Charlie’s interview on the OS where he says that we must remain within SCMP rules, will not have additional donations from the rich owners and must reduce our losses by £8-9M per season. Where is the evidence that NJ has control of signings (without any direction from Scott) and that Scott and Co have to wind their necks in ? Everything that the SMT have said indicates that it is they who dictate what players we can afford and NJ makes the final choice between any of those players. Has anyone seen anything which contradicts the strategy laid out by the SMT ?
NJ has signed players he knows. It hasn't always worked out (Lua Lua), but it suggests a change in how things are working. The club has been tight-lipped recently, so none of us knows what is going on, do we? Usually we don't sign anyone until August, and then it's the rejects and freebies. It's OK to speculate, but we shouldn't have to wait too long to find out if things have changed for the better. I believe they have. If you don't that's fine, I'm sure you hope you're wrong.
NJ has signed players he knows. It hasn't always worked out (Lua Lua), but it suggests a change in how things areworking. The club has been tight-lipped recently, so none of us knows what is going on, do we? Usually we don't sign anyone until August, and then it's the rejects and freebies. It's OK to speculate, but we shouldn't have to wait too long tofind out if things have changed for the better. I believe they have. If you don't that's fine, I'm sure you hope you're wrong. Spot on yet again. It’s refreshing to be able to disagree with someone without the other person resorting to snide personal comments. And yes, if I’m wrong about all of this I’ll be happy for the club. I’m just going on what I’ve seen and heard since the end of 2022 and so far, everything I’ve said about this new group has been proven correct. Others are entitled to always look for positives if they wish, but that positivity and some of the comments are simply not based on the facts, which are clear and have actually been stated over and over again by the SMT themselves. They have described exactly how the recruitment process works and at no point is there any suggestion or evidence that NJ has control over the process. Saying otherwise is just blind faith.
Well IF that turns out to be true, there’ll be several thousand fans turning towards my opinion of this ownership group.
The thing is that the yanks are 4000 miles away and limited in knowing the full story. Methven and Rodwell are not going to pan him.
Luke Berry - sounds too good to be true On a 2 year permanent deal with another optional year... Obvious question - what's wrong with him?
My guess is that Jones may have the final word, but I imagine that talent finder Scott throws in a few names.
Nothing obvious ‘wrong with him’. He’ll be 32 before he plays his first competitive game for us and coming from the PL to L1 he is likely to be kicked to pieces by the L1 cloggers. But if he can handle that and remain fit and play more games than he has over the last 3 or 4 seasons he could be a good signing. Just have to hope he’s not another Ben Watson or Andrew Shinnie.
As long as NJ checks the player out it doesn't matter where the name comes from. We've signed so many unscouted players over the years.
The stated recruitment process……. 1) Jones and his technical team select players that they’d like. 2) Scott and his management team look at those players, add in some alternatives of their own, work out the costs involved in relation to our budget and then give Jones back a smaller list of players we can afford. That list may or may not include any of Jones’ original targets. 3) Jones makes the final choice from that reduced list. This IS the stated recruitment process. It means that neither the SMT nor Jones are lieing in the statements they’ve made in relation to this. It also means it is totally irrelevant whether Jones is called The Manager, The Head Coach or The Messiah. Don’t be fooled by the simple management trick of giving someone a different job title while doing the same job.
Sounds like the full back from Dunfermline Josh Edwards is imminent (source Rich Cawley). The fee is £150,000. Another area of the pitch where we need strengthening. It is slowly coming together. All of this good work will be undone if we needlessly allow Alfie May to leave.
At least the guy has played regularly for the past 4 seasons and no apparent injury history. May I am sure will go, if we were not interested in flogging surely we'd have said so.
Luke Berry will be a very good addition to your team. He is a midfielder that has that rare quality of knowing when the right time to get into the box is. Always gives 100% - he's a proper machine. Only downside is, because of the way he plays, he can't last 90 minutes these days - he has only been in Luton's starting lineup six times in the last two seasons.
