Bell and the Academy.

[BCFC Rich]

Well someone had to make a thread for him. Quality performance, quality goals! Made them look easy. And 6 academy players playing today - future looking promising. 

 

WBA forums on bell - 

That Sam Bell looks decent.

Fu#k! quality finish that

(Bell's 2nd) Fair play that was a cracking goal

Sam Bell has got some pace. Left Furlong for dead just.

 

Edited January 28, 2023 by BCFC Rich
added WBA quotes

[joe jordans teeth]

2 minutes ago, BCFC Rich said:

well someone had to make a thread for him. Quality performance, quality goals! Made them look easy. And 6 academy player playing today - future looking promising. 

Did you have a bet today 

[BCFC Rich]

2 minutes ago, joe jordans teeth said:

Did you have a bet today 

Probably would have, but online betting not legal in California (where I live). Did you? Great performance, easily out best of the season. Particularly liked how we kept pressing and defending like it was close. bodies on the line and tireless running. Bell slotted in like he plays every week. 

[glynriley]

If Erling Haaland would have scored that second goal today, Sky would be showing that as the intro to every football show they’ve got. Absolutely different class. The touch and the finish, wow. 

[BCFC Rich]

Sorry @Boston Red copied this from match day thread, as thought it was a great point - 

2 minutes ago, Boston Red said:

This week we sold a keeper and a forward.

Our two best players today?

Replacement youth product keeper and replacement youth product forward.

[redsquirrel]

didnt nahki wells spend a great deal of time with them?

[Red Army 87]

Just now, redsquirrel said:

didnt nahki wells spend a great deal of time with them?

Says a lot about his quality that Conway, Semenyo and now Bell have flourished playing alongside him. 

[BCFC Rich]

From WBA forums:

(before he scored) - That Sam Bell looks decent.

Fu#k! quality finish that

There mid looking sharp - Scott would be a good signing for us

(Bell's 2nd) Fair play that was a cracking goal

BC are just enjoying themselves, penetrating us at will.

Sam Bell has got some pace. Left Furlong for dead just.

Bristol comfortably deserved to win that & really outplayed us at times.

 

[cityal]

Its super early days for Bell in his career, but he has something about him.

His timing of forward runs for through balls looks good. He looks pretty good dribbling the ball (he seems a bit 2 footed?)

His finishing though, it is just . The goal against swansea, the disallowed goal against blackburn, both goals today are all very good finishes - as was pointed out earlier, the second finish day would have pundits puyrring if it was some superstar doing it.

I hope he gets more chances.

[cityal]

1 minute ago, BCFC Rich said:

From WBA forums:

(before he scored) - That Sam Bell looks decent.

Fu#k! quality finish that

There mid looking sharp - Scott would be a good signing for us

(Bell's 2nd) Fair play that was a cracking goal

BC are just enjoying themselves, penetrating us at will.

Sam Bell has got some pace. Left Furlong for dead just.

Bristol comfortably deserved to win that & really outplayed us at times.

 

I would guess Scott will be going to a side A LOT better than WBA currently are. He will surely be looking at top half of premier league?

[Crackers Corner]

2 minutes ago, BCFC Rich said:

From WBA forums:

 

There mid looking sharp - Scott would be a good signing for us

 

 

good luck with that west brom.

[Vidal]

18 minutes ago, glynriley said:

If Erling Haaland would have scored that second goal today, Sky would be showing that as the intro to every football show they’ve got. Absolutely different class. The touch and the finish, wow. 

Keeper made it easy for him. Out too slow and down to easy. 

[Dan Robin]

Many problems for our club in recent seasons, but the Academy is giving us joys and could play an important role in our future plans, even when finances will be better.

[Slacker]

3 minutes ago, Crackers Corner said:

good luck with that west brom.

In the same way that Haaland would be a good signing for us!

[chinapig]

2 minutes ago, cityal said:

I would guess Scott will be going to a side A LOT better than WBA currently are. He will surely be looking at top half of premier league?

Given they have just borrowed £20m just to pay the bills and their owner still hasn't paid back the £5m he borrowed from the club I doubt they will be making a bid any time soon!

[Slack]

If bell performs like this going forward we will be absolutely fine 

Our academy is insane 

[petehinton]

One of the fair few things SO’D put in place for the club to be able to focus on properly during/after his short tenure. 

It’s just the start too. This crop of 18s/advanced age group 21s are the most exciting we’ve probably ever have. And with tinnions new role we will be able to have a clear way of playing for them to fit into as well. 

[INCRED]

2 minutes ago, Dan Robin said:

Many problems for our club in recent seasons, but the Academy is giving us joys and could play an important role in our future plans, even when finances will be better.

sometimes the joy of seeing lads scouted at a very young age and coming through the academy to the first team and contributing to a performance like that today is far greater than any other 

Seen it in the 70s and starting to see it again now, NP deserves credit by trusting them as do BT and the academy staff & coaches for the work they put in to develop them 

[GrahamC]

29 minutes ago, glynriley said:

If Erling Haaland would have scored that second goal today, Sky would be showing that as the intro to every football show they’ve got. Absolutely different class. The touch and the finish, wow. 

Reminded me of Bergkamp, & I’m not joking.

How good were we today?

Pretty much everyone at the top of their game & to end a 3-0 win against West Brom with Bell, Francois & Taylor-Clarke as our front three was insane.

[One Team]

25 minutes ago, Red Army 87 said:

Says a lot about his quality that Conway, Semenyo and now Bell have flourished playing alongside him. 

I said this in the match thread earlier, not only is Nahki a quality player but he is bringing on our young strikers superbly. Future coach maybe?

[City_USA]

What with the success of shows like "Welcome to Wrexham" and "All or nothing", you'd think that someone might be taking a close look at our academy.

That's some TV I'd like to watch

 

[One Team]

When I first saw Sam Bell I really didn’t think he had it in him and he’d be another young player out on loan who’d ultimately move on. Shows how much I know! 

He’s been superb in his last few games and today was just incredible. 

Bournemouth must be thinking they’ve bought the wrong young striker! 

[petehinton]

30 minutes ago, redsquirrel said:

didnt nahki wells spend a great deal of time with them?

 

29 minutes ago, Red Army 87 said:

Says a lot about his quality that Conway, Semenyo and now Bell have flourished playing alongside him. 

 

2 minutes ago, One Team said:

I said this in the match thread earlier, not only is Nahki a quality player but he is bringing on our young strikers superbly. Future coach maybe?

Nahki spent a lot of time playing golf/spending time after training with Bell and Conway last season and still into this season. He’s been a huge influence on them in many ways. 

[glynriley]

21 minutes ago, Vidal said:

Keeper made it easy for him. Out too slow and down to easy. 

Behave yourself 

[BCFCGav]

He had absolutely no right to control and finish like he did for the second. It reminded me of Mo Salah. His goal against Swansea was special, I liked todays second even more. Starboy 2.0 (original Starboy was also unbelievable today). 

[chowie]

 

[Midred]

15 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

Reminded me of Bergkamp, & I’m not joking.

How good were we today?

Pretty much everyone at the top of their game & to end a 3-0 win against West Brom with Bell, Francois & Taylor-Clarke as our front three was insane.

How well did the subs perform?

[GrahamC]

1 minute ago, Midred said:

How well did the subs perform?

On very late but Francois still had time to do one brilliant turn with the ball & get roughed up a couple of times by Ajayi.

[Kid in the Riot]

I was sat near Mickey in the Lansdown and can confirm that his face was a picture of pure joy when Sam scored his first and ran over to his Dad to celebrate.

I think I may even have seen a tear or two...

[Simon bristol]

1 minute ago, Kid in the Riot said:

I was sat near Mickey in the Lansdown and can confirm that his face was a picture of pure joy when Sam scored his first and ran over to his Dad to celebrate.

I think I may even have seen a tear or two...

Awesome! A lot of us have fond memories of mickey,a lot of us will be very proud to see sam come in and make that impact!

[TinMan's left peg]

3 minutes ago, Simon bristol said:

Awesome! A lot of us have fond memories of mickey,a lot of us will be very proud to see sam come in and make that impact!

Time to resurrect his Dad’s song for Sam 

[Vidal]

29 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

Reminded me of Bergkamp, & I’m not joking.

How good were we today?

Pretty much everyone at the top of their game & to end a 3-0 win against West Brom with Bell, Francois & Taylor-Clarke as our front three was insane.

Scott head and shoulders best player on the pitch today.

[RedinSpain]

Didn´t Tinnion say fairly recently something along the lines of "watch out for what´s coming from the academy, it´s going to be quite something"?

[GrahamC]

11 minutes ago, Kid in the Riot said:

I was sat near Mickey in the Lansdown and can confirm that his face was a picture of pure joy when Sam scored his first and ran over to his Dad to celebrate.

I think I may even have seen a tear or two...

It must be incredible for him, although he’s originally from the North East like Tinnion & Owers he’s been down here for many years now, to see your lad do that so many years after playing here yourself must be a tremendous feeling.

[BCFC Rich]

2 minutes ago, RedinSpain said:

Didn´t Tinnion say fairly recently something along the lines of "watch out for what´s coming from the academy, it´s going to be quite something"?

Oohhh haven't hear of Quite-Something! Are sure sure it wasn't Palmer-Holden? Or Taylor-Clarke?

[Davefevs]

1 hour ago, cityal said:

Its super early days for Bell in his career, but he has something about him.

His timing of forward runs for through balls looks good. He looks pretty good dribbling the ball (he seems a bit 2 footed?)

His finishing though, it is just . The goal against swansea, the disallowed goal against blackburn, both goals today are all very good finishes - as was pointed out earlier, the second finish day would have pundits puyrring if it was some superstar doing it.

I hope he gets more chances.

I saw aspects in Sam’s game today that I’ve never seen in the u23s/u21s.  There were a couple of things he did back to goal at Rotherham also.

He’s surprised me, not gonna lie.

Furlong is a streetwise Championship RB, and he was made to look poor today.

Well done Sam.

[BCFC Rich]

4 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

I saw aspects in Sam’s game today that I’ve never seen in the u23s/u21s.  There were a couple of things he did back to goal at Rotherham also.

He’s surprised me, not gonna lie.

Furlong is a streetwise Championship RB, and he was made to look poor today.

Well done Sam.

His movement looks great, constantly getting in behind, both out wide and in the middle. 

[Supersonic Robin]

Bell's turnaround in the last couple of weeks has been excellent.

Prior to the last few games, he'd looked way out of his depth when playing for the first team and was offering very little. For whatever reason (confidence?!), he's now taking his chance. 

Happy for him, and excellent timing for us with Semenyo leaving (though I do still think we need a replacement). Let's hope it's part of a longer term breakthrough for Bell, rather than just a bout of form. 

[BCFC Rich]

6 minutes ago, Supersonic Robin said:

Bell's turnaround in the last couple of weeks has been excellent.

Prior to the last few games, he'd looked way out of his depth when playing for the first team and was offering very little. For whatever reason (confidence?!), he's now taking his chance. 

Happy for him, and excellent timing for us with Semenyo leaving (though I do still think we need a replacement). Let's hope it's part of a longer term breakthrough for Bell, rather than just a bout of form. 

I think getting a goal makes a huge difference. Did with Conway too. 

[ChippenhamRed]

Have to say, Bell’s performance today makes the sale of Semenyo that bit easier to stomach. What a privilege is it to have an increasingly reliable stream of talent emerging from the academy!

[1960maaan]

I've watched a bit of Bell in the U21s, it was obvious he could finish. You could see he had a bit about him, but he is showing he has so much more all round game than I'd imagined. I didn't see that burst of pace, he makes good runs and that 2nd shows a real calmness. I really wish that he hadn't had that heavy touch, would have been great for him to get a hat trick today.

[ralphindevon]

Bell’s second goal reinforces my opinion that he’s the most exciting striker prospect to come out of our academy.

The first goal was well taken but probably every player on the pitch has the ability to score that.

The second goal very few on the pitch would have been capable of that, that’s pure striker instinct, going at speed after a brilliant first touch then to bring out a cool chip like that. I’m not sure you can learn, you’ve either got it or you haven’t.

[Elruliri]

I can see him driving around in a TR7 next season with his own fan club.

[BCFCGav]

One Sam Bell thread doesn’t feel like enough but I have too much respect for the mods to start another.

[RedM]

1 hour ago, GrahamC said:

It must be incredible for him, although he’s originally from the North East like Tinnion & Owers he’s been down here for many years now, to see your lad do that so many years after playing here yourself must be a tremendous feeling.

The first time I saw Sam he was a couple of weeks old in his Dad's arms. Hard to believe he is upfront scoring goals for us now. 

While I am obviously enjoying seeing this, God it makes me feel old!

[DingleRed]

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

I saw aspects in Sam’s game today that I’ve never seen in the u23s/u21s.  There were a couple of things he did back to goal at Rotherham also.

He’s surprised me, not gonna lie.

Furlong is a streetwise Championship RB, and he was made to look poor today.

Well done Sam.

Reminds me of a young Michael Owen when he burst on the scene ...... 

BTW I can see Kal Naismith slotting into that midfield role like Tinns in his last few playing years - with the young one's around him to do the running. Left foot just as good .... 

[Lanterne Rouge]

But for a heavy first touch he would have had a hat trick today.

[Vidal]

Pros

works hard, pace, makes clever runs, can finish

cons

heavy touches….too many.

[redsquirrel]

1 hour ago, Elruliri said:

I can see him driving around in a TR7 next season with his own fan club.

or a sooty van

 

[David Brent]

59 minutes ago, Lanterne Rouge said:

But for a heavy first touch he would have had a hat trick today.

Without the instinctive and clever finishes he wouldn’t have had any though

[RedRock]

I think after ‘that’ recent Cardiff U21 team performance debacle, I said something to the effect that Bell was light years off the first team.  I also seriously questioned Tins judgement for saying he was ‘ready’.  

Wow, a couple of weeks in football is, indeed, a long time! 

Never been more happy to have been proven wrong..and then some. Truly a revelation. Congratulations, a real talent, performances as sharp as they come . As Tins would say, the hard work start from here. Keep it up Sam.

[Davefevs]

Just seen this!

 

[REDOXO]

3 hours ago, GrahamC said:

It must be incredible for him, although he’s originally from the North East like Tinnion & Owers he’s been down here for many years now, to see your lad do that so many years after playing here yourself must be a tremendous feeling.

Where is Josh in our talent list. Anywhere near a cameo/game?

Edited January 28, 2023 by REDOXO

[spudski]

17 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Just seen this!

 

I just saw that as well...bloody marvelous stuff. How proud must Micky be. And us fans feel the emotion as well.

I can watch this all day long. The movement and speed across the defender is superb... something more mature don't do. Match it with the cross...it's perfect.

 

[CTIDhc]

Bell and Conway is gonna be heat

[Wanderingred]

You can’t fault what the academy is doing for us, but it’s frustrating how we’ve been unable to capitalise on the talent that we produce. For me, the role of an academy should be to produce young players who either benefit the team long term, or net us a substantial profit which we then use to strengthen the team appropriately. 
 

It’s a good business model, but the cycle seems to be something like this:

1) Young player breaks through into the first team after a few mixed loan spells.

2) Young player is snapped up by Bournemouth, Burnley or whoever after just one good season for us, stopping us from building a team around them long term.

3) The money we get from said young player is either wasted on poor recruitment or used to cover our losses.

Rinse and repeat.

At the moment it seems that the likes of Fulham and Bournemouth benefit more from our academy than we do. It’s hard to get excited about the likes of Scott, Pring and Brll when we know that as soon as they are ready,  they’ll be playing for one of the above teams and the money gained won’t be used wisely.

[Sleepy1968]

7 hours ago, redsquirrel said:

or a sooty van

 

remember seeing it in the carpark walking home from school. I assume the reg is meant to say 'shot' or 'shoot', but that's not really the first thing that comes to mind.

[ExiledAjax]

3 hours ago, Wanderingred said:

You can’t fault what the academy is doing for us, but it’s frustrating how we’ve been unable to capitalise on the talent that we produce. For me, the role of an academy should be to produce young players who either benefit the team long term, or net us a substantial profit which we then use to strengthen the team appropriately. 
 

It’s a good business model, but the cycle seems to be something like this:

1) Young player breaks through into the first team after a few mixed loan spells.

2) Young player is snapped up by Bournemouth, Burnley or whoever after just one good season for us, stopping us from building a team around them long term.

3) The money we get from said young player is either wasted on poor recruitment or used to cover our losses.

Rinse and repeat.

At the moment it seems that the likes of Fulham and Bournemouth benefit more from our academy than we do. It’s hard to get excited about the likes of Scott, Pring and Brll when we know that as soon as they are ready,  they’ll be playing for one of the above teams and the money gained won’t be used wisely.

The current management/recruitment team haven't had the benefit of an academy sale yet though. Semenyo is the first major sale for a while. Really the last time we sold an academy (is Semenyo truly an academy product? It's up for debate) player for proper money was Kelly in May 2019. That's 3.5 seasons ago. Reid and Bryan were the season prior to that...and really that's it.

So yes in the past you can make the criticism in your third point, but I think you need to hold fire and see what happens to the proceeds from Semenyo, and ultimately from Scott and anyone else (do you want to track Towler's proceeds?).

Furthermore, Vyner and O'Leary are two academy products who we are enjoying, and who are seemingly staying with us (subject to contract extensions) and are currently key first team players, so it's not true that every academy lad gets sold to Bournemouth and Fulham.

Edited January 29, 2023 by ExiledAjax

[ExiledAjax]

All getting a bit hype now isn't it.

[robinforlife2]

WCB going forwards

Wells, Conway, Bell

Or dare I say it, West Country Brilliance.

Antoine who????

[Numero Uno]

5 hours ago, Wanderingred said:

You can’t fault what the academy is doing for us, but it’s frustrating how we’ve been unable to capitalise on the talent that we produce. For me, the role of an academy should be to produce young players who either benefit the team long term, or net us a substantial profit which we then use to strengthen the team appropriately. 
 

It’s a good business model, but the cycle seems to be something like this:

1) Young player breaks through into the first team after a few mixed loan spells.

2) Young player is snapped up by Bournemouth, Burnley or whoever after just one good season for us, stopping us from building a team around them long term.

3) The money we get from said young player is either wasted on poor recruitment or used to cover our losses.

Rinse and repeat.

At the moment it seems that the likes of Fulham and Bournemouth benefit more from our academy than we do. It’s hard to get excited about the likes of Scott, Pring and Brll when we know that as soon as they are ready,  they’ll be playing for one of the above teams and the money gained won’t be used wisely.

That's a bit harsh. You are judging the current people in charge of the club on the previous people. We no longer have Mark Ashton and Lee Johnson "stockpiling" players. The problem we have at present is not using the money wisely, it's not using it at all and having to cover FFFP losses as per your point 2 above due to the actions of the above two charlatans. What money have we wasted since they left the club (Danny Simpson but not much else I can think of)?

Assuming Nige keeps us up this season (which I fully expect him to do) we know that Scott is on his way, we can't do much about that, and we should be receiving significant wedge for him. This will be the time we can judge Pearson properly because he will have some latitude to bring players in. To tar Pearson and Gould with the same brush as the two previous clowns (don't care what any of you say, Lee Johnson was an absolute ******* clown for not using his own pea sized brain and just going along blindly with what Ashton "permitted" him to do) is utterly wrong and out of order in my view.

[cidered abroad]

5 hours ago, Wanderingred said:

You can’t fault what the academy is doing for us, but it’s frustrating how we’ve been unable to capitalise on the talent that we produce. For me, the role of an academy should be to produce young players who either benefit the team long term, or net us a substantial profit which we then use to strengthen the team appropriately. 
 

It’s a good business model, but the cycle seems to be something like this:

1) Young player breaks through into the first team after a few mixed loan spells.

2) Young player is snapped up by Bournemouth, Burnley or whoever after just one good season for us, stopping us from building a team around them long term.

3) The money we get from said young player is either wasted on poor recruitment or used to cover our losses.

Rinse and repeat.

At the moment it seems that the likes of Fulham and Bournemouth benefit more from our academy than we do. It’s hard to get excited about the likes of Scott, Pring and Brll when we know that as soon as they are ready,  they’ll be playing for one of the above teams and the money gained won’t be used wisely.

You're being a target negative. Max, Vyner and Pring are the mid twenties former Academy/ Youth brought in.

Followed by Scott, Conway, Bell.

However good our Academy is at rearing first team regulars, it will only be a couple every two years or so. And as we are now only two years since NP arrived and was forced and probably chose to, blood all the young ones that have played in the first team.

Some of these have already been moved on as not suitable for our first team with as yet only one sale of Semenyo. Others will take time to grow into old pros at 21/24 years.

We have an Academy to be very proud of and you are still not satisfied? 

[cidered abroad]

7 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

That's a bit harsh. You are judging the current people in charge of the club on the previous people. We no longer have Mark Ashton and Lee Johnson "stockpiling" players. The problem we have at present is not using the money wisely, it's not using it at all and having to cover FFFP losses as per your point 2 above due to the actions of the above two charlatans. What money have we wasted since they left the club (Danny Simpson but not much else I can think of)?

Assuming Nige keeps us up this season (which I fully expect him to do) we know that Scott is on his way, we can't do much about that, and we should be receiving significant wedge for him. This will be the time we can judge Pearson properly because he will have some latitude to bring players in. To tar Pearson and Gould with the same brush as the two previous clowns (don't care what any of you say, Lee Johnson was an absolute ******* clown for not using his own pea sized brain and just going along blindly with what Ashton "permitted" him to do) is utterly wrong and out of order in my view.

Totally agree with this post. Bang on the nail head.

[Guest]

12 hours ago, ralphindevon said:

Bell’s second goal reinforces my opinion that he’s the most exciting striker prospect to come out of our academy.

The first goal was well taken but probably every player on the pitch has the ability to score that.

The second goal very few on the pitch would have been capable of that, that’s pure striker instinct, going at speed after a brilliant first touch then to bring out a cool chip like that. I’m not sure you can learn, you’ve either got it or you haven’t.

I realise this is a fairly worthless thing to say, but Semenyo wouldn’t have finished that second goal. He has neither the touch nor composure to have scored from that position.

There’s obviously plenty that Semenyo has than Bell doesn’t - but almost all exclusively physical attributes.

[cidercity1987]

11 hours ago, Lanterne Rouge said:

But for a heavy first touch he would have had a hat trick today.

Just to jump in here but it was a deliberate heavy touch to a) ensure the defender couldn't get back and b)  draw the keeper ready for a chip again

Didn't quite work for the third but certainly did for his second

[ExiledAjax]

3 minutes ago, The Journalist said:

I realise this is a fairly worthless thing to say, but Semenyo wouldn’t have finished that second goal. He has neither the touch nor composure to have scored from that position.

There’s obviously plenty that Semenyo has than Bell doesn’t - but almost all exclusively physical attributes.

I'd been thinking similar. 

I don't think Semenyo reacts quickly enough to get to the loose ball in the box for the first either. I don't think he returns the low corner either.

As you say, Semenyo may well have scored two other goals, but Bell did things that Semenyo wouldn't do. Just based on what I've seen this month I think Bell is the cleverer footballer and has a greater degree of instinct and finesse.

[Wanderingred]

1 hour ago, Numero Uno said:

That's a bit harsh. You are judging the current people in charge of the club on the previous people. We no longer have Mark Ashton and Lee Johnson "stockpiling" players. The problem we have at present is not using the money wisely, it's not using it at all and having to cover FFFP losses as per your point 2 above due to the actions of the above two charlatans. What money have we wasted since they left the club (Danny Simpson but not much else I can think of)?

Assuming Nige keeps us up this season (which I fully expect him to do) we know that Scott is on his way, we can't do much about that, and we should be receiving significant wedge for him. This will be the time we can judge Pearson properly because he will have some latitude to bring players in. To tar Pearson and Gould with the same brush as the two previous clowns (don't care what any of you say, Lee Johnson was an absolute ******* clown for not using his own pea sized brain and just going along blindly with what Ashton "permitted" him to do) is utterly wrong and out of order in my view.

Wrong and out of order? Aren’t you overreacting a little bit? I’ve expressed a footballing opinion, not insulted or hurt anyone.

I totally get your point that we shouldn’t assume that NP is going to make the same mistakes of the previous regime, I was just summarizing how things have been so far, that despite producing amazing talent like Kelly, Reid and Bryan, we haven’t progressed at all on the pitch and the business model has yet to really take off. I accept that things COULD change now that Nigel will finally have some money to spend, but it’s frustrating to look at all those wasted opportunities. Imagine where we could be if we’d recruited well, or perhaps even encouraged one of the above to stay? Maybe we can look to the future with a bit more optimism.

Edited January 29, 2023 by Wanderingred

[Numero Uno]

55 minutes ago, Wanderingred said:

Wrong and out of order? Aren’t you overreacting a little bit? I’ve expressed a footballing opinion, not insulted or hurt anyone.

I totally get your point that we shouldn’t assume that NP is going to make the same mistakes of the previous regime, I was just summarizing how things have been so far, that despite producing amazing talent like Kelly, Reid and Bryan, we haven’t progressed at all on the pitch and the business model has yet to really take off. I accept that things COULD change now that Nigel will finally have some money to spend, but it’s frustrating to look at all those wasted opportunities. Imagine where we could be if we’d recruited well, or perhaps even encouraged one of the above to stay? Maybe we can look to the future with a bit more optimism.

That's the point I'm making. The onus will be on Pearson to spend money wisely. We just can't condemn him based on previous regimes that clearly didn't spend it wisely. Although when I say previous regimes there has always been one constant...........

[Super]

I remember saying a while back I thought Bell looked a better player than Conway and I got laughed at.

 

[GrahamC]

15 hours ago, Davefevs said:

I saw aspects in Sam’s game today that I’ve never seen in the u23s/u21s.  There were a couple of things he did back to goal at Rotherham also.

He’s surprised me, not gonna lie.

Furlong is a streetwise Championship RB, and he was made to look poor today.

Well done Sam.

Me too.

I was also seriously impressed with his stamina, playing wide of a three is a tough gig, but he kept running & running.

Certainly signalled yesterday that he is now a viable option alongside Wells, Weimann & whoever arrives in the next 48 hours until Conway is back.