As mentioned in the other thread Ragnar Sigurdsson has had a difficult time recently at Rubin Kazan and his loan has been ended early. Not to stay though. He's been transferred to FC Rostov. please log in to view this image http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2018/january/18/ragnar-sigurdsson-update Certainly clearing out the backyard down at Motspur Park. Doubt if we got much in this case and certainly nowhere near the original £5m.
Always frustrating to see your team sucked in by the summer tournament hype, but good luck to him in the future. He didn't get all that much opportunity with us but it really didn't seem like a good fit.
Our present transfer policy is a bit of a gamble. Frustrating more Miss than Hit this summer. Ever since the club has created a Head Coach post, we no longer rely on a managers contacts and reputation, like with Keegan, Tigana, Hodgson and even Sanchez. I suspect most players brought in come because of wages and possibly the London Location. It's a game for those in charge, it gives them a buzz to wheel & deal, it's their form of stock market.. The trouble is they seem to be very poor negotiators and the system is to look for bargains who they gamble on to have the correct stats to produce at a higher level.
And, as many as have pointed out, it's self defeating: when you sign players who the manager (sorry, head coach) doesn't believe in, they don't get the game time so have even less chance to prove the stats men right. It seems like madness that the man who picks the team doesn't also pick the signings.
Absolutely. And involve the stats people, as Allardyce does (or did). Whatever you think of the guy his track record on signing (low cost) players is up there. His approach as explained in his autobiography Big Sam is based on his time at Tampa Bay studying how they used stats. Over simplifying I know, but he'd say to his analytics at Blackburn I want a midfielder, find me someone who isn't injury prone and can run all day. Then he'd look at the selected name(s) in an actual match. Or he'd say, I fancy 'Joe Bloggs'; what's his speed, lung capacity and so on. So it was a joint thing but he had the ultimate say. PS Big Sam the book is self gratifying but a blooming good read.