Recruitment

[Countryfox]

Sorry if this is already covered.   But interesting article in the Mercury today about Rob Mackenzie and the role he played with Walsh and Pearson in setting up our Recruitment department ...   I didn't realise he left Spurs and rejoined Pearson at Derby.     Anyway, what about our recruitment ...   doing well in identifying new 'stars' or are we still going after old targets ? ...     Has Mitchell gone anywhere else (or planning to when contract free) after leaving Spurs, and should we try and get him to come here ? ...   would he want to team up with Mackenzie again ??   Lots of questions and no answers ....

[Ric Flair]

I personally feel we're not as strong as we once were in this department for a few reasons. It's much harder to unearth better players for the PL than it is to take punts on unproven players for the Championship. However, we've also lost the head honcho in Steve Walsh and a number of his key and trusted scouts and analysts. We replaced him with Eduardo Macia who nobody has heard from since he's been here, now that might not be a bad thing necessarily but it doesn't fill you with confidence during this big change. There's a valuable argument that the failures last summer and in January could and should have resulted in the departures of Macia and Rudkin but they still remain. I was much more confident with the setup Pearson had and I'd love a whole new recruitment team and DOF come in and shake this club up, I genuinely think we need it.

 

I'm slightly alarmed at some of the players we've seemingly missed out on this summer that we've either previously been linked with or ought to have had a serious interest in. We're in danger of losing Mahrez and Drinkwater and the likes of Lemina, Carillo, Jese and Hoedt are moving to the PL or already have done and we don't seem to be too determined to get involved. Kevin Wimmer is another who'd strengthen us and we're supposedly desperate for another defender and yet we wait? What are we waiting for may we ask? We all know how bad we are at getting deals done under pressure in the closing days of the window so you'd like to think we'd be giving ourselves as much opportunity as possible but we seem to be in limbo waiting to see what happens to Mahrez and Drinkwater but we still need to improve even if they both stay.

[Countryfox]

3 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

I personally feel we're not as strong as we once were in this department for a few reasons. It's much harder to unearth better players for the PL than it is to take punts on unproven players for the Championship. However, we've also lost the head honcho in Steve Walsh and a number of his key and trusted scouts and analysts. We replaced him with Eduardo Macia who nobody has heard from since he's been here, now that might not be a bad thing necessarily but it doesn't fill you with confidence during this big change. There's a valuable argument that the failures last summer and in January could and should have resulted in the departures of Macia and Rudkin but they still remain. I was much more confident with the setup Pearson had and I'd love a whole new recruitment team and DOF come in and shake this club up, I genuinely think we need it.

 

I'm slightly alarmed at some of the players we've seemingly missed out on this summer that we've either previously been linked with or ought to have had a serious interest in. We're in danger of losing Mahrez and Drinkwater and the likes of Lemina, Carillo, Jese and Hoedt are moving to the PL or already have done and we don't seem to be too determined to get involved. Kevin Wimmer is another who'd strengthen us and we're supposedly desperate for another defender and yet we wait? What are we waiting for may we ask? We all know how bad we are at getting deals done under pressure in the closing days of the window so you'd like to think we'd be giving ourselves as much opportunity as possible but we seem to be in limbo waiting to see what happens to Mahrez and Drinkwater but we still need to improve even if they both stay.

 

I feel exactly the same about Macia and although not going backwards we are at best treading water ...   to be fair though I don't really know too much about him ...   maybe a few itk's can help.   We have shown interest in Mitchell and I wonder what happened after that ...   I know which one I'd rather have.   In the same we strive to get better players we should also strive to improve all areas of the club ...   (except for Birch !) ..

[Ted Maul]

I wouldn't say we're as strong in that department as we once were, but I'm happy with the quality of our recruitment this summer (if not the quantity).

 

You'd say we're 'established' in the PL now, so we can throw our weight about a bit and buy smaller/struggling clubs' better players, rather than having to unearth gems.

[FLAN]

Mckenzies hair though

[NotTheMarketLeader]

I agree Ric.

 

Of course we could sign three players between now and the deadline and we look twats, but as things stand, I'm surprised at the lack of movement.

 

The fact that players you named are not even linked to us is odd.

 

There are three areas required strengthening - creative midfielder being one; but more importantly another CB and a RB.

 

How can we not find an international / up and coming CB to even talk to when we could have £20m to spend? (we may have talked but in this day and age not many things go unreported). 

 

Not complaing about the three main buys, but I fear that's not enough for us to push on.

 

 

[Ric Flair]

6 minutes ago, NotTheMarketLeader said:

I agree Ric.

 

Of course we could sign three players between now and the deadline and we look twats, but as things stand, I'm surprised at the lack of movement.

 

The fact that players you named are not even linked to us is odd.

 

There are three areas required strengthening - creative midfielder being one; but more importantly another CB and a RB.

 

How can we not find an international / up and coming CB to even talk to when we could have £20m to spend? (we may have talked but in this day and age not many things go unreported). 

 

Not complaing about the three main buys, but I fear that's not enough for us to push on.

 

 

Absolutely and there's players available that we've been linked with so it's odd. Hoedt, Mbodji, Wimmer would all strengthen our defence. Right back is a weird one, it's been a few season now and a few different managers and none of them think it's a weakness to only have 1 right back and 1 that cannot support the right midfielder, bizarre.

[cc_star]

1 hour ago, Ric Flair said:

I personally feel we're not as strong as we once were in this department for a few reasons. It's much harder to unearth better players for the PL than it is to take punts on unproven players for the Championship. However, we've also lost the head honcho in Steve Walsh and a number of his key and trusted scouts and analysts. We replaced him with Eduardo Macia who nobody has heard from since he's been here, now that might not be a bad thing necessarily but it doesn't fill you with confidence during this big change. There's a valuable argument that the failures last summer and in January could and should have resulted in the departures of Macia and Rudkin but they still remain. I was much more confident with the setup Pearson had and I'd love a whole new recruitment team and DOF come in and shake this club up, I genuinely think we need it.

 

I'm slightly alarmed at some of the players we've seemingly missed out on this summer that we've either previously been linked with or ought to have had a serious interest in. We're in danger of losing Mahrez and Drinkwater and the likes of Lemina, Carillo, Jese and Hoedt are moving to the PL or already have done and we don't seem to be too determined to get involved. Kevin Wimmer is another who'd strengthen us and we're supposedly desperate for another defender and yet we wait? What are we waiting for may we ask? We all know how bad we are at getting deals done under pressure in the closing days of the window so you'd like to think we'd be giving ourselves as much opportunity as possible but we seem to be in limbo waiting to see what happens to Mahrez and Drinkwater but we still need to improve even if they both stay.

It's not just the department, it's the structure Pearson put in place

 

These people weren't just a word in his ear, he empowered them to be a part of the decision making in a way that doesn't seem apparent since Steve Walsh's departure & Ranieri 's changes

 

I'm not convinced we're at the level we used to be at, never mind the level we need to be at now & in the long term that could make for grim outcomes, especially as we're a massive wage Vs worldwide-size club

[dedlock]

2 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

Absolutely and there's players available that we've been linked with so it's odd. Hoedt, Mbodji, Wimmer would all strengthen our defence. Right back is a weird one, it's been a few season now and a few different managers and none of them think it's a weakness to only have 1 right back and 1 that cannot support the right midfielder, bizarre.

The RB scenario is odd. No criticism of Simpson but, for two seasons, it's been clear we need back up. Unlike LB ,where we  knew Chilwell was developing, there is no obvious alternative coming through for a couple of seasons  when ,hopefully,our academy will provide.

I don't like to look at Spurs but their forward planning enabled Trippiier to slot in at RB when Walker left with Walkers near namesake as quality back up.

As to CBS who knows what negotiations may be going on but unless a new CB is announced as joining before the deadline I am no confident in Benny as reserve CB.

[StriderHiryu]

The article in question is fascinating as it shows just how far ahead our scouting team were compared to pretty much anyone else in Europe.Some of the signings we made were insane... we could easily turned a 10M spend into 100M coming in if we really wanted to. We found a world class Striker, Defensive Midfielder and Winger for peanuts. Sure they needed some game time first for some of them, but finding even one is remarkable in itself.

 

The shame is that now others will have caught up so it will be much harder to unearth hidden gems consistently. It's a major component of our success in recent times. Still I'm hopeful we have learnt lessons and are trying new pioneering ideas to find new players. Ndidi and Ihenacho were hardly unknown players, but good ones nonetheless.

[Merging Cultures]

It seems to me we need to rebuild quite a few bits of the backroom, including scouting and recruitment, as well as medical and sport psychology.

 

I am a huge NP fan, because he built these parts of the club. But they shouldn't be dependent on a manager. We should build our in-house 'philosophy' and approach to recruitment and sport science. Like I think has been mentioned, we've not gone backwards necessarily, but we've not advanced either. I am reluctant to place all of it at CR's feet, but he didn't seem the most progressive of managers and we know he dismantled some of the backroom departments in favour of his own approach. I hope CS can rebuild them based on his tutelage under NP.