It is time to make a change in the recruitment department.

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BigBed

BigBed

Aboard the sinking ship......
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I'm sorry, but were not brilliant in this area, and I think we need fresh eyes!
Mitchell seems to be the only one we hear about pointing out "talent", but I'm sure that a weeks holiday at Specsavers may be well over due!
It's time to have a shake up, if other teams can find and recruit gems, why can't we??
Everyone I've spoken to said the new keeper isn't what they were hoping?
I couldn't go yesterday, and refuse to watch highlights, if you can call them that......., of us getting schooled again.
But looking at Joao Pedro and the likes, and comparing those types of players to the ones we recruit, Brewster for example......well, summats not reyt.
 

BigBed said:
I'm sorry, but were not brilliant in this area, and I think we need fresh eyes!
Mitchell seems to be the only one we hear about pointing out "talent", but I'm sure that a weeks holiday at Specsavers may be well over due!
It's time to have a shake up, if other teams can find and recruit gems, why can't we??
Everyone I've spoken to said the new keeper isn't what they were hoping?
I couldn't go yesterday, and refuse to watch highlights, if you can call them that......., of us getting schooled again.
But looking at Joao Pedro and the likes, and comparing those types of players to the ones we recruit, Brewster for example......well, summats not reyt.
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It's not really a 'department' as such, just Paul Mitchell and one other. Which is why we're forced to rely quite heavily on Wyscout.

If our strategy is indeed 'self-sustainability', then recruitment is an area we definitely need to invest more in.
 
BalticBlade said:
It's not really a 'department' as such, just Paul Mitchell and one other. Which is why we're forced to rely quite heavily on Wyscout.

If our strategy is indeed 'self-sustainability', then recruitment is an area we definitely need to invest more in.
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Wrong, we have a whole network of scouts with Mitchell at the head of it. Even Bettis said a while ago on video that Mitchell has got a big team of staff working for him, the biggest he has ever had.
 
Well that big team of staff like any team should be judged on results.

I’m assuming that “team” was in part responsible for the summer debacle. For that alone they must be on thin ice.

If this new keeper turns out dreadful then there really needs to be heads rolling somewhere. Though i find it hard to believe that Wilder will allow players in he’s not had the final say on, what might be happening is that the recruitment team identify subjects fitting the criteria and give to the manager to decide, who in turn picks his referred choices say 1-3 for Bettis to try and land.

The detail is in the criteria- I suspect it may have been An expiring contract or free, or a Hendo type on loan from a big club.
But choosing to tie in a keeper for a few years was the right choice IMHO, we need to get some stability in the club again and rely less on loans for the bulk of the squad.
 
I have thought for years we are crap at picking out gems . We have probably picked three up in the last few years ,one has gone to France and the other is playing for Southampton and Brooks also on the South coast .Hopefully we may have got another with the young Curtis signing . but these were not the finished article when they arrived but it was clear they had the x factor . Unfortunately we cant afford the finished article who would come in and be an instant success in the first team . We are skint for one reason or another so we have to rely on sub standard signings who are well out of their depth in the prem . Our future lies in the academy ,home grown talent .
 
BalticBlade said:
Well, if Bettis said it, it MUST be true!
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It is true, I know someone who does scouting for Mitchell also. He has a team behind him not to mention the part time scouts so this notion it’s basically just him is nonsense, it may not be as extensive as other clubs or as big as we’d like but there is still a decent sized team behind him. Who had ever heard of Jared Dublin before he left us for Reading? Not many I’d suspect. There is plenty we have not heard of. What about Mark Todd? We have all heard of him and he was doing bits for us but now scouting for Man City. There is plenty doing work for us that most won’t know about but at the end of day the buck stops with the headman Paul Mitchell.
 
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The only football scout I used to have have contact with is or was high up for Everton after formerly scouting for York City ,Hull city and Wigan Athletic.

He was also part of my management team in my previous employment.
 
Paul Mitchell came with a great reputation from lower leagues. I’m not sure it’s the same thing now we’re fishing in a different pond. Eyes have definitely got to be on that department.
 
I think at championship level, with Wilder and Knill to throw into the recruitment process, we'll do well in this department as long as the budget is decent
 
Hamandcheese said:
I think at championship level, with Wilder and Knill to throw into the recruitment process, we'll do well in this department as long as the budget is decent
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Decent budget........🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
 
BigBed said:
I'm sorry, but were not brilliant in this area, and I think we need fresh eyes!
Mitchell seems to be the only one we hear about pointing out "talent", but I'm sure that a weeks holiday at Specsavers may be well over due!
It's time to have a shake up, if other teams can find and recruit gems, why can't we??
Everyone I've spoken to said the new keeper isn't what they were hoping?
I couldn't go yesterday, and refuse to watch highlights, if you can call them that......., of us getting schooled again.
But looking at Joao Pedro and the likes, and comparing those types of players to the ones we recruit, Brewster for example......well, summats not reyt.
Click to expand...
If I was starting a thread criticising recruitment, I would have watched the highlights to allow a sensible appraisal of the keeper recruitment, rather than what you'd heard.
 

Over the last 4 or 5 seasons there hasn't been many successes in the recruitment department.
Hamer Wes Jack Robinson Anel Trusty being barely adequate. Wes and Jack took a long time and a lack of money to spend before they got a decent run in the team.

There has been glaring balance issues with our squad since last season that have only being partially resolved. Hamer and Souza Slimane to try and improve midfield. Up front BBD is a welcome addition but what are our realistic staerting options. Archer is playing wide when he needs to play off a strike partner to get the best from him. He is a top class finisher but too far from goal to be effective in our current formations under Wilder. Osula promising but green. McBurnie I don't rate. Brewster is a total liability.

There has been a lack of joined up thinking under both Wilder and Hecky and Mitchell.
Curtis will be good in time and it is Andrews who championed that signing. A bit like Lester and Anel. My view is the whole scouting department need to be binned. based on their record its obvious that they can't spot a real prospect and they can't see glaring weaknesses in the ones we have bought.
 
Nagima said:
Over the last 4 or 5 seasons there hasn't been many successes in the recruitment department.
Hamer Wes Jack Robinson Anel Trusty being barely adequate. Wes and Jack took a long time and a lack of money to spend before they got a decent run in the team.

There has been glaring balance issues with our squad since last season that have only being partially resolved. Hamer and Souza Slimane to try and improve midfield. Up front BBD is a welcome addition but what are our realistic staerting options. Archer is playing wide when he needs to play off a strike partner to get the best from him. He is a top class finisher but too far from goal to be effective in our current formations under Wilder. Osula promising but green. McBurnie I don't rate. Brewster is a total liability.

There has been a lack of joined up thinking under both Wilder and Hecky and Mitchell.
Curtis will be good in time and it is Andrews who championed that signing. A bit like Lester and Anel. My view is the whole scouting department need to be binned. based on their record its obvious that they can't spot a real prospect and they can't see glaring weaknesses in the ones we have bought.
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I'd agree with this. Especially when you look at some of the fees we've paid. McBurnie is worth half what we paid. Brewster 1/100th. Hamer a third. Souza about half. Archer about 40% (I'm sure villa are not thrilled at the prospect of buying him back for £17m as he wont fetch anywhere near that if they try and offload him again).

You have to wonder if the scouts are taking bungs to overvalue and encourage us to pay over the odds.
 
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Our summer recruitment was terrible... but only for the PL. If we can keep all those signings we made, I think our squad looks good for next year back in the championship. We all know that we have no money.

Given they have probably been told go and find a first team keeper for less money than a curry night at weatherspoons, I'm not sure who else they could have found and I will reserve judgement until he actually has time to learn his teammates names.

I am (optimistically) hoping that there is a long term plan and this is a step on that road. If we go back down, have a strong squad to come back up and we build again then I can get behind that.
 
dexter101 said:
Our summer recruitment was terrible... but only for the PL.
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This a thousand times over. Those expecting any of our summer signings to quickly take to PL football are fighting some long odds.

In 2019 we’d developed a team over years. In 2023 we’d just put a bomb under one.

Next season is when they have to shine.
 
Wards said:
So we just need a Brentford or Brighton style scouting network then... who's paying for it?

I also thought we'd learnt to stop writing players off after one appearance?
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We could have easily paid for it if we stopped paying silly money for bang average players.
 
Fjortoft's Aeroplane said:
We could have easily paid for it if we stopped paying silly money for bang average players.
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Could we really? Both of the clubs mentioned pour tens of millions into it. Likewise, who foots the bill if/when we're relegated? Or do we mothball it then invariably start it up the next time we're promoted?

It's just not a feasible business model for us at present. By all means make some amendments to the recruitment structure, but citing Brighton is well wide of where we're at.
 
Joao Pedro was Brighton’s record signing at a cool 30 million—about 50% more than we’ve ever paid for any player. I dare say his wages are probably far outside our budget, too—they may even have been outside our budget when he was at Watford.

I’d like to see a refresh of our recruitment operation but let’s try and keep our feet on the ground.
 
Wards said:
Could we really? Both of the clubs mentioned pour tens of millions into it. Likewise, who foots the bill if/when we're relegated? Or do we mothball it then invariably start it up the next time we're promoted?

It's just not a feasible business model for us at present. By all means make some amendments to the recruitment structure, but citing Brighton is well wide of where we're at.
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Look at our bench vs West Ham. Just half of that money on infrastructure instead of overvalued benchwarmers and we'd be laughing .
 
dc_blade said:
Joao Pedro was Brighton’s record signing at a cool 30 million—about 50% more than we’ve ever paid for any player. I dare say his wages are probably far outside our budget, too—they may even have been outside our budget when he was at Watford.

I’d like to see a refresh of our recruitment operation but let’s try and keep our feet on the ground.
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But Watford will have paid a lot less for him in the first place. The only way we can compete is if we have real talent in the recruitment department that can see talent a long time before they reach 30/40 million valuations.
 
HarryHaslam said:
But Watford will have paid a lot less for him in the first place. The only way we can compete is if we have real talent in the recruitment department that can see talent a long time before they reach 30/40 million valuations.
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Fair point re: Watford. But they also highlight some of the dangers: they bought players from all over and have sold a few for a decent profit but in the process have failed to build a competitive team of their own and are now stuck in the Championship. Contrast that with Wilder/Knill/Mitchell building a team of journeymen with buttons—none of them had much resale value but they had a brilliant team spirit and took us to 9th in the Prem.

Hard to get the balance right, especially if you don’t have much money.
 
Fjortoft's Aeroplane said:
Look at our bench vs West Ham. Just half of that money on infrastructure instead of overvalued benchwarmers and we'd be laughing .
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Who would we have on the bench, though?

More: if the owner had said this summer (or any summer previously) “we won’t he signing any players this window as we’re developing the scouting infrastructure” there would be the meltdown of all meltdowns on here. Fans want results now.

The simple fact is that there’s no shortcut to success in the transfer market that doesn’t involve having more money than we do.
 

dc_blade said:
Who would we have on the bench, though?

More: if the owner had said this summer (or any summer previously) “we won’t he signing any players this window as we’re developing the scouting infrastructure” there would be the meltdown of all meltdowns on here. Fans want results now.

The simple fact is that there’s no shortcut to success in the transfer market that doesn’t involve having more money than we do.
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After selling Ndiyae and Berge I'd have said "good shout, we're down anyway so perfect timing".
 
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