Would You Trust Recruitment With Summer 2020?

[Jacksbadhobbits]

Who backs up Cash? Jenks. Not good enough - signed for 2m

Who backs up Ribero? Bong. Folk will say it's early days but he's unfit & we've only 13 games to get him fit. Not good enough.

Who backs up Watson? Bostock. A million miles behind the pace. Not good enough.

Who backs up Sow? Semedo. Nowhere near good enough. Yates is still too green too.

Who backs up Samba? Muric. Hahahaha. Awful.

Who backs up Silva? No one. Lolley at the mo. Carvalho just doesn't work there. It could be argued if Silva is good enough anyway.

Who backs up Ameobi? Adama and previously Adomah. Neither good enough IMO, fair play if you say "early days" with Adama.

Who backs up Grabs? Da Costa. Couldn't make the squad against WBA, Walker - who should be 3rd choice backup - ahead of him.

Who backs up Lolley? Ameobi.

There's only CB we have covered properly really.

Our first team is great, fair play to the odd signing which recruitment have made that contribute there. But look down that list at those backup signings. Barely any of them are good enough, and the current setup has signed almost every one of them.

Yawn.

Like most clubs our recruitment has been a mixed bag. Brice and Samba Sow have been very good. I also like Silva and Ameobi but the Jan business does not look that fantastic. It is a difficult to strengthen significantly in that window. We are also at a significant disadvantage compared to teams with parachute payments and clubs like Leeds and Derby who generate for higher income. Also even more of a concern is Derby and Leicester will start to get first pick for the local youth talent because of their cat 1 academy status.

[Alf]

So, even though he had a great game at Fulham away, and was perfectly reasonable at Charlton away and Preston at Home, Jenkinson is not good enough on the back of one bad game at Charlton at Home.

Words fail me!

Our memories are very different! I'd give Jenkinson reasonable for Fulham and poor at Charlton and vs Preston.

You can give Jenkinson what you like; that's entirely your prerogative.

I was at all four games and would respectfully disagree.

Besides that, writing someone off after 4 games is beyond stupid; we have had plenty of players over the years who have started slowly and gone on to be good players for us.

Da Costa is now being written off because he could not make the bench today; a bit surprising really considering he went off injured after 29 minutes of yesterdays U23 game.

If Da Costa was going to be in the squad against WBA, he wouldn't have played in the U23 game on Friday in the first place. So he was never gonna make the squad.

[Alf]

Who backs up Cash? Jenks. Not good enough - signed for 2m

Who backs up Ribero? Bong. Folk will say it's early days but he's unfit & we've only 13 games to get him fit. Not good enough.

Who backs up Watson? Bostock. A million miles behind the pace. Not good enough.

Who backs up Sow? Semedo. Nowhere near good enough. Yates is still too green too.

Who backs up Samba? Muric. Hahahaha. Awful.

Who backs up Silva? No one. Lolley at the mo. Carvalho just doesn't work there. It could be argued if Silva is good enough anyway.

Who backs up Ameobi? Adama and previously Adomah. Neither good enough IMO, fair play if you say "early days" with Adama.

Who backs up Grabs? Da Costa. Couldn't make the squad against WBA, Walker - who should be 3rd choice backup - ahead of him.

Who backs up Lolley? Ameobi.

There's only CB we have covered properly really.

Our first team is great, fair play to the odd signing which recruitment have made that contribute there. But look down that list at those backup signings. Barely any of them are good enough, and the current setup has signed almost every one of them.

Yawn.

Like most clubs our recruitment has been a mixed bag. Brice and Samba Sow have been very good. I also like Silva and Ameobi but the Jan business does not look that fantastic. It is a difficult to strengthen significantly in that window. We are also at a significant disadvantage compared to teams with parachute payments and clubs like Leeds and Derby who generate for higher income. Also even more of a concern is Derby and Leicester will start to get first pick for the local youth talent because of their cat 1 academy status.

Our disadvantage comes from tying big money up in signings like Carvalho.

At 13.2m fee + 10k/wk wages, he costs us 3m/year, that's roughly £60/wk in wages for a 5 year contract. Sign the player on a 2.5 year contract and you could pay them £120k/wk (assuming it falls within FFP)

Our transfer strategy has been poor, and now we are limited to the quality which we can sign because of that. 

By spending 2m on Da Costa we have just bogged our wage bill down again with a player who isn't fit for the purpose required. Same with Jenks too, another player who cost a decent amount, but isn't up to scratch.

[Sniffer Dog (Admin)]

I'm off.

I need a break.

[Jean_claude_killy]

Who backs up Cash? Jenks. Not good enough - signed for 2m

Who backs up Ribero? Bong. Folk will say it's early days but he's unfit & we've only 13 games to get him fit. Not good enough.

Who backs up Watson? Bostock. A million miles behind the pace. Not good enough.

Who backs up Sow? Semedo. Nowhere near good enough. Yates is still too green too.

Who backs up Samba? Muric. Hahahaha. Awful.

Who backs up Silva? No one. Lolley at the mo. Carvalho just doesn't work there. It could be argued if Silva is good enough anyway.

Who backs up Ameobi? Adama and previously Adomah. Neither good enough IMO, fair play if you say "early days" with Adama.

Who backs up Grabs? Da Costa. Couldn't make the squad against WBA, Walker - who should be 3rd choice backup - ahead of him.

Who backs up Lolley? Ameobi.

There's only CB we have covered properly really.

Our first team is great, fair play to the odd signing which recruitment have made that contribute there. But look down that list at those backup signings. Barely any of them are good enough, and the current setup has signed almost every one of them.

Yawn.

Like most clubs our recruitment has been a mixed bag. Brice and Samba Sow have been very good. I also like Silva and Ameobi but the Jan business does not look that fantastic. It is a difficult to strengthen significantly in that window. We are also at a significant disadvantage compared to teams with parachute payments and clubs like Leeds and Derby who generate for higher income. Also even more of a concern is Derby and Leicester will start to get first pick for the local youth talent because of their cat 1 academy status.

Our disadvantage comes from tying big money up in signings like Carvalho.

At 13.2m fee + 10k/wk wages, he costs us 3m/year, that's roughly £60/wk in wages for a 5 year contract. Sign the player on a 2.5 year contract and you could pay them £120k/wk (assuming it falls within FFP)

Our transfer strategy has been poor, and now we are limited to the quality which we can sign because of that. 

By spending 2m on Da Costa we have just bogged our wage bill down again with a player who isn't fit for the purpose required. Same with Jenks too, another player who cost a decent amount, but isn't up to scratch.

Dear God!

I can see we had better add Arithmetic, Amortisation and Profit and Sustainability to the list of things you do not comprehend.

We are in the mess we are in for one reason; EM inherited a wage bill of 140% - a 28m wage bill on a turnover of 20m

Why were we in that mess?

Because Fawaz allowed his managers to spend money we did not have; two of those managers - Billy Davis and Stuart Pearce, must take their share of the blame.

They are the facts - undisputable, irrefutable FACTS

Writing players off after 4 games is not a fact, it is an opinion.

Accusing a player of not being good enough to be on the bench after he was withdrawn from a game the day before because of injury is not even an opinion; its an invention made up to reinforce a facile argument.

I used to think you were a wind up merchant, sadly not!

[Alf]

Correct me if I'm wrong JCK, but apart from academy players, the only player which EM inherited fro Fazza is Zach Clough.

So how on earth can you blame Fawaz for the current wage structure, when 99% of the players were signed by this regime?

What are you saying, that Fazza's + Billy's + Pearce's old players who are no longer here are still clogging the wage bill up? Are those the type of "undisputable, irrefutable FACTS" you're on about? lol

With transfer fees it was EM wasted the money on Carvalho, Soudani, Jenks etc. too.

[PsychoStanleyStone]

it could all be a sublime masterstroke, the less is more philosophy

there is a very galvanised and consistent first 11 who's mentality might thrive on being needed and totally wanting to play for each other, the peripherals know if they come on the pitch at anytime they have to step up

i'm quite liking the personalities and seeing more understanding among the group, the band of brothers thing seems to be happening

could say we are vulnerable to injuries but also there is nowhere to hide, it's a backs to the wall, alamo type campaign now

ultimately it comes down to passion and total commitment to the cause in the run in and increasing mental strength, i think our squad is potentially top 2 when measured against these parameters

strangers and bit part players could do more harm than good and in the Alamo all the extras die

[ThePromisedLand]

strangers and bit part players could do more harm than good and in the Alamo all the extras die

:D :D :D

[zicorice]

This debate will go on forever. Some signings work, some don't.  The difference over the last couple of windows is that we have looked for relatively cheap deals. The strike rate still appears about the same.
My opinion: 
Samba, Sow, Ribeiro- Fantastic acquisitions who are key members of our 1st XI.
Silva- Decent acquisition especially for the money. Is holding down a spot and when we play well so does he.
Jenkinson- A bit pricey for a back up, but was probably bought to play. Matty  Cash has made this deal look worse than it is, so no complaints. 
Mir/Muric - So bad it hurts.
Semedo- Average signing. An enigma, early season looked a player. Struggled since. Saying that, he got himself into the box yesterday which led to Watsons pass to Cash for goal.
Chema- oK signing. Great business, profit made in less than 6 months. If he could head the ball more dominantly he would make a top centre half, if he could attack better he would make a top left back. He is neither.
Bostock- Now appears a pointless signing, in part due to Watsons class. Nice passer, but cant run. 

Too early to judge January additions properly however:
Dhiakhaby: Unconvinced. Pace to burn, but gives the ball away alot. (As did Silva for a while)
Walker: Doesnt count, plus finishing off DirtyLeeds gives him a pass. 
Bong: Good pedigree to back up Ribeiro who could easily have been sidelined for rest of season by that thuggish tackle. Not sure some of our fans would be prepared to get behind him if needed though.

I've probably forgotten some. But a Leicester fan I know said they sign loads of players that don't contribute anything, but the headlines focus on there successful ones like Kante, Drinkwater and Slabhead  due to profits. Imagine that? Focusing on the positive ones. It's easy to look at successful signings at other clubs and say why didn't we get him or him after they do well-Norwich fans moaned about signing nobody Pukki  when they signed him on a free-but I am sure every club has hits and misses.

I think 3 crucial players out of 11 first teamers (4 including Silva) represents a very good Summer window for a team in top 6. Or am I being delusional as I am spending a fortune following these lads around the country and trying to back them in the final straight? 

Only 11 can play, taking your chance when selected is not as easy as some make out. They are on the bench for a reason and lose match fitness. Look at Albert, his contributions became less and less significant as time wore on, no rhythm.  I think the demise of The Central League for reserves has had a bigger impact than people acknowledge. How do Carvalho and co get minutes to be ready when the time comes? I digress. Imho looking at our current starting XI I think the acquisition team are doing ok-I have no agenda other than wanting to watch us win.

[Jasper Scarrott]

I'm off.

I need a break.

Alf pissed you off Sniff?

Have a little break and recharge your batteries.

[Jean_claude_killy]

Correct me if I'm wrong JCK, but apart from academy players, the only player which EM inherited fro Fazza is Zach Clough.

So how on earth can you blame Fawaz for the current wage structure, when 99% of the players were signed by this regime?

What are you saying, that Fazza's + Billy's + Pearce's old players who are no longer here are still clogging the wage bill up? Are those the type of "undisputable, irrefutable FACTS" you're on about? lol

With transfer fees it was EM wasted the money on Carvalho, Soudani, Jenks etc. too.

When EM purchased the Club we still had Lichaj, Mancienne, Traore, Fox, Hobbs, Vaughan, Fryatt, Clough and Assombalonga all on vastly inflated wages; that is why we were spending 140% more than we were earning.

Even though those players took us lower and lower, season by season, they still coined it; maybe you think it good business to spend money like that; I do not.

Serious work had to be done to get that wage bill down; players had to be moved on, players had to be paid off, and that was not enough; we then had to sell of some of the silverware from the Academy to balance the books.

Two seasons later that wage bill had been reduced to around 110% of income; a great feat in itself, but nowhere near enough.

That reduction has come about because we have moved on high paid players and replaced them with lower paid players; surely you understand that!

I can see from your calculations above that you do not understand how FFP, or Profit and Sustainability as it is now known, works; that's not being patronising, its not an altogether easy thing to understand.

As far as FFP (P&S) is concerned we are in a great position with regard to transfer dealings.

We are in a great position because of how transfers are accounted for in the FFP calculations; there is also the fact that we have made a profit of around 25m on transfer dealings in the first two seasons.

Purchases are spread or amortised over the length of the players contract, but sales are accounted for at the time of the sale; this effectively means, in theory, it is more beneficial to sign players on longer contracts.

Sign a player for 10m over 5 years and it works out at 2m per season; lets call that player Carvalho, because that is around about what he cost.

For a Club like us to sign a player for 10m is a huge gamble; the effect of that gamble is mitigated somewhat if the player in question accepts a wage which is in line with the Clubs wage structure; not only is he less of a drain on resources but if we need to sell him at some point his wages will not be an issue which may want him to hang around.

As far as wages go, we are still in a desperate situation with regard to FFP - we are still spending more than we earn, despite reducing the wage bill over the last two seasons.

We have an owner who is having to swap debt for new equity just to comply with the terms of FFP; he is doing everything within his powers to ensure we are both legal and competitive.

Refusing to pay inflated wage demands is exactly the right thing to do but it also restricts the options available to our recruitment team.

Signing players is not an exact science in the first place; trying to recruit with one hand effectively tied behind your back makes it all the more difficult.

Some clubs have far less success than we do in the market and spend far more.

The bottom line is we are not in a position to gamble; Derby and Wednesday tried to gamble and failed miserably and are currently facing a points deduction; we tried to gamble when Fawaz gave Billy an blank cheque book and we ended up under an embargo shortly after.

Thankfully, at long last, we have an Owner and management structure, worthy of the Club

[Strawberry Avenger]

Well explained, Jean.

SA.