BCFC_Dan Posted February 3, 2009 Report Share Posted February 3, 2009 Look, all i'm saying is that I don't see much resulting from our much improved scouting network - that's not to say it isn't happening, just that clearly nothing has been brought to GJ's attention that is good enough for us. Apart from all the decent players we've signed. You seem to be after some kind of miracle player who is both remarkably good and yet at the same time completely unheard of. Was Carle a good find, or does he not count because of playing international games? Was Styvar a good find*, or does he not count because of playing in the UEFA cup? Was Elliot a good find, or does he not count because of playing in England? Was Basso a good find, or does he not count because of playing in England? I'd say all of the above and more were good signings identified by scouts. Speaking personally I'd heard of Elliot but didn't know much about him and seen Basso play (but didn't rate him - shows what I know!), but I'd never heard of Styvar or Carle before we signed them. *Ignore for now the fact that we don't yet know just how good he is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingswood red Posted February 3, 2009 Report Share Posted February 3, 2009 Apart from all the decent players we've signed. You seem to be after some kind of miracle player who is both remarkably good and yet at the same time completely unheard of. Was Carle a good find, or does he not count because of playing international games? Was Styvar a good find*, or does he not count because of playing in the UEFA cup? Was Elliot a good find, or does he not count because of playing in England? Was Basso a good find, or does he not count because of playing in England? I'd say all of the above and more were good signings identified by scouts. Speaking personally I'd heard of Elliot but didn't know much about him and seen Basso play (but didn't rate him - shows what I know!), but I'd never heard of Styvar or Carle before we signed them. *Ignore for now the fact that we don't yet know just how good he is. I would say a 'good find' was based on what we paid for him, if atall, and what he was subsequently worth. So based on that, Marvin was a 'good find' but Trundle wasn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Percy Parrot Posted February 3, 2009 Report Share Posted February 3, 2009 I am utterly amazed at people questionning the scouting network. A few years ago I would have agreed but in recent years: (ok not all of them are totally unknown but very very few players are. Pretty much all players work their way up. Basso - total unknown, free Elliott - well I'd never heard of him + most on here hadn't, v. cheap Fontaine - I knew him a little from Fulham but didn't really know how good he was, v.cheap/free McAllister - Again I had not heard of him, switched leagues which sometimes doesn't work, but has slotted in nicely, v.cheap/free McCombe - Unknown to me and most on here I imagine, v.cheap McIndoe - Ok, so this guy is known - but came with baggage and history. Very good value for money and a gamble that has paid off Noble - Unknown to me, cheap/free B. Wilson - May not be first team regular but a good addition to the squad for not much money Clearly we still have to wait on Akinde, Henderson, Styvar etc. But the players signed under Johnson have been superb, very cheap and to most people pretty unknown. From Saturday's team I think only Orr, Carey and Skuse were not GJ signings. He came in, quickly made changes and it has been his team since early on. His team has been very sucessful using many unknown players, many free signings and a wage bill that is considerably lower than most clubs in this league I would have thought. Final point - take Saturday's starting XI. The only players to have cost anything at all really were Sproule, Maynard and Adebola. A combined cost of perhaps £1m? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Stand Posted February 3, 2009 Report Share Posted February 3, 2009 I would say a 'good find' was based on what we paid for him, if atall, and what he was subsequently worth. So based on that, Marvin was a 'good find' but Trundle wasn't. I don't think players residual values mean anything these days, as proximity to their contract ceases is as big a factor as their ability. Take Marv, we bought him for nought - had we sold him now we'd have got £2M & you could argue that was good "business". However we may choose to keep him till the end of his contract & he then goes for nothing - he's still been a good find. I agree Trundle wasn't a good buy as he cost too much & despite some flashes of brilliance, generally under performed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bully Posted February 3, 2009 Report Share Posted February 3, 2009 Apart from all the decent players we've signed. You seem to be after some kind of miracle player who is both remarkably good and yet at the same time completely unheard of. Was Carle a good find, or does he not count because of playing international games? Was Styvar a good find*, or does he not count because of playing in the UEFA cup? Was Elliot a good find, or does he not count because of playing in England? Was Basso a good find, or does he not count because of playing in England? I'd say all of the above and more were good signings identified by scouts. Speaking personally I'd heard of Elliot but didn't know much about him and seen Basso play (but didn't rate him - shows what I know!), but I'd never heard of Styvar or Carle before we signed them. *Ignore for now the fact that we don't yet know just how good he is. Dan - like everyone i'd like a shedload of miracle finds but I know that ain't going to happen. I wouldn't expect anyone on this forum to know about good players with potential - that's what professional scouts are for. To put it into perspective, I doubt if Ferguson needed his brother's advice about Berbatov, but relied heavily on the scouting network for the two lads just signed from the Balkans - relative unknowns. Carle had just broken into the 'Friendly' Aussie set up I think so not unknown to football folk, but I said earlier that he was a good find except of course he was hardly considered a first 11 player when here. Basso - nailed down top find - two years ago. Elliot - established player but we got in there ahead of others so again, well done to the club. Not sure that he was brought to GJ's attention though as he'd have known all about him beforehand. Styvar - love to know how long City had been tracking him - jury is out, but if he does the business then good work, because even I don't think Pete Johnson's scouting of him consisted of 90 minutes telly viewing versus Villa. Add to that McCombe who isn't everyone's cup of tea but is CCC standard. Discount LJ, McIndoe, Fontaine, and Williams who were all well known to GJ already so he wouldn't have needed a scout to find them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BristolCity1992 Posted February 3, 2009 Report Share Posted February 3, 2009 Find me how many clubs in this league have bought players in the last year that have been a huge success and have been "Unknown" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RED4LIFE Posted February 3, 2009 Report Share Posted February 3, 2009 The thing is,most of the top-class players are known by the bigger clubs before they have even made their 1st team debuts, like Joe Cole, Jack Wilshere, Daniel Sturridge etc. So this says to me, that there isnt likely to be any top-class players that have 'slipped the net'. This is why the likes of Tosic (the Serb winger Man U just signed),Ronaldo, Messi etc are signed up so young. Even Eboue and Kolo Toure were young when Arsenal signed them. This basically means the smaller clubs, like ours, have to hunt around for whatever's left. Long gone are the days of finding a Waddle, Pearce or Ian Wright in non-league football, due to clubs scouting networks being that much more thorough. Just saw on the OS that GJ is giving a full, frank interview tomorrow regarding all January transfer activity. Only on World though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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