[Football] "Quality Signings"

portlock seagull · 2025-01-21T12:05:56+0000

I am amazed Man U fans demanding complete overhaul. Mark Chapman made same point I was thinking. Getting these players to play 3-4-3 instead of 4-whatever…how hard can it be?!! They’re highly paid professionals. Should be capable left and right footed, able to run a marathon each match etc. Why every time they’re have a bad run the solution is another billion quid I’ll never understand. The current crop must adjust and do better. Simples.

Crawley Dingo · 2025-01-21T12:06:39+0000

OvingdeanSeagull said:
Yeah, you are right of course. On paper, De Ligt and Ugarte should be brilliant players, and Fernandes has been world class over the years. Nowadays, I'd have Van Hecke, Baleba and Pedro/Rutter over them every time but who knows how they'd perform in our team!

This is the key point, a couple of them maybe if they improved their attitude and upped their game.

Comrade Sam · 2025-01-21T13:06:18+0000

I think a big part of our recruitment is finding intelligent footballers that can deal with changing tactics. Man Utd are full of highly skilled one trick ponies.

Wardy's twin · 2025-01-21T13:16:18+0000

Guinness Boy said:
The bouncing of the Winstanley thread made me think of this but in Chelsea. Unlike Liverpool they have no realistic chance of the Premier League title this season and have underachieved compared to spend ever since The Todd arrived. Their fans have become, essentially, a fanbase who celebrate signing players like a trophy. Like paying over the odds for players and having a bomb squad is somehow trophy worthy.

But of course, in both cases, it's not your geezer from Hayes who's been in the same place in the Shed End all his life writing this bollocks, nor would it be the two blokes we met before the Liverpool game in the Ship and Mitre who were annoyed because the Tier One for their next European away was anyone who'd done the last 27 European games consecutively and they'd only done 26. It's that special breed, the foreign online fan, people who watch every game on telly or a mardy stream but couldn't find Anfield or Stamford Bridge on a map. They manage to combine a special kind of entitlement with an incredible level of ignorance and they all follow each other to create an enormous bubble of stupidity. Frankly, once again, I blame the internet.

Totally agree, though would specify social media rather than the internet.... Unfortunately now quite noticeable in BHAFC FB groups... Not sure NSC going on FB is a good thing.

Weststander · 2025-01-21T13:29:42+0000

Lady Whistledown said:
Funny- there was a piece on the transfer window in The Athletic a couple of days ago, and their Liverpool correspondent James Pearce added a section relating to the probable (lack of) incomings for them this month.

The replies were truly a sight to behold. Dozens and dozens of angry LFC fans accusing him of being a patsy and a mouthpiece for the club: spitting venom about the supposed mismanagement of FSG and their complete unwillingness to try and improve the squad and generally making out that they're in an absolute state. Pearce pointed out that Liverpool are currently six points clear at the top of the Premier League and on course to win their first worthwhile title in over 30 years, in both English cup competitions still, and leading the Champions League standings.

Made no odds: they still continued to whine incessantly about how bad their owners are, presumably because Liverpool haven't yet signed Gyökeres and Isak and Lamine Yamal, and probably because the Caicedo thing still hurts.

The sense of entitlement was palpable.

I've followed this for many years on RAWK.

It won't come as a surprise to anyone that in every transfer window there are a few dozen relentless doommongers. The same people hate FSG either because they're evil capitalists [who've never taken a cent out of the UK entity] and because .... contradicts the first part .... they don't financially dope like Boehly and Mansour. They try to drown out an army of folk who post positive stuff. There also a thread about FSG/Edwards type stuff, where the angry Marxists moan a great deal too. Empty vessels.

It's a football thing. Arsenal fans just now online are demanding the loan/purchase of a world class striker ..... this month.

Fans can 'see' they're within touching distance of winning the lot with that 'one key signing'. Whereas most owners other than Boehly, Mansour and the Forest cheat try to play the long game and run a business.

Wardy's twin · 2025-01-21T13:30:11+0000

The problem with MUFC (and others) starts at the top and then works down from there. The owners see it as a cash cow and nothing more so there's no passion and that is reflected in the fans who just could not lift their team. I know we have a similarly quiet home crowd but that's because the demographics are very different. MUFC given their history should be able to fill their ground with 70k baying Mancunians literally sucking the ball into the net instead it was just totally limp.

sydney · 2025-01-21T13:36:52+0000

pigmanovich said:
Yep. Amad's decision making in the final third is better than Minteh's, but he is admittedly two years older and has played more football in more competitive leagues. So only a slight upgrade.

Yoro is highly rated but one for the future so it's a no for now. Dalot had a good 2023/24, but on his current form, I wouldn't take him either.

I thought Yoro was absolute GASH...!!

Beanstalk · 2025-01-21T13:40:24+0000

Lady Whistledown said:
Funny- there was a piece on the transfer window in The Athletic a couple of days ago, and their Liverpool correspondent James Pearce added a section relating to the probable (lack of) incomings for them this month.

The replies were truly a sight to behold. Dozens and dozens of angry LFC fans accusing him of being a patsy and a mouthpiece for the club: spitting venom about the supposed mismanagement of FSG and their complete unwillingness to try and improve the squad and generally making out that they're in an absolute state. Pearce pointed out that Liverpool are currently six points clear at the top of the Premier League and on course to win their first worthwhile title in over 30 years, in both English cup competitions still, and leading the Champions League standings.

Made no odds: they still continued to whine incessantly about how bad their owners are, presumably because Liverpool haven't yet signed Gyökeres and Isak and Lamine Yamal, and probably because the Caicedo thing still hurts.

The sense of entitlement was palpable.

In fairness to actual Liverpool fans, the comment section on The Athletic have become farcical since the New York Times takeover. Very clear that, especially for the big global clubs (Liverpool, United, Arsenal, Chelsea) there are a lot of new active commenters from the states who have now found The Athletic as part of their usual subscription and have a casual American sports view (in terms of a closed pool of players and mid-season trading) of football.

sussex_guy2k2 · 2025-01-21T13:55:10+0000

Not Andy Naylor said:
I was mildly annoyed by suggestions that six of our team yesterday would make the Manchester United starting XI. First, why would they want to (actually I already know the answer, so don't bother replying), but mainly - only six?

I had the same conversation. Genuinely, I think only 2-3 of their players get into our side at this moment.

Monkey Man · 2025-01-21T13:55:36+0000

Once a club attains a certain status it's much harder to take any sort of risk on signings. Fans (and investors) get angry.

They want players that have already hit the heights (cf World Cup winner Mac Allister goes to Liverpool) and wouldn't go for the sort of signings that Brighton fans get enthused about.

Man United and Spurs would be doing much better this season with Brighton's recruitment. And Man City are suffering because they have an ageing collection of first team players and relatively few young prospects emerging into their matchday squad.

I know that not all of our transfer gambles pay off, and that the very good players don't tend to stay here long. But it's an exciting and sustainable way to run a football club.

Professor Plum · 2025-01-21T14:03:18+0000

Lady Whistledown said:
Funny- there was a piece on the transfer window in The Athletic a couple of days ago, and their Liverpool correspondent James Pearce added a section relating to the probable (lack of) incomings for them this month.

The replies were truly a sight to behold. Dozens and dozens of angry LFC fans accusing him of being a patsy and a mouthpiece for the club: spitting venom about the supposed mismanagement of FSG and their complete unwillingness to try and improve the squad and generally making out that they're in an absolute state. Pearce pointed out that Liverpool are currently six points clear at the top of the Premier League and on course to win their first worthwhile title in over 30 years, in both English cup competitions still, and leading the Champions League standings.

Made no odds: they still continued to whine incessantly about how bad their owners are, presumably because Liverpool haven't yet signed Gyökeres and Isak and Lamine Yamal, and probably because the Caicedo thing still hurts.

The sense of entitlement was palpable.

I don't find Liverpool fans like that at all. They have a long history of signing very few players, but the ones who do arrive, make an impact. They've always been astute, going right back to the 60s and 70s.

But Chelsea fans? That's where the 'entitlement' comes in. If they're not signing half a dozen 'established top players' per window (and more in summer) they are up in arms. Just look at them now, squealing about Delap and Guehy and Osimhen and others. They're horrendous.

Brian Munich · 2025-01-21T14:29:57+0000

Guinness Boy said:
The bouncing of the Winstanley thread made me think of this but in Chelsea. Unlike Liverpool they have no realistic chance of the Premier League title this season and have underachieved compared to spend ever since The Todd arrived. Their fans have become, essentially, a fanbase who celebrate signing players like a trophy. Like paying over the odds for players and having a bomb squad is somehow trophy worthy.

But of course, in both cases, it's not your geezer from Hayes who's been in the same place in the Shed End all his life writing this bollocks, nor would it be the two blokes we met before the Liverpool game in the Ship and Mitre who were annoyed because the Tier One for their next European away was anyone who'd done the last 27 European games consecutively and they'd only done 26. It's that special breed, the foreign online fan, people who watch every game on telly or a mardy stream but couldn't find Anfield or Stamford Bridge on a map. They manage to combine a special kind of entitlement with an incredible level of ignorance and they all follow each other to create an enormous bubble of stupidity. Frankly, once again, I blame the internet.

The special breed of online fans seems to specifically be African armchair fans on X/Twitter. That certainly seemed to be the case of Man City, Arsenal and especially Chelsea fans when we had the temerity to not roll over and sell Cucurella and Caicedo for the first fee offered. Worst thing was that loads of them are paid-for blue tick accounts spamming everything posted by the official club account meaning that we're force fed their uninformed shite at the top of every comments section.

Closure of my X account and migration over to BlueSky was as much to do with these numpties as the political stuff.

crabface · 2025-01-21T14:34:08+0000

Monkey Man said:
Once a club attains a certain status it's much harder to take any sort of risk on signings. Fans (and investors) get angry.

They want players that have already hit the heights (cf World Cup winner Mac Allister goes to Liverpool) and wouldn't go for the sort of signings that Brighton fans get enthused about.

Man United and Spurs would be doing much better this season with Brighton's recruitment. And Man City are suffering because they have an ageing collection of first team players and relatively few young prospects emerging into their matchday squad.

I know that not all of our transfer gambles pay off, and that the very good players don't tend to stay here long. But it's an exciting and sustainable way to run a football club.

City let Delap and Palmer leave, certainly Palmer would have definitely helped their matchday squad this season.

Change at Barnham · 2025-01-21T14:44:06+0000

The problem with United that isn't mentioned enough is that they tie themselves in financial knots by offering massive contracts.

We don't know exact wages, but we can easily assume that players like Casemiro, Onana, Maguire, Rashford are unlikely to be offered more than they are currently getting at United. And there are plenty of other underperforming players on their payroll who are similar.
That makes it massively difficult to refresh the squad with players that Amiron may want to sign.

It's great having players that want to sign for one of the best supported clubs in the world, but United make things very tricky for themselves when they want to reverse the process.

Hopefully they're fecked.

Han Solo · 2025-01-21T14:49:13+0000

Change at Barnham said:
The problem with United that isn't mentioned enough is that they tie themselves in financial knots by offering massive contracts.

We don't know exact wages, but we can easily assume that players like Casemiro, Onana, Maguire, Rashford are unlikely to be offered more than they are currently getting at United. And there are plenty of other underperforming players on their payroll who are similar.
That makes it massively difficult to refresh the squad with players that Amiron may want to sign.

It's great having players that want to sign for one of the best supported clubs in the world, but United make things very tricky for themselves when they want to reverse the process.

Hopefully they're fecked.

Yeah they're stupid as f***.

Not only are the contracts massive, but they extend them based on a few months of good football even if the player has performed poorly most of the time. Luke Shaw is a prime example of a footballer who is useless unless he's chasing a new fat deal, when he suddenly turns into a very solid LB for a while. Maguire is similar and starts playing focused, concentrated football when he needs to be in the squad for a World Cup or when he wants a new fat contract for usually doing nothing.

Rotten club culture that has brought in players with either a rotten attitude or the capacity of developing one.

MJsGhost · 2025-01-21T15:45:28+0000

Han Solo said:
Babylon Disease.

People want new players for the same reason they want a new phone every year despite already having one: they want literally endless amounts of "things". Up until the mid 1980s "what I have" was a more common phrase in magazines and litterature (sauce: ngram) than "what I want", a mentality that affects everything including peoples relation with football clubs.

One of the main developments to come from that is that fans don't like players brought up in the club. No way could your home-programmed Apple phone be as good as the ones in the commercials that costs £1000. And so Lewis Dunk becomes "Championship level", Curtis Jones, Jarrel Quansah and Conor Bradley a sign of "weakness" and "mismanagement". Marcus Rashford was fine as long as he was smiling and scoring goals. As soon as he had it a little rougher, United fans turned on him.

So it goes. People want things. A Premier League club could buy every player in the world and people would still ask for more.

Lets hope all these wankers get what they want. Especially the Liverpool people; their academy has bailed them out more times in the last ten years than their recruitment has so lets hope they replace all their hard working academy youngsters with £100m mercenaries like they want and see where it takes them.

The most lovely thing about Manchester Citys injury crisis a few months ago was the "oops, unfortunately we've sold all our good academy players so we have nothing near Premier League quality outside our first team squad"... FINALLY suffering the consequences of being a hollow and soulless football club.

See my signature for the cure

(do signatures still show at the bottom of posts?) EDIT: Yes

Han Solo · 2025-01-21T16:04:49+0000

MJsGhost said:
See my signature for the cure

(do signatures still show at the bottom of posts?) EDIT: Yes

Wonderful words!

Realising now that Babylon Disease might not be a global term and probably was invented with this...

My head is full of images and women
And cars and money, the ads they send
The nice things in life that you should
Work for and chase until you die

Happiness is in my next purchase
If it's going to be mine, I better do it so I can
be content with just stuff and things
But I want to pound my chest, howl and say

Yes, call the doctor and send someone
Because I have Babylon disease
Call emergency and say; Come quickly!
Because I have Babylon disease
(A preventive, better life)
Yes, I have Babylon disease
(There must be some medicine)
Yes, I have Babylon disease

Yes, they call us cursed
And they call us lazy
And they don't want to mingle with
Some crazy bums
While brains are being used
And young souls are being lost
And nothing can stop it
It's just sitting and watching it

Call the doctor and send someone
Because I have Babylon disease
Drive down with an ambulance
Because I have Babylon disease
Yes, I have Babylon disease
Yes, I have Babylon disease

My brain is washed, I feel infected
I just want to be cured, I don't want anything more
But the alternatives are so few
A dog's life more people can understand
The road we walk is crooked and crooked
And I just want to be my own man
What is the force that controls me from above
Pay your price, it'll be expensive, I promise

Yes, call the doctor and send someone
Because I have Babylon disease
Call emergency and say; Come quickly!
Because I have Babylon disease
(A late, but an elixir)
Yes, I have Babylon disease
(Some magical medicine)
Yes, I have Babylon disease
Yes, call the doctor and send someone
Because I have Babylon disease
Call emergency and say; Come quickly!
Because I have Babylon disease
(Give me an injection)
Yes, I have Babylon disease
(Before I lose my faith)
Yes, I have Babylon disease
(Call 112)
Because I have Babylon disease
(Tell them to hurry up)
Because I have Babylon disease
Yes, I have Babylon disease
Yes, I have Babylon disease

#todaysrandomSwedishmusichistorylesson

Certainly something that can be replicated when imagining the reasons for the endless desire to spend more money on more footballers.

portlock seagull · 2025-01-21T18:20:26+0000

Weststander said:
It's a football thing. Arsenal fans just now online are demanding the loan/purchase of a world class striker ..... this month.

I think this is as good a summary of things than any. At any one time. Football is and always will be cyclical. When fans aren’t getting it all their way, we all complain! Who’d be an owner eh?!!

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[Football] "Quality Signings"

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Political thread tourist.

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Your support is not that great

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