At what stage does Bloom question the recruitment set up?

[AZ Gull]

It's not the recruitment.

It's the manager.

Eddie Howe, mick mcarthy, Sean dyche had poorer squads.

When Eddie Howe left Burnley, they were in 17th place in the division, only two points off the relegation zone, and had the worst defensive record in the Championship.

Last season Uwe Rosler took Wigan to the play-offs, beat Man City in the 6th round of the Cup and then only lost to Arsenal on penalties. Today, his team sit below Albion in the table.

So I'll see your hindsight, and raise you a big f**k-*ff bucket-load of it's not quite as easy as it seems, is it.

 

[British Bulldog]

We have a manager who gets the worst out of our players.

Nail on the head, As much as our player recruitment does leave a lot to be desired at times it's still up to the manager to get the best out of his squad and I really don't believe Hyypia is doing that. We might not have the best squad in the championship but I refuse to believe a lot of our players are as bad as they've looked so far this season.

 

[Arkwright]

I don't totally understand the clubs recruitment set up, how does it work?

Does the manager identify a player and ask Burke to get them in or does the manager identify a position on the pitch and ask Burke to fill that role?

Either way surely the manager has the final say.

 

[supaseagull]

If true, sounds very much like the actions of a Yes Man who will say whatever his prospective employer wants to hear in order to secure the only job on offer. Would have expected for him to insist on having some degree of input into recruitment, seeing as how it's his neck that would be on the line if it all went tits-up. Which it has.

Ironically we are three managers in since Barber and Burke became involved and the same issue over player recruitment is there despite having three promising managers.

We will end up with a reputation as being a club who no one wants to manage unless the club allows the manager to recruit who they want and not who Mr Burke feels we should.

 

[KZNSeagull]

Ironically we are three managers in since Barber and Burke became involved and the same issue over player recruitment is there despite having three promising managers.

We will end up with a reputation as being a club who no one wants to manage unless the club allows the manager to recruit who they want and not who Mr Burke feels we should.

And what happens if the players that the manager wants to recruit are unaffordable, unavailable or do not want to come to the club? Please see Oscar's january list as a good example. There seems to be an assumption by many on here that because a manager chooses a player, we can automatically sign them. It doesn't work like that.

Burke's team does all of the legwork to identify players that are affordable, available and want to come to the club, saving the manager hundreds of hours of time wasting, allowing him to get on with his main job - coaching and managing the squad. The manager will give Burke's team targets and Burke's team gives the manager a list of possibilities and alternatives, some that the manager would not be aware of. They then decide who they want, if any, and Burke's team goes and does all of the negotiating etc.

I really do not see how there is an issue with this setup. Being unable to afford certain players is the crux of the issue for me. Yes, Gus had some pulling power which we may be lacking at the moment, and PB intimated as much last year. But Gus' issue was not with Burke and his team, it was with the budget. He no doubt wanted various expensive players which we could not afford and TB put his foot down. As Bozza says, Oscar appeared to be apathetic towards recruitment and when SH joined he was not heavily involved, but now is.

The issue, as always, is money. Perhaps we are not spending ours wisely enough and we have and will continue to speculate about that for the rest of time, since we can only suppose. The recruitment process, and who does what, is not the issue in my view.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

The similarity isn't that. For example Swansea and Southampton are selling players, changing managers, have separate recruitment systems beyond the managers, but are still making it work.

For me, as I've said, I've no issue with selling players to the Premier League. It's a reality we have to live with.

What we've done appallingly badly in my opinion is not adequately value the players we have. Not giving Barnes the big contract he felt he deserved is now looking as ridiculous as the same decision for Murray. Barnes is a better play up front than if you put O'Grady / Colunga / Baldock into a newly invented quantum mixing machine and created a player with the best attributes of all 3.

I know I'm going over old ground, but all this concentrating on who is coming in is really masking the real question of who is going out. I miss Ashley Barnes as much as I missed Glen Murray now. Anyone thinking what a good bit of business it was to get a bit of cash for him really wants their head testing considering what that cash has got us in return.

I'll tell you this much, Ashley would have notched more times than our entire midfield and forwards put together if he was still here.

Totally agree. Every time the ball is rolled invitingly across the box only to roll out the other side, I always feel the need to remark 'Barnes would have had that'. End up saying it a couple of times every game. Must get really annoying for those around me. It's true though.

 

[Lifelong Supporter]

And what happens if the players that the manager wants to recruit are unaffordable, unavailable or do not want to come to the club? Please see Oscar's january list as a good example. There seems to be an assumption by many on here that because a manager chooses a player, we can automatically sign them. It doesn't work like that.

Burke's team does all of the legwork to identify players that are affordable, available and want to come to the club, saving the manager hundreds of hours of time wasting, allowing him to get on with his main job - coaching and managing the squad. The manager will give Burke's team targets and Burke's team gives the manager a list of possibilities and alternatives, some that the manager would not be aware of. They then decide who they want, if any, and Burke's team goes and does all of the negotiating etc.

I really do not see how there is an issue with this setup. Being unable to afford certain players is the crux of the issue for me. Yes, Gus had some pulling power which we may be lacking at the moment, and PB intimated as much last year. But Gus' issue was not with Burke and his team, it was with the budget. He no doubt wanted various expensive players which we could not afford and TB put his foot down. As Bozza says, Oscar appeared to be apathetic towards recruitment and when SH joined he was not heavily involved, but now is.

The issue, as always, is money. Perhaps we are not spending ours wisely enough and we have and will continue to speculate about that for the rest of time, since we can only suppose. The recruitment process, and who does what, is not the issue in my view.

Excellent post.

 

[Moshe Gariani]

So I'll see your hindsight, and raise you a big f**k-*ff bucket-load of it's not quite as easy as it seems, is it.

I like this phrase. Particularly applicable to armchair analysis of cricket team selection and field-placing.

 

[ewe2]

It seems from the debate,that the system,is basically OK,many other clubs have the same.Its the quality of those operating it,and in fairness their financial constraints that seem the problem.

 

[sahel]

It seems from the debate,that the system,is basically OK,many other clubs have the same.Its the quality of those operating it,and in fairness their financial constraints that seem the problem.

Yes but the strategy just seems wrong. Too many ordinary players too large a squad. Same budget, fewer players better wages per player, better players.

 

[British Bulldog]

I will be interesting to see what Tony Bloom has to say about it all this week, not just in his argus interview where they are supposed to have discussed player recruitment and Hyypia. But hopefully we'll also get some feedback from the seagulls over London meeting that TB is scheduled to be at as well.

 

[Giraffe]

Baldock gets SUCH an easy ride on here.
Saturday, off the top of my head, from the first half alone (minutes are very much guesswork):

02: E.Bennett slips Calderon down the right channel. Calderon whips a superb low cross, right across the six yard line, begging to be finished off. Baldock, in the centre, makes no real effort to get in front of the single defender.

20: Lualua picks the ball up on halfway and drives at the defence, before rolling the ball to Baldock, left of the penalty spot. Baldock could shoot first time, but takes a touch and gets closed out by the two defenders.

25: E.Bennett slips the ball to Baldock, just inside the box, left of centre. Baldock mis-hits a side-foot shot first time, tamely at the keeper.

42: Calderon plays Baldock into the box, right of the goal. Could have taken a quick shot, but choses to take a touch, and the defender forces it out for a corner (which praise the Lord, we score from).

43: (immediately after the goal) J.Bennett picks up the ball just in our half, and drives to the edge of the box, then lays it right to the unmarked Baldock. Baldock declines to shoot first time. Gets closed down, and has to turn away from the goal to keep the move alive.

That's five opportunities in 45 minutes of football - from which he got one shot away. Note I say 'opportunities', rather than 'chances'. Oppourtunities are what you need to work with at this level. If you can only score from tap ins and clear one-on-ones your level is League One, where the defenders are shit.

Spot on post.

I've been saying all season that he doesn't make the sort of runs that a striker should do. Time after time a cross is whipped in to the "corridor of uncertainty" and no one is there. Baldock just doesn't seem to make those gambles, Andy Gray would be going mad if he watched us.

 

[DavidinSouthampton]

Career choice for Sammy Lee, summer 2014:

a) Join a club with £25m annual income, in the Championship, which has always struggled to score but has decided to sell its top scorers and which got destroyed on SKY for all football-watchers to see by Derby in the playoffs; or

b) A PL club with income c. £90m, who can and do pay multi-£m transfer fees per player for new squad members, which has the greatest player academy in this country, and earn yourself a salary many times more than Brighton could afford to pay.

Ummmmm .... a difficult one.

Agreed. I'm not holding it against him. I would hold it against Southampton FC if anyone.

I wonder if things might have been a lot different had he stayed with us, though.

 

[Giraffe]

I'm also struggling to believe that Toko was a development squad addition, for the following reasons:-

* When he signed, the article on the official website included this :-



I'm really struggling to believe that the club would include such a comment from Tony Bloom for a development squad player.

* The official site also ran this story about Toko wanting to create a great relationship with the Albion fans (can't imagine they would do that for a DS player).

* He signed a three-year deal - most DS players get 1 or 2 years at most (Chicksen is the only other DS player I can think of who was given such a long deal)

* He was 23 when he signed - we have only ever signed two other players older than 20 for our DS; 21-year-old Chicksen and 22-year-old Maksimenko

* He turned down a lucrative move to Spartak Moscow to sign for Albion - Albion new boy turned down Russian deal

And some bloke wrote this just prior to the announcement of his signing:-

Beautifully executed. That's a win for you.

 

[Giraffe]

Ironically we are three managers in since Barber and Burke became involved and the same issue over player recruitment is there despite having three promising managers.

We will end up with a reputation as being a club who no one wants to manage unless the club allows the manager to recruit who they want and not who Mr Burke feels we should.

This in a nutshell.

Chose a good manager, as Gus was/is and let them dictate player recruitment.

Barber/Burke joined and we ended up with two decent managers walking out of the door in the space of two seasons. Good managers want to run the team and chose their type players. That's just a fact.

It strikes me the good managers who might have been interested on the job were put off by outset up OR Bloom would rather have a manager who is more of a yes man that just goes along with the set up. Neither strike me as very promising for our future.

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

Spot on post.

I've been saying all season that he doesn't make the sort of runs that a striker should do. Time after time a cross is whipped in to the "corridor of uncertainty" and no one is there. Baldock just doesn't seem to make those gambles, Andy Gray would be going mad if he watched us.

It seems to have happened for him at Bristol City, but perhaps their results without him suggest that they simply attack more and make more chances.

Or maybe it's just that they play in a lower division, of course. Perhaps we'll get a chance next season to see if that is the main difference.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

It seems to have happened for him at Bristol City, but perhaps their results without him suggest that they simply attack more and make more chances.

Or maybe it's just that they play in a lower division, of course. Perhaps we'll get a chance next season to see if that is the main difference.

Seriously - 20 minutes of 'highlights' weekly on the FLS is all you need to watch, to be absolutely clear that the big difference is the quality of the defending.

 

[Marshy]

Seriously - 20 minutes of 'highlights' weekly on the FLS is all you need to watch, to be absolutely clear that the big difference is the quality of the defending.

Spot on. Below the championship defending is generally pretty poor.

Championship and above is a whole different ball game

 

[B.W.]

Totally agree. Every time the ball is rolled invitingly across the box only to roll out the other side, I always feel the need to remark 'Barnes would have had that'. End up saying it a couple of times every game. Must get really annoying for those around me. It's true though.

So the answer is Barnes. An average Championship player at best who consistently missed a hatful of chances and scored at a poor rate for us in the Championship!? I think not.

 

[Hamilton]

It seems to have happened for him at Bristol City, but perhaps their results without him suggest that they simply attack more and make more chances.

Or maybe it's just that they play in a lower division, of course. Perhaps we'll get a chance next season to see if that is the main difference.

Because we'll be in League 1 or because they'll be in the Championship?