D
Would also be down to the people doing scouting and recruitment.
Yeah, seems very hit and miss. How can the same team of scouts, etc get it so right with Hamer yet so wrong with the likes of Jobello, Kastaneer and Hilsner.
Ultimately the manager's responsible at the end of the day. He'll also be responsible for the conscious strategy of going for Championship experience first and foremost. I'm not particularly worried about the trio you mentioned, as they all have a rationale for signing, and I can see far more clearly why they (and don't forget DaCosta!!) were signed. They were also signed for a level below, and Jobello looked OK at that level, and arguably we might have actually seen Hilssner if we'd stayed at that level. I'll also see you Kasteneer and raise you the second coming of Bright! On such moments are careers defined?
Tbf being under contract allowed us to sell Stevenson and Bayliss at a value above their ability, while George Thomas at the end of his contract meant we got little. I get the contracts, even when it doesn't work out. Even Kane and Waghorn, I understand why they got the contracts they did. Plus players may well go elsewhere if offered shorter, and we really, really wanted them.All fair points. Out of the three I thought Jobello looked OK until his injury. Signed for that level on three year deals though, so presumably did we expect to stay at that level or did they *believe* that those players could develop enough to compete at a higher level?
How could I forget DaCosta!
Fair premise there’s an alternative argument about moving up a level but that’s not worked eitherOK, so maybe a little bit of a clickbait headline but... hear me out
Major signings since we came up include:
Walker, Hamer, O'Hare, Sheaf (loan with view to permanent, so in this year) first season. All good really. OK, Walker hasn't worked out, but he was top scorer first season despite missing a spell with Covid, so he did contribute to us staying up. The other three have increased value.
The next season though, we shifted to a specific policy of gaining Championship experience. We got:
Gyokeres
Waghorn
Bidwell
Moore
Kane
Gyokeres is the only one of those who isn't signed for Championship experience, and he's the one who's seen his value increase. Bidwell has, this season, looked quality IMNSHO. The other three however? Only Moore is a qualified success, and that's solely down to a good start and first half of last season. The rest, he's been poor in my view.
So, they don't come cheap, and they drain wages and budget with their salry and who among them does Robins have confidence in? He'd rather player League One Dabo at RWB, WIlson (Wilson!!) comes in for Moore occasionally, Waghorn played last night due to a lack of numbers rather than being there on merit, really.
The policy of Championship experience plainly hasn't worked and, when itdoes such as Bidwell, it offers no or limited re-sale value.
It's the manager who diverged from our 'model' and it comes home to roost now.
Fair premise there’s an alternative argument about moving up a level but that’s not worked either
Yeah, seems very hit and miss. How can the same team of scouts, etc get it so right with Hamer yet so wrong with the likes of Jobello, Kastaneer and Hilsner.
The smaller the budget the more risks you have to take.
last night preston were so bad in the first ten minutes any other team in championship would have really punished them,
We did challenge the top six for a lot of last season and yes it tailed off at the end but still had an outside chance. Lack of support by the owner didn’t help bit of dosh for a couple of decent loans could have helped I admit Robins can be a bit confusing with team selections & when to use his subs efficiently and with the five subs new rule he has to get that better.
That’s relegation form, unfortunately.Our results in the first two months distorted the figures
The team were running out of steam for months. 11 wins now in 41 likely the be 43. In the last 23 - half a season - we have i think picked up 24 points
Yeah, seems very hit and miss. How can the same team of scouts, etc get it so right with Hamer yet so wrong with the likes of Jobello, Kastaneer and Hilsner.
It's not even that though. Every transfer has its risks and that's exacerbated further with a lesser budget available but the risks taken in recent years seem erratic and aren't really all that calculated.
last night preston were so bad in the first ten minutes any other team in championship would have really punished them, after that they got the better of us in the first half. The team this year so far has not played anywhere as good as last season, Robins had no money really this year to push on from last season and think he might as well have had enough here with us now and cant see himself being able to improve us, I think he may well think there is no future anymore.
I would think it’s easier to sign better players when you pay over a million for them compared to the pennies spent on the other ones.
Yet have taken us from L2 to Championship. Either lucky or more likely have done really well, yet reached a plateau in terms of how competitive we can be. At that point, luck or otherwise can move you in one direction or another. Realistically the PL can only happen with new investment (or a shed load of luck) so maintaining a Championship place is a more likely ceiling.
We did have some chances for sure but we’ve lost the tempo and drive to our play, so many misplaced passes and so much predictability. We really are missing Ohare. Preston were pretty average as well.Yet none of the other 6 teams that had already played them had managed to do so in 90 minutes.
Things to fault last night, but we weren't awful. and the result could have gone either way (albeit thought Wilson was lucky to get away with a yellow)
its a lot easier to bring prospects through or promise PL clubs their players will be in the side when you're in L1 / L2.
Realistically how many players we currently see in the U23s would we be happy coming into the side?
PL sides loaning championship quality players will want a significant fee and wages, not sure its the cheap option some people think.
There's no easy answer here without someone pumping money in.
Compare us to Luton, another side with a smaller budget in this league, and look at how much better they’ve managed to utilise theirs.
OK, so maybe a little bit of a clickbait headline but... hear me out
Major signings since we came up include:
Walker, Hamer, O'Hare, Sheaf (loan with view to permanent, so in this year) first season. All good really. OK, Walker hasn't worked out, but he was top scorer first season despite missing a spell with Covid, so he did contribute to us staying up. The other three have increased value.
The next season though, we shifted to a specific policy of gaining Championship experience. We got:
Gyokeres
Waghorn
Bidwell
Moore
Kane
Gyokeres is the only one of those who isn't signed for Championship experience, and he's the one who's seen his value increase. Bidwell has, this season, looked quality IMNSHO. The other three however? Only Moore is a qualified success, and that's solely down to a good start and first half of last season. The rest, he's been poor in my view.
So, they don't come cheap, and they drain wages and budget with their salry and who among them does Robins have confidence in? He'd rather player League One Dabo at RWB, WIlson (Wilson!!) comes in for Moore occasionally, Waghorn played last night due to a lack of numbers rather than being there on merit, really.
The policy of Championship experience plainly hasn't worked and, when itdoes such as Bidwell, it offers no or limited re-sale value.
It's the manager who diverged from our 'model' and it comes home to roost now.
Some fair points here and something I was thinking about the other day with regard to wages for Waghorn, Kane and Walker, all of which appeared totally out of favour with Robins…although Waghorn maybe back in now
Giving new contracts to Hamer and Ohare to protect their value was sensible. Both have performed well and have decent resale value so it makes sense. Some of the other contracts have been questionable
Playing devils advocate we have to take calculated gambles on players due to lack of cash available, however, Robins should be 100% in on players where big wages are committed and understand the ramifications of getting these calls wrong
Overall though the value of four players; Vik, Ohare, Hamer and Sheaf probably means the overall recruitment has been successful but those other mistakes have caused the cash flow issues
I doubt by January those players will be worth that much in a difficult window.
Boddy must have been reading the guff on here and over valuing players worth.
Maybe not. But the January window is traditionally a sellers market and the club will inevitably be relying on that. It's a desperate strategy really.
That’s relegation form, unfortunately.
Let’s hope the experts who wrote off most of the other teams in the league as dreadful and beneath us will be proven right.
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