I think the recruitment (at times) has been dreadful.Robins and Badlan have utilised our budget poorly since achieving promotion to the Championship really. Again something I pointed out last season but the feel-good factor of last season clearly glossed it over.
Contracts have been awarded to new and existing players that seemingly aren't deserving of them: Bright, Dacosta, Jones, Hilssner, Kelly and you could argue probably Allen as well as although he's a fine squad player the rush to award him a new deal was slightly bizarre.
There seems to be a growing obsession with bringing in Championship experience when really the budget could be better allocated elsewhere.
The only consistent success really has been in the loan market and from bringing in young PL castoffs. Not really sure why the club has deviated from that, or rather shifted their focus to another market, as the model now has zero structure and just seems to be: do the best you can with what little you have at your disposal.
Most of them have gone awfully quiet in the last two weeks or so, as have those who were constantly posting the 'Panic GIF'.
Our recruitment, in my view, has been questionable for a while. It makes me feel a bit less crazy that this is being noticed a bit more now.
When you move up a level the model has to be adapted accordingly. In the first window following promotion you could argue the club was actually building the foundations to a sustainable model. Sheaf and O'Hare were brought in (PL castoffs), solid loans in Ostigard, McCallum and I'd even include Giles in that mix (PL talent) and a young European talent in Hamer. Hilssner and Dacosta were bizarre transfers, especially as both were offered long term deals, but
But since then we've totally moved away from what I initially thought was a positive recruitment strategy, and now the club are increasingly bringing in or retaining players with zero resell value which is entirely unsustainable.
I doubt by January those players will be worth that much in a difficult window.
Boddy must have been reading the guff on here and over valuing players worth.
Think that’s a bit harsh. We know bids came in for Ohare around 5m+, reckon probably similar but a bit less for Hamer and we also know Viks going to be worth a lot more than we bought him for. If they’re fit and playing well their values shouldn’t drop much….if they’re injured or playing shit and we’re desperate it’s a different story
It's not necessarily even poor recruitment, although granted there have been some poor acquisitions in recent years, but rather terrible utilisation of the budget and moving away from one of the club's fundamental objectives - to identify suitable targets to develop and be sold on for profit to ensure the shortfall is bridged each season.
We've gone from being on the cusp of shifting to a sustainable model that would genuinely work at this level to bringing in Championship vets and awarding increased contracts to the likes of Kelly.
I don't even mind Walker. He was bought for potential and re-sale, and not all of those work out as hoped. He did however offer the potential for re-sale.Some fair points here and something I was thinking about the other day with regard to wages for Waghorn, Kane and Walker, all of which appeared totally out of favour with Robins…although Waghorn maybe back in now
Bar Freeman, every one of those players is younger than our Champiosnhip experience signings, so you'd expect more re-sale potential.I've got to be honest and say that I'm not sure it's quite as bad as some here feel, though I respect opinions differ.
If we take Luton as an example of "good" recruitment it looks like they also often look for Championship experience. And like us, not all of their recruitment necessarily works out.
As a vague attempt at putting some evidence together, I've looked at the reviews of their summer signings, and then how many of them made the starting line up in their last game.
Is it so different to the kind of recruitment we've done?
'He could really do damage' - All of Luton Town's summer signings rated out of 10 News: The72 - Football League News
Luton Town have enjoyed another strong summer transfer window, signing seven players in total.the72.co.uk
LuckYeah, seems very hit and miss. How can the same team of scouts, etc get it so right with Hamer yet so wrong with the likes of Jobello, Kastaneer and Hilsner.
I've got to be honest and say that I'm not sure it's quite as bad as some here feel, though I respect opinions differ.
If we take Luton as an example of "good" recruitment it looks like they also often look for Championship experience. And like us, not all of their recruitment necessarily works out.
As a vague attempt at putting some evidence together, I've looked at the reviews of their summer signings, and then how many of them made the starting line up in their last game.
Is it so different to the kind of recruitment we've done?
'He could really do damage' - All of Luton Town's summer signings rated out of 10 News: The72 - Football League News
Luton Town have enjoyed another strong summer transfer window, signing seven players in total.the72.co.uk
Bar Freeman, every one of those players is younger than our Champiosnhip experience signings, so you'd expect more re-sale potential.
Bar Freeman, every one of those players is younger than our Champiosnhip experience signings, so you'd expect more re-sale potential.
As an aside, I'm not convinced that Luton have budgeted wisely, and it won't bite them in a season or two without a decent sale themselves...
So we aren't following the Brentford model?
I wasn't including Palmer in my Championship experience group tbh. This season's recruitment is a whole other thread, and a whole other approach!In fairness Palmer is 25 and Kane is 28, so neither of them are completely ancient yet. If either of them have (or had) outstanding seasons then you could probably expect a reasonable profit if you then wanted to sell them on.
In fairness Palmer is 25 and Kane is 28, so neither of them are completely ancient yet. If either of them have (or had) outstanding seasons then you could probably expect a reasonable profit if you then wanted to sell them on.
I even get why we might have reasonably expected more from Waghorn, albeit him approaching his golden years and unlikely to achieve much resale value other than for rendering down as glue.
Nothing that you're saying is unreasonable, NW, but I think it is possible to see it in a slightly different way.
I don't even mind Walker. He was bought for potential and re-sale, and not all of those work out as hoped. He did however offer the potential for re-sale.
No championship club outside the relegated teams have paid £5m for anyone I don’t think so unless it’s a premier league club who thinks these players are real first team contenders they are just not worth the money.
Why would Hamer or O Hare be worth that sort of money?
It’s more the fact that within a year Robins didn’t seem to fancy him (or the others). We can’t afford to do that with players on championship wages
Same as Kane.
It happens, we bought Garry Collier years ago for a record fee he played 2 gamesIt’s more the fact that within a year Robins didn’t seem to fancy him (or the others). We can’t afford to do that with players on championship wages
Yeah, that what’s I was saying walker, waghorn and Kane, all big salaries and us trying to bomb them out after a year.
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