Mark Ashton- Transfers.

[bearded_red]

Now before I start I'm fully aware that not every transfer is going to work and that fans of other clubs will probably feel they can list just as many unsuccessful transfers, but I can't help but feel that the money we have wasted in the five transfer windows since Ashton has been here is enough to make your eyes water.

It is of course true that it is a slightly unfair playing field at this level due to parachute payments which of course at times leads us to take gambles that other clubs don't need to. For example there were lots of teams linked with Jonathan Kodjia, but the weaknesses in his game clearly put them off, but we had to gamble on him because we couldn't attract the more sure fire success. Obviously and fortunately he was a roaring success. 

Put simply, if we want a player and for example a recently Premier League Norwich also want the player it is highly likely he will choose Norwich. By contrast I'm only half joking to say that when we're in League 1 any fan with a decent knowledge of the game could do the job of recruiting fairly easily as we are a big fish. 'Stevenage's best player? Yeah we'll have him'.

It is of course more tricky for us in this division, but I still feel that the five transfer windows under Ashton's watch have produced a lot more failures than successes and a lot of money spent poorly that had it been spent well we would currently have a much stronger squad.

January 2016 (with added emergency loans made later in the season)

• Scott Golbourne
• Lee Tomlin (loan)
• Adam Matthews (loan
• Richard O'Donnell
• Alex Pearce (loan)
• Ben Gladwin (loan)
• Peter Odemwingie (loan)

Summer 2016

• Lee Tomlin
• Hörður Magnússon
• Taylor Moore
• Gustav Engvall
• Callum O'Dowda
• Diego De Girolamo
• Josh Brownhill
• Adam Matthews (loan)
• Tammy Abraham (loan)
• Jamie Paterson
• Ivan Lucic
• Joel Ekstrand
• Gary O'Neil

January 2017

• Milan Djuric
• Matty Taylor
• Jens Hegeler
• Fabian Gieffer (loan)
• Bailey Wright 
• Dave Cotterill (loan)

Summer 2017

• Famara Diehiou
• Nathan Baker
• Niclas Eliasson
• Eros Pisano
• Luke Steele
• Cauley Woodrow (loan)
• Jonathan Leko (loan)

January 2018

• Liam Walsh
• Lois Diony (loan)
• Ryan Kent (loan)

No doubt I will have missed someone..

Everyone will have different opinions on some players, some have been unquestionable failures, while there have been some successes. But I tend to think that not enough have been successes. Can we really be happy with our showing in the transfer market?

I mean we are currently paying Engvall, Taylor, Diony and Woodrow money to play for us. On their showing in a red shirt (while acknowledging that it is surely impossible that Diony is as bad as he has shown) they don't make a Championship forward if you add them all together.

We have been unlucky with injuries in the case of a couple, for example I am a fan of Milan Djuric, but for the fee we paid and the wages he will be on, the amount of games he has started in a season and a half is difficult to argue it's been a success.

Talking of injuries, Joel Ekstrand?! Sol Bamba, pretty much ever present in Cardiff's team and man of the match at their ground last season and this against us was available on a free at the time. I'm no lover of Colin, but he turned up in bloody October of that season and pretty much the first thing he did was sign the unattached Bamba on a free. We were months into Joel Ekstrand Treatmant Table tour by then.

Of course there are a few there that are still with us and hopefully, who knows, fingers crossed, improve and make an impact in the team. Maybe next season will belong to Niclas Eliasson! But the majority of the evidence wouldn't lead you to be confident. With the exception of O'Dowda and Brownhill which of the younger players we've signed have actually improved and become more important members of the team? Most of them have ended up getting further and further away from the team as time goes on. Taylor Moore/Engvall/ Eliasson all started in the squad to then drift further and further away. Magnússon started as a mainstay of the team and now wouldn't be considered for selection when everyone is fit. Leko's best moments were all within his first week. Who thinks they've now seen the last Kent? When does anyone realistically think Walsh will start again?

Why did we sign Kent to play in a similar way to Eliasson, but block the pathway of the player that actually belongs to us. In December Eliasson started away at Bramall Lane and came off the bench against Man Utd. Just how far way from selection is he now?

Why on earth was Jens Hegeler signed? He won't be earning peanuts and is obviously a talented lad. Where was he signed to play? How does he fit in the team? Just how much money will have earned from Bristol City for barely kicking a ball.

How many failed attempts at an upgrade on Fielding?

I accept this is dodgy ground as others rate him much higher than I do, but Famara Diedhiou? 5.3 million pound on a forward that doesn't fit the way we play when at our best. Our best football came playing without a centre forward and Reid our most advanced player. Now I get the 'clubs in the bag' argument (I've stated my love of Djuric after all), but blow your record transfer fee for a player who I think makes the team play worse. The best football we've played this season looks similar to what Brentford played today, yet they don't fill the need to smash their transfer record to have a big number 9 up front as that doesn't suit them.

Talking of Brentford, when you're next hearing Mark Ashton tell you how great our recruitment now is, and many more players we are now aware of, what a great database of player's stats we look at and what foreign league we watch (ponds, rivers and lakes?!), remember Ollie Watkins. We can spend as much time as we like looking at players in France and Sweden, but we've missed a star in the making there who played for Exeter, was previously on loan at Weston, and didn't sign for a massive parachute payment club, no he signed for Brentford with their ground in which I can't imagine anybody has ever mentioned 'sweating the asset'.

I think Johnson deserves real credit for the level in which the remaining members of the League 1 team, Fielding, Flint, Bryan, Smith, Pack and Reid have got to. But after those players how many members in our squad are we are happy are good enough for this level. Out of the many, many signings..

Of all the players we've brought in, the money thrown around, how many signings have been successful. How many have been value for money? How confident are you that are squad will be stronger in August than it is now?

I've probably ranted on long enough now.

[The Coach]

Mark Ashton isn't a scout, he's part of the negotiation team, most likely heads it. But I agree on the whole, our signings overall in the last couple years have been pretty poor business. The club seriously needs to review it's current scouting setup, along with those involved.

[Lew-T]

I was just about to say but you’ve pointed out that only Brownhill aside, LJ’s signings have been pretty poor when you think how much money has been wasted. Our best players are the double winners and that’s a little worrying? Diedhiou to be fair to him has done okay.

Pack, Smith and Flint are the heartbeat of this side though. Without them I could see us lingering at the bottom of the table and that doesn’t bode well for my confidence in the summer.

It looks like a attitude problem at the minute. We look mentally weak and something has to change.

[Loosey Boy]

5 minutes ago, Lew-T said:

I was just about to say but you’ve pointed out that only Brownhill aside, LJ’s signings have been pretty poor when you think how much money has been wasted. Our best players are the double winners and that’s a little worrying? Diedhiou to be fair to him has done okay.

Pack, Smith and Flint are the heartbeat of this side though. Without them I could see us lingering at the bottom of the table and that doesn’t bode well for my confidence in the summer.

It looks like a attitude problem at the minute. We look mentally weak and something has to change.

Can see six or seven of our better players inc those you mention all departing for some big money in the summer!

Then where do we go.....I know....out to buy more players for the future

[tinman85]

39 minutes ago, bearded_red said:

Now before I start I'm fully aware that not every transfer is going to work and that fans of other clubs will probably feel they can list just as many unsuccessful transfers, but I can't help but feel that the money we have wasted in the five transfer windows since Ashton has been here is enough to make your eyes water.

It is of course true that it is a slightly unfair playing field at this level due to parachute payments which of course at times leads us to take gambles that other clubs don't need to. For example there were lots of teams linked with Jonathan Kodjia, but the weaknesses in his game clearly put them off, but we had to gamble on him because we couldn't attract the more sure fire success. Obviously and fortunately he was a roaring success. 

Put simply, if we want a player and for example a recently Premier League Norwich also want the player it is highly likely he will choose Norwich. By contrast I'm only half joking to say that when we're in League 1 any fan with a decent knowledge of the game could do the job of recruiting fairly easily as we are a big fish. 'Stevenage's best player? Yeah we'll have him'.

It is of course more tricky for us in this division, but I still feel that the five transfer windows under Ashton's watch have produced a lot more failures than successes and a lot of money spent poorly that had it been spent well we would currently have a much stronger squad.

January 2016 (with added emergency loans made later in the season)

• Scott Golbourne
• Lee Tomlin (loan)
• Adam Matthews (loan
• Richard O'Donnell
• Alex Pearce (loan)
• Ben Gladwin (loan)
• Peter Odemwingie (loan)

Summer 2016

• Lee Tomlin
• Hörður Magnússon
• Taylor Moore
• Gustav Engvall
• Callum O'Dowda
• Diego De Girolamo
• Josh Brownhill
• Adam Matthews (loan)
• Tammy Abraham (loan)
• Jamie Paterson
• Ivan Lucic
• Joel Ekstrand
• Gary O'Neil

January 2017

• Milan Djuric
• Matty Taylor
• Jens Hegeler
• Fabian Gieffer (loan)
• Bailey Wright 
• Dave Cotterill (loan)

Summer 2017

• Famara Diehiou
• Nathan Baker
• Niclas Eliasson
• Eros Pisano
• Luke Steele
• Cauley Woodrow (loan)
• Jonathan Leko (loan)

January 2018

• Liam Walsh
• Lois Diony (loan)
• Ryan Kent (loan)

No doubt I will have missed someone..

Everyone will have different opinions on some players, some have been unquestionable failures, while there have been some successes. But I tend to think that not enough have been successes. Can we really be happy with our showing in the transfer market?

I mean we are currently paying Engvall, Taylor, Diony and Woodrow money to play for us. On their showing in a red shirt (while acknowledging that it is surely impossible that Diony is as bad as he has shown) they don't make a Championship forward if you add them all together.

We have been unlucky with injuries in the case of a couple, for example I am a fan of Milan Djuric, but for the fee we paid and the wages he will be on, the amount of games he has started in a season and a half is difficult to argue it's been a success.

Talking of injuries, Joel Ekstrand?! Sol Bamba, pretty much ever present in Cardiff's team and man of the match at their ground last season and this against us was available on a free at the time. I'm no lover of Colin, but he turned up in bloody October of that season and pretty much the first thing he did was sign the unattached Bamba on a free. We were months into Joel Ekstrand Treatmant Table tour by then.

Of course there are a few there that are still with us and hopefully, who knows, fingers crossed, improve and make an impact in the team. Maybe next season will belong to Niclas Eliasson! But the majority of the evidence wouldn't lead you to be confident. With the exception of O'Dowda and Brownhill which of the younger players we've signed have actually improved and become more important members of the team? Most of them have ended up getting further and further away from the team as time goes on. Taylor Moore/Engvall/ Eliasson all started in the squad to then drift further and further away. Magnússon started as a mainstay of the team and now wouldn't be considered for selection when everyone is fit. Leko's best moments were all within his first week. Who thinks they've now seen the last Kent? When does anyone realistically think Walsh will start again?

Why did we sign Kent to play in a similar way to Eliasson, but block the pathway of the player that actually belongs to us. In December Eliasson started away at Bramall Lane and came off the bench against Man Utd. Just how far way from selection is he now?

Why on earth was Jens Hegeler signed? He won't be earning peanuts and is obviously a talented lad. Where was he signed to play? How does he fit in the team? Just how much money will have earned from Bristol City for barely kicking a ball.

How many failed attempts at an upgrade on Fielding?

I accept this is dodgy ground as others rate him much higher than I do, but Famara Diedhiou? 5.3 million pound on a forward that doesn't fit the way we play when at our best. Our best football came playing without a centre forward and Reid our most advanced player. Now I get the 'clubs in the bag' argument (I've stated my love of Djuric after all), but blow your record transfer fee for a player who I think makes the team play worse. The best football we've played this season looks similar to what Brentford played today, yet they don't fill the need to smash their transfer record to have a big number 9 up front as that doesn't suit them.

Talking of Brentford, when you're next hearing Mark Ashton tell you how great our recruitment now is, and many more players we are now aware of, what a great database of player's stats we look at and what foreign league we watch (ponds, rivers and lakes?!), remember Ollie Watkins. We can spend as much time as we like looking at players in France and Sweden, but we've missed a star in the making there who played for Exeter, was previously on loan at Weston, and didn't sign for a massive parachute payment club, no he signed for Brentford with their ground in which I can't imagine anybody has ever mentioned 'sweating the asset'.

I think Johnson deserves real credit for the level in which the remaining members of the League 1 team, Fielding, Flint, Bryan, Smith, Pack and Reid have got to. But after those players how many members in our squad are we are happy are good enough for this level. Out of the many, many signings..

Of all the players we've brought in, the money thrown around, how many signings have been successful. How many have been value for money? How confident are you that are squad will be stronger in August than it is now?

I've probably ranted on long enough now.

Only 6 or 7 from that list are any good. Proves a point. 

[Chicken George]

Ollie Watkins was so say on our radar at Exeter. I thought I read on here a couple of years ago about him and we were watching him. 

Ashton & co can’t be bothered to go 60 miles down the road to find a good championship striker for a bargain. They think they can be clever and sign the brain-dead Diedhiou from France for 5 times as much as they could’ve had Watkins for. 

Ashton thinks he’s clever. He’s actually a total fraud. 

[BobBobSuperBob]

Interesting & very good post with lots of good (IMHO)  points @bearded_red

I’ve been quite vocal and been lmbasted by some over concerns about our recruitment

I think it is and certainly has been muddled and I would describe it overall as ‘poor’

I once had a conversation with a very experienced Premier League Manager once and in asking him about systems / management he said

‘Ultimately you are only as good as the players you sign’

Simplistic but IMHO largely true - sign the right players in ability and character and they will do the job for you , or certainly make it a whole lot easier 

[ScottishRed]

43 minutes ago, Loosey Boy said:

Can see six or seven of our better players inc those you mention all departing for some big money in the summer!

Then where do we go.....I know....out to buy more players for the future

I would question that now. I would imagine that any club that was interested would have a scout at every one of our games giving a less than glowing report about most of them since Christmas.

Withnthe notable exceptions of Aden and Young Bobby.

[Lrrr]

Why is this getting pinned on Ashton? He'll be given a list of names and asked to work out deals to bring those players to the club, surely the people to criticise on transfers would be those who come up with the list of names?

[RedRock]

Wasn’t it Warnock who said he would only sign players that he thought would improve his first team? 

Don’t be like Warnock eh. Eight promotions and all that.  

 

Wouldn’t it be fun though to see him put our CEO in his place. 

[Frenchay Red]

1 minute ago, Moor2Sea said:

Wasn’t it Warnock who said he would only sign players that he thought would improve his first team? 

Don’t be like Warnock eh. Eight promotions and all that.  

 

Wouldn’t it be fun though to see him put our CEO in his place. 

Not sure about Warnock, but was very much Cott's thinking.

[RedRock]

1 minute ago, hodge said:

Why is this getting pinned on Ashton? He'll be given a list of names and asked to work out deals to bring those players to the club, surely the people to criticise on transfers would be those who come up with the list of names?

I think he may ‘head up’ the transfer committee and, I believe, may be responsible for the overall transfer strategy. 

One thing you learn in life. Never do things by Committee. You achieve **** all and no one ever takes responsibility for the decisions (unless they are successes). 

[Chicken George]

5 minutes ago, hodge said:

Why is this getting pinned on Ashton? He'll be given a list of names and asked to work out deals to bring those players to the club, surely the people to criticise on transfers would be those who come up with the list of names?

He’s got his list of names but he’s then choosing to follow up on the wrong ones. He’s trying to be clever. But he’s a wet flannel. Full of bull. 

[BobBobSuperBob]

13 minutes ago, hodge said:

Why is this getting pinned on Ashton? He'll be given a list of names and asked to work out deals to bring those players to the club, surely the people to criticise on transfers would be those who come up with the list of names?

That has certainly always been the party line

Im afraid if that’s the case Lee has to answer for recruitment

 

[SecretSam]

3 minutes ago, Moor2Sea said:

One thing you learn in life. Never do things by Committee. You achieve **** all and no one ever takes responsibility for the decisions (unless they are successes). 

Whereas one person having all the power is a sure fire recipe. The transfer committee system works for pretty much every major continental team.

Anyway, I admit, our record isn't stellar. But in my experience, it never has been. We are not an attractive club: not a football hotbed, no history, not mega money salaries, etc

We missed the boat with Watkins, but what's to say he wanted to join us? Perhaps he fancied London? 

But I agree, we need a coherent strategy. I seem to recall a while back we had O'Driscoll as manager, signing Flint and Pack for pennies.  But he wasn't good enough as a manager. But coach? Director of football?

[Davefevs]

@bearded_red nice post, agree with all but the MA bit.  I would expect him to only do the money bit, but then again if his input is "Watkins isn’t worth £1.8m", then he comes under massive scrutiny too.

@City Ben - why the ‘bin" emoji?

Johnson is gonna need Eliasson and Taylor Moore to come good to make the recruitment team look at best reasonable.  Kelly and Vyner might help paper over the cracks.

I don’t agree Diedhiou doesn’t suit the way we play.  We were playing a decent brand up until his injury.  The service to him and Reid since Fam’s return from injury has been poor.  Too many players falling below the fantastic levels they set pre-Xmas.

An interesting summer lies ahead.

[Lrrr]

1 minute ago, BobBobSuperBob said:

That has certainly always been the party line

Im afraid if that’s the case Lee has to answer for recruitment

 

To be fair you'd say a healthy chunk will be the recruitment team as a whole, Johnson will be shown maybe 5 minute clips of players to start with and then if the player continues to be of interest then they'll watch him over 10 games or so. The people who decide which players to show Lee (and whoever else is involved in decision making) take some of the blame for suggesting the players to start with. In recruitment your career is built on providing successful suggestions, it won't be a case of just suggesting anyone as they may be alright.

[Lrrr]

4 minutes ago, SecretSam said:

Whereas one person having all the power is a sure fire recipe. The transfer committee system works for pretty much every major continental team.

Anyway, I admit, our record isn't stellar. But in my experience, it never has been. We are not an attractive club: not a football hotbed, no history, not mega money salaries, etc

We missed the boat with Watkins, but what's to say he wanted to join us? Perhaps he fancied London? 

But I agree, we need a coherent strategy. I seem to recall a while back we had O'Driscoll as manager, signing Flint and Pack for pennies.  But he wasn't good enough as a manager. But coach? Director of football?

The same O'Driscoll who thought we had massively overspent on Flint and wouldn't have signed him at that cost if he had final say? Pack though was excellent business, and I'd say Williams too, part of the league winning side. Was frankie odriscoll or Cotts? Whichever deserves credit there too. 

[BobBobSuperBob]

3 minutes ago, hodge said:

To be fair you'd say a healthy chunk will be the recruitment team as a whole, Johnson will be shown maybe 5 minute clips of players to start with and then if the player continues to be of interest then they'll watch him over 10 games or so. The people who decide which players to show Lee (and whoever else is involved in decision making) take some of the blame for suggesting the players to start with. In recruitment your career is built on providing successful suggestions, it won't be a case of just suggesting anyone as they may be alright.

Totally agree - LJ went through the recruitment process in some depth at the q&a session and ultimately (With a view from JM & DH will Watch the player himself and make a decision

 

He won’t always be the instigator in suggesting options to look at but  at times does  instigate the watch process - Nicolas Elliason , for example he himself identified himself to look at )

[bearded_red]

Fair criticism that maybe I’ve seemed to be laying the blame for poor signings at the door of Ashton and that wasn’t my intention. I think my irritation at his interviews and endless back slapping have shown in my post!

I do however believe that he heads up the recruitment and scouting and he is therefore somewhat responsible for our success and failure in the transfer market. I wasn’t trying to suggest that it’s him that picks the individual players.

[Davefevs]

@SecretSam you pose the question....SOD as DOF....I think LJ needs someone like him.

I think it’s the gap.  We don’t have an experienced guy on the football side.  

Lenny Lawrence was a huge asset to Paul Trollope at Rovers.

Its ok LJ saying he can call "uncle" Kenny Dalglish, or Pep, or Jose, but we need someone close to home, day to Day involvement to give him a little challenge every now and then.  A Joe Jordan type.

[RedRock]

2 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

@SecretSam you pose the question....SOD as DOF....I think LJ needs someone like him.

I think it’s the gap.  We don’t have an experienced guy on the football side.  

Lenny Lawrence was a huge asset to Paul Trollope at Rovers.

Its ok LJ saying he can call "uncle" Kenny Dalglish, or Pep, or Jose, but we need someone close to home, day to Day involvement to give him a little challenge every now and then.  A Joe Jordan type.

Up until today, I thought these runs were just ‘bad luck’. Today, looking at that team selection was my turning point. 

There is evidently something amiss. Lee is not addressing the flaw. He is repeating mistakes. 

Clear to me now he needs an experienced mentor, at least in the short term. Someone who can report direct to the Board. 

[Guest]

28 minutes ago, hodge said:

Why is this getting pinned on Ashton? He'll be given a list of names and asked to work out deals to bring those players to the club, surely the people to criticise on transfers would be those who come up with the list of names?

I think we need to take a step back in this process and take a look at who has laid down the basic criteria for recruitment.

Unless I 'm very much mistaken the owner has said he wants the club to buy players whose value will increase as they develop, or represent good value if they are older.

While this may be a sound decision when buying into start up companies it is fraught with danger when dealing with footballers.

SL has 'invested' in a number of young players and a number of foreign based players none of whom have arrived with any kind of reputation other than having the potential that they may cut it in the Championship.

A couple have developed into decent players, Brownhill and O'Dowda Spring to mind, while others have either not shown the progress that was hoped for or are simply longer term investments which may or may not pay off.

Part of me wants to applaud that attitude, but common sense tells me it is doomed to failure without adding quality along the way,  and to my mind quality means proven at Championship level or above, and that costs money.

We won't win anything playing the kids, only one manager has done that and it will probably never be repeated.

It would be great to be able to ask questions about the recruitment and get a genuine answer, but with MA that is never going to happen.

[One BCFC]

The poster is absolutely spot on and I said today after the game that first 11 is full of the squad who got us Promoted to this level.

By contrast Brentford who got promoted the year before we did have sold on basically their whole side since then and have improved on it. Their team is full of L1 and L2's best players mixed with the odd foreign player who suits the system.

Our recruitment policy is pretty dreadful really I simply cannot see how Diedhiou merits the money we paid for him and why the likes of Engvall, Woodrow and Hegeler needed to be signed. We are being drip fed utter crap by the club about our recruitment policy and 'DNA'. 

DNA whats that all about? I'm sorry you can praise where we are all you want but we have been a long ball side since January.

[Lrrr]

9 minutes ago, Countryfile said:

I think we need to take a step back in this process and take a look at who has laid down the basic criteria for recruitment.

Unless I 'm very much mistaken the owner has said he wants the club to buy players whose value will increase as they develop, or represent good value if they are older.

While this may be a sound decision when buying into start up companies it is fraught with danger when dealing with footballers.

SL has 'invested' in a number of young players and a number of foreign based players none of whom have arrived with any kind of reputation other than having the potential that they may cut it in the Championship.

A couple have developed into decent players, Brownhill and O'Dowda Spring to mind, while others have either not shown the progress that was hoped for or are simply longer term investments which may or may not pay off.

Part of me wants to applaud that attitude, but common sense tells me it is doomed to failure without adding quality along the way,  and to my mind quality means proven at Championship level or above, and that costs money.

We won't win anything playing the kids, only one manager has done that and it will probably never be repeated.

It would be great to be able to ask questions about the recruitment and get a genuine answer, but with MA that is never going to happen.

Think we're trying to find the right balance of 'potential' and 'current ability' (to steal from football manager...) The first summer we had to buy a lot due to the small squad so think we tried to bolster numbers first while going for the potential because we couldn't afford to bring in the numbers required if they were all first team ready. This summer just gone we brought in 5 transfers Diedhiou, Baker, Steele, Pisano and Eliasson. Out of those I think you can only say Eliasson was a 'one for the future'. Diedhiou was clearly a hope of replicating Kodjia and is working. The others are all experienced too. It was more the loans where we went for younger players in Leko and Woodrow (rumour with option to buy). 

So really the argument we're going about the policy that way only isn't really true and I think a lot from the summer before still bares heavily in peoples thoughts. Walsh in January was a case of thats when he was available, whereas he may not have been if we wanted to wait till summer. Kent had been Barnsley's young player of the year and a lot of people were excited when we signed him, hindsight is a wonderful thing. 

[bexhill reds]

To add another thought to this thread, what playing opportunities to these fringe players get if not playing for the first team? How can you improve if not getting game time. how many of the fringe players like  Engvall, Elliason, Woodrow are regularly appearing for the U23s? You can only do so much in training and the odd behind closed door game against Cheltenham but ultimately you have to be playing some form of competitive football. Poor signings  perhaps, but we do not seem to have an environment conducive for improvement.

[Robbored]

9 hours ago, Davefevs said:Johnson is gonna need Eliasson and Taylor Moore to come good to make the recruitment team look at best reasonable.  Kelly and Vyner might help paper over the cracks.

 

I don’t agree Diedhiou doesn’t suit the way we play.  We were playing a decent brand up until his injury.  The service to him and Reid since Fam’s return from injury has been poor.  Too many players falling below the fantastic levels they set pre-Xmas.

An interesting summer lies ahead.

Famara was the best of of a poor performance yesterday and had he not been out so injured for so long would be close to Reid in the scoring charts. He's one very successful signing and if he stays fit next season he'll be quite an asset.

The issue some fans have is that their perception of new signings will be successful pretty much after they've joined the club and don't seem to grasp the philosophy of SLs transfer strategy. 

He wants the club to have youngsters developed at City to form the backbone of the first team squad. Currently only Reid and Bryan are regulars with Kelly in the match day squad so at FT yesterday City had three home grown players out of 11. 

Vyner is hopefully not far off rejoining City next season having had a decent season at Argyle. That could make four.

So it could be argued that the transfer philosophy is showing signs of growth already.

Buying success is not something SL wants to do and that's why MA said "we are not chasing promotion" recently 

 

[Jack Dawe]

@Countryfile agree with much of your post there, but Baker is an example of us buying a proven Championship player. Quality, and not a pup or over the hill. So we will do this, but only when the price is right/within our range/not extortionate. We won't break the bank to do this. Trouble might be, that transfer was the exception, rather than the rule and there won't be one like that every summer.

[Olé]

12 hours ago, bearded_red said:

what a great database of player's stats we look at

[tinman85]

53 minutes ago, Robbored said:

Famara was the best of of a poor performance yesterday and had he not been out so injured for so long would be close to Reid in the scoring charts. He's one very successful signing and if he stays fit next season he'll be quite an asset.

The issue some fans have is that their perception of new signings will be successful pretty much after they've joined the club and don't seem to grasp the philosophy of SLs transfer strategy. 

He wants the club to have youngsters developed at City to form the backbone of the first team squad. Currently only Reid and Bryan are regulars with Kelly in the match day squad so at FT yesterday City had three home grown players out of 11. 

Vyner is hopefully not far off rejoining City next season having had a decent season at Argyle. That could make four.

So it could be argued that the transfer philosophy is showing signs of growth already.

Buying success is not something SL wants to do and that's why MA said "we are not chasing promotion" recently 

 

Which begs the question. Now we have the stadium and SL has taken us to this level, do we need a takeover to move us forward to the PL.