Lee Congerton appointed Head of Recruitment

[Col city fan]

7 minutes ago, AjcW said:

Cannot wait for this thread in 6 months when we’ve signed three or four top quality finds and he’s suddenly the messiah despite all those deals probably being agreed before he got here.... fickle football fans as always  

 

I hope he does well, like Brendan he’s had ups and downs... sorry like ANYONE he’s had ups and downs. 

 

Our transfer “god” Walsh can’t even get a job at the minute... the apparent “worlds best” got let go by Arsenal. This position is difficult to define and not something I think fans can really have much of an opinion on, Lee will be here for his ability to get deals over the line as much as identifying targets... for me a head of recruitment is essentially “the agent of the football club” who has a black book of other agents. 

 

For anyone who wants a better insight into football recruitment, give Done Deal by Daniel Geey a read, he’s a sports lawyer and gives a great overview of what really goes on during big transfer dealings. 

 

No one is really sure how Hamburg went, Sunderland for anyone who has watched the documentary was just a mess from top to bottom, and he was the head of recruitment for Gus Poyet and Dick Advocat, two absolute headcases!! Also, let’s take a look at his “dealings” first season.

 

 

Apart from Rodwell who was actually seen as a coup at the time, what’s he done wrong? PVA is quality now at Palace and was highly rated. Defoe was a club legend still banging goals in. Buckley was highly rated in the championship.

 

Second season he was head of recruitment for Advocat again, before big Sam came in and asked him to leave in October as he likes to be in charge of signings as we know! 

 

 

Again, apart from Borini who really at £10m wasn’t the worst gamble ever (Young, could still show some of why Liverpool signed him) the rest are all those sorts of players that again, at the time were rated. Jermaine Lens for example has done great at PSV and Dinamo... he’s not the first person to take a gamble on someone who has done well in Holland! Kaboul was experienced and also one of the few that actually did a decent job keeping them up that season! 

 

I wont go on and get into Celtic, as A) Its hard to judge any player in that league! And B) I don’t think he was given the resources.

 

Just take a step back for a second amongst all this backlash and ask yourself whether given the state Sunderland were in, and the fact Poyet and Advocat hated not being in control, did he really do that bad a job? 

 

 

Pretty much the whole of that list is a shower of shite!

[Papasmurf]

£9m for Khazri 

 

Still remember a Sunderland fan saying he’s better than Mahrez.  

[Ric Flair]

1 hour ago, AjcW said:

Cannot wait for this thread in 6 months when we’ve signed three or four top quality finds and he’s suddenly the messiah despite all those deals probably being agreed before he got here.... fickle football fans as always  

 

I hope he does well, like Brendan he’s had ups and downs... sorry like ANYONE he’s had ups and downs. 

 

Our transfer “god” Walsh can’t even get a job at the minute... the apparent “worlds best” got let go by Arsenal. This position is difficult to define and not something I think fans can really have much of an opinion on, Lee will be here for his ability to get deals over the line as much as identifying targets... for me a head of recruitment is essentially “the agent of the football club” who has a black book of other agents. 

 

For anyone who wants a better insight into football recruitment, give Done Deal by Daniel Geey a read, he’s a sports lawyer and gives a great overview of what really goes on during big transfer dealings. 

 

No one is really sure how Hamburg went, Sunderland for anyone who has watched the documentary was just a mess from top to bottom, and he was the head of recruitment for Gus Poyet and Dick Advocat, two absolute headcases!! Also, let’s take a look at his “dealings” first season.

 

 

Apart from Rodwell who was actually seen as a coup at the time, what’s he done wrong? PVA is quality now at Palace and was highly rated. Defoe was a club legend still banging goals in. Buckley was highly rated in the championship.

 

Second season he was head of recruitment for Advocat again, before big Sam came in and asked him to leave in October as he likes to be in charge of signings as we know! 

 

 

Again, apart from Borini who really at £10m wasn’t the worst gamble ever (Young, could still show some of why Liverpool signed him) the rest are all those sorts of players that again, at the time were rated. Jermaine Lens for example has done great at PSV and Dinamo... he’s not the first person to take a gamble on someone who has done well in Holland! Kaboul was experienced and also one of the few that actually did a decent job keeping them up that season! 

 

I wont go on and get into Celtic, as A) Its hard to judge any player in that league! And B) I don’t think he was given the resources.

 

Just take a step back for a second amongst all this backlash and ask yourself whether given the state Sunderland were in, and the fact Poyet and Advocat hated not being in control, did he really do that bad a job? 

 

 

I get what you're saying but pretty much all of them were heinous for Sunderland, whether it was an impossible job for him or not they didn't do well. I tend to pay attention to what fans of other clubs say, it works out more often than not, when you've mates texting you pissing themselves at the appointment it seems very naïve to argue that they don't know what they're talking about. Nothing we can do now though, let's see what he can do here. If there starts to be changes behind the scenes with our scouts and analysts though, be afraid, be very afraid.

[Ted Maul]

57 minutes ago, Col city fan said:

Pretty much the whole of that list is a shower of shite!

Beat me to it.

 

Quantity not quality, absolutely horrendous.

[Simoken]

This scares me to death honest, but with a new recruitment team behind him and funds at his disposal.. maybe this is a chance for him to prove himself. Stay optimistic for now.

[AjcW]

3 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

I get what you're saying but pretty much all of them were heinous for Sunderland, whether it was an impossible job for him or not they didn't do well. I tend to pay attention to what fans of other clubs say, it works out more often than not, when you've mates texting you pissing themselves at the appointment it seems very naïve to argue that they don't know what they're talking about. Nothing we can do now though, let's see what he can do here. If there starts to be changes behind the scenes with our scouts and analysts though, be afraid, be very afraid.

Completely agree they didn’t perform, at all! But the job of Lee is to bring players in, he’s not in charge of getting the best out of them and Sunderland had manager after manager who failed. 

 

To @Col city fan above... that’s what they turned out to be for Sunderland, sure... but you can’t say some of the names on the list were always considered “a shower of shit” the majority are players who had done pretty well for the clubs they were signed from. 

[Ric Flair]

4 minutes ago, AjcW said:

Completely agree they didn’t perform, at all! But the job of Lee is to bring players in, he’s not in charge of getting the best out of them and Sunderland had manager after manager who failed. 

 

To @Col city fan above... that’s what they turned out to be for Sunderland, sure... but you can’t say some of the names on the list were always considered “a shower of shit” the majority are players who had done pretty well for the clubs they were signed from. 

This is a massive grey area though, and in a way you're right. However, managers get fired for not getting results when perhaps the players they have been given aren't either good enough or suitable. They are then forever tarnished with either being a success or failure in a particular job, it works both ways. It's just much easier to show tangible evidence of whether a manager should be sacked or not given it's a results business. Congerton now is at a club that is in good shape, with money at their disposal and should be able to find players that the club will sign which didn't happen at Celtic. It is make or break for him, especially given Rodgers specialty is improving players. If the players he signs are horse muck then that's what they are and I would hate for us to be proven right by Sunderland and Celtic fans.

[volpeazzurro]

1 hour ago, AjcW said:

Cannot wait for this thread in 6 months when we’ve signed three or four top quality finds and he’s suddenly the messiah despite all those deals probably being agreed before he got here.... fickle football fans as always  

 

I hope he does well, like Brendan he’s had ups and downs... sorry like ANYONE he’s had ups and downs. 

 

Our transfer “god” Walsh can’t even get a job at the minute... the apparent “worlds best” got let go by Arsenal. This position is difficult to define and not something I think fans can really have much of an opinion on, Lee will be here for his ability to get deals over the line as much as identifying targets... for me a head of recruitment is essentially “the agent of the football club” who has a black book of other agents. 

 

For anyone who wants a better insight into football recruitment, give Done Deal by Daniel Geey a read, he’s a sports lawyer and gives a great overview of what really goes on during big transfer dealings. 

 

No one is really sure how Hamburg went, Sunderland for anyone who has watched the documentary was just a mess from top to bottom, and he was the head of recruitment for Gus Poyet and Dick Advocat, two absolute headcases!! Also, let’s take a look at his “dealings” first season.

 

 

Apart from Rodwell who was actually seen as a coup at the time, what’s he done wrong? PVA is quality now at Palace and was highly rated. Defoe was a club legend still banging goals in. Buckley was highly rated in the championship.

 

Second season he was head of recruitment for Advocat again, before big Sam came in and asked him to leave in October as he likes to be in charge of signings as we know! 

 

 

Again, apart from Borini who really at £10m wasn’t the worst gamble ever (Young, could still show some of why Liverpool signed him) the rest are all those sorts of players that again, at the time were rated. Jermaine Lens for example has done great at PSV and Dinamo... he’s not the first person to take a gamble on someone who has done well in Holland! Kaboul was experienced and also one of the few that actually did a decent job keeping them up that season! 

 

I wont go on and get into Celtic, as A) Its hard to judge any player in that league! And B) I don’t think he was given the resources.

 

Just take a step back for a second amongst all this backlash and ask yourself whether given the state Sunderland were in, and the fact Poyet and Advocat hated not being in control, did he really do that bad a job? 

 

 

The law of averages would say that when you use such a scattergun approach and bring in that many players the odd one is going to come good, but at what overall cost? Don't give me the old 'many of them were on frees' argument because they would all have been earning wages on a contract. 18 players in 2 seasons on top of the squad that was already there, not all of which could have been sold each time, really? How much does that all cost? What happened to the first batch when the second batch came in? How many had to be bought out of their contracts or released at a huge overall loss?

 

We've seen this season with Fulham what happens when you try to introduce too many players into a club too quickly. In this respect it could be argued that Congerton was useless way ahead of his time! Could you really really sit there with a straight face and say more than a couple of those were half decent for a Premiership club. Advocaat has a decent record as manager so to label him and Poyet mad is poor, were they all mad at Hamburg and Celtic as well? I  sincerely hope not because we've just signed one of them as our new manager. Sometimes in life, if it looks, walks and makes a noise like a duck ... the chances are its a duck!

[Finnegan]

1 hour ago, AjcW said:

Cannot wait for this thread in 6 months when we’ve signed three or four top quality finds and he’s suddenly the messiah despite all those deals probably being agreed before he got here.... fickle football fans as always  

 

I hope he does well, like Brendan he’s had ups and downs... sorry like ANYONE he’s had ups and downs. 

 

Our transfer “god” Walsh can’t even get a job at the minute... the apparent “worlds best” got let go by Arsenal. This position is difficult to define and not something I think fans can really have much of an opinion on, Lee will be here for his ability to get deals over the line as much as identifying targets... for me a head of recruitment is essentially “the agent of the football club” who has a black book of other agents. 

 

For anyone who wants a better insight into football recruitment, give Done Deal by Daniel Geey a read, he’s a sports lawyer and gives a great overview of what really goes on during big transfer dealings. 

 

No one is really sure how Hamburg went, Sunderland for anyone who has watched the documentary was just a mess from top to bottom, and he was the head of recruitment for Gus Poyet and Dick Advocat, two absolute headcases!! Also, let’s take a look at his “dealings” first season.

 

 

Apart from Rodwell who was actually seen as a coup at the time, what’s he done wrong? PVA is quality now at Palace and was highly rated. Defoe was a club legend still banging goals in. Buckley was highly rated in the championship.

 

Second season he was head of recruitment for Advocat again, before big Sam came in and asked him to leave in October as he likes to be in charge of signings as we know! 

 

 

Again, apart from Borini who really at £10m wasn’t the worst gamble ever (Young, could still show some of why Liverpool signed him) the rest are all those sorts of players that again, at the time were rated. Jermaine Lens for example has done great at PSV and Dinamo... he’s not the first person to take a gamble on someone who has done well in Holland! Kaboul was experienced and also one of the few that actually did a decent job keeping them up that season! 

 

I wont go on and get into Celtic, as A) Its hard to judge any player in that league! And B) I don’t think he was given the resources.

 

Just take a step back for a second amongst all this backlash and ask yourself whether given the state Sunderland were in, and the fact Poyet and Advocat hated not being in control, did he really do that bad a job? 

 

 

 

Honestly the worst post I've ever seen on foxestalk. 

 

<posts list of almost exclusively awful transfers, except Defoe>

 

"I don't see any problem with these."

 

Please go and post this on a Sunderland forum. 

 

Edited 14 May 2019 by Finnegan

[Langston]

Can't remember who it was on here, but it was someone you'd associate with valid titbits of info - posted not long back that the direction the club wanted to go in was younger talent that was a more sellable asset, as well as promoting from the academy - that Puel was on board with this and it was Rudkin rubber stamping deals.

 

Surely ANY signing gets approved by a Director of Football first and foremost? And it's why I'm not overly worried about Congerton. He won't be given licence to buy who he likes and I just can't see mass changes behind the scenes staff wise whilst Rudkin seems to have cottoned on to a genuinely good direction for the club.

[Langston]

11 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

 

Honestly the worst post I've ever seen on foxestalk. 

 

<posts list of almost exclusively awful transfers, except Defoe>

 

"I don't see any problem with these."

 

Please go and post this on a Sunderland forum. 

 

 

Kirchoff wasn't that bad was he, just a bit of a sicknote. 

 

Genuinely had no idea Eboue was still going in 2016.

[Nick]

I see head of recruitment as more recruitment related administration than being the person responsible for identifying, scouting and making final decisions on targets...

 

BR’s never going to allow him full charge of recruitment and obviously likes elements of what he does...

 

I also think this years targets are well established and his actual role will be to try and reel them in - the stuff we complained Ruskin couldn’t do since our title win. We now have a person experienced in dealing with clubs, agents, finances, contracts and players. 

 

I think he’ll likely be pretty good and I’m certainly going to give him a bit of time and see how he goes before judging him on his track record of bringing in players that it’s likely he may not have identified or had much choice in doing due to finances at his disposal and being at football clubs who may not have been the most attractive prospect to join.

[AjcW]

18 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

 

Honestly the worst post I've ever seen on foxestalk. 

 

<posts list of almost exclusively awful transfers, except Defoe>

 

"I don't see any problem with these."

 

Please go and post this on a Sunderland forum. 

 

Bloody hell mate bit harsh! 

 

He only signed 13 from that big list to others who have mentioned above, left before the January window of the second list. 

 

I’m not in any way saying he got everything right, but the players that he signed that flopped, especially second season, they were players that we were linked to, that a lot of clubs were linked to, because they’d had excellent seasons in the countries or leagues they signed from. 

 

Whether he works out or not who knows, but he was in what he called a “civil war” at Sunderland, so I’d rather not take that or a penniless stint at Celtic as complete gospel that he’s shit..... just trying to add a bit of balance really, Brendan isn’t stupid enough to sign off on something that would lead to his sacking! 

[Finnegan]

33 minutes ago, Langston said:

 

Kirchoff wasn't that bad was he, just a bit of a sicknote. 

 

Genuinely had no idea Eboue was still going in 2016.

 

Kirschoff is a great example of why most of those transfers are awful, like Lens and Borini. 

 

They're like budget Arsenal transfers. Players with "skill" and absolutely **** all personality / bottle / fight. 

 

Players with the mental strength of an over ripe banana that just collapse at any sign of trouble. Hence Sunderland's complete fall from the league. 

 

It's what terrifies me most about Congerton, he seems on the surface like the opposite of Walsh. Walsh and Pearson between them seemed to value personality above all things, they signed a team of hard working fighters. Even Riyad is a warrior when you hold him up next to Borini. 

 

The squad now has drive, fight. The last thing we need is to go signing a bunch of show ponies with no heart. 

Edited 14 May 2019 by Finnegan

[Babylon]

40 minutes ago, Swan Lesta said:

I see head of recruitment as more recruitment related administration than being the person responsible for identifying, scouting and making final decisions on targets...

 

BR’s never going to allow him full charge of recruitment and obviously likes elements of what he does...

 

I also think this years targets are well established and his actual role will be to try and reel them in - the stuff we complained Ruskin couldn’t do since our title win. We now have a person experienced in dealing with clubs, agents, finances, contracts and players. 

 

I think he’ll likely be pretty good and I’m certainly going to give him a bit of time and see how he goes before judging him on his track record of bringing in players that it’s likely he may not have identified or had much choice in doing due to finances at his disposal and being at football clubs who may not have been the most attractive prospect to join.

He's likely to be heavily involved in transfers. If his role is anything like Walsh's on the recruitment side then he's in overall charge of putting together the scouting systems etc. Whilst having all the scouting data fed up the chain to him, where he, Rodgers and probably Rudkin rubber stamp the player we go for from the ones suggested by the scouting team. Whilst also obviously being on the front line looking at players himself. 

[coolhandfox]

28 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

 

Kirschoff is a great example of why most of those transfers are awful, like Lens and Borini. 

 

They're like budget Arsenal transfers. Players with "skill" and absolutely **** all personality / bottle / fight. 

 

Players with the mental strength of an over ripe banana that just collapse at any sign of trouble. Hence Sunderland's complete fall from the league. 

 

It's what terrifies me most about Congerton, he seems on the surface like the opposite of Walsh. Walsh and Pearson between them seemed to value personality above all things, they signed a team of hard working fighters. Even Riyad is a warrior when you hold him up next to Borini. 

 

The squad now has drive, fight. The last thing we need is to go signing a bunch of show ponies with no heart. 

A Lot of guess work going on on both side of this argument, we don't know he remit at Sunderland, it may have been that he was responsible for identifying the players with the right ability and the manager was left to decide on personality and mental strength.

 

Every manager work like NP.....

 

Sunderland was a basket case of a club, even before he arrived 

[ealingfox]

We're going to sign Borini aren't we?

 

[Finnegan]

6 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

A Lot of guess work going on on both side of this argument, we don't know he remit at Sunderland, it may have been that he was responsible for identifying the players with the right ability and the manager was left to decide on personality and mental strength.

 

Every manager work like NP.....

 

Sunderland was a basket case of a club, even before he arrived 

 

I believe in patterns, I really don't believe in coincidences. 

 

If you wanted to argue on a case by case basis, I agree with you. We don't know (AFAIK?) the specifics of how Kante was signed, for example. Which scout or data analyst picked him out, how we saw him being used, who then got him playing how he did, etc. 

 

How much was Walsh, was Ranieri, was Pearson, was someone else unnamed? 

 

But when your club consistently signs one thing or another when you're the chief scout? It's not a coincidence. 

 

[coolhandfox]

5 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

 

I believe in patterns, I really don't believe in coincidences. 

 

If you wanted to argue on a case by case basis, I agree with you. We don't know (AFAIK?) the specifics of how Kante was signed, for example. Which scout or data analyst picked him out, how we saw him being used, who then got him playing how he did, etc. 

 

How much was Walsh, was Ranieri, was Pearson, was someone else unnamed? 

 

But when your club consistently signs one thing or another when you're the chief scout? It's not a coincidence. 

 

I agree, I'm hoping him and Rogers can be a good double act.

 

Their work at Celtic wasn't as bad as some people make out, with a limited budget and clubs ability to attract plays, when you consider they shopped in the bargain bin of loans and player who cost next to nothing. 

 

It also seems he will be working in or current setup which had done pretty well over the last 18 months.

[Muzzy_Larsson]

37 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

I agree, I'm hoping him and Rogers can be a good double act.

 

Their work at Celtic wasn't as bad as some people make out, with a limited budget and clubs ability to attract plays, when you consider they shopped in the bargain bin of loans and player who cost next to nothing. 

  

It also seems he will be working in or current setup which had done pretty well over the last 18 months.

The thing I don't get with these posts is that yes, he shopped in a much less lucrative market at Celtic but this evens itself out as it's far easier to perform in Scotland as quite a few on here say it's akin to League 1 level.  It really doesn't matter it's all relative, put him in charge of recruitment at Real Madrid or Man City and he'd still make an arse of it such is his incompetence.

 

If this guy is identifying players in the region of £2m-5m at Celtic and they still can't perform in what we're told is a league 1 type level then sorry that still says to me he's terrible at identifying players, which is his job. 

 

There's a lot of heads being buried in the sand on this thread, similar to myself and a lot of others when he rocked up at Celtic.  This doesn't mean that Brendan won't be successful overall at Leicester but anyone who claims they aren't concerned about Congerton at the club given his record is kidding themselves on.

 

We were tremendously successful during Brendan's time at Celtic, everyone was devastated when he left yet Congerton was still universally hated and for good reason, anyone burying their heads in the sand have to ask themselves why is this the case.  We weren't a club in free fall, a basket case, looking for a scape goat like Sunderland.

 

Like I said, I have it on good authority from someone very close to the football operation at Celtic that Congerton wasn't responsible for identifying one single successful signing in his time at Celtic.  Not every signing a club makes is down to the head of recruitment, there is a larger network such as agents. inside info from particular league's, clubs, long standing relationships, etc.  For example, quite a few players we get we're put on to or get from clubs we have a long standing relationship with like Man City and PSG.  That sort of thing in itself might be Leicester's saving grace with Congerton if it marginalises his influence. 

Edited 14 May 2019 by henrik_62

[murphy]

Celtic's revenge.

[Gerard]

2 hours ago, henrik_62 said:

The thing I don't get with these posts is that yes, he shopped in a much less lucrative market at Celtic but this evens itself out as it's far easier to perform in Scotland as quite a few on here say it's akin to League 1 level.  It really doesn't matter it's all relative, put him in charge of recruitment at Real Madrid or Man City and he'd still make an arse of it such is his incompetence.

 

If this guy is identifying players in the region of £2m-5m at Celtic and they still can't perform in what we're told is a league 1 type level then sorry that still says to me he's terrible at identifying players, which is his job. 

 

There's a lot of heads being buried in the sand on this thread, similar to myself and a lot of others when he rocked up at Celtic.  This doesn't mean that Brendan won't be successful overall at Leicester but anyone who claims they aren't concerned about Congerton at the club given his record is kidding themselves on.

 

We were tremendously successful during Brendan's time at Celtic, everyone was devastated when he left yet Congerton was still universally hated and for good reason, anyone burying their heads in the sand have to ask themselves why is this the case.  We weren't a club in free fall, a basket case, looking for a scape goat like Sunderland.

 

Like I said, I have it on good authority from someone very close to the football operation at Celtic that Congerton wasn't responsible for identifying one single successful signing in his time at Celtic.  Not every signing a club makes is down to the head of recruitment, there is a larger network such as agents. inside info from particular league's, clubs, long standing relationships, etc.  For example, quite a few players we get we're put on to or get from clubs we have a long standing relationship with like Man City and PSG.  That sort of thing in itself might be Leicester's saving grace with Congerton if it marginalises his influence. 

 

I agree, if he was signing players for £2m at Celtic and they were selling them on for £4m then that is a success. 

 

As you say the budget he had or prices that were being paid is irrelevant, it's about finding value in the market. I'm not impressed with him getting any credit for wanting Neymar and Coutinho when they were in Brazil. If both these players ended up signing for Rotherham and then advancing in the game I'd give him credit but they went to Barcelona and Inter Milan so I'd suggest it wasn't exactly a great eye for talent when they no doubt stood out like a sore thumb in their teams. 

 

My only hope for Congerton is that BR would not have brought him here if he is as incompetent as his CV suggests, there must be more to it. If he bombs here then the club can only blame those who advocated Congerton as the previous is there for all to see. I'm hoping this will be like the Ranieri signing when we were laughed at but he was brilliant if only for a season. One thing is for sure the fans will jump on him like a tonne of bricks if we spend a fortune on dross as that is the expectation on previous evidence. 

[ramadaone]

The players required for the relevant positions have all been looked at by the analysis boys 

The data is looked at by the management team and cross checked with who they like / know

A short list is drawn up with outline valuations against each transfer target

All of the above is pretty obvious stuff and happens at all clubs now days

The difficult bit is the game of poker that then goes on with the shady agents who just bounce one club off against another for as long as they can in order to get their man the best deal

In theory your head of recruitment knows all the right agents and is a brilliant negioatator so LCFC are at the front of all the right queues 

The deal then goes across JR's desk and is either sanctioned or it isn't. LC will not be anywhere near signing off any cheques

In effect he is wading through all the Agent bullshit because JR has better things to do

If the signings are a success LC will take the plaudits and if they aren't JR will get the blame because he didn't sign the players LC wanted to 

[Albert]

5 hours ago, ramadaone said:

The players required for the relevant positions have all been looked at by the analysis boys 

The data is looked at by the management team and cross checked with who they like / know

A short list is drawn up with outline valuations against each transfer target

All of the above is pretty obvious stuff and happens at all clubs now days

The difficult bit is the game of poker that then goes on with the shady agents who just bounce one club off against another for as long as they can in order to get their man the best deal

In theory your head of recruitment knows all the right agents and is a brilliant negioatator so LCFC are at the front of all the right queues 

The deal then goes across JR's desk and is either sanctioned or it isn't. LC will not be anywhere near signing off any cheques

In effect he is wading through all the Agent bullshit because JR has better things to do

If the signings are a success LC will take the plaudits and if they aren't JR will get the blame because he didn't sign the players LC wanted to 

....so you’re saying Top & Rudkin aren’t just scrapping our entire scouting network to give Rodgers mate who has a shit record on Wikipedia an open cheque book to do what he wants with?? 

[Dames]

I'm remaining optimistic. There is a philosophy in place here in regards to signings and I think Congerton will have to adhere to that. I don't believe he's going to be given free reign over transfers, he'll just be the one that scouts out players and gives recommendations to Rudkin/Rodgers - These players I imagine will have to fit within the philosophy that is now in place.