verdict on signings last summer... and what to expect this summer?

[nlondonimp]

success: jensen, reeco, Hamilton
getting roughan to resign goes down as a hit
successful loans: mitchell
burroughs (did ok in the first half of the season)

fail: smith and brown. vale
walker was signed injured and so has to go down as a fail imo

6/10 success rate. any views on what ratio is acceptable?

and, as we are likely to sign fewer than the big spenders again, is it likely that we need to have a higher success rate to get in amongst them? (put another way, teams signing more players and with bigger squads can afford to carry more ‘misses’.)

 

[Imps2018]

Hmm if I’m honest, I think fail is too simplistic;
Vale - was injured from the very start and not given a fair go.
Smith - impressed in pre season, then when Hamilton signed he was pushed to a squad role. Probably will play regularly at this level in his career.
Brown - never given a run of games which all youngsters need to get up to form.

 

[hulloutpost]

Don't forget Taylor as a successful loan and McGrandles was heading that way before injury struck.

Throw in Jack Moylan as an important cameo in a few games and I would say recruitment was a 7.5, probably stitched up to some extent by the number and duration of the injuries.

 

[nlondonimp]

Don't forget Taylor as a successful loan and McGrandles was heading that way before injury struck.

Throw in Jack Moylan as an important cameo in a few games and I would say recruitment was a 7.5, probably stitched up to some extent by the number and duration of the injuries.

Just talking about summer signings here.

 

[nlondonimp]

Hmm if I’m honest, I think fail is too simplistic;
Vale - was injured from the very start and not given a fair go.
Smith - impressed in pre season, then when Hamilton signed he was pushed to a squad role. Probably will play regularly at this level in his career.
Brown - never given a run of games which all youngsters need to get up to form.

Fair enough, how about ‘not a successful signing’. Btw, Brown was 24 when we signed him. Hardly a youngster.

 

[Chimpimp]

Just talking about summer signings here.

For me only Brown of our Summer 23 signings you would say was a mistake....with hindsight.

By hindsight I mean, know now the outcome never had much chance of being a success.

Walker, Hamilton, Roughan, Mitchell, Jensen, Hackett are all good players in L1

Smith was on a free and played lots pre Jan, then was easily loaned out and will probably make us a small profit when we sell him.

Burroughs was a good steady loan until his car accident.

Moylan was signed in the Summer

Vale was a last minute attempt to somewhat cover the known striker problem that arose in late August. If we had signed no one, we might have struggled even more.

Only really Brown has been a total failure.

That's bloody good going by my reckoning.

If we do as well this time, things will be looking Rosey.

 

[impsimps]

I do have my doubts about Walker, injury prone when he arrived, then injured virtually all season , this is a big pre season for him to prove he can still do what he showed us a few seasons back. He needs confidence and prove he is fit, can he take on the Joe Taylor role ?

 

[Imps2018]

Fair enough, how about ‘not a successful signing’. Btw, Brown was 24 when we signed him. Hardly a youngster.

Young in a football career given he’s not played much. Never been a regular anywhere in his career. I can see what the recruitment team were hoping for, just didn’t happen.

‘Not worked out as we would have hoped’ is probably the best language for it

 

[nlondonimp]

if we sign 10 players this summer imo we don't want to be looking for replacements for three of them by january, and have another one (signed injured) not playing at all. regardless of whether they can be sent back, or loaned out. get it right more often first time is a better way to develop the squad for a steady season.

think we need more like 8 out of 10 'successes' with our small squad. high bar, but we have to be extremely smart with our £££ in order to compete.

the caveat is that we had a post-transfer window manager change and most likely a slight player requirement change that goes with it. this time around skubala is helping to make the choices and will hopefully still be around in january. trust skubala's eye more than kennedy's, and the two jez/skubala 'signings' so far - taylor and mcgrandles - bode well.

uti.

 

[Oldshepherd Imp]

We need better quality and more depth in the squad by the end of the summer window if we want to be a top half side. The league will be far stronger this year and we will have our work cut out to compete in the higher reaches of the division.

 

[johnolbe]

We need better quality and more depth in the squad by the end of the summer window if we want to be a top half side. The league will be far stronger this year and we will have our work cut out to compete in the higher reaches of the division.

Why will it be a far stronger league next season? Personally I think it’s rubbish to suggest this and is just media driven clap trap b*ll*x.
So there will be 7 new teams and doubtful if any of them will have the squad that Portsmouth, Derby and Bolton /Oxford had this season. An all round stronger league would mean the points gap are all closer together and that is a good thing for teams with mid table budgets and good management to get the best out of their squad.

 

[impsimps]

Why will it be a far stronger league next season? Personally I think it’s rubbish to suggest this and is just media driven clap trap b*ll*x.
So there will be 7 new teams and doubtful if any of them will have the squad that Portsmouth, Derby and Bolton /Oxford had this season. An all round stronger league would mean the points gap are all closer together and that is a good thing for teams with mid table budgets and good management to get the best out of their squad.

Big names does not mean big sides.Bookies go purely on the name, bound to get some right ! Took Ipswich ages to 'escape' Div 1 and Derby, Portsmouth , Bolton maybe . Lincoln have been building and will do so again this summer with a very good coach and togetherness. We will be up there . UTI.

 

[hulloutpost]

Why will it be a far stronger league next season? Personally I think it’s rubbish to suggest this and is just media driven clap trap b*ll*x.
So there will be 7 new teams and doubtful if any of them will have the squad that Portsmouth, Derby and Bolton /Oxford had this season. An all round stronger league would mean the points gap are all closer together and that is a good thing for teams with mid table budgets and good management to get the best out of their squad.

Of course there is a subjectivity to it all, but I reckon Wrexham, Stockport, Mansfield are more likely to pack a punch than say, Cheltenham, Carlisle, Port Vale.

Wigan may supposedly be having cut backs and who knows what is happening with Reading, but history tells us cheating barstewards like them always seem to find an illusionary pot of gold every other season. I expect at least one of them to rise like Lazarus, and neither of them will have a points deduction next year.

Birmingham, Huddersfield and a dogged Rotherham will be no pushovers for different reasons and it can be argued are almost a straight swap for who have gone up.

We will still have Barnsley, Blackpool, Peterborough and one of Oxford or scum Bolton. Then add in the usual one or two that find some cash or good recruitment to punch above their weight such as Wycombe, Orient types, and you are likely to end up with a league that is at least as strong as this season and highly unlikely to be weaker - at best.

We could easily perform well, consistently across the whole season and still finish 10th give or take.

 

[hulloutpost]

Summer recruitment is off the scale importance wise as we are likely to get weaker before we get stronger when you wonder how many of Sorensen, Jensen, Erhahon and Taylor will be here next season for starters. Also whether you rate them or not, Bishop and Mandroiu both possibly leaving the club, are arguably our most/only creative players.

 

[domski2017]

Struggling to identify left wing backs. Robson and Brown?

 

[johnolbe]

Of course there is a subjectivity to it all, but I reckon Wrexham, Stockport, Mansfield are more likely to pack a punch than say, Cheltenham, Carlisle, Port Vale.

Wigan may supposedly be having cut backs and who knows what is happening with Reading, but history tells us cheating barstewards like them always seem to find an illusionary pot of gold every other season. I expect at least one of them to rise like Lazarus, and neither of them will have a points deduction next year.

Birmingham, Huddersfield and a dogged Rotherham will be no pushovers for different reasons and it can be argued are almost a straight swap for who have gone up.

We will still have Barnsley, Blackpool, Peterborough and one of Oxford or scum Bolton. Then add in the usual one or two that find some cash or good recruitment to punch above their weight such as Wycombe, Orient types, and you are likely to end up with a league that is at least as strong as this season and highly unlikely to be weaker - at best.

We could easily perform well, consistently across the whole season and still finish 10th give or take.

Yes so the more stronger teams the more they take points of each other and less likely a top few teams get 90 plus points to get automatic promotion. It might be a more even league where as this year you could say Pompey, Derby, Bolton and Posh on paper had big quality looking squads and barring a massive shock were virtually guaranteed the play offs at least from the first kick of the season, that left 20 clubs chasing 2 spots.

 

[mikeosullivan]

I actually thought it was a poor quality league this year. Portsmouth walked it and were not a great side, although they were well coached. The others were much of a muchness.

It won’t be about who spends the most on their playing squad. It will be more about which sides are the best coached. And that is where I think we have a big advantage.

 

[Chimpimp]

We need better quality and more depth in the squad by the end of the summer window if we want to be a top half side. The league will be far stronger this year and we will have our work cut out to compete in the higher reaches of the division.

A good part of our squad will be better without doing anything in the transfer market.

As an example Makama is undoubtedly a better player than 12 months ago.

Roughan, Draper, Makama, Erhahon, Duffy, Moylan among others should also be better players than they were a year ago and go on improving.

A players physical peak is around 26-28 so most of our players that remain, will be physically better than at the start of last season before you add in the extra experience and honing of their skills.

The advantage of recruiting players before their peak is that they improve your side gradually just with the passage of time.

On the other hand a side like Stevenage have a bunch of experienced players more likely to get a bit worse than a bit better.