Mr Adkins Signings

[Bayingblade]

It's been commented on numerous times that Mr Adkins has not been supported by the board but is this really true? Mr Adkins inherited a squad that missed out in the play offs and reached a cup semi final last season. I think most of us thought a few good additions would make the difference. Regardless of squad size and yes, it needed trimming, the manager has brought 5 players in. To my mind, 5 new players should have been enough, if they were the right players and if they were playing week in week out. The question is, has his recruitment policy succeeded? One by one, the players signed are:

1. Billy Sharp
Yep, scored 14 goals this season, 4 from the spot so on the face of it, not bad. BUT, it would be interesting to know at what cost. Rumour has it between 12 and 15k per week. That money could fund 2 ror 3 pretty decent players at this level. Also, is the cost of Billy really worth that much more than Marc McNulty was giving us at probably a fraction of the cost?

2. Connor Sammon
Another (allegedly) expensive player who has neither cemented a place in the team, scored goals or created them. Again, does he represent value at the price we are paying?

3. Dean Hammond
Yet another from a higher level and again, rumoured to be costing a fair packet. Playing regularly but what does he bring to the team? Doesn't appear to create much, doesn't score goals, isn't a set piece specialist, not particularly strong defensively and prone to giving fouls away when defending (hence his yellow card count). Good value?

4. Martin Woolford
Probably not (I hope!) in the expensive bracket but in all honesty, I don't know what he does. It would be interesting to get the managers reasons for signing him.and views on what he brings to the squad.

5 David Edgar
I think most would say not too bad. Does his job reasonably well at this level so while not a raging success, not a failure either and a steady player. Would probably look even better with a quicker defensive partner.(IMHO)

It would be interesting to know the weekly cost of the aforementioned players but it appears to be upwards of 40k per week. It would also be interesting to compare this with the teams above us. I would venture to say only Wigan are paying the level of wages to individual players that United are.

So it could be argued that Mr Adkins has been supported financially when you look at the actual cost of the players he has brought in. The fact is though, not all are regulars and even those that are have failed to improve the team.

Some might say a little worrying when you look at the success ratio of the players he has brought in and it's been suggested he needs more transfer windows to build his own team. And if the cost of these is 40k per week, that's over £2Million for the season. That answers the question as to where the Jamie Murphy money has gone!

 

[super_pig]

billy .. ok .. can't play the oppo by himself
sammon.. one of the worst forwards i've ever seen .. up there with BT2
hammond.. i can't decide if he's worse than monty. that would be some accolade from me
woolford.. had a poor start (unfit apparently).. needs to turn himself around fast

 

[Wards]

A telling sign that Sammon and Woolford can't even make the XI. Hammond barely good enough to lace Monty's boots. No problem with Billy, not convinced by Edgar.

1 in 5 ain't bad though eh?! Adkins hasn't helped himself with wasting circa 80% of his budget on that lot.

 

[Kenilworth]

Quality over quantity

 

[Sheffsteel]

It's a decent post.

On the face of it the blame would seem to be more with Adkins than the board.

I think the main problem has been Adkins naevity thinking it was an easier job than it was.

A quick scan at statistics last season would suggest we had a good defense and our main problem was scoring goals: Hence Adkins thought Shayp would be a major piece of the jigsaw. We reached the playoffs last season so again Adkins thought we didn't need too much improvement.

However I think Clough knew the defence was poor last season and played defensive midfielders to help the defence. So our problem want just about scoring goals, we also struggled to create chances.

We relied on defending in numbers and counter attacking with Murphy being a major weapon.

Clough was probably a better manager than we thought and Adkins had realised that we have major problems in central defence and speed and creativity from midfield.

We have a big squad and do have some decent players but many are similar and there's a general lack of pace everywhere.

 

[Bayingblade]

I would say 5 new players should have taken the team to the required level. The trick was getting the right players for the right positions. In this, Mr Adkins has summarily failed. And there is an argument to say he cannot blame lack of funding.

 

[Baxter]

Wages aside for loans, how much money has he actually been provided to go out and buy his players though? (Assuming he may have had other targets to the five above and Burn)

Worth noting as well that since Hammond arrived in October, no new faces to improve the squad have come through the door either, hardly strikes me as a massive backing for Adkins. Between October and January last season, Clough was supported with 6 signings and 4 loans on top of the 11 signings he made in the summer, quite a contrast.

Not necessarily trying to herald Adkins as some kind of deprived genius but when asking the question over his support from the board I think he'd be within his rights to say he should have been and probably expected to be provided more.

 

[wizadry]

Has Adkins had full say on all transfers? That's a question I'd like to ask the club, this could help determine who's at fault and who isn't.

 

[Living In a Fantasy World]

Woolford and Hammond two examples of negative players, Hammond always passes backwards and I wont forget Woolford decision not to shot or cross when in a great attacking position, instead running the ball out of the box and killing the attacking momentum.

 

[TJB.]

1. Sharp - lifelong Blade enjoying his best goal return in his third spell here, and he'd have a bucket load more if he didn't have to do most of the work by himself. We wanted a quality goalscorere, we have one. No complaints.

2. Sammon - an extremely frustrating player. Chips in with the odd goal but largely does very little to command a wage. Some say worst striker for an age, but he's no Higdon. At least Sammon can fucking run. Higdon is now in non-league. Only a loanee and hasn't done enough to earn a contract, so should be gone at the end of the season.

3. Hammond - Had a couple of reasonable performances after a long spell of looking well short of match fitness. Has since been crap. I think Adkins simply had misplaced faith here; he put his trust in someone he thought could still do a job and someone who's ability he thought he knew. It's clear now that he's just not up to it. Another loanee.

4. Woolford - A poor signing and the only one I really hold against Adkins. It's always iffy to sign someone who's had no pre-season, but even at full match-fitness he offers nothing. No pace, can't beat a man, not a goal threat...basically everything you don't want a winger to be.

5. Edgar - decent. It's his partner I'm often more concerned about. Again, loanee.

I'm firmly in the 'Give Nige A Chance' camp for many reasons. I think sacking a manager again is pure suicide. I think the culture of sacking managers after so little time is a poison in modern football and one that has sunk deeply into our club. I think he deserves a chance to build a side filled with HIS players, not just those of past gaffers and loanees from other clubs.

He's probably extremely disappointed that some of the few he's brought in simply haven't cut the mustard, but either way he must be scored 2/5. Am I the only one that thinks considering he's clearly had to bring folk in with his hands tied, he hasn't done too bad for his first crack at the whip? If Sammon won a few more balls in the air/scored a few more or Hammond looked less sluggish, as NA probably thought they fucking would, we might be having a different conversation.

It's a long, horrible, hard slog to make it to the end of the season when you know there's little to no hope of any success. But it's got to be done and the clearout must begin. I don't believe for a second that Nige is a mug; it's blindingly obvious what we need and I hope a comprehensive plan is being put together to bring that in.

 

[blader]

All I can say is, if anyone believes we're paying players 15k a week then we see the world very, very differently. Every single player assessment starts with "allegedly" or "rumoured". OK brilliant, let's criticise Adkins on an unfounded rumour, must be his fault!

Psst..... Psssssssst...... Come here..... I heard Adkins told Brayford to play awfully last night. Pass it on.

 

[TonyAgana]

Wages aside for loans, how much money has he actually been provided to go out and buy his players though?

Wages and transfer fees are no longer two separate things, though.

 

[Smirth]

If Hammond is signed permanently in the summer then I think the writing will be on the wall for what's to come.

 

[pommpey]

It's been commented on numerous times that Mr Adkins has not been supported by the board but is this really true?

There is a 'delta' in your reasoning. That is this:

What Mr Adkins wants to buy
What Mr Adkins is resigned to buying

Now anyone can come up with a list of 'wants'. I'm sure NA has that and his 'targets'. Then there's the realistic targets, the ones we could stretch to to satisfy approached clubs demands and players/agents requirements. Then there's the fucking bargain bin. The ones Adkins thinks, 'I have to buy some fucker, or the fans will want me sacked.'

See Hammond, Edgar and particularly Sammon?

Them.

Sharp, bless him, would find himself outmarked and outfoxed by Championship defences if we were to go up. As he has been countless times in the past.

pommpey

 

[Bayingblade]

Given what they are reportedly costing us Pommpey, I'm not sure you could put Hammond and Sammon in the "bargain bin" section.

How good they are may place them there though

 

[Bartleby]

I read somewhere on here yesterday that Sammon was Clough's signing, that the deal had already been signed before Adkins took over.

 

[FedupBlade]

I was willing to give Hammond the benefit of the doubt, Adkins always on about how much ground he covers etc. etc. however its apparent when you get home from the match and watch the brief highlights how often he is the man stood 2 yards off the attacker who shoots and scores, like last night! He covers plenty of ground standing off the opposition.
Sammon, without wanting to take the mickey is like a fish out of water, he obviously can't play the big man up front as he can't win a header and can't hold the ball up.
Woolford was described by Millwall fans last season as a trier and nothign else, he still needs to try for us.
Sharp and Edgar are the only two signings that have made an improvement to last seasons team.
With only a 40 percent success rate on signings, which from a Manager that was hailed as a class act in this league is particularly poor, I fully understand why he wasn't backed in January which probably says that the board have lost some faith in the Manager.

 

[sheffielder]

A telling sign that Sammon and Woolford can't even make the XI. Hammond barely good enough to lace Monty's boots. No problem with Billy, not convinced by Edgar.

1 in 5 ain't bad though eh?! Adkins hasn't helped himself with wasting circa 80% of his budget on that lot.

It's how much they cost though. For Hammond Sammon and woolford, that's best part of 20k. We were promised for the umpteenth time that we would sign young hungry players. We could have had 5 for those 3, 2 of which can't even make the fucking bench.

Yes the board is to blame for many of our ills but anyone who lets Adkins open up his list for next summer is off their rocker.

He should have brought in a couple of young players this year and brought them through and again in the summer he could replace the shit.

He's getting no free ride from me as especially he speaks shit.

 

[Esablade]

My take on your take on 'his' signing's:

1. Sharp - lifelong Blade enjoying his best goal return in his third spell here, and he'd have a bucket load more if he didn't have to do most of the work by himself. We wanted a quality goalscorere, we have one. No complaints.

2. Sammon - Clough/Brannigan's signing...and they'd supposedly lined up another couple of players to come in also...Clough made this bloke into an international player!!! You'd think he'd be busting a gut to play because his contract at Derby is up in the summer...perhaps he's already got summat lined up next season in Scotland/Ireland?

3. Hammond - Had a couple of reasonable performances after a long spell of looking well short of match fitness. Has since been crap on the whole since. I think Adkins simply had misplaced faith here; he put his trust in someone he thought could still do a job and someone who's ability he thought he knew. It's clear now that he's just not up to it. Another loanee.

4. Woolford - A poor signing. The board tell you there's a good chance your best player is off, so you'd better get someone in and BTW, you've got no fee. This reminds me of previous signing's such McEveley (reject from Swindon) JCR ( reject/offered poorer contract from Notts) Paul Coutts (Crock-free) James Wallace (Crock-free) Basham (free)

This has been our main transfer policy since dropping to L1, offset by three 'marquee' signings..Brayford/Done/`Sharp (though I'm still not certain we'll have paid a fee to Leeds for Sharp...remember all the wrangling before he came? I reckon we just paid up Billy's disputed wages...)

5. Edgar - not that decent. But Adkins needed to get another 'freebie/loan' in because obviously the board weren't going stump up for the CB(s) desperately needed by the club....Adkins had to do summat...

 

[Esablade]

It's how much they cost though. For Hammond Sammon and woolford, that's best part of 20k. We were promised for the umpteenth time that we would sign young hungry players. We could have had 5 for those 3, 2 of which can't even make the fucking bench.

Yes the board is to blame for many of our ills but anyone who lets Adkins open up his list for next summer is off their rocker.

He should have brought in a couple of young players this year and brought them through and again in the summer he could replace the shit.

He's getting no free ride from me as especially he speaks shit.

Problem with singing a couple of good young players is that their club's will, understandably want a fee for them...it seem's we're unable to do this but perhaps our cash flow is more geared towards the loan system?

20K through the gate each week...

 

[Bayingblade]

Fair points Esa but the thing is, they are not free. They are costing a fortune in relative terms ie, in the 3rd division.

 

[crucialkneeligaman]

This signing players continues to baffle me. We were told that Sammon was a Clough target, so why on earth would NA want him ?. What input would Nigel 2 have had in relation to signing this waster ?

 

[Esablade]

Fair points Esa but the thing is, they are not free. They are costing a fortune in relative terms ie, in the 3rd division.

Yes, it's a false economy that's been discussed many times ( unmotivated players who are generally coming to the end of their careers etc/or young un's about to be cast off, all on wages way above L1!)

I just think there's something in the old cash-flow-issue that keep's us going back to relying on loans year after year...rather than simply using the loan system as an added bonus where possible, if someone good comes along...