Adkins Interview Ahead of Notts County

[Trafford]

It's about having a plan B on the priority positions, after actually priortising the correct ones in the first place, unlike Adkins. Clough did the prioritising bit slightly better than Adkins has so far (O'Grady when we needed a striker, although he didn't look to buy any CB's when we needed those.) But again, like Clough with COG, no plan B.

To be fair to Adkins, was Edgar not his Plan B - couldn't get the permanent signing that he wanted, so made sure that somebody was waiting in the wings to bring in on loan? You might disagree with his choice but I'm not sure you can say that he didn't have a contingency plan.

 

[AlienBlade]

It's about having a plan B on the priority positions, after actually priortising the correct ones in the first place, unlike Adkins. Clough did the prioritising bit slightly better than Adkins has so far (O'Grady when we needed a striker, although he didn't look to buy any CB's when we needed those.) But again, like Clough with COG, no plan B.

that was the point I was making.... we went all out to get COG and the Beard.... and took our eyes off the real problem. (which was and has been for the last 14 months CB... the whole "Collins coming in from the cold" is lovely for all the anti clough people who forget that before Clough came along he was a useless Centre Back with no pace...

I completely agree that there should be (especially when we are considering TEMPORARY signings) a plan B.... I understand holding out for players whne dealing with Permanent signings (as otherwise you are in a false economy of having to buy again later down the line) however if Burn and Hammond cant/wont come then we need to be looking at the next available target to see us through until January when we can look at attempting to buy the 2 above players.

people do get confused mind about how you define what Adkins thinks is a priority... (considering that he is going after Burn and Hammond he has clearly identified where our needs are... he just hasnt filled it)

I like to think of it as going shopping.... you might be absoloutley desperate for some toilet roll (this is your priority).... but that is right on the other end of the shop, along the way you notice that there are some bargins to be had for some toothpaste you could easily wait until next week to buy it but its at a good price so you pick it up en route to the toilet roll (not a priority but you have purchased it anyway before you reach the priority)... you get to the toilet roll and you see they have run out of the three ply deluxe toilet roll.... so you have to downgrade to the 2 ply on a temporary basis... but on your next visit you go back to your 3 ply deluxe.... unfortunately in this scenario Adkins is happy using his socks to wipe his backside.....and then proceeds to wear them which is why the whole thing stinks to high heaven

 

[Barney]

So Adkins has had 5 minutes to assess what we've got, whereas we played with hardly any centre halves for a full season under Clough, the ones we did have he fell out with, and yet he still prioritised better?

Hardly 5 minutes though is it come on, a full transfer window? Ample time. With Clough, at the time of beginning his first full season with us, Summer 2014, the transfer priorities were mainly striker, and although it wasn't nearly as apparent as it is now, also a CB wouldn't have gone amiss. He went out and bought Butler, granted he fell out with him but aren't we just talking about actual recruitment here? Clough's awful man management skills are another matter. And on recruitment alone, Clough made a signing in a position that was needed. Then, he made it evident he was after a striker but again, the reason why it took an age for the striker to appear, was due to him having no plan B. So the prioritisation was there in all cases, just a shame that his recruitment skills weren't up to the standard of having back-up transfers. You can't even say Adkins has done the former, and he's already had 1 out of the 2 transfer windows Clough had since prioritisation became so significant. So on balance, Adkins recruitment skills (and recruitment alone, NOT man management) are showing so far to be worse than Clough's were.

It says a lot about the way Adkins has started his managerial tenure when Nigel Clough, a manager I couldn't wait to be shown the door, so far seems to have out done him on one of the basics of recruitment.

 

[AlienBlade]

To be fair to Adkins, was Edgar not his Plan B - couldn't get the permanent signing that he wanted, so made sure that somebody was waiting in the wings to bring in on loan? You might disagree with his choice but I'm not sure you can say that he didn't have a contingency plan.

we needed 2 CB... so I would have thought Edgar was Plan A subsection 2.....

 

[Esablade]

that was the point I was making.... we went all out to get COG and the Beard.... and took our eyes off the real problem. (which was and has been for the last 14 months CB... the whole "Collins coming in from the cold" is lovely for all the anti clough people who forget that before Clough came along he was a useless Centre Back with no pace...

I completely agree that there should be (especially when we are considering TEMPORARY signings) a plan B.... I understand holding out for players whne dealing with Permanent signings (as otherwise you are in a false economy of having to buy again later down the line) however if Burn and Hammond cant/wont come then we need to be looking at the next available target to see us through until January when we can look at attempting to buy the 2 above players.

people do get confused mind about how you define what Adkins thinks is a priority... (considering that he is going after Burn and Hammond he has clearly identified where our needs are... he just hasnt filled it)

I like to think of it as going shopping.... you might be absoloutley desperate for some toilet roll (this is your priority).... but that is right on the other end of the shop, along the way you notice that there are some bargins to be had for some toothpaste you could easily wait until next week to buy it but its at a good price so you pick it up en route to the toilet roll (not a priority but you have purchased it anyway before you reach the priority)... you get to the toilet roll and you see they have run out of the three ply deluxe toilet roll.... so you have to downgrade to the 2 ply on a temporary basis... but on your next visit you go back to your 3 ply deluxe.... unfortunately in this scenario Adkins is happy using his socks to wipe his backside.....and then proceeds to wear them which is why the whole thing stinks to high heaven

..Think Adkins is being forced to use his hand for the moment...

 

[Rodders]

Hardly 5 minutes though is it come on, a full transfer window? Ample time. With Clough, at the time of beginning his first full season with us, Summer 2014, the transfer priorities were mainly striker, and although it wasn't nearly as apparent as it is now, also a CB wouldn't have gone amiss. He went out and bought Butler, granted he fell out with him but aren't we just talking about actual recruitment here? Clough's awful man management skills are another matter. And on recruitment alone, Clough made a signing in a position that was needed. Then, he made it evident he was after a striker but again, the reason why it took an age for the striker to appear, was due to him having no plan B. So the prioritisation was there in all cases, just a shame that his recruitment skills weren't up to the standard of having back-up transfers. You can't even say Adkins has done the former, and he's already had 1 out of the 2 transfer windows Clough had since prioritisation became so significant. So on balance, Adkins recruitment skills (and recruitment alone, NOT man management) are showing so far to be worse than Clough's were.

It says a lot about the way Adkins has started his managerial tenure when Nigel Clough, a manager I couldn't wait to be shown the door, so far seems to have out done him on one of the basics of recruitment.

So Clough had 18 months to accumulate a (very expensive) load of shit, ignored or allowed a gaping hole in centre of defence for an entire season, gets sacked - and the new bloke is MORE at fault for not rectifying the whole thing by 1st game in October?

 

[AlienBlade]

So Clough had 18 months to accumulate a (very expensive) load of shit, ignored or allowed a gaping hole in centre of defence for an entire season, gets sacked - and the new bloke is MORE at fault for not rectifying the whole thing by 1st game in October?

considering the hole that is CB was more than obvious then yes.... it shouldnt need more than 1 window to bring in players.

 

[Barney]

So Clough had 18 months to accumulate a (very expensive) load of shit, ignored or allowed a gaping hole in centre of defence for an entire season, gets sacked - and the new bloke is MORE at fault for not rectifying the whole thing by 1st game in October?

Arn't we specifically talking about prioritisation in recruitment? Adkins hasn't done it at all in 1 transfer window, Clough did it a bit in both transfer windows, albeit not very well, along with a plentiful array of utterly shocking signings to go along with it. Therefore on balance, Clough has been more effective on the whole in prioritising transfers. There's no option to conclude otherwise. Adkins has made no attempt, Clough did and did terribly.

 

[Rodders]

Arn't we specifically talking about prioritisation in recruitment? Adkins hasn't done it at all in 1 transfer window, Clough did it a bit in both transfer windows, albeit not very well, along with a plentiful array of utterly shocking signings to go along with it. Therefore on balance, Clough has been more effective on the whole in prioritising transfers. There's no option to conclude otherwise. Adkins has made no attempt, Clough did and did terribly.

The strikers we had were Higdon and McNulty - to add to these he signed Sammon and Sharp.
The CH's we had were Collins, McEveley, Basham, Kennedy plus Alcock. Not great options, granted, but still bodies there that he will have wanted time to make his own assessments about. Personally I would have said that CF was just as pressing an area.
In an ideal world, we will have bought 2 strikers, 2 CH's and 2 centre mids - however Adkins clearly has his hands tied by the amount of wages tied up in players who'll never make a dent in the first XI. As stated repeatedly on here, he can't just free up cash to allow him to bring players in by just getting rid of players to other teams:- a) he'll have wanted to make his own assessments on them, and more importantly b) there has to be interest in them from other teams.

 

[Barney]

The strikers we had were Higdon and McNulty - to add to these he signed Sammon and Sharp.
The CH's we had were Collins, McEveley, Basham, Kennedy plus Alcock. Not great options, granted, but still bodies there that he will have wanted time to make his own assessments about. Personally I would have said that CF was just as pressing an area.
In an ideal world, we will have bought 2 strikers, 2 CH's and 2 centre mids - however Adkins clearly has his hands tied by the amount of wages tied up in players who'll never make a dent in the first XI. As stated repeatedly on here, he can't just free up cash to allow him to bring players in by just getting rid of players to other teams:- a) he'll have wanted to make his own assessments on them, and more importantly b) there has to be interest in them from other teams.

That is irrelevant information and just common knowledge most fans are aware of to be honest. As repeated a lot on here by myself also: Adkins has had his hands tied due to the squad and more than likely the board as well, that's a given. But what we do know is that he had been given enough room for 4 relatively well - very highly (for L1) paid players. Had he gone for the following in this order: 2 CB's, a CM and a ST all in relatively good time, there'd be no criticism of the manager from me, as that's all he could have done within his capabilities to improve the mess we're in. But since he didn't choose that path, got his priorities all wrong and signed 2 ST first, a LM, then when forced to do so a CB after a 4-0 demolition by Gillingham, he deserves all the criticism he receives as it's one of the reasons we find ourselves where we are. Aside from the over-bloated squad and board issues (they're whole other separate issues).

 

[crucialkneeligaman]

Makes it sound like we were unlucky against Port Vale, which was not the impression I got from the die hards that attended. If only games lasted 20 minutes. Coutts, we all know what a good player he was in the past prior to his bad injury, but is he ever going to regain the kind of form that will help get this side promoted ?, I would hazard a guess, no. He is less brittle than J Wallace though, I'll give him that.

 

[Slug]

Arn't we specifically talking about prioritisation in recruitment? Adkins hasn't done it at all in 1 transfer window, Clough did it a bit in both transfer windows, albeit not very well, along with a plentiful array of utterly shocking signings to go along with it. Therefore on balance, Clough has been more effective on the whole in prioritising transfers. There's no option to conclude otherwise. Adkins has made no attempt, Clough did and did terribly.

The problem seems to be that Clough had a free reign to bring in who he wanted, which turned out to be a load of shit players and now Adkins as his hands tied as it appears he needs to try and find some other mug to take these players off us before he can bring in who he wants

 

[Fiery Blade]

So Football Managers don't go out and buy players any more ........................Perhaps that's where football is going wrong ...............Back in the day of Clough Senior, Bill Shankley, Alex Ferguson, etc they went to the players house and sat there until he signed !
No wonder the average term of a football manager is around 18 -24 months max when the numpties on the board (or transfer committee !!!) are buying the players........
Not sure what happens at the Lane but no wonder football in general is going to the dogs !

 

[SwissBlade]

is that the same "honest bunch of lads" that are "united" when "trying to win a game of football" ??

#bettertogether

 

[Blade56]

Good interview. I rate Jonny Buchan and thought Adkins opened up a bit more then.

Pisses me of when he commentates on us. Asks questions and answers them.... Is it a free kick, yes it's a free kick....... Is he fast enough to the ball, no he isn't... In addition he shouts out PL scores and I like to watch MOTD not knowing the scores.

 

[BushBlade]

So Football Managers don't go out and buy players any more ........................Perhaps that's where football is going wrong ...............Back in the day of Clough Senior, Bill Shankley, Alex Ferguson, etc they went to the players house and sat there until he signed !
No wonder the average term of a football manager is around 18 -24 months max when the numpties on the board (or transfer committee !!!) are buying the players........
Not sure what happens at the Lane but no wonder football in general is going to the dogs !

The deals are just too complicated now, very few managers give a shit about being involved. They're football people, not lawyers and administrators.
Plus, since a number of managers were found to be lining their pockets with dodgy brown envelope deals owners are reluctant to give total control to one person.

With us, as far as I'm aware, the manager still picks his targets but the board says how much they'll pay and Brannigan does the talking and sorts out the paperwork.
At higher levels, there's often a DoF and I've heard recently that a lot of the top managers in Europe are used to that system and prefer it so they can concentrate on tactics and coaching.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

So Clough had 18 months to accumulate a (very expensive) load of shit, ignored or allowed a gaping hole in centre of defence for an entire season, gets sacked - and the new bloke is MORE at fault for not rectifying the whole thing by 1st game in October?

He'd fucked up by August 1st.

 

[Rodders]

He'd fucked up by August 1st.

That is true; I didn't get a birthday card this year. And I used to be in Junior Blades and everything.

 

[Jan Age]

So can I get this right.... What we are saying here is there was never any intention of reinvesting the Murphy money because we are maxed out on wages?

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

Makes it sound like we were unlucky against Port Vale.

Tbf he doesn't push this angle at all really. He made the obvious point that if Billy scores we're back in it and left it at that. It wasn't like he was saying that was the start of an onslaught and we battered them after that chance bc we didn't. I think he knows how poor it was.