Chuft we that.

Lancashire-Arab wrote:

so without a head of recruitment and a sporting director we have made signing sooner than normal and not had to panic after selling a player on the final day of the window - food for thought.

Next object has to be some right sided defensive cover as we could be exposed if we have any more injuries but for once I am optimistic we may see some progress there.

I don't think the issue is necessarily with having a sporting director.

I think the issue we had was with who our sporting director was and the team he installed around him,

I think the sporting director role could and can work IF it is done properly, at the right club with the appropriate personnel there to support such a role and if the finances allow for that role to exist.


Anyway, here's hoping Wotherspoon is a good addition to the squad and that he enjoys his time at the club.

CCX2 2010 wrote:

Going by what the CEO said at last night's Foundation meeting it was and still is an absolute shambles in the recruitment side of things.

Goodwin and Capuano both confirmed we don't even have a scouting dept/network seriously come on to fuck🤷‍♂️.

Which means it's all on Goodwin, which in my opinion has reaped far more success than what Ashgar and his chancers did.

@ Lancashire-Arab, JG confirmed a right sided defender (cover for Gallagher) is a priority.

Few outvthe doors first though I think.

Good to hear. Will be interesting to see who we can move on other than returning loan players.

ArabChris wrote:

Unless the law regarding how many clubs a player can play for in a season has changed then it will be impossible to get Miller Thomson or Rory MacLeod out on loan again
 as they have played for both United and Montrose and Fofar respectively this season unless they returned to those loan clubs.

If rumours about MacLeaods attitude being very poor and having a falling out with McKinnon at Forfar are true then he would have no chance of returning there.

Sure Thomson was doing decent at Montrose though so why not let him go back for the rest of the season.

They can either go to English teams or too their previous loan teams.

Suspect Rory will be with us for the rest of the season, and i think he needs to be.

I'd keep Miller Thomson here too. Reckon Cudjoe will leave this window. Makes him a good option from the bench.
 

SuperMario wrote:

https://x.com/thecouriersport/status/1747594644584870233?s=46&t=cFiTS5wMLop9YybD7qh8IA

Some good news

Good news indeed.

Our Academy costs a fortune to run every season, so that money going right to that can hopefully ease the transfer budget in the Summer.
 

MockChop wrote:

we know Ogren is pocketing all of that.

we might get some to get a CH in, but that’ll be it

 
How's that?

Club is pissing money due to the effects of relegation - you think he's taking it?

Tek wrote:

SuperMario wrote:

https://x.com/thecouriersport/status/1747594644584870233?s=46&t=cFiTS5wMLop9YybD7qh8IA

Some good news

Good news indeed.

Our Academy costs a fortune to run every season, so that money going right to that can hopefully ease the transfer budget in the Summer.
 

 
Academy for years has been a waste of money considering we’re spending upwards of 750K a year on it.

The decision has to be primarily a financial one. You could argue that the academy is a worthwhile endeavour even if almost none of the kids coming through ever feature in our first team - as long as the ones we sell before they've made more than a handful of appearances go for a fee that covers the cost of running the academy plus the cost associated with cherry-picking from other teams (i.e. fees may be involved) plus a small profit on top of that. If the academy is costing us 750k a year to run, then if it brings in a million a year, it's probably worth it. Whether it's bringing that in or not, I have no idea.

CCX2 2010 wrote:

Without derailing this thread we do have a decent record at bringing through players and punting them on for a decent return. It's has brought us in healthy returns for Soutar, Armstrong, Gauld, Smith and others.

Where it is failed is mainly down to an almighty disastrous period where Ashgar came in and we have lost focus on what it's meant to be about, bringing through players to play in the first team and punt them on when they are ready. We really sent out the wrong message when we just gave young men a starting jersey to try and put them in the shop window and make a quick buck when they were miles away from being ready.

Investors in people I don't think, we basically played with the careers and lives of young men for that quick buck and look where many of them are now. Is it any wonder a young 18 year old Rory's a bit lost at Forfar, less than a year after he was linked to the premiership.

It will take the club a while to recover from that period and gain the trust of any parent that won't repeat it with their sons when we ask them join as young teenagers.

There is nothing better than watching one of our own coming through, we should get back to picking up the best young boys in the area and nurturing them into first team players.

You're no derailing thread, you're hitting nail on head.
All being well Kai will be a case in point - touching wood the laddie will go for seven figures. 
Add return to Premier will cause a rethink.
+ Nothing stopping us judiciously picking up Premier players not getting a game (Grieve) and good lower league  players (Spoon) who help squad immediately and help academy players.

Think Duffy is out of contract at the end of this season?  Strange one - he looked really good in the League Cup games he played in in 2021/22, has done well on loan by all accounts but not had a look in since he came back.  Even when McMann was injured a Gayfield.  Guess Goodwin does not rate him.

Last edited by SlatefordArab (20/1/2024 2:41 pm)

Birighitti the Dee slayer 🤣🤣🤣

David_Blunkett wrote:

Going back to the points raised/made at the Foundation meeting.

Is it just me that's happy we don't have a recruitment section?

Loads of folk effectively playing football manager, sourcing targets.

I know the game has moved on, but any manager worth their salt should have a grasp on what players could do a job from them, they must have a constantly evolving list of targets.

By all means scout a recommendation, but some of the shite that's passed through the doors in the last 7-8 years, no cunt went to watch

Zwick, Riski, Niskanen, Lyng, Jordie Briels, Christopher Rabbitsch, Idris Kadded, Yannick Loemba, Adam Barton, Matej Rakovan, Florent Hoti,

Someone pulled those jokers off a database.

 

 
Fuck me, that's a real halloween line up(missing Birighitti though)

David_Blunkett wrote:

Going back to the points raised/made at the Foundation meeting.

Is it just me that's happy we don't have a recruitment section?

Loads of folk effectively playing football manager, sourcing targets.

I know the game has moved on, but any manager worth their salt should have a grasp on what players could do a job from them, they must have a constantly evolving list of targets.

By all means scout a recommendation, but some of the shite that's passed through the doors in the last 7-8 years, no cunt went to watch

Zwick, Riski, Niskanen, Lyng, Jordie Briels, Christopher Rabbitsch, Idris Kadded, Yannick Loemba, Adam Barton, Matej Rakovan, Florent Hoti,

Someone pulled those jokers off a database.

 

 
To reply to this and CCx2:

I sort of have mixed feelings about this. I have met two of United's recruitment team/scouts in the last 10 years or so. One at the tail end of the Stephen Thompson era, and another just before covid.

I'm not going to claim that I have some inate knowledge of football beyond the usual punter but I did not think highly of either of them. One in particularly was thick as shit.

For the wages we likely offer, I don't think for a second you're going to get many high quality, world class, footballing people. In the Asghar era in particular we seemed to attract folk who had read Soccernomics and Moneyball during their degree and fancied themselves as above the average punter (one episode on twitter where ane of them basically said this springs to mind).

We should have a great recruitment system, however, I've more faith, thus far, in Goodwin and his contacts than some of the tools we've hired in recent years.

Last edited by Morphman (21/1/2024 5:47 pm)