ended. Appreciate if you can't, but would help to understand your rants.

 

Regardless of how often @Harry makes his points the fact is that having no Head of Recruitment and/or Chief Scout is saving pennies in the wrong areas. Extremely short sighted and I'm afraid that is on the hierarchy who allowed Swiss Tony and his "Excel Special" to completely hoodwink them. Put another way would having Danny Simpson in the squad OR both a Head of Recruitment and Chief Scout be a better use of cash because there probably wouldn't be much difference in the wages? If you really wanted to go to town you could say for the wages of Kasey Palmer we could probably hire a whole UK wide recruitment operation!!

Edited November 29, 2021 by Numero Uno