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Posted by: jonnyboy82, November 6, 2018, 5:38am
We need a striker its clear to see but seriously after the success with omar bogle and that clearly is a blueprint why haven't we signed a striker lower down non league who scores reguarly and wants a crack at full time football.

We sold omar for a million quid and it works , clubs like peterborough do it often they take a chance on non league players , yes fees are more likely required but its a gamble that can pay off , i mean its worked for us before so why has it not been used again ?

I find it so frustrating we looking around the bargain basement to save a few quid when if we lifted our expectation and ambition we could instead be saving money we could also be making it down the long haul , you know john its called investment

Its like the club has just accepted theres no point looking in non league as the player wont come and we dont want to spend owt anyway .

Omar bogle should have been our blueprint for getting young talent in year on year and selling them on but instead its more like thankyou very much that will do us , yes for every few bogle you might get a donkey but lets be honest were quite used that anyway so why not at least try.

This is just another reason which confirms we need new input new direction and new ambition which i don't think will come in the near future so in reality its looking like its bargain basement for the forseeable future.
Posted by: Meza, November 6, 2018, 7:17am; Reply: 1
I think it's lack of knowledge in non league maybe?  He Cowleys signed a few from non league and they are doing pretty well.  
Posted by: Gaffer58, November 6, 2018, 7:24am; Reply: 2
Completely agree, why do we keep signing players who although they are professional/full time do not appear to be very good really. The amount of players that are changing from one club to another every season just because managers/clubs will not take a punt on a young up amateur.
Posted by: crusty ole pie, November 6, 2018, 7:30am; Reply: 3
Don’t we have something similar with young rose but you have to start having faith him in and give him some game time 5 minute cameos are of little use. I use the old statement if there good enough there old enough
Posted by: Abdul19, November 6, 2018, 7:30am; Reply: 4
We signed Robles from the Spanish división nueve.
Posted by: Mallyner, November 6, 2018, 7:32am; Reply: 5
Quoted from Meza
I think it's lack of knowledge in non league maybe?  He Cowleys signed a few from non league and they are doing pretty well.  


As Davec and I said recently it's also worth looking in Scotland, there are some lads there scoring every week.  :)
Posted by: 1mickylyons, November 6, 2018, 7:47am; Reply: 6
We did sign the next Bogle from Solihull and he did nothing and we got rid I forget his name?
Posted by: pen penfras, November 6, 2018, 7:51am; Reply: 7
I think to some extent, it has been done. Certainly Bignot signed a few, two of which looked like good players. Just a shame he only focused on a players "technical ability" and not their attitude as well.

We've also signed Cardwell, Rose and Vernam who could all go for money if they start to find the back of the net.

I'm sure MJ is smart enough to know that there are some gems in the levels below us and will be working on identifying them. It's not surprising that his knowledge of the national league is lacking when he has always worked above that level and in another country immediately prior to being here.
Posted by: fishboyUTM, November 6, 2018, 7:55am; Reply: 8
That's the trouble when you sign players that from the outside look like they are playing way below their level. Even looking at Bogle, yes he was a beast physically but mentally was he a hundred percent? Not for me, he was rough around the edges and needed a lot of coaching even to play at National league level. He appeared to sulk, made crazy decisions (daft flicks), when he missed a chance his head visibly dropped. He became a goal machine but he still had that self doubt in him and I believe it's still there, he won't progress from where he is now.

You need to look at the whole package, if a player ticks all the boxes and if your scouting network is up to scratch and you have as well a rounded picture of the player then it's likely better clubs than ourselves (of which there are now a great many - thanks John) will swoop first.
Posted by: 1mickylyons, November 6, 2018, 8:21am; Reply: 9
Quoted from pen penfras
I think to some extent, it has been done. Certainly Bignot signed a few, two of which looked like good players. Just a shame he only focused on a players "technical ability" and not their attitude as well.

We've also signed Cardwell, Rose and Vernam who could all go for money if they start to find the back of the net.

I'm sure MJ is smart enough to know that there are some gems in the levels below us and will be working on identifying them. It's not surprising that his knowledge of the national league is lacking when he has always worked above that level and in another country immediately prior to being here.



I still have really high hopes Cardwell will come good he looks to have something about him and I dont know what his injury is but hoping we get him back sooner rather than later?
Posted by: lew chaterleys lover, November 6, 2018, 8:47am; Reply: 10
It is because we have no overarching strategy. Each manager comes and goes doing his own thing and then back to square one. The club is rudderless with the only thing on the agenda is how cheap we can run it. We obviously need new owners that have a vision in the way we operate other than cheaply.
Posted by: fishboyUTM, November 6, 2018, 8:49am; Reply: 11
Quoted from 1mickylyons



I still have really high hopes Cardwell will come good he looks to have something about him and I dont know what his injury is but hoping we get him back sooner rather than later?


Hope you're right. Personally, he looks like another non scoring centre forward of which we have many. Rose is the better bet and he's a couple of years younger I believe.
Posted by: Maringer, November 6, 2018, 9:18am; Reply: 12
Asante was going to be the next Bogle, until he wasn't. High hopes for Yussuf as well, but that didn't work out. Though not a striker, Osbourne was obviously signed as one for the future. All three are now playing in the division below us. In fact, the other promising player we signed around that time, Sam Jones, has done eff all since he left us, something which isn't perhaps too surprising as we all saw that he often seemed lazy or disinterested. I think that we paid a fee for all 4 of these players, though we did obviously get something back for Jones and Osbourne?

The thing about signing promising players from lower divisions to develop and then sell on is that pretty much every club in the world wants to do this and so there aren't many players around who actually can be developed in this manner. The well-funded football academies and scouting systems tend to find the better players much more often than not so there aren't exactly dozens of rough diamonds just hanging around in non-league waiting to be brought into professional football. Clubs certainly can get it wrong when releasing players but they tend to get it right most of the time.

Peterborough have made signing promising lower division players a priority but they have a lot more things going for them than we do. Not least a heck of a lot more money to risk on these players as well as a geographical location which is relatively close to the many south east and midland clubs.

The idea of signing and developing these players is a good one, but the reality is that it's like looking for a needle in a haystack trying to find them.
Posted by: RoboCod, November 6, 2018, 9:34am; Reply: 13
Liam Hearn is the benchmark for the coveted non league striker-comes good. Not just the ability but he loved the club and would run through walls for the team. The ongoing injury saga spoilt it for him but shouldn't deflect from the point that there was someone who appreciated his position as a footballer and served his time well here.
It almost seems like we've had a procession of players who on the whole simply just don't care as long as they're being paid for the last 15 years.
Posted by: diehardmariner, November 6, 2018, 9:35am; Reply: 14
It was a policy that served us really well for 5 years.  

McKeown and Pearson were signed from a league below and we developed them.  Hearn, signed from a league below, would have, broken goalscoring records here and/or sold for a tidy profit.  

Then of course there was Bogle with his 50 goals in 18 month and a monster profit.  

During that time we got burnt by, that I can remember, Anthony Church and Louis Soares.  Neither of whom would have broken the bank.  Even with the ultimately unsuccessful signings of Osborne, Jones, Asante and Yussuf, we're still ridiculously in profit with the whole approach just from the Bogle sale.  I dare say that three of those would get in our team now still.

Not every gamble is going to come off, that's the same with any transfer.  The problem was that we let Bignot have free-reign on bringing the next wave of these players through without any thought about their location, character etc.  The board, i.e Fenty, signed off on these deals and gave the approval.  We then appointed a guy who has no interest in developing player talent as manager and gave him the remit of offloading the high earners....

It was a good, if not great, policy that benefited us beyond belief.  The decision to abandon it was a stupid one with absolutely no thought process behind it.  Be it getting lads released from Academies higher up the chain, lads who are working their way up the system or our own home-grown talent, we have to look at all options available to us.
Posted by: Maringer, November 6, 2018, 10:24am; Reply: 15
Quoted from RoboCod
Liam Hearn is the benchmark for the coveted non league striker-comes good. Not just the ability but he loved the club and would run through walls for the team. The ongoing injury saga spoilt it for him but shouldn't deflect from the point that there was someone who appreciated his position as a footballer and served his time well here.
It almost seems like we've had a procession of players who on the whole simply just don't care as long as they're being paid for the last 15 years.


Didn't it subsequently come out that Hearn was looking for a move after his first season at the club, even before his injury? Might just have been lip service when he finally signed for Mansfield but I'm sure I remember reading some comments that he'd been trying to arrange a move back nearer home for some time?

Regarding the policy of signing lower division players, it worked pretty well with McKeown and Pearson, but as you note, others obviously weren't a success.

I can't think of many of the players we signed from non-league who subsequently plied their trade in League football. Bogle, Cook and Jones but can't really recall too many others.
Posted by: RoboCod, November 6, 2018, 10:45am; Reply: 16
Quoted from Maringer


Didn't it subsequently come out that Hearn was looking for a move after his first season at the club, even before his injury? Might just have been lip service when he finally signed for Mansfield but I'm sure I remember reading some comments that he'd been trying to arrange a move back nearer home for some time?

Regarding the policy of signing lower division players, it worked pretty well with McKeown and Pearson, but as you note, others obviously weren't a success.

I can't think of many of the players we signed from non-league who subsequently plied their trade in League football. Bogle, Cook and Jones but can't really recall too many others.


Not sure, I thought the whole move thing came about after his bad injury and there was hesitancy all round as to his future. He seemed well settled for the first couple of seasons but the move thing did sour the relationship a little but personally I feel Hearn had served us very well and had been the best striker in years, post-injury it all started to fall away but that's been the way for us in recent years. Sell them on while they're hot (Bogle) and forget/fail to replace them or keep them on while they're at their peak and they end up nobbling their knee and worth nothing in the market.
The selling on part is pretty dismal, yes, as even Bogle, Cook, Jones are hardly setting the football world alight. Watching Scunny take on that system of develop and sell on for big profits at that time made things even harder to swallow.
Posted by: fishboyUTM, November 6, 2018, 11:09am; Reply: 17
Without discounting non league prospects, perhaps we should be looking the other way at released players from Premier League and Championship clubs. The influx of foreign players mean talented footballers don't get the opportunity to progress and we could be the benefactor. I've often felt the spine of the team should be made up of experienced pros for the most part but there are plenty of quality younger players out there hungry for a chance.
Posted by: Mariner_09, November 6, 2018, 11:12am; Reply: 18
I dare say if we'd used them properly and not appointed a manager opposed to playing football then Jamey Osborne and Akwasi Asante may well have come good for us and we could've made a tidy profit out of them. Likewise, if used properly, I think Sam Jones would have developed better and over a longer period for us, hence allowing us to sell him for more. Same with Dembele, if he'd been coached better he'd have progressed better and been sold for more than the reported 100k. Maybe if we'd appointed Jolley (or a similar sort) after Hurst left then we may well be in a much stronger position financially and in terms of league position!
Posted by: Paris Mariner, November 6, 2018, 11:21am; Reply: 19
Quoted from Mariner_09
I dare say if we'd used them properly and not appointed a manager opposed to playing football then Jamey Osborne and Akwasi Asante may well have come good for us and we could've made a tidy profit out of them. Likewise, if used properly, I think Sam Jones would have developed better and over a longer period for us, hence allowing us to sell him for more. Same with Dembele, if he'd been coached better he'd have progressed better and been sold for more than the reported 100k. Maybe if we'd appointed Jolley (or a similar sort) after Hurst left then we may well be in a much stronger position financially and in terms of league position!


I think you could argue we did in Bignot but too many moaners on here, on social media and in the stands led to his sacking. People will point to some bad signings and poor performances but we achieved safety under Bignot in a potentially rocky spell for the club and I agree he signed players with potential. It all adds up. Many of those same naysayers are calling for Jolley to go. People live life like they see it on the internet - short term, quick fix. Nobody has long term plans or ambition or patience anymore. What do we want? Everything! When do we want it? NOW!!!
Posted by: fishboyUTM, November 6, 2018, 11:35am; Reply: 20
Quoted from Mariner_09
I dare say if we'd used them properly and not appointed a manager opposed to playing football then Jamey Osborne and Akwasi Asante may well have come good for us and we could've made a tidy profit out of them. Likewise, if used properly, I think Sam Jones would have developed better and over a longer period for us, hence allowing us to sell him for more. Same with Dembele, if he'd been coached better he'd have progressed better and been sold for more than the reported 100k. Maybe if we'd appointed Jolley (or a similar sort) after Hurst left then we may well be in a much stronger position financially and in terms of league position!


It's unfair to categorise players without seeing them train, talk and knowing them. But I'm an unfair kind of bloke so I'm going to anyway:

Osborne: Hugely talented footballer, nobody in the current squad has his ability. I'm going to back Slade on this one, the second he was out of the team he was looking for a transfer back to Solihull of all places. Says a lot for his drive and determination. Also heard from several close sources at the time he was a wrong un. If he had anything about him, he would have dug in and waited for Slade's inevitable dismissal. The apparent lies over his loan move to 'build fitness up' then his 'personal problems' didn't sit well with me.

Asante: Difficult to judge his ability as he didn't play a lot. Arrived carrying a long standing injury and never really kicked on. Again, I'd heard his effort was questionable when he did train and he never showed enough potential. Right move to pay him off, after JF was heard slamming him (I feel for JF here), he could well have had a case for constructive dismissal so getting him paid off and gone was a no brainer.

Jones: Was excellent for us under Hurst for the most part. Real desire to get forward and get on the scoresheet. Loved the ball being played in front of him, suffered badly from Sladeball and neck high punts and seem to lose all passion, which I could understand in all honesty given the appalling tactics from the manager. However, he just gave up, downed tools for all intents and purposes and some of his last performances were abject. The fans didn't deserve that. Still, I can understand him losing heart.

Dembele: Credit to Slade for finding this hugely talented winger. He could do ridiculous things with a football and was immense for the first couple of months of the season. Then for whatever reason, and we can only guess he appeared to down tools as well. Rumours he was on a tiny contract, a youth team players contract but was clearly on fire on the pitch. His performances were not rewarded with a new deal, I believe this had a lot to do with his 'back injury' and subsequent loss of form. We activated his extension to his current deal, presumably just to protect the asset instead of offering him proper terms, resulted in an immediate transfer request. Has massive ability, issues over his strength, daft as it sounds can he kick the ball far enough?!

Posted by: pen penfras, November 6, 2018, 12:01pm; Reply: 21
Quoted from diehardmariner

The problem was that we let Bignot have free-reign on bringing the next wave of these players through without any thought about their location, character etc.  The board, i.e Fenty, signed off on these deals and gave the approval.  We then appointed a guy who has no interest in developing player talent as manager and gave him the remit of offloading the high earners....


So now you want Fenty to interfere in transfers? Of course you don't, be realistic, find criticism where it is due but don't use every fu(king stick on the tree to beat him with, because not everything is one man's fault. The way that he gets blamed for absolutely everything is so daft. There are genuine criticisms of the board that they can improve on, but throwing every bit of sh1t at them devalues any genuine criticism and just looks like childish hatred.
Posted by: psgmariner, November 6, 2018, 12:41pm; Reply: 22
Quoted from pen penfras


So now you want Fenty to interfere in transfers? Of course you don't, be realistic, find criticism where it is due but don't use every fu(king stick on the tree to beat him with, because not everything is one man's fault. The way that he gets blamed for absolutely everything is so daft. There are genuine criticisms of the board that they can improve on, but throwing every bit of sh1t at them devalues any genuine criticism and just looks like childish hatred.


Good point.

I think Fenty has done too much wrong for some that whatever he does he will be criticised. I do get the anger but it's not always helpful.



Posted by: GrimRob, November 6, 2018, 12:45pm; Reply: 23
Limbrick should know the best non-league players. He was managing at NL level this time last year!
Posted by: arryarryarry, November 6, 2018, 12:50pm; Reply: 24
Quoted from pen penfras


So now you want Fenty to interfere in transfers? Of course you don't, be realistic, find criticism where it is due but don't use every fu(king stick on the tree to beat him with, because not everything is one man's fault. The way that he gets blamed for absolutely everything is so daft. There are genuine criticisms of the board that they can improve on, but throwing every bit of sh1t at them devalues any genuine criticism and just looks like childish hatred.


Erm, after more than 15 years of crap there is only one constant.

I won't say but if you are too dumb to work it out give me a shout.
Posted by: psgmariner, November 6, 2018, 1:11pm; Reply: 25
Quoted from arryarryarry


Erm, after more than 15 years of crap there is only one constant.

I won't say but if you are too dumb to work it out give me a shout.


There's loads of constants.

Fenty is the one you are referring to obviously but there are many more. Negativity from fans, Blundell Park and our location in the bottom end of nowhere are 3 more obvious ones.
Posted by: TheRonRaffertyFanClub, November 6, 2018, 1:22pm; Reply: 26
Quoted from psgmariner


There's loads of constants.

Fenty is the one you are referring to obviously but there are many more. Negativity from fans, Blundell Park and our location in the bottom end of nowhere are 3 more obvious ones.


Failure of supporters to accept the root cause when it is staring them in the face is another?
Posted by: LondonMariner43, November 6, 2018, 1:23pm; Reply: 27
If it was so easy to do this then every club would be regularly signing these rough diamonds and making a million.

In the 5 tiers below L2, there might be 10-20 strikers.  Maybe half have potential at a higher level.  There are 90 league clubs chasing these players.  If they are really good they will have ambition beyond the middle of L2.

Statistically we will get one of these once every 10-20 years.  

Football management isn’t the easy job some seem to think!
Posted by: FishOutOfWater, November 6, 2018, 1:34pm; Reply: 28
Quoted from fishboyUTM


It's unfair to categorise players without seeing them train, talk and knowing them. But I'm an unfair kind of bloke so I'm going to anyway:

Osborne: Hugely talented footballer, nobody in the current squad has his ability. I'm going to back Slade on this one, the second he was out of the team he was looking for a transfer back to Solihull of all places. Says a lot for his drive and determination. Also heard from several close sources at the time he was a wrong un. If he had anything about him, he would have dug in and waited for Slade's inevitable dismissal. The apparent lies over his loan move to 'build fitness up' then his 'personal problems' didn't sit well with me.

Asante: Difficult to judge his ability as he didn't play a lot. Arrived carrying a long standing injury and never really kicked on. Again, I'd heard his effort was questionable when he did train and he never showed enough potential. Right move to pay him off, after JF was heard slamming him (I feel for JF here), he could well have had a case for constructive dismissal so getting him paid off and gone was a no brainer.

Jones: Was excellent for us under Hurst for the most part. Real desire to get forward and get on the scoresheet. Loved the ball being played in front of him, suffered badly from Sladeball and neck high punts and seem to lose all passion, which I could understand in all honesty given the appalling tactics from the manager. However, he just gave up, downed tools for all intents and purposes and some of his last performances were abject. The fans didn't deserve that. Still, I can understand him losing heart.

Dembele: Credit to Slade for finding this hugely talented winger. He could do ridiculous things with a football and was immense for the first couple of months of the season. Then for whatever reason, and we can only guess he appeared to down tools as well. Rumours he was on a tiny contract, a youth team players contract but was clearly on fire on the pitch. His performances were not rewarded with a new deal, I believe this had a lot to do with his 'back injury' and subsequent loss of form. We activated his extension to his current deal, presumably just to protect the asset instead of offering him proper terms, resulted in an immediate transfer request. Has massive ability, issues over his strength, daft as it sounds can he kick the ball far enough?!



Sorry... I'm being pedantic I know but Sam Jones was a Bignot signing
Posted by: psgmariner, November 6, 2018, 1:46pm; Reply: 29


Failure of supporters to accept the root cause when it is staring them in the face is another?


I do know what the root cause is, but I can't see how being on a massive downer about the club all the time on an online forum helps fix it. If it works for you then fine good luck to you.

This board, Blundell Park, Twitter, even my friggin whatsapp groups about GTFC are utterly depressing. I am not blind to all the problems but fail to see anyone do the slightest thing to improve it.
Posted by: sam gy, November 6, 2018, 2:02pm; Reply: 30
As other have said...it's not as easy as just signing the next Bogle. And it's not as if we haven't tried (and to some extent, succeeded) since...Jones was sold to a higher division club less than a year ago and Dembele was sold less than 6 months ago.

Asante was rated as better than Bogle by some Solihull fans at the time, but he couldn't get over an injury and where is he now exactly? tamworth according to Wiki. Jamey Osborne was good but blatantly could not make the step up to full time football/living away from home. Both of those left less than a year ago. Admittedly it seems like yonks ago now!
Posted by: TheRonRaffertyFanClub, November 6, 2018, 2:02pm; Reply: 31
Quoted from psgmariner


I do know what the root cause is, but I can't see how being on a massive downer about the club all the time on an online forum helps fix it. If it works for you then fine good luck to you.

This board, Blundell Park, Twitter, even my friggin whatsapp groups about GTFC are utterly depressing. I am not blind to all the problems but fail to see anyone do the slightest thing to improve it.


We all share that frustration but even if every poster on every forum and social media went completely positive and every supporter sang their heart out every game, this would still not alter the fact that the club is where it is. There is only one person who can actually DO something about it rather than just talk, write and sing about it, and he ain't showing any positive signs is he? If he isn't how can you expect anyone else to come up with a smile and a suggestion?
Posted by: 1mickylyons, November 6, 2018, 2:23pm; Reply: 32


We all share that frustration but even if every poster on every forum and social media went completely positive and every supporter sang their heart out every game, this would still not alter the fact that the club is where it is. There is only one person who can actually DO something about it rather than just talk, write and sing about it, and he ain't showing any positive signs is he? If he isn't how can you expect anyone else to come up with a smile and a suggestion?


In my experience when you do step up and try and be positive and help you soon realise it`s a pretty futile exercise. Simple wins that you think you can influence off the pitch soon become embroiled in red tape and things that should take hours or possibly days take weeks months or even years. I don`t know if that`s a GTFC thing or a football thing in general but what I do know is nothing will ever happen quickly here for the forseeable future and that`s where a hell of a lot of frustration comes from.
Posted by: grimsby pete, November 6, 2018, 4:23pm; Reply: 33
We are not going to sign a striker who will score us 20+ goals,

So we have to hope that Cardwell gets fit soon so he can play along side Thomas who might score a lot more goals if he has the freedom.

Failing that  we need to sign a strong target man to play along side Thomas.

Hopefully we will not have to wait too long to see A Rose banging them in for us.
Posted by: Tommy, November 6, 2018, 4:36pm; Reply: 34
There's always a big thing on here about getting a 20-goal striker and how we need to have one.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love us to sign a 20-goal striker, but the reality is, that only 4 or 5 teams in each division have a striker that scores that many goals. So it's not like every team has a 20-goal striker apart from ourselves.

I still don't think we create enough good quality chances, where a player SHOULD score. Maybe that it is partly down to the strikers themselves - would better strikers have better movement and a better instinct and allow us to create more chances, . Maybe it's partly down to the rest of our team not being creative enough. It's probably a bit of both.
Posted by: MuddyWaters, November 6, 2018, 4:40pm; Reply: 35
Quoted from 1mickylyons


In my experience when you do step up and try and be positive and help you soon realise it`s a pretty futile exercise. Simple wins that you think you can influence off the pitch soon become embroiled in red tape and things that should take hours or possibly days take weeks months or even years. I don`t know if that`s a GTFC thing or a football thing in general but what I do know is nothing will ever happen quickly here for the forseeable future and that`s where a hell of a lot of frustration comes from.


We just seem to go round in ever decreasing circles.

Appoint manager. Create optimistic vibe. Set budget. Sign more players. Build new team. Eat, sleep, repeat. Frustration sets in. Trust in the club erodes further. Lose games. Promise stadium......etc
Posted by: lew chaterleys lover, November 6, 2018, 5:16pm; Reply: 36
Quoted from 1mickylyons


In my experience when you do step up and try and be positive and help you soon realise it`s a pretty futile exercise. Simple wins that you think you can influence off the pitch soon become embroiled in red tape and things that should take hours or possibly days take weeks months or even years. I don`t know if that`s a GTFC thing or a football thing in general but what I do know is nothing will ever happen quickly here for the forseeable future and that`s where a hell of a lot of frustration comes from.


You go to any club in the land and the difference in professionalism is astounding. It is all the little things that add up to one big mess, and it has never been addressed, I would imagine, till we moved to a shiny new stadium when "things would be different." Everything has been left to fester and just rumble on 'cos its easier, cheap and not very cheerful.

This is why the current regime shouldn't have anything to do with a new stadium, unlikely as it is to be built. Would you trust them with it?

Even at BP, a new energetic board (I don't mean in the odd job man sense) with a purpose and vibrant thinking would make a tremendous difference to the match day experience.  
Posted by: Cloudy, November 6, 2018, 5:49pm; Reply: 37
Quoted from Tommy
There's always a big thing on here about getting a 20-goal striker and how we need to have one.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love us to sign a 20-goal striker, but the reality is, that only 4 or 5 teams in each division have a striker that scores that many goals. So it's not like every team has a 20-goal striker apart from ourselves.

I still don't think we create enough good quality chances, where a player SHOULD score. Maybe that it is partly down to the strikers themselves - would better strikers have better movement and a better instinct and allow us to create more chances, . Maybe it's partly down to the rest of our team not being creative enough. It's probably a bit of both.


The movement thing is key. We dont make enough runs off the ball, we wait until it is played then react. The player on the ball never has enough options
Posted by: fishboyUTM, November 6, 2018, 5:53pm; Reply: 38
Quoted from FishOutOfWater


Sorry... I'm being pedantic I know but Sam Jones was a Bignot signing


You're right. Fair one.
Posted by: fiveallive, November 6, 2018, 6:08pm; Reply: 39
I wish Fenty would do what the Mullins did throw some money down and ask the fans to match it, that's how we bought Bogle but with Fenty he wants free transfers loans.

Look at Ryan Bennett we got him from Ipswich being released we have never looked at signing young capable players like that again.
Posted by: KingstonMariner, November 6, 2018, 6:40pm; Reply: 40
Quoted from LondonMariner43
If it was so easy to do this then every club would be regularly signing these rough diamonds and making a million.

In the 5 tiers below L2, there might be 10-20 strikers.  Maybe half have potential at a higher level.  There are 90 league clubs chasing these players.  If they are really good they will have ambition beyond the middle of L2.

Statistically we will get one of these once every 10-20 years.  

Football management isn’t the easy job some seem to think!


I assume you mean 10-20 very high scoring strikers? Not 10-20 strikers full stop.

There are 20+ teams in each division, and there are generally more divisions in each tier you go down. So the potential pool of strikers is vast.

Championship and Premiership clubs are highly unlikely to be fishing in that pond. They tend to sign from their own level or 1 or 2 levels below themselves, when not recruiting from abroad.

So I'd question your conclusion that statistically we'd get one every 10-20 years if we tried.
Posted by: diehardmariner, November 6, 2018, 7:36pm; Reply: 41
Quoted from pen penfras


So now you want Fenty to interfere in transfers? Of course you don't, be realistic, find criticism where it is due but don't use every fu(king stick on the tree to beat him with, because not everything is one man's fault. The way that he gets blamed for absolutely everything is so daft. There are genuine criticisms of the board that they can improve on, but throwing every bit of sh1t at them devalues any genuine criticism and just looks like childish hatred.


Where did I say anything of the sort?
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