Is it time for Mike to refine our recruitment policy?

As you know, Mike has a transfer policy which means we buy young talent (normally under 25), cheap and with a resale value.........and then sell for a significant profit.

I think that the current lack of strength in depth could be dealt with by a small refinement to the above policy.

I'd like to see us recruit 2 or 3 older players in the 25-30 bracket to add vital experience to the squad and ensure that, when one of our top players IS out, we have someone who can comes straight in and do the job.

I'm not advocating going back to the bad old ways, but there must be some class CB's in that age group out there who can come in and do a job for 3-4 years who would not cost too much more than, say 3-4 million.

When we have such a pile up of fixtures as we do this season it could help the wider squad quite a bit I feel.

For me it's about balance and I think that, whilst the policy on recruitment is working and the long term future is looking bright..... we still need to keep a bit of an eye on the short term as well.

 

Very good point and I believe it is. There are some good older players not playing at their clubs around Europe. Not saying he is an option but look at someone like Diego Lugano at PSG. 32 but a very experienced tough goal scoring centre half. Yet to play this season I believe. Had a bit of shocker last year but you don't lose your talent overnight.

Its not only age but also the club needs to consider loans for these types of players.

 

Agree with both the above posts, let's be honest some of our transfer deals in recent times have been nothing short of brilliant and we have brought in some real talent at bargain prices and this stock will only grow in value. The question l have been asking myself though is, can we realistically expect do make every signing a "killer" one, by that l mean an international quality player for far less than their true value. Whilst it would be great to think we could, the reality has to be no we can't.
As suggested above there are some quality reasonably priced players out there who ought to be considered. If we take Debuchy as an example, he is outside our transfer criteria at 27 years old, would he bring added strength and depth to the squad, of course he would.
We are not the only club out there scouting for talent and chances are that players we spot and target are also on the radar of other clubs. That's called a free Market and there may be times when we will have to offer a better package than a similarly placed rival club. We cannot compete with the big clubs who will pay huge wages and fork out 20/30/ million pound fees for players, nor would l actually want our club to do that. All that l am saying is that our transfer policy ought to have a little bit of flexibility built in to it, or l suspect we will see ourselves losing out on good realistic target players time after time.

 

Yes, I think this is the year to bend hte rules.

We have bought or developped some extremely promising prospects (Abeid, Good, Streete, etc) who show every sign of beign able to step up and fill any gaps in our first team some time very soon. The trouble is, that probably doesn't mean this year. Staying in Europe this year would be very nice, and is probably a requirement if we are going to keep our most desirable first teamers.

Bending the rules to acquire some experienced players to help us try to repeat last year's results while our youngsteers mature would be a wise investment, even if their purchase price should turn out to be largely irrecoverable

 

The fact that our players are being 'found out' by other teams as mentioned in another post, surely means that we need to freshen up regularly even if it's 1-2 players per transfer window, just to stay with the pack. But if we say it takes a season or so for someone to settle into the premier, like it did with Collo, with Enrique, like it will with Anita etc. then is that not a bigger problem when buying a 28/29 year old player? IMO we've been lucky with Cabaye and Tioe, that they've been able to cut it from the word go and we didn't pay much for them. Yes the scouting was top notch, but we didn't really know how they would adapt until they kicked a ball for us.

You can't really expect to buy players on the cheap, with youth on their side who are also good enough to be better than most already established premier league players - those players cost a lot of money. As do players in their late 20's who are experienced and proven.

It's about balance like you say. I'm not sure how you can develope today, if you ONLY buy players for the future.

 

the important thing would be to ensure we don't go outside of our financial limits on wages etc.. though. I forgot to throw that in earlier.

 

Definitely, we can't go back to the bad old days at the first sign of trouble (one of the reasons I was quick to say Lugano was unrealistic - be on loads at PSG). But I think the point you make is very important. Look at Man U. I remember Blanc being signed. It not only helps you short term but long term too. We have some young centre halfs who can learn. We don't need a Blanc as such because we have a figurehead in Colo. But a 27-30 should not be sniffed at and dismissed on age.

 

Hi guys, just bought five tickets for Thursday's game at the club shop. They have a sign up saying that any non-member or non-season ticket holder will be charged an extra £1 'booking fee' for each ticket purchased. Has anyone seen this? I'm not a cheapskate by any means (and indeed had £800 in my pocket) but the club has just shafted me for an extra fiver even though I paid the right price as was advertised with cash at a till. Next time it could be an extra £5 for a booking fee meaning an extra £25 for five tickets. Just wondering if this is legal? Their 'excuse' is that they want any non-member or non-season ticket holder to sign up. Seems a bit of a petty pathetic scam by the club to me, and another example of bad PR.

 

An obvious scam for me. Unless there was small print its false advertising.

 

Alright Pouchy

They had a sign up explaining the 'rule'.

Just thinking, if 20,000 non-season fans buy tickets for Thursay, you can see why they are doing this.

Wonder if you have to pay the extra pound if you pay at the turnstile? NUFC heirarchy------> cheap slimy bazzards.

EDIT: Just heard someone was charged a 'booking fee' when paying cash for concert tickets at the Metro Arena. This must now be the norm, you've been warned people!

 

WELL! i am not going to sit here and defend fat mike, Nor will i do the latter

At the end of the day Buying a player between the age of 25-30 = Prime of there career (usually)
So realistically what you are doing when you are buying a player at this age
1. your gambling that they will get better or wont get worse
2. your gambling that they will succeed
3. your gambling that they can adgjust

BENFITS OF 20-25 is that even if they are not adjusting well, are not what they were paid for or not being succesful straight away, At least you have time

I would rather we keep buying 20-25 year olds who can either be top class or world class, Even if they are ****, The fans can get the best out of the player

The only time a player should be bought who is over 25, Is if we specifically need that player, In that position, in that style of play to assist our success

As far as i can see or know, There will always be cheaper alternatives to the best in certain positions,

I.e Tiote can be as good as Essien does not mean he is all the time

 

Absolutely agree.

In Central Defence that time is now

 

Yes! A player isn't old just because he's 30 years old.

Colo is 29/30 but I know we'd all buy him from another club for a good price!

 

Agreed. It's a way to snare more members.

 

You've been quiet lately fella. Working hard at it?

 

It applies to Season Ticket holders too. I had to pay it.

 

Well at least they are ransacking everyone! To be fair it is the norm with almost everything. Quite a keen gig goer and booking fees are standard.

 

what price are the cash turnstiles, I thought they were the same ???
I maybe wrong
and I can't see the turnstile operator asking for an extra quid

 

I'd imagine the cash turnstile prices are the same, £15 quid for adults and a fiver for kids. If they do ask for a quid what would you say? If you refuse the turds wouldn't let you in. They won't ask though, they are more likely not to have enough cash turnstiles open and hence not get everyone in, as happened to me a few seasons ago.

 

What I never understood was why those within the club believed the hype surrounding some of our players. You'd think Cabaye was one of the World's finest midfielders, ditto for Tiote but last season they were good, at times very good, but not extraordinary. Some of our performances last year were very stoic, some of the finishing was quite unbelievable. Couple that with the frankly embarrassing seasons had by Chelsea, Liverpool and Everton and hey presto we're 5th. Talk to an Arsenal fan and ask if they can quite believe how they finished 3rd - they were something like 12th at the beginning of December! We were HUGE beneficiaries of an odd season.

This time around, we've rocked up and played almost identically, but not been able to a) defend well enough to keep the clean sheet, or b) put away the chances we're creating. Against Swansea, we had considerably more chances than when we rolled over Man U 3-0 last year, yet lost 1-2. Them's the breaks, that's what happens when teams know your best XI, know where the threats are and know more about your weaknesses. This year, teams aren't attacking Santon as much - they go for Simpson. They know how to put someone on Williamson so that he'll give away a free kick at every set play. They know that Ben Arfa can't dribble past 4 man-markers, they know to keep Ba deep, and so on.

The transfer policy does need tweaking, in the sense of we need to actually put out hands in our pockets and buy players that we need. £6m in the bank isn't a great substitute for a hopeless Danny Simpson - we've said that for years.