Our club has had some great people in the past who can spot a potential star, but of late there has been only 3 I can think of. We took a punt on a non-league obscure player in Beckford. We also signed an unheard of Scottish player in Snods, and SG took a gamble on Max, but thats been it for a few years. We've brought in a load of freebies and loan signings many of which have been dire. The last time we were in this league Wilkinson didn't have a shed load of cash, but he had decent scouts.He even sent them to South Africa and that continent, and picked up a couple of unheard of gems for peanuts. Yeboha, Massinger and the Chief, he also picked up the likes of Jimmy etc. If we have no money, why are we not able to find up and coming stars any more. Wilkinson gave us our academy and had a production line of talent coming through, which has now been run down. We used to be able to compete with anyone because we had a pipeline of talent from the academy and scouts. Players who didn't cost a fortune, but had potential to be full blown internationals.
I think George Graham brought in Jimmy (I assume you mean Hasslebaink ?) after he ditched Yeboah, but I get your point. Unfortunately we just don't have the same draw we used to, good scouts or not. I think the added difficulty now is trying to keep hold of them once you've got them.
Wasn't Jimmy a George Graham signing? Times have changed unfortunately, the PL clubs snap up any real talent with the lure of the big money. Even though in the long run going to a PL club is probably more harmful for the youngster than staying at their feeder club. The two youngsters that were at Chelsea are classic examples of this. They declined a contract at Leeds United and went to the money corporation that is Chelsea. At Leeds they would have got valuable experience in the reserves and a possible run out in the League Cup. At Chelsea they may have earned a few extra quid but it’s done nothing for their careers in the long run and they are now out there looking for clubs. Sad, this greed lark isn’t it.
I still think we are missing a trick.... we dont seem to be looking in scandinavia or any emerging european leagues to pinch some talent..... I agree this is an area we should take advantage of rather than just looking in the UK market for freebies Taking loans from also Germany,Spain....why not? Im certainly good on FM 2011 ....but not at the real thing But why not....
Accept the Jimmy Floyd mistake, but the facts are still the same. We have never been a club that spends big, if you forget the goldfish era, but have been able to find promising unknown talent elsewhere. I accept the premise about the academy, but its not just a money thing, it goes deeper because parents see Leeds as a 2nd division club with no money, a soiled recent history and a club with no ambition, and an owner they wouldn't trust This wouldn't be the case with unknown scouting finds. These players would jump at the chance of playing pro football in England. We just don't seem to want to use the scouting networks that we once used, because Bates trimmed the wages/staff. Lets be open about this, isn't Mervyn Day now our only scout, and although a great servant to us, he was a keeper who tried his hand at managing Carlisle. Spanish is spot on, who had heard of Alfie and Bakke before we got them from obscurity. We also had a massive fanbase in Norway and Sweden and fans filled planes for every home match. Our pre season always went to Scandinavia, so we had contats and links that seem to have been severed.
Did we not sign Alfie from Forest? Links are still strong with Scandinavia, we were there last pre-season and back in Norway for a game this pre-season. There's still shed loads of fans there and have met loads in the Taps in town on match days. The scouting aspect however doesn't seem to tap into this. Maybe our scouts are scared of flying?
Well recent scouted players include Snodgrass, Somma, Nunez, Grella. Some good players brought into Leeds from small unheard of teams.
I'm agreeing with you once here QSS. What about Monty Gimpel aswell? Becchio? We're always having South Americans, Scandinavians etc. on trial.
I think that we've got a good foreign scouting system. Obviously recently we've had Somma, Grella, Nunez, Snoddy, Becchio etc. but you don't have to go that much futher back - we signed Ankergren on loan from a Danish club originally I think, we had that Seb Sousa (who never played a game, but still), Rui Marques etc. There's loads of examples of obscure foreign players, but it's the English scouting that worrys me.
I thought Somma came on his own free will paying for his own flight etc not sure about Grella though he sems to be personns non gratia so I expect he will have to move out you can,t upset KB
Doc, I don't think I've ever seen anyone on a football forum who has less of a clue! Tony Yeboah is Ghanaian and cost 3.4m from Eintracht Frankfurt. He, Lucas and Phil Masinga were signed when we were in the Premier League. Jimmy was signed by George Graham. Alfie Haaland plucked from obscurity? Finishing 3rd in the Prem with Forest is hardly obscurity. I think we've done well for unearthed gems and young players coming through. The problem is that Grayson doesn't play them.
Clive, do you go watch leeds united train every day? you seem to know alot about players that havnt played much... Anyway i dont want this thread to go of the rails so i'll respond to it I dont think we have a massive lack of scouting as the examples given prove but we could do a bit better like every club, the big up and coming players seem to be spotted by every premiership club which ends up putting a decent price tag on that often teams outside the prem are not willing to pay seeings they only have potential which doesnt necessarilly equal talent which means they cannot take these risks. And another point in holding onto these players, an example of late is conor wickham from ipswich (i know he went through the academy) but he was spotted by liverpool and sunderland and they ended up going in for him well over the odds because there were a couple of clubs that wanted him
Nail on the head, I don't believe for one minute our scouts were ever capable of finding the Yeboahs of the world, it is down to their (players) agents sending in videos and 'alerting' the scouts in the first instance... Where Leeds used to probably be one of the first places an up and coming players agent would send in a video it is sadly no longer the case.
