I have a feeling that Mike has lost patience with Carr and is listening more to Mac now. Apparently SM picked Gini and Mbemba and Shelvey and Townsend. The wasted money (£25m) on Thauvin and Cabella (both Carr picks) has to piss the fat man off surely too? If I were GC I'd be sitting quite uneasy right now.....
Unfortunately I don't think Steve can avoid the blame like that and pick which ones he wants to be responsible for. If he is part of the football board making the decisions on the transfers and he has signed up to it thinking its a good idea, then he must share the good AND the bad with Charnley/Carr. They are working as a team. He has been part of the team that sanctioned Thauvin end of story. And Mitro who although I think will do ok, he is not what we needed right now. Thauvin has essentially been a massive waste of money as we can't use him on the pitch. Steve and co all need to be re-evaluating the process for that decision.
Trouble is we don't know who recommended what over the years and whose decisions actually received funding. Thauvin and Cabella were both poor buys. Were they at the top of Carr's list of recommendations or were they down as second or third choice behind his preferred options. Were they on his list at all ? Has SM initiated a shift towards british talent or is it something GC has been banging on about for years ? I have no idea.
Would this be a bad point to remind everyone that the majority of this forum were screaming at the club to buy Cabella?
Probably doesn't matter now. What matters is that we are looking at the right calibre of player now. I don't have a problem with signing unproven foreign youngsters. To focus entirely on that type of player though is suicide. You have to mix and match.
Shh Nev people don't like being reminded of **** like that. I mean remember the start of the season when people were saying how much better McClaren would do than Pardew this season...
With Thauvin, I think the decision predates the arrival of Mac. We've bid on him for a few years and the beginning of that process will have been Carr saying he was the dogs bollocks. I personally hope we stop up this season and give Thauvin another chance. Delicate flair players generally take a bit longer to settle in and I also feel Cabella wasn't given a fair crack of the whip by either club or fans.
The Thauvin deal with in place prior to McClaren's arrival apparently. Mitrovic, Mbemba, Wijnaldum, Shelvey and Townsend are all McClaren signings. He was pretty desperate to get his hands on Wijnaldum in particular and used his contacts at PSV to broker a deal. Carr did not scout any of them. I think it's a case of a changing of the guard. Carr is possibly taking less of a role due to shocking track record recently.
Let's just say that a relative works at the club in an 'administrative' capacity and hears things on the grapevine.
Based on anything you've heard, are you expecting us to sign a goalscorer (as opposed to just a striker) this window?
We are actively looking for a striker. Our interest in Berahino has cooled due to the price and concerns over whether he would hit the ground running. I have been told that Remy is the number one target for this window, but only a loan deal and as a quick fix. Why? Lacazette - We are planning to go back in the summer and are apparently desperate to get him. We are prepared to offer him a massive wage to join. Defenders - Left back has been identified as a problem. We want Willems from PSV but his injury has meant that he is another 'target' for the summer. We have been linked with the kid from Italy this morning, but no-one knows where that came from. The defence has been made a priority for the next window. The lack of goals has been identified as the most pressing issue. I don't know how accurate this all is of course as it's hearsay. It's just what I have been told.
If this is accurate, I hope we don't get burned again by Remy making a late decision to join Leicester. It looks like they are trying to get him on a permanent transfer. Whatever happens we need to get a striker in.
We do have a back up plan in case Remy falls through. Trying to find out the name. We are talking to both. We are ideally after two more players this window. A goalscorer is top of the list. I said that the defence is a priority for the next window, but we have identified a couple of defensive targets who we may be able to get now. One is abroad, the other plays over here already.
He still had the option of knocking the deal on the head. It isn't like McClaren wouldn't know all about him. It wasn't done until well into August. Regardless of how long we held an interest, McClaren could easily have used his influence to say this ones not for him. As I say he has to take the same amount of credit and criticism for all of the transfers which have happened so far. We can't pick and choose. I thought the fans have been fair to Cabella and Thauvin in the main. I just think they were ill thought out purchases. If we were more settled with a strong core of players and senior players in those positions, then you can give them time. As it is we were desperate for first team regulars in both cases, guys who could hit the ground running. Its unfair to expect them to do that. I'm not sure on Thauvin, less so than I was about persevering with Cabella. Again there is little we can do as Cabella wanted out and back to France. It wasn't for him clearly unless of course McClaren had told him he wasn't part of the plans. We have been struggling badly for 5 years - we keep trying to run before we can walk. The fans don't help as they turn their nose up at anyone who is more hard work than flair. We just need a more clearly thought out plan on transfers, which has a longer view in mind. There is plenty of time to add the flair around the bluechips.
I don't think can be true - he joined around August 19th towards the end of the window. So I don't think the deal was in place before Steve arrived on the 10th June. If it was they really dragged it out and as I say he had plenty of time to decide. The board was set up on his arrival. They are all responsible for all the transfers - they're all Charnley, Carr, McClaren signings. It is very easy to pick out the ones which fail somewhat (Thauvin) and say McClaren had nothing to do with that. He may have been advised by Carr or the other scouts, but he still had a say for 2 months before it happened. The bottom line is the 3 stooges have spent 70-75m to be in the bottom three. They'll all be for the high jump if the worst happens, perhaps even before. You have to be honest and say that's fair enough. I like to give people time, but when you are spending a lot of money it is fair enough to expect comfortable safety. They've wasted the money thus far and done a poor job with the tools at their disposal.
