AI lads Aaaaaaaaht

[Sean Thornton]

August 2025

Bord working hard while Hoyland and and the scouting team assist.

 

[Berkshire Blade]

No, it won't. Good post. Seems like 95% of posters here have no patience and if anyone is signed that can't immediately start or doesn't become Ndiaye within six months that it is a failure of the system. And then they wonder why we end up at best being a yo-yo club

Selles in. Give him time!

 

[Upton_Blade]

I don’t mind the idea behind it to find hidden gems in other leagues, but we didn’t half waste our oversees slots on shite and it couldn’t been utilised so much more effectively.

We were identifying players who were in leagues no better than the National League at best, if we’d have aimed a bit higher in the Dutch, French, or Belgian leagues or somewhere where there is a decent standard, then it might have been a different story.

Zätterström is the one that interests me, as he was apparently an AI signing for decent money and has played at international level and in the Champions League.

The problem with that is that every club above us is doing that.

 

[Iffy Onuora's Shiny Head]

A complete farce from start to finish. Data should be used, but I would bet that "Genuis" Bord wowed our owners with some stats that the Bulgarian league was massively undervalued and they've bought into it.

I remember all the highlights reels when we signed them were a bit meh. I had at least hoped the right back might have something to work with but seemingly not.

 

[Bladethebrian]

Hudds might be keen. About his level.

My Terrier mate said he “stank the place out during his time there. Abysmal.”

 

[Barney Rubble]

The problem with that is that every club above us is doing that.

It is a problem, but Opta ranks the Bulgarian league as currently 61st in World football. For comparison the Cypriot league is rated as 25th, the Persian Gulf Pro League at 48th and the Azerbaijan Premier League as 52nd. Our own Leagues 1 & 2 are ranked 39th and 71st.

I feel it must be hard to assess the potential of players at this level to make the step up using AI alone and I don't believe we've done a great deal of old fashioned scouting on these 4 lads.

Also, if other clubs are signing the top 20 young players in the Dutch, Belgian & French leagues I'd argue that the next best 4 would still stand a better chance of making it than the four lads from Bulgaria.

 

[Nedski]

I kind of hope it is down to ability and not wilder's stubbornness - he clearly had an issue with Bord and it wouldn't be too surprising if part of the reason for bombing them out is that AI success stories would validate Bord somewhat.

Nwachukwu was involved in a few development team goals in each of his games, and Ukaki actually looked decent pre season. Neither have had any consistent game time in the development team yet Nwachukwu made the bench against Derby and both have popped up in training videos on twitter - they are clearly in and around the squad so why haven't they had more opportunities in the development team?

 

[Kenilworth]

I kind of hope it is down to ability and not wilder's stubbornness - he clearly had an issue with Bord and it wouldn't be too surprising if part of the reason for bombing them out is that AI success stories would validate Bord somewhat.

Nwachukwu was involved in a few development team goals in each of his games, and Ukaki actually looked decent pre season. Neither have had any consistent game time in the development team yet Nwachukwu made the bench against Derby and both have popped up in training videos on twitter - they are clearly in and around the squad so why haven't they had more opportunities in the development team?

Cos they are not up to standard, clearly.

Ukaki was bent over and dry bummed at Brum and he was the best of the AI Dollies.

 

[YES Blade]

Cos they are not up to standard, clearly.

Ukaki was bent over and dry bummed at Brum and he was the best of the AI Dollies.

Whilst it seems clear that they aren’t good enough for the first team, are they really that bad that they aren’t worth further coaching and development team appearances? Or even a loan to League Two/National League?

I’d be interested to know the opinions of anyone on here that have watched them play for the development teams.

 

[Champagneblade]

Cos they are not up to standard, clearly.

Ukaki was bent over and dry bummed at Brum and he was the best of the AI Dollies.

Explains why we’ve not seen him since. Horrific!

 

[Houston_Blade]

Not sure that Matos was an AI signing, if we needed AI to tell us about a bloke from Oxford then I don’t think much to our recruitment team. He was crap but I suspect he came through a more conventional method than the Bulgarian league superstars.

 

[Berkshire Blade]

Not sure that Matos was an AI signing, if we needed AI to tell us about a bloke from Oxford then I don’t think much to our recruitment team. He was crap but I suspect he came through a more conventional method than the Bulgarian league superstars.

The interview with Bettis said the data was used on all transfers.

The only ones with more manager freedom were the loans and two of them have gone back asap...

 

[3Cheers4Ramirez]

No one who knows the game could have ever thought that signing players in this way would be successful. Even those willing to give it a chance we're doing so in the hope of unearthing a gem, rather than any expectation of resilts. There is so much more to signing a player than just stats, you need to watch a player to see their impact on a game. Their character, leadership, personality, style of play etc. all need to be taken into account and these things are often not measurable. The problem is though, we have a board that clearly don't know the game. It makes you wonder if they have American Football fans amongst them. There's a sport where players are often selected on how fast they can run, how big they are, or how high they can jump.

It seems the board (although we never hear from them), have accepted that it was naive, so at least that's good news. With the Wilder U-turn they do seem to learn pretty quickly and hold their hands up. They've got off very lightly by the fans in my opinion, and that's largely due to them admitting the mistakes (and Wilder managing to turn things around for them).

With Caceres for example, I could see from watching a brief 'highlights' video that he wasn't up to it. Among other things, he clearly wasn't anywhere near fast and powerful enough for English football. Yet he's the one who cost the most isn't he?

Honestly, if these owners wanted to have a successful transfer window, all they had to do was consult somebody who vaguely knows this level of English football. We were in a very favourable and simple position and it should have been very straightforward

 

[Houston_Blade]

The interview with Bettis said the data was used on all transfers.

The only ones with more manager freedom were the loans and two of them have gone back asap...

I’m hoping we use data in all signings. I think some have taken this a little bit literally.

 

[LurkerBlade]

He was let go by West Ham but I think it was not because of his ability but discipline off field. He has played England U19s. Loan out was before Wilder returned

Rotherham fans I spoke to had all been pleased with, however, that was before his injury and red card against Blackpool (was that rescinded?)

 

[biggiesablade]

Im overjoyed, piss your pants ectastic infact, that the absolute clown that ran our horror show transfer window is looking like owning our esteemed neighbours

 

[Tarqs]

Cos they are not up to standard, clearly.

Ukaki was bent over and dry bummed at Brum and he was the best of the AI Dollies.

The whole side was, we should have lost about 7 - 0.

 

[Bladesman]

 

[Blacksea]

It is a problem, but Opta ranks the Bulgarian league as currently 61st in World football. For comparison the Cypriot league is rated as 25th, the Persian Gulf Pro League at 48th and the Azerbaijan Premier League as 52nd. Our own Leagues 1 & 2 are ranked 39th and 71st.

I feel it must be hard to assess the potential of players at this level to make the step up using AI alone and I don't believe we've done a great deal of old fashioned scouting on these 4 lads.

Also, if other clubs are signing the top 20 young players in the Dutch, Belgian & French leagues I'd argue that the next best 4 would still stand a better chance of making it than the four lads from Bulgaria.

Interesting that a Bulgarian league club signed a player on a free transfer a few years ago and later sold him to a Belgian league club for around 8M euro,who later sold him to Brentford for 30M,this is Igor Thiago who only Haaland is outscoring.I guess it's less about the league you scout in but who's doing the scouting.