Lee Congerton appointed Head of Recruitment

[Stadt]

I think there’s a lot of faith being shown in the club and Rudkin when 18 months ago the consensus was that we were incompetent at transfer dealings 

[Babylon]

22 minutes ago, Dames said:

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.

So long as the guys at the bottom of the pyramid keep feeding good players up the chain, then it reduces the chance of him being a disaster. Sunderland were bottom when he joined, so they clearly already had massive failings in their recruitment of managers and players for instance. He'll chip in with his own players that he's spotted, but they will just be one of many going up the chain. 

 

Rudkin

 

^

 

Rodgers

 

^

Congerton

 

^

 

Chief Scout   |    Chief Scout

 

^

 

In House Video / Analytic Scout   |   In House Video / Analytic Scout   |   In House Video / Analytic Scout  

 

^

 

Match Going Scout   |   Match Going Scout   |   Match Going Scout   |   Match Going Scout    |      Match Going Scout

 

 

 

[HankMarvin]

16 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 

Can confirm this is true 

Here is an example 

 

 

 

 

[Clever Fox]

I just have a feeling that he's no more than Rogers mouthpiece. I could be completely wrong though.

[Blue ROI]

This does no look promising at all what with Hamburg and Sunderland being 2 of the most disastrous clubs in World Football this decade and Celtic glad to see the back of him.

 

Reckon it will be different with us as he is now so associated with mediocrity that if we have another summer of Musa, Slimani, Wague type signings he is gonna feel the heat from the fans very soon.

 

 

[Dames]

28 minutes ago, Babylon said:

So long as the guys at the bottom of the pyramid keep feeding good players up the chain, then it reduces the chance of him being a disaster. Sunderland were bottom when he joined, so they clearly already had massive failings in their recruitment of managers and players for instance. He'll chip in with his own players that he's spotted, but they will just be one of many going up the chain. 

 

Rudkin

 

^

 

Rodgers

 

^

Congerton

 

^

 

Chief Scout   |    Chief Scout

 

^

 

In House Video / Analytic Scout   |   In House Video / Analytic Scout   |   In House Video / Analytic Scout  

 

^

 

Match Going Scout   |   Match Going Scout   |   Match Going Scout   |   Match Going Scout    |      Match Going Scout

 

 

 

Exactly how I imagined it. I reckon he'll probably be the one that runs the final checks over the scouted players and then makes his recommendations based on that as well as like you said, bringing in his own recommendations.

[Ric Flair]

2 hours ago, Babylon said:

So long as the guys at the bottom of the pyramid keep feeding good players up the chain, then it reduces the chance of him being a disaster. Sunderland were bottom when he joined, so they clearly already had massive failings in their recruitment of managers and players for instance. He'll chip in with his own players that he's spotted, but they will just be one of many going up the chain. 

 

Rudkin

 

^

 

Rodgers

 

^

Congerton

 

^

 

Chief Scout   |    Chief Scout

 

^

 

In House Video / Analytic Scout   |   In House Video / Analytic Scout   |   In House Video / Analytic Scout  

 

^

 

Match Going Scout   |   Match Going Scout   |   Match Going Scout   |   Match Going Scout    |      Match Going Scout

 

 

 

I read somewhere that Congerton dismantled a lot of the scouting and recruitment networks that were already in place at Celtic which infuriated the fans. This is a worry if he's allowed to do that here, I know he should have remit of his team around him but we have had a lot of this in place since the Pearson days where we became probably the best in the country at it. @henrik_62 can you confirm or deny if Congerton did that at Celtic?

[volpeazzurro]

13 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

I read somewhere that Congerton dismantled a lot of the scouting and recruitment networks that were already in place at Celtic which infuriated the fans. This is a worry if he's allowed to do that here, I know he should have remit of his team around him but we have had a lot of this in place since the Pearson days where we became probably the best in the country at it. @henrik_62 can you confirm or deny if Congerton did that at Celtic?

I think they got rid of the chap that brought in Van Dyke, Wanyama and a couple of other good signings that I can't remember the name of, did well there didn't they! Probably @Henrik_62 can confirm that?

[Muzzy_Larsson]

25 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

I read somewhere that Congerton dismantled a lot of the scouting and recruitment networks that were already in place at Celtic which infuriated the fans. This is a worry if he's allowed to do that here, I know he should have remit of his team around him but we have had a lot of this in place since the Pearson days where we became probably the best in the country at it. @henrik_62 can you confirm or deny if Congerton did that at Celtic?

@Ric Flair Yeah, never heard or read it confirmed from anyone official but this was the common perception.  I think the fear around this is/was that we had a decent track record of unearthing gems and selling them on for decent money to the EPL across a few different managers and it appeared Congerton was dismantling what was already a good structure.  

 

Hopefully he's not done too much long term damage and we can reset and hopefully for you guys his influence is less at Leicester and he's more marginalised within a tighter overall recruitment structure.

[Gerard]

15 minutes ago, volpeazzurro said:

I think they got rid of the chap that brought in Van Dyke, Wanyama and a couple of other good signings that I can't remember the name of, did well there didn't they! Probably @Henrik_62 can confirm that?

 

That Van Dyke fella that cost Celtic £2.6m and Wanyama who cost £0.9m?

 

"We'll have none of that here, you're sacked" said Congerton. 

[Dan]

On 14/05/2019 at 14:08, Gerard said:

 

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. 

Identifying those two is like me saying I've identified Joao Felix. It's a bit desperate really.

[Finnegan]

6 minutes ago, Dan LCFC said:

Identifying those two is like me saying I've identified Joao Felix. It's a bit desperate really.

 

I personally take a lot of credit* for bringing the name Robert Lewandowski to a wider audience** long before Big Sam tried to take him to Blackburn. 

 

 

 

(*I found him on football manager) 

 

(**the foxestalk football manager thread)

[Ian Nacho]

I swear at Sunderland he wasn't even a scout? Just director of football?

[Guest Col city fan]

3 hours ago, Finnegan said:

 

I personally take a lot of credit* for bringing the name Robert Lewandowski to a wider audience** long before Big Sam tried to take him to Blackburn. 

 

 

 

(*I found him on football manager) 

 

(**the foxestalk football manager thread)

I still wonder where Freddy Adu ended up?

[Dan]

11 hours ago, Finnegan said:

 

I personally take a lot of credit* for bringing the name Robert Lewandowski to a wider audience** long before Big Sam tried to take him to Blackburn. 

 

 

 

(*I found him on football manager) 

 

(**the foxestalk football manager thread)

I legitimately saw Aguero as a 16 year old wonderkid at Independiente on something like FM06  that's my claim.

[inckley fox]

It's impossible to know how someone will fit into our set-up. Rodgers could well be right about supporters only seeing half of the picture - if you're just a voice on a transfer committee, or a DoF with recruitment working alongside you, or if your board is likely to overrule you on top targets, then there's every chance you'll pick up the blame for shortcomings elsewhere. Walsh was a scout at Newcastle before Leicester and some people had their doubts about his record there, then he had a torrid time as DoF at Everton - and yet he was the perfect fit for Pearson's regime at Leicester.

 

The negativity, however, is understandable for two reasons. Firstly, because we're kidding ourselves if we say that he's coming into a much better-run department than he's known elsewhere. After Kante, who was a Pearson-Walsh target, our recruitment was awful for the best part of two years. The young squad we have now is the product of a diamond or two in a cavalcade of rubbish (Ndidi and Maguire), youth team graduates (Chilwell, Choudhury, Barnes) and the pick of the Puel-Macia agreed targets (Pereira, Maddison, and a few more wait-and-sees), combined with the willingness of a manager to push youth. 

 

On the other hand you have the likes of Musa, Slimani, Kapustka, Hernandez, Iheanacho, the Silva fiasco, and so on. There's around 100m there, and we'll struggle to see half of that recouped from those specific players.

 

Secondly - and perhaps irrationally - because those decisions which we look at and say 'that just doesn't seem right' have an uncanny habit, in recent years, of not working out well. Especially in recruitment. When we had nobody in charge of recruitment we said 'let's hope this doesn't damage our ability to identify quality', and it did. When we've let managers have their folly and bring in old colleagues with questionable credentials (in terms of players, Ghezzal is an example) it's not always panned out well.

 

So I'd say it'd be wrong to assume Congerton is going to be a disaster, but equally wrong to rubbish what Celtic and Sunderland fans are saying, or to take the view that our infrastructure makes us immune to the problems that have dogged him elsewhere.

[The Horse's Mouth]

On 11/05/2019 at 21:31, Finnegan said:

Anyone and I mean absolutely anyone discounting the views of Celtic and Sunderland fans needs to stop being an ostrich. 

 

Learn from Ghezzal. You know, the Ghezzal that Monaco and Lyon fans screamed en mssse HE'S SHIT and foxestalk went "narh they're just bitter let's give him a chance!" 

 

Not really sure why it's so hard to accept that some people know more than us about their own assets. Remember when Guingamp fans came on here to describe Knockaert as hard working, skillful but a bit nuts in the head? And what did he turn out to be? Hard working, skillful and a bit nuts in the head. Funny that. 

 

Ranieri was used as an example in this thread of a man who came here without current form but Claudio Ranieri had literally never, EVER taken a single club backwards in his entire, lengthy career until Nantes (after us.) He left every side he's ever managed in a stronger position. Thats his pedigree, it was there for all to see. 

 

Congerton's pedigree is also there for everyone to see. It's shit. 

Surely you see the distinction between opinions on a head of recruitment and a player though? This isn't the case of watching him week in week out, it's the luck of the draw transfer wise. Monchi who is considered to be one of the best DOFs/Sporting Directors in the world was a huge flop at Roma, but was a perfect fit for Sevilla. It's not a simple as he's signed x y z he'll be perfect for us, this role is a lot more nuanced than that. We're a much better club than his predecessors, they don't really compare in terms of the calibre of job and the other two were tough jobs really when you look at it. Sunderland an absolute basket case club who have hardly pulled up any trees since his departure, Celtic fans probably wont be happy regardless because they dont have enough pulling power and will always result to just using the Juve model but with no european success. These roles are also judged better on a long term basis

 

The Ranieri point you make is also a bit of bollocks, left Atletico in a relegation scrap, took Valencia backwards

[Foxxed]

God I'm pumped about our first Congleton signing.

[don_danbury]

11 minutes ago, Foxxed said:

God I'm pumped about our first Congleton signing. 

fabio borini

[Guest Col city fan]

3 minutes ago, don_danbury said:

fabio borini

Lee Clattermole!?

[don_danbury]

1 hour ago, Col city fan said:

Lee Clattermole!?

well congerton and cattermole both have something in common. so you never know your luck.

[LinekersApples]

I’ve read ever single post on here and I’ve come to the conclusion that.... Ismaila Sarr really needs to work on his long throws 

[MC Prussian]

30 minutes ago, LinekersApples said:

I’ve read ever single post on here and I’ve come to the conclusion that.... Ismaila Sarr really needs to work on his long throws 

His goalkeeping skills also have to be seriously questioned.

[Long Eaton Fox]

I think eel do really well here.

[mozartfox]

Is he on holiday?   May 28th already and we have not spent 100m yet.   Shocking start.