Billy Chadwick from Ull

Quoted from diehardmariner

I don't think it's unfair to be honest.  It's no secret that we've missed out on the players we've really wanted consistently.  

At no point am I saying Hurst is sitting on his bottom just waiting for something to happen.  But I do think we're possibly reactive in the transfer market rather than proactive.  Vernam is just one example of us waiting and waiting on the first target, only to find that they say no and the second, third, fourth targets have all signed up with someone else.  There's an art to biding your time but there's also an art to calling teams bluff.  

It might be a case, using Vernam as the example, that Lincoln weren't prepared to let him go under any circumstances until they had the replacement through the door.  But I also wonder, perhaps unfairly here, what would have been the outcome had Hurst said 'look, we'll take him today but we won't tomorrow...your call'.  Equally so when Vernam was talking with us last summer, did we say 'contract comes off the table in 36 hours.  We're not waiting forever on you'.  To be honest I don't think we did.  Again, it's an art to calling someone's bluff.  But I know we were in talks with Vernam for well over a week before he got his head turned by Lincoln.

Regards the Scully/Hackett-Fairchild point - no argument from me here, Golly sums it up that we're both likely right and that chain (as you point out too) is complicated by many factors.  It's a tough one but unless we look to disrupt that chain ourselves and try and jump ahead of that natural pecking order, we're always likely to end up with players that aren't our first choices.

Window after window we've waited for everything to fall into place, to my knowledge that hasn't worked.  Worst thing we can do is try something different and a bit bolder.

Quoted from diehardmariner

I don't think it's unfair to be honest.  It's no secret that we've missed out on the players we've really wanted consistently.  

At no point am I saying Hurst is sitting on his bottom just waiting for something to happen.  But I do think we're possibly reactive in the transfer market rather than proactive.  Vernam is just one example of us waiting and waiting on the first target, only to find that they say no and the second, third, fourth targets have all signed up with someone else.  There's an art to biding your time but there's also an art to calling teams bluff.  

It might be a case, using Vernam as the example, that Lincoln weren't prepared to let him go under any circumstances until they had the replacement through the door.  But I also wonder, perhaps unfairly here, what would have been the outcome had Hurst said 'look, we'll take him today but we won't tomorrow...your call'.  Equally so when Vernam was talking with us last summer, did we say 'contract comes off the table in 36 hours.  We're not waiting forever on you'.  To be honest I don't think we did.  Again, it's an art to calling someone's bluff.  But I know we were in talks with Vernam for well over a week before he got his head turned by Lincoln.

Regards the Scully/Hackett-Fairchild point - no argument from me here, Golly sums it up that we're both likely right and that chain (as you point out too) is complicated by many factors.  It's a tough one but unless we look to disrupt that chain ourselves and try and jump ahead of that natural pecking order, we're always likely to end up with players that aren't our first choices.

Window after window we've waited for everything to fall into place, to my knowledge that hasn't worked.  Worst thing we can do is try something different and a bit bolder.

Quoted from Madeleymariner

Don'y know why we are after Vernam, no consistency.

Quoted from Madeleymariner

Don'y know why we are after Vernam, no consistency.

Quoted from Madeleymariner

Don'y know why we are after Vernam, no consistency.

Quoted from Jarmo.Is.God

Which is why he's a league 2 player...
If he was consistently good, we wouldn't have a chance

Quoted from headingly_mariner

Played just over a 100 games at this level (about 70 starts), scored 23 goals. For a wide forward that is pretty good.

Quoted from jamesgtfc

It's that fine balance between being too ruthless and too compassionate. If you have an abundance of high quality options, you can afford to be very ruthless but for a variety of factors, I think we have had to play the long game and not draw a line in the sand because then you look even more of a prat if you're still looking and they do become available.

Hopefully this summer, with time on our side and a Head of Recruitment settled in, we can be a bit more ruthless, and get some good business done early.

Quoted from arryarryarry

No excuses this coming close season, no tight fisted Fenty, as much time as every other club and hopefully some of the cup cash and a head of recruitment to do all the leg work.