Stronger than last season

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boyyanno
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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by boyyanno » Mon Jul 22, 2019 6:28 pm

TVC15 wrote:I agree with all of this - and most fans (me included) think we should be spending more and prioritising a centre mid. I’ve said on many threads why we can afford this too backing it up with numbers.
What I disagree with as how anybody could think we are in a weaker position now than the start of last season. The way to answer it though is simply say where he thinks we are weaker and why - not turn it into another transfer thread or about who we should buy. This thread is about who we have bought, let go and also about the development (or not) of the existing team / squad during the last year.
I agree with you I don't think we are weaker, I'd argue both players are improvements on the ones we have moved on and they're both younger, that's just in this window so far. Obviously McNeil was like a new star winger and Taylor improved to a very good level. Added to that we have all of our Keepers back (for now), had a good second half to the season, and Westwood for example came on leaps and bounds himself as did many others.

We're light years ahead of last year in my opinion. It was also good to see us fight back from the poor results and poor position, that sort of experience will have improved them mentally.

A centre mid is key to making us a side comfortable at this level and hopefully we get one.

LTL, why are we weaker?

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by GodIsADeeJay81 » Mon Jul 22, 2019 7:20 pm

ksrclaret wrote:You know, Sidney, and I appreciate this may be hard for you to comprehend, but you aren’t obliged to spend all day, every day, sat refreshing this board and replying to posts.

If you really don’t like it, maybe you could find something else to do with your time?
I don't spend all day, everyday on here though, despite what people think.
I've done other stuff most of day and throughout the weekend.
I even took January off from being on here, the whole month, because I just knew it would be full of the usual guff.

You know I'm right though, every window it's the same on here, full of drama queens wetting their knickers at the thought the club isn't doing what the fans want and it's generally the usual suspects.
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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by boatshed bill » Mon Jul 22, 2019 7:28 pm

as long as we don't sell anyone we can't replace then of course we are stronger.
Rodriguez and Pieters are improvements on what we had.
Taylor and McNeil were steadily improving last season, and we have Nick Pope back and fit.
Looks good to me. :)

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by DCWat » Mon Jul 22, 2019 7:37 pm

GodIsADeeJay81 wrote:I don't spend all day, everyday on here though, despite what people think.
I've done other stuff most of day and throughout the weekend.
I even took January off from being on here, the whole month, because I just knew it would be full of the usual guff.

You know I'm right though, every window it's the same on here, full of drama queens wetting their knickers at the thought the club isn't doing what the fans want and it's generally the usual suspects.
It’s what makes a message board, if rational points are put forward. Aside from the football itself, transfers are a bloody big talking point.

Don’t belittle other views as guff or knicker wetting, it just creates arguments. You may not agree with points but that’s much better than all the bloody arguments.

I’ve linked your post, but by no means a dig at you alone Sydney.

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by Erasmus » Mon Jul 22, 2019 7:53 pm

The steps taken by the club regarding recruitment may have some effect, but the problem is largely existential and hence there is only a limited amount that could be done. That's why I think the criticisms of the club are misplaced. When players sign for other clubs it is because those clubs are more attractive to players, have more money than we do and so play higher wages. So we have to make do with what we can get, largely players that others don't want, and then get them to perform at the very highest level they can. We do that very, very well, but I can't see there is much that can be done to change the reality of our position in this league.

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by BOYSIE31 » Mon Jul 22, 2019 8:01 pm

boatshed bill wrote:as long as we don't sell anyone we can't replace then of course we are stronger.
Rodriguez and Pieters are improvements on what we had.
Taylor and McNeil were steadily improving last season, and we have Nick Pope back and fit.
Looks good to me. :)
But you can still improve and move players on and replace with better - we are allowed to change this squad you know even though all are under contract - we just seem to work to 1 in 1 out policy.

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by boatshed bill » Mon Jul 22, 2019 8:18 pm

BOYSIE31 wrote:But you can still improve and move players on and replace with better - we are allowed to change this squad you know even though all are under contract - we just seem to work to 1 in 1 out policy.
That wasn't the question, though, was it?
IMO we have improved on last season, simple as that.

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by bartons baggage » Mon Jul 22, 2019 8:21 pm

BOYSIE31 wrote:According to Dyche

How ???

2 in 2 out and similar players
Oh shut up you big girl.
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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by warksclaret » Mon Jul 22, 2019 8:44 pm

We are stronger because the Europa Cup qualifiers had a damaging impact for us in the PL

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by jrgbfc » Mon Jul 22, 2019 8:46 pm

At present the squad is improved with the extra option/flexibility Jay gives us upfront. Pieters for Ward is basically like for like. Can't really judge until the end of the window as Tarkowski may still move on and there's the big gaping hole in centre mid that is yet to be filled.

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by leelad » Tue Jul 23, 2019 6:03 am

In answer to the OP, we are definitely stronger than last season.

Pieters should provide greater competition to Taylor than Ward did last season. And he has a lot of experience as well of the Prem League.
Jay Rod should give us an extra option up front than playing Wood and Barnes.
If (and it's a big if) Brady, JBG, Lennon have good pre seasons and get back to a more consistent level of form, that will be encouraging.
Mentally, the squad has shown that it can recover from being in a relegation place at the halfway point of last season and dig themselves out to stay up.

Also no distraction of Europa League.
If we can recruit a tough no nonsense centre mid who can be a playmaker as well, I'll be happy.
And perhaps another defender assuming the rumours about Tarky are true (but let's see).

Let's be positive. In Dyche we trust!
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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by Darnhill Claret » Tue Jul 23, 2019 1:11 pm

LTL please explain the point that you consistently make, that our players are all 12 months older than they were this time
last year. I understand the ageing process, but don’t understand how that weakens us by comparison to players at other clubs.

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by dsr » Tue Jul 23, 2019 1:39 pm

Cork, Rodriguez, and Lowton have all turned 30 recently. Barnes and Mee turn 30 early in the season. That's the current worry, if it is a worry. What LTL is worried about, I would guess, is that two or three years down the line they may all get old at the same time.
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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by Spijed » Tue Jul 23, 2019 1:50 pm

dsr wrote:Cork, Rodriguez, and Lowton have all turned 30 recently. Barnes and Mee turn 30 early in the season. That's the current worry, if it is a worry. What LTL is worried about, I would guess, is that two or three years down the line they may all get old at the same time.
If 30 is too old just look how successful Roger Federer is and he's 37!

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by BOYSIE31 » Tue Jul 23, 2019 1:52 pm

In football terms is getting on a bit with no sale value and all having to be changed in 1 or 2 windows which would be a mess.

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by Darnhill Claret » Tue Jul 23, 2019 2:11 pm

As at 19 other clubs, I’m guessing there aren’t many teams where all players are below the age of 29.

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by BOYSIE31 » Tue Jul 23, 2019 2:34 pm

Darnhill Claret wrote:As at 19 other clubs, I’m guessing there aren’t many teams where all players are below the age of 29.
But we have about 90%

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by FactualFrank » Tue Jul 23, 2019 2:39 pm

leelad wrote:In answer to the OP, we are definitely stronger than last season.

Pieters should provide greater competition to Taylor than Ward did last season. And he has a lot of experience as well of the Prem League.
Jay Rod should give us an extra option up front than playing Wood and Barnes.
If (and it's a big if) Brady, JBG, Lennon have good pre seasons and get back to a more consistent level of form, that will be encouraging.
Mentally, the squad has shown that it can recover from being in a relegation place at the halfway point of last season and dig themselves out to stay up.

Also no distraction of Europa League.
If we can recruit a tough no nonsense centre mid who can be a playmaker as well, I'll be happy.
And perhaps another defender assuming the rumours about Tarky are true (but let's see).

Let's be positive. In Dyche we trust!
Also stronger in the sense that we'll have McNeil from the start of the season, as opposed to halfway through.
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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by Darnhill Claret » Tue Jul 23, 2019 3:35 pm

The Academy and training facilities will over the next 3 to 5 years start to show some positive results. Perhaps we all need to show some patience and perhaps take note of our under 23’s and scholars as the set-up begins to show a trickledown ( or up) effect. All the signs are positive. Time to be a supporter for the long-term rather than from window to window.
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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by Long Time Lurker » Tue Jul 23, 2019 9:16 pm

Darnhill Claret wrote:LTL please explain the point that you consistently make, that our players are all 12 months older than they were this time
last year. I understand the ageing process, but don’t understand how that weakens us by comparison to players at other clubs.
Stronger or weaker applies to every aspect of the club. Like it or not football is as much about money as it is on the pitch performance. Older players are attracting less interest in the market and lower transfer fees. So players getting older decreases our net financial worth.

The fact that our players are a year older means they have also moved closer to the end of their contracts. That means giving them a new contract ( which might entail more years than we would like to give them ) or letting them leave on a free.

Obviously, that doesn't apply to everyone. Dwight is a year older and that year has seen his value sky rocket. Younger players have greater freedom for movement. The value of an older player is highly likely to decrease, but the value of a younger player ( with more time on their hands ) could go either way. Attracting players that are more likely to improve / increase in value is the difference between good scouting and bad ( mixed with a bit of common sense ).

It is also fair to say that nothing is ever certain in football. A club could bring in a hot young player and that player could experience a career ending injury that sees their investment go up in smoke. However, losing the battle against the clock of advancing years, is pretty much a guaranteed result. It isn't a matter of will it happen, but when.

To clarify the overall thrust of my previous post, I think we might be slightly stronger on the playing front.

In terms of overall impact Jay is an upgrade on Voke.

I'm not sure about Pieters. He represents an upgrade on an empty slot, but so would my cat. In terms of an upgrade on an injured or otherwise unavailable Wardy the same could be said.

However, I don't think he represents an improvement on a Wardy who could maybe still do a bit and given his flat back defensive suitability and I'm worried he could diminish the impact of Dwight - which would make us a lot weaker.

The players at every club get a year older every single season. However, the difference between our club and the vast majority is that we don't have a good spread of ages. Most of our eggs are in the Twilight basket and while older players can still perform the market is growing more averse to them and their value is falling quickly, while the price of younger players is rising rapidly.

Having a concentration of older players in our squad increases the financial impact on a club when everyone gets a year older.

If you have a warehouse stocked with commodities that nobody wants, tarnished with relatively high upkeep costs, that will diminish your ability to compete in the market going forward. People pay less for unwanted goods and if the price of replacing what you have is rising quickly you will run out of money even if you are being thrifty in your expenditure.

The only way to offset that is to have money invested in players who can keep pace with the changing market demands.

By that I don't mean spending £10-£20m on the next Premier League ready youngster. I mean spending £1-2m on good quality players who could be reasonably expected to step up over the next year or two - free transfers if possible. It would still represent an outlay, but it could balance the books over the short term until our Academy can crank up its production.

We don't appear to have done anything like that in this window so far and we haven't done it previously. That is why we are limited to sell and replace or leave and replace. However, in previous windows we have actually brought in players that had some chance of increasing their value. I don't think Jay and Pieters can lay claim to that.

I think that we are a looking a lot weaker in relation to the financial / player development side of things. Especially in terms of planning for the future in terms of were we might find ourselves - up or down we have reduced our options.

Taking the playing side of things and the financial / strategic side of things together I would say that we are currently weaker.

Sorry I couldn't answer using fewer words, but when explaining the reasoning behind a point and addressing the playing / financial impact of new players on a club it takes more words than addressing " are these two players an upgrade on these two players ". To me the question of whether we are stronger or weaker is multi-faceted.
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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by Long Time Lurker » Tue Jul 23, 2019 9:22 pm

Darnhill Claret wrote:The Academy and training facilities will over the next 3 to 5 years start to show some positive results. Perhaps we all need to show some patience and perhaps take note of our under 23’s and scholars as the set-up begins to show a trickledown ( or up) effect. All the signs are positive. Time to be a supporter for the long-term rather than from window to window.
I agree with the outlook, but I don't think we can afford to wait 3-5 years for a potential return from the Academy. We have a resource and it needs to start making money now.

That could be done by bringing in players who are 20-22. Players that have a reasonably chance of stepping up in 1 or 2 years or that could we could reasonably expect to turn a profit on. A time frame of 3-5 years condems us to treading water for 1-3 years at least.

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by dsr » Tue Jul 23, 2019 10:33 pm

Long Time Lurker wrote:Stronger or weaker applies to every aspect of the club. Like it or not football is as much about money as it is on the pitch performance. Older players are attracting less interest in the market and lower transfer fees. So players getting older decreases our net financial worth.

The fact that our players are a year older means they have also moved closer to the end of their contracts. That means giving them a new contract ( which might entail more years than we would like to give them ) or letting them leave on a free.

Obviously, that doesn't apply to everyone. Dwight is a year older and that year has seen his value sky rocket. Younger players have greater freedom for movement. The value of an older player is highly likely to decrease, but the value of a younger player ( with more time on their hands ) could go either way. Attracting players that are more likely to improve / increase in value is the difference between good scouting and bad ( mixed with a bit of common sense ).

It is also fair to say that nothing is ever certain in football. A club could bring in a hot young player and that player could experience a career ending injury that sees their investment go up in smoke. However, losing the battle against the clock of advancing years, is pretty much a guaranteed result. It isn't a matter of will it happen, but when.

To clarify the overall thrust of my previous post, I think we might be slightly stronger on the playing front.

In terms of overall impact Jay is an upgrade on Voke.

I'm not sure about Pieters. He represents an upgrade on an empty slot, but so would my cat. In terms of an upgrade on an injured or otherwise unavailable Wardy the same could be said.

However, I don't think he represents an improvement on a Wardy who could maybe still do a bit and given his flat back defensive suitability and I'm worried he could diminish the impact of Dwight - which would make us a lot weaker.

The players at every club get a year older every single season. However, the difference between our club and the vast majority is that we don't have a good spread of ages. Most of our eggs are in the Twilight basket and while older players can still perform the market is growing more averse to them and their value is falling quickly, while the price of younger players is rising rapidly.

Having a concentration of older players in our squad increases the financial impact on a club when everyone gets a year older.

If you have a warehouse stocked with commodities that nobody wants, tarnished with relatively high upkeep costs, that will diminish your ability to compete in the market going forward. People pay less for unwanted goods and if the price of replacing what you have is rising quickly you will run out of money even if you are being thrifty in your expenditure.

The only way to offset that is to have money invested in players who can keep pace with the changing market demands.

By that I don't mean spending £10-£20m on the next Premier League ready youngster. I mean spending £1-2m on good quality players who could be reasonably expected to step up over the next year or two - free transfers if possible. It would still represent an outlay, but it could balance the books over the short term until our Academy can crank up its production.

We don't appear to have done anything like that in this window so far and we haven't done it previously. That is why we are limited to sell and replace or leave and replace. However, in previous windows we have actually brought in players that had some chance of increasing their value. I don't think Jay and Pieters can lay claim to that.

I think that we are a looking a lot weaker in relation to the financial / player development side of things. Especially in terms of planning for the future in terms of were we might find ourselves - up or down we have reduced our options.

Taking the playing side of things and the financial / strategic side of things together I would say that we are currently weaker.

Sorry I couldn't answer using fewer words, but when explaining the reasoning behind a point and addressing the playing / financial impact of new players on a club it takes more words than addressing " are these two players an upgrade on these two players ". To me the question of whether we are stronger or weaker is multi-faceted.
You can't get players who can be reasonably expected to be Premier League standard in a year or two, for £1m-£2m. You can get players with an outside chance of Premier league standard for that money, perhaps, but in a crowded market, the likely Premier players go for more than that. Be nice if we could get them, but they're rare. We signed someone called Ryan from Bury, if that helps.

I think what we're doing is bucking the market trends. As you say, the price of older players is dropping and the price of younger players is rising. So where we used to buy younger players, we now can't afford them so we buy older players whose prices (relatively) has fallen. We still get two or three years out of them - 29 does not count as old (unless you're Wayne Rooney), especially for players who don't rely on speed as their main attribute. Mee, Barnes, Lowton shouldn't show signs of slowing down for a year or two yet. And to replace Barnes, they did sign younger players in Wood, Vidra, Wells - with varying success, but they are the sort of signings you are after.

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by jojomk1 » Wed Jul 24, 2019 8:02 am

boatshed bill wrote:as long as we don't sell anyone we can't replace then of course we are stronger.
Rodriguez and Pieters are improvements on what we had.
Taylor and McNeil were steadily improving last season, and we have Nick Pope back and fit.
Looks good to me. :)
Not sure that Pieters is an improvement on one of the best free transfers we have seen over recent years plus he is only there as backup
Taylor and McNeil are certainly continuing to improve, but what about the likes of Cork, Lowton, Lennon who are past their best and on a downward curve in performance standards. Plus we can only play one GK.

Overall, I don't see much/if any improvement on the starting 11 (as a whole) for this season without a quality addition in CM plus some pace out wide

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by Cubanclaret » Wed Jul 24, 2019 8:57 am

Long Time Lurker wrote:I agree with the outlook, but I don't think we can afford to wait 3-5 years for a potential return from the Academy. We have a resource and it needs to start making money now.

That could be done by bringing in players who are 20-22. Players that have a reasonably chance of stepping up in 1 or 2 years or that could we could reasonably expect to turn a profit on. A time frame of 3-5 years condems us to treading water for 1-3 years at least.
How do the likes of Koiki and Benson fit into this outlook?
Are they not young players coming through the academy now mixing it up with the first team squad, just like McNeil was this time last year?
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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by claretonthecoast1882 » Wed Jul 24, 2019 9:03 am

Long Time Lurker wrote:I agree with the outlook, but I don't think we can afford to wait 3-5 years for a potential return from the Academy. We have a resource and it needs to start making money now.

That could be done by bringing in players who are 20-22. Players that have a reasonably chance of stepping up in 1 or 2 years or that could we could reasonably expect to turn a profit on. A time frame of 3-5 years condems us to treading water for 1-3 years at least.

You can't basically start from scratch with a youth academy and expect instant results, it won't happen here and doesn't happen anywhere. It is a process rather than an immediate fix. Not sure how we sign players 20 - 22 from other clubs (they would be contracted) for a small fee have you seen the price young potential costs who may be good enough for out first team but if they aren't we can sell and make a profit. Sounds more like a father christmas academy than anything realistic. Just because nobody comes through in the first year doesn't mean it is treading water, patience is going to be required.
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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by aggi » Wed Jul 24, 2019 9:23 am

dsr wrote:You can't get players who can be reasonably expected to be Premier League standard in a year or two, for £1m-£2m. You can get players with an outside chance of Premier league standard for that money, perhaps, but in a crowded market, the likely Premier players go for more than that. Be nice if we could get them, but they're rare. We signed someone called Ryan from Bury, if that helps.

I think what we're doing is bucking the market trends. As you say, the price of older players is dropping and the price of younger players is rising. So where we used to buy younger players, we now can't afford them so we buy older players whose prices (relatively) has fallen. We still get two or three years out of them - 29 does not count as old (unless you're Wayne Rooney), especially for players who don't rely on speed as their main attribute. Mee, Barnes, Lowton shouldn't show signs of slowing down for a year or two yet. And to replace Barnes, they did sign younger players in Wood, Vidra, Wells - with varying success, but they are the sort of signings you are after.
The issue with that is it can be something of a false economy in the long term. Look at teams like Bournemouth and the profits they've made on players like Mings or even Lys Mousset plus the potential profits in signings like Ake, Wilson, Brooks, etc. They may be paying more upfront than signing a 29 year-old but there's a good chance of some resale value and possibly a hefty profit.

I'm not saying we should drastically change our policy to only signing young players but we should be looking at picking up a promising youngster (>22 or so) or two each transfer window. Someone like Tomori for instance. We did this for many years in the past and it paid off repeatedly.

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by Spijed » Wed Jul 24, 2019 9:27 am

aggi wrote:We did this for many years in the past and it paid off repeatedly.
But that was decades ago and football is now a totally different sport to what it was then.

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by aggi » Wed Jul 24, 2019 9:29 am

Spijed wrote:But that was decades ago and football is now a totally different sport to what it was then.
Not really. Fletcher, Austin, Trippier, Mee, Ings, Vokes, Barnes, Keane, Gray, Tarkowski,Pope,(slighter older but a keeper), Taylor - we signed at least one promising player in their early twenties pretty much every season
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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by Spijed » Wed Jul 24, 2019 9:36 am

aggi wrote:Not really. Fletcher, Austin, Trippier, Mee, Ings, Vokes, Barnes, Keane, Gray, Tarkowski,Pope,(slighter older but a keeper), Taylor - we signed at least one promising player in their early twenties pretty much every season
Apologies, I thought you were referring to our youth policy in he 60's & 70's.

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by TVC15 » Wed Jul 24, 2019 9:41 am

jojomk1 wrote:Not sure that Pieters is an improvement on one of the best free transfers we have seen over recent years plus he is only there as backup
Taylor and McNeil are certainly continuing to improve, but what about the likes of Cork, Lowton, Lennon who are past their best and on a downward curve in performance standards. Plus we can only play one GK.

Overall, I don't see much/if any improvement on the starting 11 (as a whole) for this season without a quality addition in CM plus some pace out wide
Don’t think anyone is saying Pieters is going to be a better signing than Ward who was as you say a brilliant player for us. The point being made is that Ward was injured most of last year and largely unavailable or being left out as even a substitute. Pieters comes here fit, a bit younger and with a good level of experience - so from that point of view will provide more competition for Taylor than he Ward did last year.
With Koiki developing well it looks like we have a good balance of young, older, etc at left back.

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by Tall Paul » Wed Jul 24, 2019 10:03 am

jojomk1 wrote:Not sure that Pieters is an improvement on one of the best free transfers we have seen over recent years plus he is only there as backup
Taylor and McNeil are certainly continuing to improve, but what about the likes of Cork, Lowton, Lennon who are past their best and on a downward curve in performance standards. Plus we can only play one GK.

Overall, I don't see much/if any improvement on the starting 11 (as a whole) for this season without a quality addition in CM plus some pace out wide
Stephen Ward wasn't a free transfer.

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by ashtonlongsider » Wed Jul 24, 2019 10:13 am

Not sure I feel we're any stronger than last season. The 2 pluses thus far so far for me is a full pre season without any Europa League interference and JayRod gives us more options up front. Apart from that I feel its Status Quo. Still think there's lots of groundwork needed for us to feel a little more confident.
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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by Darnhill Claret » Wed Jul 24, 2019 1:10 pm

Also a case of small steps forward, to lessen the risk factor of sliding back. We have to balance the base strengthening, with keeping the first team squad solid. No risk for the first team squad whilst the background development continues to evolve so that we promote more from within. This does mean that you aren’t going to get excited by many ‘windows’ anytime soon.

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by TVC15 » Wed Jul 24, 2019 1:15 pm

Tall Paul wrote:Stephen Ward wasn't a free transfer.
Are you sure ?
I thought he was end of contract at Wolves and about to have a medical at Brighton and we jumped in and got him.

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by Tall Paul » Wed Jul 24, 2019 1:31 pm

TVC15 wrote:Are you sure ?
I thought he was end of contract at Wolves and about to have a medical at Brighton and we jumped in and got him.
Yes, it was an undisclosed fee

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by FactualFrank » Wed Jul 24, 2019 1:32 pm

TVC15 wrote:Are you sure ?
I thought he was end of contract at Wolves and about to have a medical at Brighton and we jumped in and got him.
Undisclosed fee I think.

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by TVC15 » Wed Jul 24, 2019 1:38 pm

FactualFrank wrote:Undisclosed fee I think.
I think it was Bolton and BFS who really began this “undisclosed fee” phenomenon - no doubt it was connected to the alleged backhanders and agents fees they were taking via his son as exposed on the Panorama programme years ago.
Made me laugh that BFS said he knew nothing about his own sons dodgy dealings and I think he said he would be disposing him of his duties !

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by Steve1956 » Wed Jul 24, 2019 1:40 pm

TVC15 wrote:I think it was Bolton and BFS who really began this “undisclosed fee” phenomenon - no doubt it was connected to the alleged backhanders and agents fees they were taking via his son as exposed on the Panorama programme years ago.
Made me laugh that BFS said he knew nothing about his own sons dodgy dealings and I think he said he would be disposing him of his duties !
Ahhhhh,BFS I miss him,I wonder who is paymaster is these days,corrupt fat turd. :lol:

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by jojomk1 » Wed Jul 24, 2019 2:37 pm

Steve1956 wrote:Ahhhhh,BFS I miss him,I wonder who is paymaster is these days,corrupt fat turd. :lol:
Getting quite a few slots on breakfast with talkSport radio

Double standards when he talks about today's sorry state of affairs at the club yet he had the massive financial backing of Eddie Davies to make his name

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by fatboy47 » Wed Jul 31, 2019 9:33 am

Not now we're not.
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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by ClaretRock » Wed Jul 31, 2019 11:14 am

Less long-term injuries for one.
More experience under the belt.
Players brought in seem to be an improvement.
I'd say we are in a stronger position.

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by addisclaret » Wed Jul 31, 2019 4:05 pm

BOYSIE31 wrote:But we have about 90%
Removing Heaton and Ward from the list of the squad I found from a quick search on Google we have 7 out of 26 (~27%) aged 30+ and 10 out of 26 (~38%) aged 29+.

90% has to one of the worst cases of estimating an answer that I have ever seen.

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by jrgbfc » Wed Jul 31, 2019 4:19 pm

If we don't bring anyone else in then at best we've stood still. Clutching at straws to suggest our lack of injuries and not playing in Europe has improved us. We could have probably all pretty much guessed the starting XI for the Southampton game as soon as last season finished. That to me isn't really progress.
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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by AndyClaret » Wed Jul 31, 2019 4:25 pm

So Heaton and Tarky out, Peacock-Farrell and Cahill in, Stronger ?? I don't think so.

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by No Ney Never » Fri Aug 02, 2019 11:57 am

Considering we were over stocked in the goalkeeping dept, losing Heaton doesn't leave us any weaker. We've simply removed the excess, bringing more balance to that part of the squad.
Pope/Hart
Lowton /Bardsley, Tarkowski /Long, Mee /Gibson, Taylor /Pieters.
JBG /Lennon, Westwood /Hendrick, Cork / ? , McNeil / Brady,
Barnes /Vyagra, Wood / JayRod.

Just need the one in midfield to replace sicknote and we've got a pretty decent squad.

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by BOYSIE31 » Fri Aug 02, 2019 12:30 pm

No Ney Never wrote:Considering we were over stocked in the goalkeeping dept, losing Heaton doesn't leave us any weaker. We've simply removed the excess, bringing more balance to that part of the squad.
Pope/Hart
Lowton /Bardsley, Tarkowski /Long, Mee /Gibson, Taylor /Pieters.
JBG /Lennon, Westwood /Hendrick, Cork / ? , McNeil / Brady,
Barnes /Vyagra, Wood / JayRod.

Just need the one in midfield to replace sicknote and we've got a pretty decent squad.

Why does nobody want to improve any current players ?

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by randomclaret2 » Fri Aug 02, 2019 12:32 pm

There are pub teams who can call upon 2 players for every position at a push .

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by Blackrod » Fri Aug 02, 2019 12:32 pm

Improve the current squad ? As the Grinch said ‘it’s too much too soon ‘

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by Lord Beamish » Fri Aug 02, 2019 12:34 pm

BOYSIE31 wrote:Why does nobody want to improve any current players ?
Careful. You’re one step away from using Caps Lock.

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by Tall Paul » Fri Aug 02, 2019 12:35 pm

randomclaret2 wrote:There are pub teams who can call upon 2 players for every position at a push .
What's your point?

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