Is Graham Carr Any Good?!

Is he really any good? Since he's joined the club, the following players have been signed:

This Summer
Jack Colback
Ayoze
Siem de Jong
Rémy Cabella
Emmanuel Rivière
Daryl Janmaat
Karl Darlow
Jamaal Lascelles

Season 13/14
Olivier Kemen
Loïc Remy (loan)

Season 12/13
Romain Amalfitano
Gael Bigirimana
Vurnon Anita
Curtis Good
Mathieu Debuchy
Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa
Massadio Haidara
Moussa Sissoko
Kevin Mbabu
Yoan Gouffran

Season 11/12
Mehdi Abeid
Sylvain Marveaux
Yohan Cabaye
Demba Ba
Gabriel Obertan
Davide Santon
Robert Elliot
Papiss Demba Cisse

Season 10/11
James Perch
Dan Gosling
Sol Campbell
Cheick Tioté
Hatem Ben Arfa



In terms of either selling on for a profit it's average - Debuchy and Ba got us about £3m more each, Cabaye quadrupled in value but it's hard to see a lot of great profit in there (Mike's main measurement). In terms of player ability, only Tiote and Colback arguably (of those still involved) have added real quality to the team. Is Graham Carr as much of a myth as anything else at this football club?

 

Its really difficult to say. It depends what his remit is etc.

He has certainly found some absolute gems but you could argue the likes of Anita, Sissoko (who are yet to prove a gem), Cabaye and Debuchy were well known. He did however have the contacts to find out the release clauses etc. Ba was supposedly a Pardew pick like Obertan, Colback, Elliot, Remy. Tiote has been a great find for the club overall, gives it everything. There have been some major duds though - MYM, Marveaux, Amalfitano. I don't know who found the likes of Santon? Goufran is pretty average. HBA was good then bad. Cisse was good then bad but still might come good again (big might). Good, Abeid, Haidara, Mbabu, Bigi were all cheap punts which have yet to come off.

This years lot I'm not sure. I know it looks unlikely at present but something tells me Cabella will be alright. Riviere not so convinced! Janmaat quality, but hardly top scouting. Likewise SDJ. I don't know how much inut he has with the English lads like Colback, Lascelles, Darlow?

Looking at the above, yeah I think our scouting network is overrated. Its typical though, when things going good, they like many other facets of the club top class, when things go bad they're overrated. The truth is probably somewhere in between. I don't think he influences the transfer policy which is probably key. Like Pardew he is just told what to do. Find relatively cheap players and turn them into profit to slowly build. The reality is we just keep churning over the same buy cheap sell high policy without actually moving anywhere. Eventually this reflects bad on everyone at the club because it is not sustainable.

 

I think a lot of the success in signing players has to be put down to Charnley and also the fact that we pay up front and in cash.
A lot of smaller (financially) selling clubs would jump at the chance for an instant boost to their cash flow given football is a money game now.

 

The Ginger Pirlo becomes Agent Orange?

 

I think you will find that the payment policy came from Ashley having been sucker punched by the Fat Sheep Controller who left a whooper of a debt bomb with the deferred transfer payments.

 

I don't think the policy of buy cheap, sell high is a bad one. We're just not improving or nurturing the players we're buying to the extent we could if we changed managers. If Carr spots young talented players and we go and get them cheaply, great. We then need to provide the coaching environment and squad rotation in which they can continue their development and get us some success before they move on. It's mutually beneficial for the player and the team.

 

Careful, that almost read like a compliment for MA there!!

 

At the end of the day he has identified and we have aquired some quality players. Sadly we have an inept manager who does not know how to utilise such players. Anita is pure quality and should be almost first name on the sheet yet Pards likes grafters!

GC has done well but I also get the impression that he identified players who would play well together but often only 1 of the two or three were bought so looks ven more iffy!

 

Whereas I'd agree our coaching and management team is not of the required standard, I'd have to argue against the suggestion we are buying a lot of quality players. A lot of them are ust also rans in my opinion.

The spine of the team has never been developed. You have to spend money on this area for it to work. Colo is a good player but we should have bought a quality centre back by now. Tiote is a good holding player to do the ugly stuff. However unless you put a playmaker alongside him, you are wasting his work. Anita, Colback, Sissoko are either tidy or have good engines. There is no guile which means we lack balance. Up front only Demba Ba has provided anything there but we have never replaced him. That focal point of an to build your play around. Even Remy looked better from wide (wish we'd bougt him instead of Cisse in many ways i.e. Demba stays central and you'd have had an HBA who gave a **** and Remy either side). Our keeper is not that good.

You need that solid spine. We have had it previously.

Srnicek or Hislop, Peacock and Albert, Batty, Robert Lee, Cole or Ferdinand or Shearer
Given, Woodgate, Speed, Shearer.

You then add the flair/pace around them in Gillespie, Ginola, Beardsley, Bellamy, Robert, Solano, Dyer. Maybes its just me but building a team is not that difficult. We aren't building a team though, we're looking at players who come available who we can sell high. We haven't worked out you can do both!

We create little. I keep hearing that Pardews tactics don't allow creative players to play. He could do better but players also have to think for themselves! KK and Bobby Robson didn't spend too much time on tactics. The had systems that were drilled into players like Pardew, but then a lot was about motivation and empowering the player. They were buying quality though. They let flair players while expecting them to work. We seem to be making a lot of excuses for players who are either not good enough or just not right for the team.

 

Jury's Out, players not performing. Whether they are good enough or not is debatable. Think Pardew's taken us as far as he can.

 

I wonder how many times he's suggested a quality player, and they were deemed too expensive...

He's done ok, but the problem with raising cattle for slaughter, is that it doesn't really translate to having a good football team!

 

I really don't think he can be blamed for anything, seeing as he's spotted our best players who have carried us through many games, and I guarantee a lot of the players he put forward were snubbed by Ashley because of the price.

It's not Carr's fault that he doesn't get to choose which of the names are actually chosen.

PLUS - There's also the man management side to things.

How many players have been pardew'd now?

I think Carr is a great scout, and doesn't deserve any real criticism.

 

I think it is personally. We could buy players that might cost a significant amount whom we don't make a profit on, but we get our money's worth of performances.

We're not buying players because we think they can take us forward, we're buying players that can keep us in a reasonable mid table position and can be sold for a profit in the future.

For once I'd like to see us buy a player that we buy because he'll help us win things, rather than just help us stay mid table and be sold for 20m, and as little as 1/4 of it be reinvested in a replacement.

 

Indeed.
But for the deals it's a Charnley who tied them up.
A lot thought Dekka was the key but I know an accountant who worked for NUFC who says LC is key in transfers.

 

Graham Carr seems to do a reasonable job of scouting players, just a shame its normally other Clubs that reap the benefits when the players sign for them.
What was Riviere, 6th, 7th, 8th choice or whatever this summer.

Can't see how he can be blamed when he has to scout in a small pond with an ever decreasing amount of decent players available.

 

I would rather see Carr scouting in the lower leagues in this country rather than hopping on the Eurostar every time we are looking for 'value' If the policy is buy low, develop and then sell high, then developing good English players that tend to sell for a premium over foreign imports should be the way forward. Obviously this does not take into account the fact that Pardew would struggle to get Lional Messi to perform.

 

Mapou is looking pretty solid tonight against City. Having Ashley Cole next to him is obviously a help.

 

Mapou is showing his true worth. Given he's playing in his preferred position and with a manager who has faith in him. He must be laughing his socks off at P45due.