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To my mind we have two main issues. One is long standing and that is the abject failure of the club to bring players through. The other is our seeming inability to improve players and in fact many seem to get worse after they join!
The failed youth system is something the board inherited and on the face of it seem to be doing all they can to rectify it with proposed new facilities, a load of new youth related coaches and genuine emphasis on it. However it will take years for us to see any real benefit so think expectation wise will park that a while. We are starting to see one or two on edges of first team.
The other one is baffling. Players join us with high hopes and then fail. Numerous examples in recent years. In fact arguably nobody improved after joining us. Even Charlie was a great goal scorer before he reached us. This issue must come down to coaching, management and possibly overall toxicity of club.
Take last summer. With benefit of hindsight we can say all bad signings. However not that simple. Bidwell and Cousins both captains at their clubs, rated and brought in as relatively young looking to make a name for themselves. Luongo and Gladwin the previous season. Washington another one. Chery gone down toilet. Going bit further back Hoilett well and truly down toilet!
Our reputation for players must be appalling which will only make recruitment more difficult.
No answers I'm afraid! However we are just on a continual cycle if someone there doesn't get to the bottom of it. Aside from farking up striker recruitment our recruitment strategy on paper good for last summer and much more in keeping with our heritage. Yes lack of strikers biggie but was always going to take a couple of seasons to get playing side right. On paper we had made a sold start, mix of up and comers and experienced pros. Answers on a postcard please.
The failed youth system is something the board inherited and on the face of it seem to be doing all they can to rectify it with proposed new facilities, a load of new youth related coaches and genuine emphasis on it. However it will take years for us to see any real benefit so think expectation wise will park that a while. We are starting to see one or two on edges of first team.
The other one is baffling. Players join us with high hopes and then fail. Numerous examples in recent years. In fact arguably nobody improved after joining us. Even Charlie was a great goal scorer before he reached us. This issue must come down to coaching, management and possibly overall toxicity of club.
Take last summer. With benefit of hindsight we can say all bad signings. However not that simple. Bidwell and Cousins both captains at their clubs, rated and brought in as relatively young looking to make a name for themselves. Luongo and Gladwin the previous season. Washington another one. Chery gone down toilet. Going bit further back Hoilett well and truly down toilet!
Our reputation for players must be appalling which will only make recruitment more difficult.
No answers I'm afraid! However we are just on a continual cycle if someone there doesn't get to the bottom of it. Aside from farking up striker recruitment our recruitment strategy on paper good for last summer and much more in keeping with our heritage. Yes lack of strikers biggie but was always going to take a couple of seasons to get playing side right. On paper we had made a sold start, mix of up and comers and experienced pros. Answers on a postcard please.