Given I don't expect to see any changes in our coaching and scouting set up is exactly the reason why we should avoid the foreign markets. All the examples of players given by you, Sterling and BCC have all been brought in by other clubs who probably have a much better scouting network abroad. We don't as is illustrated by every single foreign player we have signed. Re Danny Graham - he was ****e at Sunderland hence available for loan. He did score for Sunderland a goal that effectively relegated us and saved them - again.
I'd rather have Lambert than Johnny Foreigner. He hasn't had a look in at WBA - but then Pulis plays Chester at LB.
You said forwards. As in, forward players. Did you mean strikers? Even so, Aluko barely made it as a Premier League striker, we've had Folan, Garcia, Marlon King, ***an and Graham who had Premier League experience and all were pretty gash as far as strikers go. There isn't a rule that states that foreign players are ****. Abel didn't cost us our PL place at all, that's ridiculous; he went off to Uruguay for personal reasons/on international duty three or four times and it burned him out. What cost us was the fact that we had totally inadequate back up and didn't invest in making our squad depth better. We also had some horrible injuries at the wrong time.
Marlon King was okay for the first 4 months, We went down hill after his public spat with Deano - and he was a twat off the pitch. His 6 goals were a decent return for us up to that point
What If our management team leaves, then surley a new manager would want to bring in his own scouting/coaching system in.
4 of those were L1 and L2. Ngata actually started his career with us. JVGoH had played in Scotland for ages, which proves my point. Next.
He'd played in Scotland for ages. Oh great, that certainly prepared him for life in the Premier League didn't it? Presumably whomever is the top scorer in Wales this season would be worth a shot? They've probably got Champion's League experience with TNS.
Celtic is slightly different to TNS. FFS. Come now Sterling, you're making yourself look like you're the type of person to take a light summer jacket to Scandinavia. Ridiculous.
So basically, we should never buy foreign players again because we are the only club in the country where they don't seem to do very well. I'm sure that's a rule that will continue until the end of football itself. Never take a risk because there's a chance it won't pay off and resort to buying the likes of Rickie Lambert and Peter Crouch, or spunking our entire budget on one solitary English Premier League player and hope that he does well. What about the risk of buying Clucas? He could've turned out to be dross, he was certainly a risk having only played lower league football.
Celtic are one club though. One club that have to play 11 other much ****ter clubs in the league and a handful of Champion's League games where they sometimes do well. It'd be more prudent to buy a striker who only ever scores for Hearts against Celtic, surely that's a better measure of quality in Scotland?
No, is Scottish football not similar in style, climate, culture to English football? You have missed the point completely.
No, it isn't. It's nothing like the Premier League at all. It's like saying the Conference is the same as League 1. The quality, the teams in it and the styles of play are totally different. There's no sectarianism (for the most part), the quality of player is much weaker and the football culture in Scotland is much different to our own down here. Yeah, the language is the same, but really it's a different animal, especially when you're asking a player to step up from playing the likes of Dundee and Hamilton Accies every week to Man U, Chelsea and Arsenal. They have to be a special talent, like Robertson and Snodgrass. Is the Danske Bank Premier League the same as the Championship? Both in the UK, both tough leagues with battling styles of play.
I can't even believe you went to the effort of writing that clap trap The UK has a pretty unique style of play - hence most foreign players struggle to adapt to the game here and the country. Scottish leagues are very similar in style - which is why you see decent Scottish players playing in the English leagues. The End.
If you're seriously suggesting that playing in the Scottish Premier League qualifies you as a suitable candidate for the Premier League, you need a word with yourself. It's a serious step up in quality levels, which is why the likes of Scott McDonald, Derek Riordan and Leigh Griffiths struggled so badly in this country. Yeah there are exceptions like Robbo and Snodgrass, but for the most part, Scotland breeds Championship players at best. Playing in the SPL is nothing like playing in the Premier League, case in point, Tony Andreu. Was some sort of prodigy for Hamilton Accies, Neill took him to Norwich where he played about 10 games before it was found out he couldn't hack it. The SPL is guilty of making players look far better than they are. There was talk for a while of Gary Hooper getting an England call up for his scoring exploits for Celtic. So he moved to Norwich. Where he was much less effective playing in a much better league. A league based in a country he played in at Scunthorpe in the Championship.
This notion that all foreign = bad all domestic = good is a bit rubbish. Figueroa, Ince, Graham, Ramirez, Ben Arfa were all signed from Domestic clubs and with a decent amount of Domestic football behind them. N'Doye scored 5 in 15 for us which to be honest is a fantastic return, and fit into our system instantly. Hernandez took some time to settle but still showed signs in his debut season that he could be a good player (West Ham and Arsenal games specifically, as well as Everton). Some players are currently playing over seas but have domestic experience. I mentioned him before his four goal haul against Mexico, but I would love to see us go after Vargas. Would communicate well with Hernandez, and looked decent for QPR when he played.
It really was tongue in cheek. Do you honestly think that I thought Ngata, Johnsson and JvGoH were a success? In a serious point though, why are we talking about a success with us as if we're a special case? And I would say Hernandez has been a success.
Can GLP, BCC, Sterling Archer & Syd the Tiger xvi, please get a room where they can have a collective bore-session. I am too old to waste my remaining life reading this drivel. Ta
