Who was our best ever manager at recruiting players?

[nopigfansintown]

£ for £ Harris, Bassett, Wilder, Warnock. You can argue the toss on the order. None of them had a pot to piss in and did insanely well. You can make a counter argument re Wilder in the prem and Warnock in the promotion season; but overall they did amazingly well given the overall cost. Most of the players people list as failures cost peanuts and were on peanuts relative to the league.

Success in transfers (or at least the main metric) is raising your status whilst spending relatively little on transfers//wages etc compared to your peers.

 

[Bookers Mullet]

Bassett for me. Him, Warnock and Wilder probably made the same amount of bargain signings that came good prior to getting to the top flight, but I think Bassett signed less flops.

I also thought his top flight recruitment edged it especially as he was under tighter constraints than the others.

 

[ReeceofBDTBL]

Howard Kendall for me. Anyone mentioning Warnock must be off their rocker, he signed about a billion strikers and how many of them ended up being of even bottom half premier league quality? Rob Hulse and that’s it.

Says it all that we had an exciting dynamic team in 2003, 3 years later he gets us promoted with a Stoke city esque team of triers and we get relegated with a cheap and nasty long throw in team.

Take a look at the team we put out on the last day against Wigan if you don’t believe me, uggh

 

[Chazzer]

Ironically it was the injury to Rob Hulse that pretty much caused our relegation

 

[Wizard]

Might be controversial but I think our PL recruitment was better than people think. Berge & Bogle were brilliant gets, Ramsdale & Foderingham were both good keepers. Osborn has been a solid squad player and Brewster has shown promise but been unlucky with injuries. Mousset & McBurnie both did well for us in that first season. Lowe struggled for us but has shown he can be a good player for a promotion chasing championship side and could yet turn things around. Even Jack Robinson has turned into a dependable option. It wasn't perfect by any means but it was injuries, COVID disruption and not recruiting well enough in key areas (LCB & DM) that hurt us rather than necessarily the quality of the players we brought in

 

[Eels]

Harry Haslam has to be the worst?

 

[SB_90]

Very easy to forget the Warnock years where we were utter dogmuck. He signed some right old dross in those years.

i just had a cold sweat thinking about Jean-Philippe Javary, Wilko de Vogt, Benoît Croissant & Laurens ten Heuvel

 

[Bill puntin]

Without doubt John Harris , picked up T C for 30 grand , Billy Dearden for 10 grand , Stuart Scullion, Keith Eddy, Eddie Colquhoun, Trevor Hockey all for peanuts

 

[Silent Blade]

Without doubt John Harris , picked up T C for 30 grand , Billy Dearden for 10 grand , Stuart Scullion, Keith Eddy, Eddie Colquhoun, Trevor Hockey all for peanuts

He didnt sign Colquhoun

 

[Silent Blade]

Arthur Rowley signed Ted Hemsley, Eddie Colquhoun, John Tudor, Dave Powell, John Flynn and Graeme Crawford in his 13 month spell as our manager. Results wise, we had a poor season in the 1968-69 season but 5 of his 6 signings were key players during the 1970-71 promotion season and 4 of them played for us in the top division between the 1971-72 and 1975-76 seasons.

 

[blade67]

Quite a few in the mix but for me i would go for Warnock for the fact that he made us into a team with backbone that stood no nonsense.
Their is a case for many more that built good teams but also brought in some players that were a waste.
Who would you go for?

In my time watching the blades, only one manager has taken us to the top flight, had a top ten finish , lasted 4 years at that level and made a cup semi final. All against the backdrop of chaos in the board room. Wilder's team was easier on the eyes for the most part, but Bassett did an incredible job.

 

[Bladesthorpe]

John Harris. Close thread.

 

[Bill puntin]

Arthur Rowley signed Ted Hemsley, Eddie Colquhoun, John Tudor, Dave Powell, John Flynn and Graeme Crawford in his 13 month spell as our manager. Results wise, we had a poor season in the 1968-69 season but 5 of his 6 signings were key players during the 1970-71 promotion season and 4 of them played for us in the top division between the 1971-72 and 1975-76 seasons.

Sorry silent could have sworn j h signed eddie

 

[Silent Blade]

Sorry silent could have sworn j h signed eddie

signed for us in October 1968

 

[bertieblade]

Kendall had lined up the deals for most of the signings we made under Spackman

Charles Green was responsible for most of the signings made in Spackmans reign.

 

[Old Programme seller]

It’s hard finding players to fit but for me I’d say Bassett because for. Premiership club he had the lowest budget but that does open the can of worms of budget Warnock didn’t get success and promotion until we spent some money, Kendall was given money from the start as was Spackman he re signed Deano, Steve Bruce had zero money probably the reason he left, Slav was imo sold a pup

 

[Rooks]

Bassett

 

[DronnieBlade]

We are talking about his recruitment skills though.......presumably the atrocious signings, (Leonard, Evans, Holmes, Hussey, Lavery.....I could go on) passed you by....

All call all 5 of the above (none of whom were nearly as atrocious as you suggest given we recouped most if not all of the dough spent) and (significantly) raise you a Fleck, Duffy, JOC, Baldock, Enda, Egan, Didzy, Bogle, Hendo .

Should I go on ?.

UTB

 

[Torrix1889]

All call all 5 of the above (none of whom were nearly as atrocious as you suggest given we recouped most if not all of the dough spent) and (significantly) raise you a Fleck, Duffy, JOC, Baldock, Enda, Egan, Didzy, Bogle, Hendo .

Should I go on ?.

UTB

We could go on all day but you are demonstrating my point about Wilder perfectly, (thank-you) he played the numbers game....

 

[HeCanDoMagic]

I think Wilder had his fair share of stinkers pre PL as well tbh

Chris Hussey
Ryan Leonard
Samir Carruthers
Lee Evans
James Wilson
Ricky Holmes
Michael Verrips

The biggest difference was that he binned them off because he could afford to. Harder to get rid when you’ve signed a flop for millions of pounds.

One of Wilders great strengths though was identifying when a signing wasnt working though and acting quickly ie;

Long to Moore
Hussey to Lafferty
Evans to Norwood

 

[DronnieBlade]

We could go on all day but you are demonstrating my point about Wilder perfectly, (thank-you) he played the numbers game....

In which he got far more right than wrong.

Especially so pre PL.

As I originally stated.

You’re welcome !

UTB

 

[BettingBlade]

One of Wilders great strengths though was identifying when a signing wasnt working though and acting quickly ie;

Long to Moore
Hussey to Lafferty
Evans to Norwood

Agreed. Warnock was the same though and just like Warnock, once Wilder had money the pressure was on to be more hit than miss. Whilst Wilder brought in some good players, its far more difficult to dispose of the bad ones if they’re not frees or cheap.

Wilder’s PL transfer record is exacerbated somewhat by the amount he spent, however, if you’re spending money, the good doesnt outweigh the bad for very long.

 

[dc_blade]

Wilder.

The spine of the team he brought in before the 2018-19 season is the greatest transfer window we've ever had.

Henderson
Egan
Norwood
McGoldrick

Those four contributed massively to our promotion and then did the business again in the Premier League.

Absolutely this. Even if he bought a few duds in our journey up the leagues, this transfer window alone makes them all pale into insignificance.

Anyone casting doubt on Wilder's pre-PL recruitment is trying to rewrite history. It was brilliant, end of story.

 

[Torrix1889]

In which he got far more right than wrong.

Especially so pre PL.

As I originally stated.

You’re welcome !

UTB

Erm, no....you didn't state he got more right than wrong, you stated his pre PL recruitment was, quote "off the charts good"......it simply wasn't.

 

[DronnieBlade]

Erm, no....you didn't state he got more right than wrong, you stated his pre PL recruitment was, quote "off the charts good"......it simply wasn't.

Then your perspective on the matter is very different to mine.

Which means one of us is wrong.

I’ll leave it at that.

UTB.

 

[Upton_Blade]

If you're talking the best value for money then it's Bassett all day long.

Back to back promotions on an absolute shoestring.

If you're talking had the biggest impact on the club then it's Kendall by an absolute country mile.

The speed at which he transformed a Bassett squad into one playing the type of football it did was utter class.

 

[Champagneblade]

Might be controversial but I think our PL recruitment was better than people think. Berge & Bogle were brilliant gets, Ramsdale & Foderingham were both good keepers. Osborn has been a solid squad player and Brewster has shown promise but been unlucky with injuries. Mousset & McBurnie both did well for us in that first season. Lowe struggled for us but has shown he can be a good player for a promotion chasing championship side and could yet turn things around. Even Jack Robinson has turned into a dependable option. It wasn't perfect by any means but it was injuries, COVID disruption and not recruiting well enough in key areas (LCB & DM) that hurt us rather than necessarily the quality of the players we brought in

Problem with the above is you're judging Premier League acquisitions against a Championship landscape.

The idea is to buy players from lower down who step up. Not buy players whilst you're up that are only decent once you go down.

As I mentioned on a separate thread we'll be about 41m down on 5 of his signings. Ramsdale might offset that by 12m but where you get the rest of the profit on to simply break even is anyone's guess.

 

[Torrix1889]

Then your perspective on the matter is very different to mine.

Which means one of us is wrong.

I’ll leave it at that.

UTB.

I've only disagreed with your statement that his pre Prem recruitment was "off the charts good" which indicates his transfer dealings were a little better than your subsequent observation of "got more right than wrong".....

Can't be me who is in the wrong then, must be you pal....

 

[DronnieBlade]

I've only disagreed with your statement that his pre Prem recruitment was "off the charts good" which indicates his transfer dealings were a little better than your subsequent observation of "got more right than wrong".....

Can't be me who is in the wrong then, must be you pal....

One of us is wrong but it can’t be you.

There is a name for folks like you !

UTB

 

[Torrix1889]

One of us is wrong but it can’t be you.

There is a name for folks like you !

UTB

, in what way am I wrong, because I don't agree on your claim about Wilders transfer dealings? There's a name for folks like you as well....

So which claim are you are sticking with to describe Wilders pre Prem recruitment, "off the charts good" or "got more right than wrong".....