Attracting Players for Next Season

[FinnishOwl]

If we end up at L1, it will be quite interesting to see if we are still trying to sign players based on advisor connections instead of actually consulting whoever should be in charge of the first team. I don't know which hacked FM21 saved game they sent to Moore to fool him of our situation but he must have had the surprise of his life upon arrival.

 

Still, we have potential young players that should feature much more next season. I hope we learn to start giving them proper contract offers after most of the expensive players are off.

[Bluesteel]

34 minutes ago, SallyCinnamon said:

I can’t remember the last good transfer window we had. I’m not using last season as a comparison. I think since the summer of 2015, our transfer dealings have been consistently poor. Both incoming and outgoing. We’ve only signed 1 player with genuine resale value. The rest have been poor or injury prone. 

 

That’s why I’m not confident. I have no faith in the club under its current guise to get it right. Particularly with the huge turnover of playing staff that will be needed. 
 

I think the windows before Bruce left we made some decent signings albeit on a much lower budget than what we had in 2015. Harris, Iorfa, Luongo to a lesser extent Odubajo showed at least some change in strategy to bring some pace strength and energy to a side and based on stats and analysis also when it came to Luongo. It’s been a mixed bag for those singings and why they will suddenly get injured here is another issue to be explored but on paper I could see a method to what we were trying to do, it wasn’t scattergun. Last summer was different but I still remember the consensus being quite positive on this website about some of the signings made under the circumstances.

 

Relegation is never good for a club, I don’t welcome it one bit and I think calls for change at the top are justified but we don’t get to make that decision. So I guess we just have to wait and see and not jump to too many conclusions that make this more difficult than it already is. A few weeks ago I was pretty much done with following it for now and wasn’t even reading this site but the move to bring in a manager who was in work was already a sign that things can change and it gave me some optimism that we may at least try to fight back from this. It’s the hope that kills you.

[SallyCinnamon]

13 minutes ago, Bluesteel said:

I think the windows before Bruce left we made some decent signings albeit on a much lower budget than what we had in 2015. Harris, Iorfa, Luongo to a lesser extent Odubajo showed at least some change in strategy to bring some pace strength and energy to a side and based on stats and analysis also when it came to Luongo. It’s been a mixed bag for those singings and why they will suddenly get injured here is another issue to be explored but on paper I could see a method to what we were trying to do, it wasn’t scattergun. Last summer was different but I still remember the consensus being quite positive on this website about some of the signings made under the circumstances.

 

Relegation is never good for a club, I don’t welcome it one bit and I think calls for change at the top are justified but we don’t get to make that decision. So I guess we just have to wait and see and not jump to too many conclusions that make this more difficult than it already is. A few weeks ago I was pretty much done with following it for now and wasn’t even reading this site but the move to bring in a manager who was in work was already a sign that things can change and it gave me some optimism that we may at least try to fight back from this. It’s the hope that kills you.

Maybe hinted at a change of direction. But to me it was bargain basement signings of players other clubs didn’t want. Championship rivals weren’t keen to keep hold of Harris, Odubajo and Luongo. And I think all three have been bitterly disappointing. Harris started brightly but has faded completely and offers very very little now. Odubajo has been very poor and Luongo is crocked. Borner again looked good for a couple of month but then faded hugely and has proven a bit of a liability defensively. 

They were cheap signings from a club with limited resources. If we’ve got no money we need to get recruitment spot on. Stuart Gray/Dave Jones under Mandaric kept us up on a shoestring and unearthed some fantastic players for very little money. Lees, Lee, Westwood, Hutch, Maguire, Nuhiu, Loovens. Cost very little but returned far far more than the cheap deals we’ve done under DC’s ownership. 
 

That is the direction we should have taken. Instead our recruitment has been extremely poor when it became very clear we’d ran out of money. 
 

We will have to wait and see. But logic suggests we won’t get it right. Because we have hardly got anything right in the recruitment department for a good number of years now.

[WalthamOwl]

1 hour ago, davey_wells said:

Personally think we are far better set to attract a decent quality of player now Darren Moore is in charge - assuming he stays on.

 

Most teams will want to send their youngsters on loan to clubs who play in a similar style. Moore's style when it comes to playing out from the back is entirely suitable.  This doesn't just cover defenders, or even keepers, but midfielders and players up top too. We havent had this kind of manager in charge for a lifetime.

 

Big club, stadium and expectations on promotion... all adds up to a decent place for youngsters to join, along with other players who will see SWFC as a big challenge and theoretically one that will pay a very competitive wage, too.  Far less than what we've been splashing out in the past, but still plenty.

 

Genuinely think we will recover from relegation OK... but pain this season has felt inevitable since towards the start of last season, when everything started spiralling downwards very quickly.

but at the same time will clubs be put off from sending their young ones to us on loan because we have a poor history with young loans and also the way Chansiri has turned us in to an embarrassment of a club, probably not paying wages on time won’t help our case either. 

[Bluesteel]

The difference in wages we have been paying will be huge so if players were on 20-30k in 2015-2017 and moving more toward 10-15k on recent contracts. 
 

Based on salary caps of 2.5m which many of the clubs asked for and a squad of say 21 players, the average league one wage is 2-2.5k a week. So it’s already clear we have the power to dwarf that and take players we want that don’t have offers from the championship yet.

[gurujuan]

It’s going to be hard, even if we do have a slight advantage in what we might be able to pay, to recruit a group of 3 or 4 strikers we might need The current leading scorer, Jonson Clarke-Harris, a player we had an interest in, cost Peterborough the best part of a million pounds Another who we’ve been linked with, Luke Jephcott, would cost us three times that. Two players, currently on our staff, Rhodes and Marriott, would I think, do well in League One Can’t see either wanting another season here, and of the other contracted “strikers” neither Windass or Paterson fit the profile. Maybe if we can bring in some new strikers, and we could afford it, Windass and Paterson might be worth keeping as options from the bench. 

[gurujuan]

Looking at the soon to be out of contract strikers, or at least the ones that could drop down to League One, there isn’t much about. Bearing in mind a decent League One striker would cost at least a couple of million pounds, which probably excludes us. The only two possible freebies that could end up in League One in my opinion, could be the veteran Smith (Millwall) or maybe Collins (Luton) Don’t know whether either of them have been offered new contracts, but either would be OK if they are free

[Bluesteel]

17 minutes ago, gurujuan said:

Looking at the soon to be out of contract strikers, or at least the ones that could drop down to League One, there isn’t much about. Bearing in mind a decent League One striker would cost at least a couple of million pounds, which probably excludes us. The only two possible freebies that could end up in League One in my opinion, could be the veteran Smith (Millwall) or maybe Collins (Luton) Don’t know whether either of them have been offered new contracts, but either would be OK if they are free

We should have a look at Hanlan at Bristol Rovers 

[yeadonowl]

1 hour ago, gurujuan said:

Looking at the soon to be out of contract strikers, or at least the ones that could drop down to League One, there isn’t much about. Bearing in mind a decent League One striker would cost at least a couple of million pounds, which probably excludes us. The only two possible freebies that could end up in League One in my opinion, could be the veteran Smith (Millwall) or maybe Collins (Luton) Don’t know whether either of them have been offered new contracts, but either would be OK if they are free

Isn’t Piggot from Wimbledon out of contract?

 

He’d be ideal

[Dutch McLovin]

1 hour ago, gurujuan said:

Looking at the soon to be out of contract strikers, or at least the ones that could drop down to League One, there isn’t much about. Bearing in mind a decent League One striker would cost at least a couple of million pounds, which probably excludes us. The only two possible freebies that could end up in League One in my opinion, could be the veteran Smith (Millwall) or maybe Collins (Luton) Don’t know whether either of them have been offered new contracts, but either would be OK if they are free

Would take Collins from Luton in a heartbeat !!! 

[Andrew6666]

Attract players, the plan is to continue with as many as we can that played in the play off final, because they are the best and the plan will work. . . . . .

[gurujuan]

8 hours ago, yeadonowl said:

Isn’t Piggot from Wimbledon out of contract?

 

He’d be ideal

 

8 hours ago, Dutch McLovin said:

Would take Collins from Luton in a heartbeat !!! 

 

10 hours ago, Bluesteel said:

We should have a look at Hanlan at Bristol Rovers 

Yes I just checked, Pigott will be out of contract, so yes all three of those would meet our needs in a lower division. If we could pair one of them with an exciting (and quick) young talent on loan, we might give ourselves a fighting chance. My blood boils at the lunacy of us trying to navigate a whole Championship season without a recognised centre forward Make no mistake, that has been the biggest contributory factor in this season’s downfall 

[gurujuan]

Actually Hanlan still has a year to run, but would still be a reasonably priced option The magnitude of what we have to do is clear, and following our failure to do it this year, and save our championship status, can we really be confident we will do it in the summer? 
When we last escaped from the third tier, we had one of the best young centre forwards in the division in Madine. We also had, probably the most dynamic winger in the division, in Antonio. Not just a winger who could produce the odd cameo, but even back then, he was a powerful, quick and direct wide man with an eye for a goal. It’s a sobering thought that, our striking options back then, were considerably better than the options we have right now

[Bluesteel]

48 minutes ago, gurujuan said:

Actually Hanlan still has a year to run, but would still be a reasonably priced option The magnitude of what we have to do is clear, and following our failure to do it this year, and save our championship status, can we really be confident we will do it in the summer? 
When we last escaped from the third tier, we had one of the best young centre forwards in the division in Madine. We also had, probably the most dynamic winger in the division, in Antonio. Not just a winger who could produce the odd cameo, but even back then, he was a powerful, quick and direct wide man with an eye for a goal. It’s a sobering thought that, our striking options back then, were considerably better than the options we have right now

We only had Antonio for the final half or even third of the season. Prior to that it was Marshall. Doncaster under Moore have attracted a number of loan players from premier league clubs. 
 

If we simply need someone as good as Madine was back then, that should be achieveable too. We already have better.

[gurujuan]

1 hour ago, Bluesteel said:

We only had Antonio for the final half or even third of the season. Prior to that it was Marshall. Doncaster under Moore have attracted a number of loan players from premier league clubs. 
 

If we simply need someone as good as Madine was back then, that should be achieveable too. We already have better.

Do we though? He was never my favourite player, but Madine was a good target man at that level, and scored 18 goals in the season we went up. 

[Philb125]

I don't think attracting players will be the problem. I'm more worried about us attracting the wrong players. Players that look to be above and beyond in terms of individual quality, but are often not great team players, up for a scrap and have salaries that p1ss off the rest of the squad.

 

Our team for far too long has been unbalanced both from a players positions but also financially. Having players on 25-40K per week with others on 5-10k seems very odd and I can't help but feel if we had a team of 10-15K players we would have a stronger team, all beit without some of the star quality.  

[Bluesteel]

56 minutes ago, gurujuan said:

Do we though? He was never my favourite player, but Madine was a good target man at that level, and scored 18 goals in the season we went up. 

Well yeah Paterson already edged out a mature Madine at Cardiff and he isn’t even a formally recognised striker 

[CircleSeven]

It’s going to be a rough old ride in L1 that’s for sure. If I thought for one second DC was thinking strategically, the appointment of Moore would indicate that we are intended to bring though young players of our own and try and get good youngsters from other clubs as Doncaster did. I can’t suspend belief for long enough though to think that that is the plan!

[Beauchief Owl]

You

25 minutes ago, CircleSeven said:

It’s going to be a rough old ride in L1 that’s for sure. If I thought for one second DC was thinking strategically, the appointment of Moore would indicate that we are intended to bring though young players of our own and try and get good youngsters from other clubs as Doncaster did. I can’t suspend belief for long enough though to think that that is the plan!

I thought the strategy last year was to bring in young and hungry players. It didn't happen for the most part, indeed we let Shaw go with Urgohide possibly to follow. All of which makes me think the only strategy we have is to have no strategy. All short term knee-jerk stuff. Poor, poor management.

[Guest wilyfox]

Attracting them won’t be a problem. Affording them will.