Let's hope it's not the recruitment team!
Spent £10m on L1 players (5 Viewers)
- Thread starter AFCCOVENTRY
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BlueSkiesForever
Well-Known Member
Well at least I’m honest
It’s only a forum for fans to voice their opinions, not every feeling has to be backed up by endless bits of stats and data (as much as I don’t mind stats).My personal feeling is that L1 players aren’t a good source of potential future income for the club, I’m sure there’s some stats out there that could back it up but it’s not important enough to waste time faffing around looking for those stats
itsabuzzard
Well-Known Member
Holy mackerel!Well at least I’m honest
My personal feeling is that L1 players aren’t a good source of potential future income for the club, I’m sure there’s some stats out there that could back it up but it’s not important enough to waste time faffing around looking for those stats
SlowerThanPlatt
Well-Known Member
Brekalo who you were advocating for looks to have performed below average in a weaker leagueFor instance, how much would have Kitching been worth if he had played for an Italian Serie B team? I highly doubt it would have been £4 mil. There’s just a bigger pool of talent abroad as well, so many leagues to look at. I just think it’s much better (and has been much better) for us to look at Europe than to risk £4-5 mil on a player from L1.
(Sorry it’s a bit of a Parklife, it’s hard to describe the gut feeling I have about L1
BlueSkiesForever
Well-Known Member
I’m sure he would have done better with us
Tbf compared to Kitching he’s got a very similar overall rating for this season on FotMob (if that’s anything to go by).Earlsdon-Loyal-Blue
Well-Known Member
What SBT feels like at the moment:
Long may in continue! The fans want accountability and we’re fed up with our shit League One signings and League 2 coaching team. If enough of us have a whip around, we can charter a flight for EMC, Collins, Kitching, Thomas and co and fly them over the Gaza Strip
skybluecam
Well-Known Member
The thing with Kitching is we signed him as Barnsley’s club captain on deadline day.I’m sure he would have done better with us
That is a recipe for getting shafted on the fee no matter where the player is coming from. He’d get far less criticism if he cost a million or two less.
BlueSkiesForever
Well-Known Member
Yeah exactly, that’s what I mean about the hype over L1 players, for some reason the recruitment thought he was worth £4 mil and were desperate to get him.
£1-2 mil is probably a fair value for him but for some reason we seem to like paying over the odds for L1 players, or at least just buying L1 players.
SlowerThanPlatt
Well-Known Member
Lots of players have gone onto have long top flight careers after playing in League 1, it’s fair to question whether we’re signing the right ones but not to say every one is inherently bad.
Earlsdon-Loyal-Blue
Well-Known Member
Well said. Wright and Simms aren’t from League 1 and they’re utter shit too.
shmmeee
Well-Known Member
At 24? Who?
BlueSkiesForever
Well-Known Member
Yeah granted, not every single L1 player is bad, I’m sure some will be amazing, but I just think that the average asking price compared to the average quality of player you get hasn’t seem justified in recent years.
I’d basically much rather us pay £1-3 mil for an unknown talent outside of L1 than £4-5 mil for a known talent inside of L1.
fernandopartridge
Well-Known Member
Apart from players like MacFadzean, Godden, Sheaf, O'Hare (who hadn't played above L2 when signed on loan). Even Bobby Thomas who was notionally at Burnley was essentially signed having played in League 1.
Sky Blue Goblin
Well-Known Member
Might be alone but really disagree with the attitude towards league one.
Clearly some quality players in league one who could step up with time (Think Mason will).
Look at the players Fernandos put above but even this year Harrison Burrows has had a good start at a Sheffield.
I know it’s shite at the moment and I’m guilty of this but all our players are developing, don’t think we can write all of them off due to the crap start.
Clearly some quality players in league one who could step up with time (Think Mason will).
Look at the players Fernandos put above but even this year Harrison Burrows has had a good start at a Sheffield.
I know it’s shite at the moment and I’m guilty of this but all our players are developing, don’t think we can write all of them off due to the crap start.
Brighton Sky Blue
Well-Known Member
It’s easier to make the step up if you’re in a team that’s firing on all cylinders anyway, and harder if you’re joining a dysfunctional mess of a set up like we have.
Sky Blue Goblin
Well-Known Member
Exactly that, it’s harder to make the step up. Much harder if the team itself isn’t stepping up.
Brighton Sky Blue
Well-Known Member
Players like EMC and Burrows impressed in a team that was doing well. EMC has joined a team that gets played off the park by Sheffield Wednesday at home, it’s no wonder he looks like a fish out of water.
Sky Blue Goblin
Well-Known Member
Not to mention he can’t actually play his natural game of playing as an inverted winger since he’s beaning played on the wrong side of the pitch completely removing his style of play.
If you look at last year he was brilliant at cutting onto his right foot and having a shot something he can’t do now.
Even more weird when you realise Wright hasn’t been having the best of games either
Brighton Sky Blue
Well-Known Member
It’s a problem of MR’s where he shoehorns players into a shape or system instead of crafting something to suit who we have. We got away with it in 22/23 with the league’s two best players to make it work, but by and large we stumble upon something that works when it’s forced upon us.
SlowerThanPlatt
Well-Known Member
I said it’s fair to question whether we’re signing the right ones/profile, the post was dismissive of League 1 on the whole
SlowerThanPlatt
Well-Known Member
I would wager there’s been more success stories from League 1 than whatever foreign league you want players signed from.
Whether we’re investing the right ones is a different argument.
BlueSkiesForever
Well-Known Member
But the point is none of those players (bar Godden) were either signed from a L1 club or below, or were signed from a L1 club when were in the championship. Signing L1 talent when you’re in L1 is fine but when you’re pushing from prem promotion it doesn’t cut it imo. I’m sure McFadz joined us when we were in L1, same for O’Hare (who was also from Villa), Sheaf from Arsenal and Thomas from Burnley.
If club’s like Arsenal, Villa, Burnley etc think they’re decent enough to sign them then they’re clearly not L1-level players. My point being we shouldn’t be risking the large amount of very fortunate money we got from Hamer and Gyokeres on L1 players supposedly worth £4-5 mil. It’s just not a league that we’ve plundered well in recent times compared to European markets. Maybe if our recruiting ability improved then fair enough but atm it feels like we’re wasting valuable funds on overpriced L1 players.
SlowerThanPlatt
Well-Known Member
Sheaf was signed on his performances for Doncaster in League 1.
I don’t think the one minute he got for Arsenal in the Europa League was behind it.
BlueSkiesForever
Well-Known Member
Not sure I agree on your first point but I don’t know how we’d analyse it across all teams tbh without it taking ages.
I agree with your second point though, I just don’t trust our recruitment to get it right when it comes to L1 for whatever reason. Spending £4-5 mil on a L1 just doesn’t feel right to me.
BlueSkiesForever
Well-Known Member
But you’re missing my point, Arsenal picked him up because they must have thought he was decent quality in the first place. They then loaned him out to improve his game and he’s obviously fulfilled the potential they saw. It’s almost like we purchased an Arsenal-approved L1 player rather than just purchasing any old L1 player, I think there’s a big difference between the two tbh.
SlowerThanPlatt
Well-Known Member
An Arsenal-approved L1 player?
TomRad85
Well-Known Member
Tbf I'm not even sure listing League 1 players who have made it in the Prem is relevant unless I was in a serious accident and missed seeing us promoted.
League 1 players who have stepped up to be good at Championship level is more relevant and the reality is there will be too many to even begin making a list.
Cally Fedora
Well-Known Member
You just can’t find talent in League 1. If you looked for gems there in times past you’d have ended up with no hopers like Maddison and Wilson.
shmmeee
Well-Known Member
Or George and Conor Thomas
fernandopartridge
Well-Known Member
The point is that he'd never played higher than L1, he is no different in that respect from a player that has come through at a L1 club and played in L1.
Cally Fedora
Well-Known Member
Granted. But the gems are always there somewhere. It’s ridiculous to rule out making signings from there.
BlueSkiesForever
Well-Known Member
But my point is that we knew he was clearly talented otherwise Arsenal would have never bought him in the first place. Buying a L1 player that’s on loan from Arsenal is very different to buying a L1 player that’s come through the ranks of Crawley Town for example.
So the examples you gave of McFadz, Sheaf, O’Hare and Thomas, were all either owned by teams that were ranked higher than us or were bought when we were in the same league as they were playing in. I’m not saying there’s a right or wrong but my personal opinion is that I think it’s much safer buying a L1 player that’s owned by a quality team like Arsenal or Villa etc than buying a L1 player like Kitching or Collins who’s been released by a decent club and has then had to drop back down to L1 and try and find some form again. (I also just think generally that £4-5 mil on a L1 player is getting a bit expensive, or maybe I’m just being stingy
)
BlueSkiesForever
Well-Known Member
An Arsenal-approved L1 player?
Sheaf? I’m not saying they stamped him with a big red rubber stamp saying “Arsenal-approved” but they thought he was good enough to be owned by them
If they owned him then I’d see that as them endorsing him as being a good player.
Ring Of Steel
Well-Known Member
Sheaf? I’m not saying they stamped him with a big red rubber stamp saying “Arsenal-approved” but they thought he was good enough to be owned by them
If they owned him then I’d see that as them endorsing him as being a good player.
There are many players who were on the books of premier league teams who turned out to be garbage.
SlowerThanPlatt
Well-Known Member
How do you rate the following players:
Jay Da Silva
Kasey Palmer
Bradley Collins
Todd Kane
Fankaty Dabo