The scouting team

[Lord Bos of Eckington.]

Good thread.

There has to be a plan to sign players to fit a system of playing and also have regard to the balance of the squad already in place. This 'Technical Committee' is perhaps just a safeguard for the full Board to ensure the signings fit the profiles of whatever overall strategy the club have in place and also to ensure there are no more Coutts' or Hammonds joining us. It has to be the manager's responsibility to decide how many big lads we need, how many centre halves, whether the next striker is pacy or big or both, and so on.

It's worth considering playing the same system at all levels of the club so that players stepping up a level can do so more easily. Certainly the culture of the club should be that of the first team manager and his coaches and the same standards of behaviour, professionalism and commitment at all levels.

If Watford can do it , ( sacking managers ) , but everything else is status quo - why can't we do it .

It is the Southampton , Swansea , Watford model as someone else said , we need to follow . You set a DNA and infrastructure , culture , style. which doesn't change who ever the manager is or who is in charge .

We just spend a boat load of money getting rid of the manager , coaches of every type and continually get it wrong .
Does out technical committee know owt about football , besides Wilder and the young coaching academy fella.

.
The conclusion as we all know , is that we have just been badly run by McCabe and Co. Can Wilder bring us up to date and get promotion - hope so, but we say that every time we have a new manager.

 

[Woodwardfan]

That idea works great in theory but if the club is too trigger happy (which ours is) then it falls down especially when we’re so hell bent on each managerial appointment being chalk to cheese to chalk to cheese. We had a strategy of that sort in place under Clough and it lasted all of about 18 months.

Hence all our belief that we need continuity. I'm sure if Wilder shows any sort of progress and cohesion within the club then he will get time to build something.

Clough got himself sacked for resons best known to him and McCabe and Phipps. Adkins was unbelievably haphazard in everything he did and said. Neither of them earned any continuity and frankly I reckon Clough wanted out because he had created a mess.

 

[BushBlade]

[QUOTE="Woodwardfan, post: 1027588, member: 8769

Clough got himself sacked for resons best known to him and McCabe and Phipps. Adkins was unbelievably haphazard in everything he did and said. Neither of them earned any continuity and frankly I reckon Clough wanted out because he had created a mess.[/QUOTE]

You know this for a fact?

 

[Harry's Game]

Hence all our belief that we need continuity. I'm sure if Wilder shows any sort of progress and cohesion within the club then he will get time to build something.

Clough got himself sacked for resons best known to him and McCabe and Phipps. Adkins was unbelievably haphazard in everything he did and said. Neither of them earned any continuity and frankly I reckon Clough wanted out because he had created a mess.

I don't talk about Nigel Clough much but as far as I can work out Clough was sacked for being a useless tosser.

 

[Pollingtonblade]

The OP is spot on not just with scouting though, everything, we need a structure in place so that we don't go from 'hoof' to 'pass' and then have a backlog of shit players.

We need to identify how we wish to play then a scouting system to identify the players, as well as cascading how we want to play down to academy level.

The scouting staff/coaches/style should all outlast a manager.

As well as this we need a wage budget which only gets raised in the event of promotion.

Never again should we let managers like Clough or Robson waste millions.

If clubs like Swansea and Watford can produce such 'models' I'm damn sure we can.

 

[Lord Bos of Eckington.]

Our scouting network, of lack of one, has been a huge issue for decades. It's the one area we seem to have never invested in. When's the last time we brought in a foreign player, for instance?

What them Johnny Foreigners who just take the money , couldn't care less , no bottle , wouldn't want yo be in the trenches with them. Kiss the badge but want to Foxtrot Oscar the week after.

When was the last time we brought players in who cared ( excluding billy ) .

It's the culture at the lane that stinks , which needs changing , not just a scouting system .

Too many massamboolas .

UTB

 

[Woodwardfan]

[QUOTE="Woodwardfan, post: 1027588, member: 8769

Clough got himself sacked for resons best known to him and McCabe and Phipps. Adkins was unbelievably haphazard in everything he did and said. Neither of them earned any continuity and frankly I reckon Clough wanted out because he had created a mess.

You know this for a fact?[/QUOTE]


I reckon I'm close but no,not many facts on this forum Bush, plenty of opinions, that's what it's all about. If anybody states facts they usually say so.

Mind you, if a manager tells the Board to get lost in a Board Meeting there is only one outcome. Do I know that for fact? No, of course not.

Anyway, back to the thread. If Wilder earns three years then everything will stabilise and we'll get the benefits of continuity of leadership and approach.

 

[Kev Gee]

We dont actually have a scout at the moment do we? Not even one scout. How bad is that for a club our size?! Disgraceful.

 

[blade.i.am]

Pete , we all know that any business or commercial acumen our chairman and board members have in there associated professions , just go flying out of the window , as soon as they step over the reception threshold at BDTBL. They act like they haven't the brains they were born with , and I just cannot see anything changing .

Status Quo is what they have always liked at the land . The thing is even Wilder may get worn down sooner rather than later with our lot .

UTB

status Quo? Funny, didn't have McCabe and the Prince down as headbangers

 

[Woodwardfan]

We dont actually have a scout at the moment do we? Not even one scout. How bad is that for a club our size?! Disgraceful.

It's all happened before but I'm afraid it's all for the right reasons since we let the last 2 managers choose their brother and mate as the last 2 did. Nothing to say we won't do exactly that again but it works if the manager lasts his contract.

 

[robbiez666]

What them Johnny Foreigners who just take the money , couldn't care less , no bottle , wouldn't want yo be in the trenches with them. Kiss the badge but want to Foxtrot Oscar the week after.

When was the last time we brought players in who cared ( excluding billy ) .

It's the culture at the lane that stinks , which needs changing , not just a scouting system .

Too many massamboolas .

UTB

How many of these foreigners have we had at the club since we've been in league 1? Scottish isn't foreign.

 

[Barney]

How many of these foreigners have we had at the club since we've been in league 1? Scottish isn't foreign.

Cuvelier, Edgar.

Think that's it.

 

[sitwell]

A friend of mine (well known player in the area but not Utd) set up as a freelance scout when he retired. He now has a massive business working for most clubs in this country and many European clubs. How it works is ,say Chelsea want a scouting report on Billy Sharp ,he will watch him 3 or 4 times looking for the main strengths and weaknesses requested ,then he will file a detailed report ,lets say for example 2k ,after a month this report then becomes available for any other clubs at a 3rd of the initial cost. He has built up a huge library now which he is always adding to and has many respected football figures working for him. He may talk a good game but he isn't exactly watching his pennies

 

[Houston_Blade]

I think that's fairly common these days. They use their scouting abilities to find potential clients. Some clubs recognise that not all agents are cunts and prefer to deal with certain agents who are professional and give their clients good advice without taking the piss.

To be fair to the bloke, the players he's got on his books are young and relatively unknown so the only way he can keep the money coming in is to do other related work.

He's also an official UEFA pitch tester.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

Hence all our belief that we need continuity. I'm sure if Wilder shows any sort of progress and cohesion within the club then he will get time to build something.

Clough got himself sacked for resons best known to him and McCabe and Phipps. Adkins was unbelievably haphazard in everything he did and said. Neither of them earned any continuity and frankly I reckon Clough wanted out because he had created a mess.

I’d heard the Clough sacking was because the board told him Murphy was going to be sold in the summer and he kicked off.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

What them Johnny Foreigners who just take the money , couldn't care less , no bottle , wouldn't want yo be in the trenches with them. Kiss the badge but want to Foxtrot Oscar the week after.

When was the last time we brought players in who cared ( excluding billy ) .

It's the culture at the lane that stinks , which needs changing , not just a scouting system .

Too many massamboolas .

UTB

Billy

Brayford

Basham

McEveley

Collins

Hammond

Done

Sammon

Harris

Woolford




And probably quite a few more all appeared to care. Some weren’t good enough. In fact, some were fucking miles away from being good enough (Woolford, Hammond, Sammon, McEveley etc.) but I think they cared. The problem is that some who were potentially very much good enough (Adams, Baxter, Coutts) don’t appear to have cared nearly enough. Others who seem to have potential to be good players (Freeman, McNulty, Scougall, K. Wallace etc.) haven’t done enough to suggest they care enough either. We struggle to find players who combine some ability with a good attitude.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

You know this for a fact?

I reckon I'm close but no,not many facts on this forum Bush, plenty of opinions, that's what it's all about. If anybody states facts they usually say so.

Mind you, if a manager tells the Board to get lost in a Board Meeting there is only one outcome. Do I know that for fact? No, of course not.

Anyway, back to the thread. If Wilder earns three years then everything will stabilise and we'll get the benefits of continuity of leadership and approach.[/QUOTE]



“earning” three years is very subjective though.


If he’s given decent backing and falls short like Clough has he earned it?

If he’s shit on from a great height and doesn’t get close like Adkins has he earned it?


If he’s moderately backed and misses out in the playoffs has he earned it?


What if he’s very well backed, amasses an excellent squad that plays great football but misses out in cruel circumstances (like in 2012) has he earned it?

 

[1danewhitehouse]

How many of these foreigners have we had at the club since we've been in league 1? Scottish isn't foreign.

LJF, Cuvelier, Edgar? (though already playing in England)

 

[Woodwardfan]

I’d heard the Clough sacking was because the board told him Murphy was going to be sold in the summer and he kicked off.

I'd heard something different but more to do with recruitment than sales. Also heard it was style of play. It's all conjecture but I doubt if the Murphy sale was planned so long before it happened.

 

[BushBlade]

I'd heard something different but more to do with recruitment than sales. Also heard it was style of play. It's all conjecture but I doubt if the Murphy sale was planned so long before it happened.

I'd suggest style of play should have been discussed before we have him the job, not when he's halfway through it and we'd recently committed a lot of money on bringing in players that were loyal to him.

We can talk about his faults and pretend that one day we'll find a manager who doesn't make mistakes but the big picture is we're in L1 and he's back in the championship.

 

[Ricky]

I think the last player we imported was Jean Calve, in 2010.

It's a joke how little we've looked to the foreign market, especially as we've been stung so many times by highly paid underperforming flops.

We do need a proper scouting structure in place that doesn't change every time there's a new manager. A network that expands beyond Yorkshire and even this country. Basically the minimum a club our size should have.
But if that happened no doubt we'll be out of the EU and unable to get work permits for foreign players!

I have a little bit of hope that we'll appoint a chief scout who works for the club because in an article in the Star it said that Paul Murray has 'admirers in United's hierarchy' - that would suggest they're pursuing him rather than just leaving it to the manager. If that's the case he'd be the club's man, not the manager's.

 

[Sean Thornton]

I think the last player we imported was Jean Calve, in 2010.

It's a joke how little we've looked to the foreign market, especially as we've been stung so many times by highly paid underperforming flops.

We do need a proper scouting structure in place that doesn't change every time there's a new manager. A network that expands beyond Yorkshire and even this country. Basically the minimum a club our size should have.
But if that happened no doubt we'll be out of the EU and unable to get work permits for foreign players!

I have a little bit of hope that we'll appoint a chief scout who works for the club because in an article in the Star it said that Paul Murray has 'admirers in United's hierarchy' - that would suggest they're pursuing him rather than just leaving it to the manager. If that's the case he'd be the club's man, not the manager's.

Year long loan for Parrino 2011

 

[Ricky]

Latest article that seems to cement Paul Mitchell as the favourite for the role.
http://www.derbyshiretimes.co.uk/sp...eld-scout-mitchell-in-blades-frame-1-7960145?

Interesting that it says at least two other candidates have expressed an interest in the position - that would suggest they'd be working for the club, not the manager.

Like this comment from Wilder too...

“Long term, obviously, we want to get out of this division. There should be nothing to stop us doing it this year if we get things right, the players gel and we bring in good people."

Also like how he wants balance and versatility in the squad, they're two big things.

 

[Frecheville Blade]

Leicester made the commitment to recruiting the right backroom staff, and financing a proper and talented scouting team. Look what happened to them!

Wouldn't want that for the Blades now, would we... Oh wait.

 

[Cyprus Blade]

How many of these foreigners have we had at the club since we've been in league 1? Scottish isn't foreign.

I'm not sure where the line gets drawn but foreigners could mean those drawn from outside the People's Republic of South Yorkshire.