We should have stuck to the plan of buying the best from the championship

[dogsrrs]

Messi, Ronaldo, Pele and Maradona were also pretty cheap when they were 6 years old. You cant pluck random players at their peak now and blame the club for not scouting them when they were young!

Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit
You know and I know we don't have a sth American scouting system
these british players were there to be scouted and not as children seeing as we had no youth policy of our own

[Jeems]

Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit
You know and I know we don't have a sth American scouting system
these british players were there to be scouted and not as children seeing as we had no youth policy of our own

Fine. Gazza, Beckham, Rooney then.

[stanistheman]

Austin & McCarthy were two of the best players in the Championship. Phillips looked really good at Blackpool and many (including myself) thought he was a really good signing at the time, just hasnt worked out, you dont become a bad player over night though and i think we should stick wit him. Yun was a good signing, Vargas was a good signing. I would rather have any of them then Dwight Gayle or Nahki Wells!

Problem is not the players, we have good players. Problem is Harry and his coaching team who dont seem to have any clue and are not getting the best out of the players that we've got.

What's wrong with Gayle? Many seem happy with Vargas and I think he is good, but tbh 1 goal and 3 assists is not really that impressive
and I honestly think that had Phillips been given the same game time he would have done better.

[dogsrrs]

Fine. Gazza, Beckham, Rooney then.

Don't you read anything the title of the thread
Should we have stuck to the plan of buying the best from the Championship
Also we had no academy after Chris Wright closed it 20 years ago when these players you keep quoting were there to be scouted

[Jeems]

Don't you read anything the title of the thread
Should we have stuck to the plan of buying the best from the Championship
Also we had no academy after Chris Wright closed it 20 years ago when these players you keep quoting were there to be scouted

But as others have mentioned, Austin and Phillips were 2 of the best and Mutch, Caulker, Fer and McCarthy would have been 4 of the top players had we not plucked them from the relegated teams, no doubt. Gayle and Wells have hardly gone goal crazy in their respective teams, so no issues personally that we missed out.

Our youth set up is now showing signs of recovery but we wont see anything for at least 5 years.

[dogsrrs]

But as others have mentioned, Austin and Phillips were 2 of the best and Mutch, Caulker, Fer and McCarthy would have been 4 of the top players had we not plucked them from the relegated teams, no doubt. Gayle and Wells have hardly gone goal crazy in their respective teams, so no issues personally that we missed out.

Our youth set up is now showing signs of recovery but we wont see anything for at least 5 years.

OUR YOUTH SET UP IS NOW SHOWING SIGNS OF RECOVERY BUT WE WONT SEE ANYTHING FOR AT LEAST 5 YEARS

At last your getting the point 20 odd years ago we were bringing players thro Dichio , Quazy, Ready, Langley , not great players but at least the academy was working Chris Wright closed the academy in favour of the cheaper option of a centre of excellence even less than average players stopped coming thro , and to make matters worse from then onwards we neglected the chance of signing the likes of the young players mentioned from lower league clubs when they could have been got for low money , that's a reason we have had such a turn over of 1st Warno's buys then the Welsh ones poor buys now H Rs generally better buys , and now T F has people looking for these type of young players in Ireland Scotland and elsewhere to do what we should have been doing years ago and he has re-established the academy

[Hitman34]

we need to go for ravel.

[dogsrrs]

we need to go for ravel.

Could do worse and we still might go for him

[stationcafe]

Buying Championship players won't get you a good Premiership squad. Would rather have a decent scouting network and look at the French, Spanish, Belgian, Dutch, Italian, German leagues. Lots of players would jump at the chance to play in the Prem for a reasonable wage (20-30k p/w).

Well known Championship players are overpriced anyway, due to the amount of money in English football. Of course some are worth going for but when you look at the prices for Deeney etc. it's just insane.

[dogsrrs]

Buying Championship players won't get you a good Premiership squad. Would rather have a decent scouting network and look at the French, Spanish, Belgian, Dutch, Italian, German leagues. Lots of players would jump at the chance to play in the Prem for a reasonable wage (20-30k p/w).

Well known Championship players are overpriced anyway, due to the amount of money in English football. Of course some are worth going for but when you look at the prices for Deeney etc. it's just insane.

Yep your not wrong , but it's defo we should have been bargain hunting the lower leagues years ago

[Shepherds Mush]

problem is we could lose phillips and mutch in this window. Austin would more than likely go if we are relegated. I doubt we would keep isla and vargas. Would dunne last another year in the championship. I reckon there would be interest in Ned.

We will be decimated imo left with a load of over 30's and crocks and a huge FFP fine meaning we prob wont have the money to go out and rebuild. Its why I feel we need to be evaluating all outcomes now and keeping hold of players who next year could be valuable assets rather than come the summer and IF the worst has happened be sc###### around or signing players half their quality.

Chance to use our academy then!

[Martinmalta]

I think we are on the brink of collision. After what Tony and Les had to say about our academy, it seems very obvious that we wasted 4 years and have throw away 200 million in the process of doing so. It seems to me that the owners have other ideas other then helping the club staying in the Premier. Hope I am wrong. Selling young players like Mutch is showing the lack of ambition from the club of staying up.

[dogsrrs]

I think we are on the brink of collision. After what Tony and Les had to say about our academy, it seems very obvious that we wasted 4 years and have throw away 200 million in the process of doing so. It seems to me that the owners have other ideas other then helping the club staying in the Premier. Hope I am wrong. Selling young players like Mutch is showing the lack of ambition from the club of staying up.

Yeah I seem to get the same feeling that the club isn't that keen on preserving premier league status and are looking at a longer term plan, we haven't just wasted 4 years as I was saying in an earlier post this it's years of neglect prior to the present owners ,But imo the crap hitting the fan still comes back to the Hughs era and the naïve of the board at that time

[Kevin Mcleod]

I think we are on the brink of collision. After what Tony and Les had to say about our academy, it seems very obvious that we wasted 4 years and have throw away 200 million in the process of doing so. It seems to me that the owners have other ideas other then helping the club staying in the Premier. Hope I am wrong. Selling young players like Mutch is showing the lack of ambition from the club of staying up.

Do we never add into the equation the money we make getting into the prem twice and parachute payments since the new owners took over, or do we just mention spending?
Mutch is dog sh it, so we are just getting our dough back.

[dogsrrs]

Do we never add into the equation the money we make getting into the prem twice and parachute payments since the new owners took over, or do we just mention spending?
Mutch is dog sh it, so we are just getting our dough back.

Fair point Mac but it does seem the club are looking at longer term view , wether we earned the money thro promotions or not naiviity and Hughs played a big part .
mutch has been nothing to write home about that's for sure could he come good I would say yes , but none of us know has he been kicking off he thinks he should be playing when he's been crap