Moving on from the mags and getting back to football, I think it's going to be really interesting to see which way our transfer policy goes under MON. Our transfer policy has clearly shifted from the Murray days and has developed from Keane to Bruce. I would guess that the club must have an overall policy but each manager must be given room to work. Under Quinns rule we have looked at the Irish leagues with varying success O'Donovan McClean. We have gone for tried and tested premier league players under Keane We have seemed to turn to Man United a lot under both Bruce and Keane Bruce tried South America but that had little success Bruce also tried the continent but that doesn't seem to have been too successful. Gyan springing to mind. The youth policy has seen a slow stream of players coming through, Henderson and Colback the main ones. Under Bruce in the summer he tended to take the pickings from relegated teams from the prem and a new policy seemed to come in from Short of selling our better players - good money made. So what do you think will change under MON if anything? I'd expect Gyan to be sold. We all know we need a new striker so will this striker come from Europe? Every club now covers Europe very well and the chances of a successful bargain I feel have reduced. I would like to see us trying our lower leagues for a bargain or two. I can't remember the last time we bought a lower league player, I know Kilgallon but he was always bought as just cover. So what do you think. I know it's a bit of speculation but just trying to move on from mag related threads.
I have a feeling that the summer will see MON balancing the books when it comes to signings - Gyan will go out which will help and we might also get a fee for the likes of Riveros. I also get the feeling that both of our January loans will be short term and on their way in May and we will also definitely move on one of our keepers, some of the fringe lads will go aswell. I think this leaves us looking at £2-3m players rather than spending big. Our first team is not is bad shape but our bench is pretty weak and I think that might be the area that he concentrates on, looking for bargains and a couple for the future. Ellis will probably want to see progress before letting MON dip too deeply in to the transfer kitty.
I always think its interesting that Managers look to buy key players from connections theyve had in the past . In reality Bruce was probably the manager that "took a gamble" the most with varying degrees of success...some would say on balance more of his outcomes/gambles were on the negative side. Latest on McClean from Quinny showed he wasnt the driving force behind McClean anyway....I`d be more interested to know whether Bruce was the driving force behind Pop Robsons appointment! I think the next aquisitions will be based on one thing...Pace... Someone like Agbonlahor although he has a longish contract still and loves his area and club....Oh yes and Hardness....some really mean big bastard up front to add a balance to all the nice guys weve got....
May I raise the question of Wickham and Ji, stick or twist. Do we stick with them next season to see if they come good? Or cut our losses so that ready made players can be brought in?
