I reckon we'll get Sheff Utd.......just because I thought we'd get Villa at some stage. That didn't work out too great.... .....For them.
Always a thrill seeing what utter **** up ITV will make out of a couple of blokes pulling balls out of a bag. Jim Rosenthal will be spinning in his grave again.
I know you're probably being ironic CBK, but I guess you mean Brian Moore. Jim Rosenthal is still alive. I agree that ITV usually make a mess of these things. Good job they weren't in charge of the World Cup draw, or that could have been controversial!
We have a strike rate of about 50% even with our state of the art technical department. Some 'failures' of course may be due to the fact that we left them behind as we progressed...they did a turn for a while. Other clubs also have players who never settle in. However, the test of our system is now....no more promotions, so any player is brought in for the PL...let's see if that improves our results. This season is good so far: Lovren (excellent), Wanyama (effective) and Osvaldo (needs more time). And Boruc (please get well soon).
Nope. It proves no such thing. If you buy a player without research you might get a good one but to say it's "proves it just as risky" as researching is, as I said earlier, tripe of the highest order. Here's an analogy: just because driving your car with your eyes open still occasionally results in a crash does not make it a bad strategy. Similarly, researching players before buying will still occasionally result in a Forren; it doesn't make it a bad strategy. Vin
Obviously everyone does research before buying players (except Souness obviously!) but I guess that the sooner you spot potential in the player the cheaper he will be. I rate that Messi chap and think he would be a safe bet, but he's a bit pricy at the minute. If you can spot an embryonic Messi in his late teens/ early twenties then he will be much cheaper but obviously there is more chance that they will not work out. There must be an imperative to make a bid before someone else does once you have spotted potential. In any case, some of the signing which have not worked out looked to me like like stop gaps to cover an injury crisis rather than part of our long term plans.
Good point, Channon. Buying players before others spot them will always be a bigger risk than buying a fully formed top of the tree PL player (who we probably can't afford anyway). Forren is just a complete mystery though....I think he had personal problems though.
There are so many variables involved in signing players, i.e. do they fit in the position that they will be required to play in, temperament, value for money, team player mentality, desire to be part of the dream, talent, compatibility, age, injury history, willingness to accept the training regime, honesty e.t.c. Finding all of that in one individual is a tough ask, it won't be down to one person to make that decision, it has to be a Committee decision, equally if it goes wrong, should it be one person to take the blame? Maybe, as it is the CEO's final decision he has to carry the can, football is very nebulous and big things can be affected by little things, fans are very judgemental and rightly so, as they all want their team to succeed and tolerance levels are very low.
It's a risk either way, research or not. Didn't say it was a bad strategy, so stick that up your tripe. And why do you sign your name at the end of comments? That's weird.
In any business or sport, recruitment has a 50:50 chance of success. You can take some steps (research) to try and help that but that still guarantees nothing. It's a bit like saying you'll take winning the Cup and finishing 17th. You can't guarantee any of it
The important thing here is that we are in the bag for a draw, we won a game and our strikers had practice.
You're absolutely correct. You didn't say "bad strategy", you said signing after research was "just as risky" as signing without it. So much better. And so much tripe. I feel it's polite to sign what I write. Vin