Could do a job as an overlapping CB! Only 22 years old.
Has excellent passing range. Statistically one of the best performing defenders in the league. Played 40 games this season. Was part of the Cambridge side that won promotion from league two last year.
Has scored 6 league goals from centre back. More than any of our midfielders. (Gilbey has 2).
Their scouting/recruitment has been spot on.
Was going to say the same.
Instead of looking at which of their players we can sign, we should perhaps be looking at hiring their scouts.
Fraser, Twine, Parrot, Darling all missed by our wonderful black box at some stage. Maybe our black box records crashes only .
?! We have signed Fraser and as was already stated, he was our top transfer target last summer.
The three signings we made last season that fit the model of what TS is going for is Lavelle, Clare and Dobson. All of whom have been good signings.
It bodes well going forward for the players who’ve been identified for this summer.
I personally hope we continue down that line this summer.
Could do a job as an overlapping CB! Only 22 years old.
Has excellent passing range. Statistically one of the best performing defenders in the league. Played 40 games this season. Was part of the Cambridge side that won promotion from league two last year.
Has scored 6 league goals from centre back. More than any of our midfielders. (Gilbey has 2).
Their scouting/recruitment has been spot on.
Was going to say the same.
Instead of looking at which of their players we can sign, we should perhaps be looking at hiring their scouts.
Fraser, Twine, Parrot, Darling all missed by our wonderful black box at some stage. Maybe our black box records crashes only .
Fraser wasn’t though was he, we wanted him in the summer. Parrott has scored less goals in more matches than Washington. Twine was an obvious one to be fair, I was shocked we wasn’t in for him.
Could do a job as an overlapping CB! Only 22 years old.
Has excellent passing range. Statistically one of the best performing defenders in the league. Played 40 games this season. Was part of the Cambridge side that won promotion from league two last year.
Has scored 6 league goals from centre back. More than any of our midfielders. (Gilbey has 2).
Their scouting/recruitment has been spot on.
Was going to say the same.
Instead of looking at which of their players we can sign, we should perhaps be looking at hiring their scouts.
Fraser, Twine, Parrot, Darling all missed by our wonderful black box at some stage. Maybe our black box records crashes only .
Fraser wasn’t though was he, we wanted him in the summer. Parrott has scored less goals in more matches than Washington. Twine was an obvious one to be fair, I was shocked we wasn’t in for him.
Imagine we weren't in for Twine because we wanted Fraser... We'd also tried to get him in the summer of 2020, but for the transfer embargo when we went from Burton to Milton Keynes instead.
After all Milton Keynes signed Twine a month before they sold Fraser.
Dobson was apparently* a black box signing. I’ll take more of those this summer please.
*huge pinch of salt given that this came out only after it turned out Dobson was our best player by a mile.
Can we have a black box, box to box midfielder this time, or is it like a lucky dip type of thing? If so can we have lots of goes because we need them.🤞
Could do a job as an overlapping CB! Only 22 years old.
Has excellent passing range. Statistically one of the best performing defenders in the league. Played 40 games this season. Was part of the Cambridge side that won promotion from league two last year.
Has scored 6 league goals from centre back. More than any of our midfielders. (Gilbey has 2).
Their scouting/recruitment has been spot on.
Was going to say the same.
Instead of looking at which of their players we can sign, we should perhaps be looking at hiring their scouts.
Fraser, Twine, Parrot, Darling all missed by our wonderful black box at some stage. Maybe our black box records crashes only .
?! We have signed Fraser and as was already stated, he was our top transfer target last summer.
The three signings we made last season that fit the model of what TS is going for is Lavelle, Clare and Dobson. All of whom have been good signings.
It bodes well going forward for the players who’ve been identified for this summer.
I personally hope we continue down that line this summer.
I fucking know we signed Fraser but not when he was at Burton like MKD. We missed Fraser twice ! though and then signed him because he was surplus at Ipswich. Hardly like he was an unearthed jewel at that point.
But you said the ‘black box’ missed him? I’m not saying he was an unearthed jewel as he is a very well respected footballer in this league.
Players we identified using our “black box” system (data and analytics, i.e. catching up with what other clubs have been doing for years, some very successfully)
The one transfer story I've heard from a few friends so seems to be out there is that Akin won't be back apparently he's signed a deal earlier in the year with a Championship club rumoured as Boro or Millwall. This coincided with his drop in form / being dropped.
So no more longing balling it into touch from Akin next season.
Players we identified using our “black box” system (data and analytics, i.e. catching up with what other clubs have been doing for years, some very successfully)
The one transfer story I've heard from a few friends so seems to be out there is that Akin won't be back apparently he's signed a deal earlier in the year with a Championship club rumoured as Boro or Millwall. This coincided with his drop in form / being dropped.
So no more longing balling it into touch from Akin next season.
I doubt he's signed a deal because if you can sign players outside of transfer windows like that or everyone would be doing it. We could have got a lot of our summer business done ready for the first day of the window for instance.
Lockyer and Sarr both out of contract. Would both be brilliant signings for this level. I reckon both will get a championship deal but maybe Naby and JJ relationship could work in our favour as we really need a couple of left sided centre backs that are comfortable on the ball as Purrington/Famewo don’t quite cut it
But both not good enough for the championship. TS has said we are building for the long term, bringing back bang average players to the club won't help.
You means like Chuks Aneke & Harry Arter?
Why mention Aneke and Arter ?
Arter was a robust midfielder who was battle weary yet Chuks is still a goal every 95 to 100 minutes in League 1. If Chuks didn't have fitness issues he should be a vital impact sub in the Championship or even start !
The catch 22 is evey player who comes to Cafc will have reasons why they are not playing higher. Watson, Gunter and Arter played higher but their best days were so far behind them that they made no impact at Cafc. Watson TBF did have some good games for Cafc But his lack of mobility made him a liability.
If Famewo is Championship standard then Norwich would play him in their team next season ( is his contract up there ?). Maybe he will improve in a better team but he is so erratic at Cafc where his passing is just bizarre, and I still wake up screaming (move on Sam) with that shocking attempted pass back which led to a goal pass the stunned Amos.
Players we identified using our “black box” system (data and analytics, i.e. catching up with what other clubs have been doing for years, some very successfully)
Presumably Driesen was using some kind of black box analytics? Whether he was in any way qualified or suitable to have such a prominent influence on our recruitment is of course another matter.
Players we identified using our “black box” system (data and analytics, i.e. catching up with what other clubs have been doing for years, some very successfully)
Presumably Driesen was using some kind of black box analytics? Whether he was in any way qualified or suitable to have such a prominent influence on our recruitment is of course another matter.
Yeah he would have done, though after he had gone Gallen had said he was working on his own without any scouts. Perhaps it’s no surprise recruitment has suffered in the last few years. Other clubs have been far better at picking out stand outs and younger players to develop from smaller clubs.
Signings like Gunter, Henderson, Souare, Arter, Watson, Leko, Aneke etc scream of a club signing players known to them. Gallen had a link to CM via his brother at Pompey. Lee was known from our promotion season and being Rob’s son. Fraser we had been after for a couple of years.
I have my doubts but hopefully we’ll see the benefit of the new recruitment setup being in place for over a year this summer. Need more like Dobson, CBT and Clare, and fewer like those in the group above.
I would release / look to sell all of those crossed through. Keep the rest.
Hopefully the likes of Gavin, Kanu, Leaburn, Anderson, Campbell, Henry and Ness can fill the squad and 2-3 of these can come through to make meaningful contributions.
All areas need 1-2 serious first team contenders to be bought in though imo.
Comments
The three signings we made last season that fit the model of what TS is going for is Lavelle, Clare and Dobson. All of whom have been good signings.
I personally hope we continue down that line this summer.
After all Milton Keynes signed Twine a month before they sold Fraser.
*huge pinch of salt given that this came out only after it turned out Dobson was our best player by a mile.
Only one year left on his contract and must have Championship interest…
If an offer came in would Tommy accept it? I reckon so, same with CBT.
So no more longing balling it into touch from Akin next season.
Why mention Aneke and Arter ?
Arter was a robust midfielder who was battle weary yet Chuks is still a goal every 95 to 100 minutes in League 1. If Chuks didn't have fitness issues he should be a vital impact sub in the Championship or even start !
The catch 22 is evey player who comes to Cafc will have reasons why they are not playing higher. Watson, Gunter and Arter played higher but their best days were so far behind them that they made no impact at Cafc. Watson TBF did have some good games for Cafc But his lack of mobility made him a liability.
If Famewo is Championship standard then Norwich would play him in their team next season ( is his contract up there ?). Maybe he will improve in a better team but he is so erratic at Cafc where his passing is just bizarre, and I still wake up screaming (move on Sam) with that shocking attempted pass back which led to a goal pass the stunned Amos.
Whether he was in any way qualified or suitable to have such a prominent influence on our recruitment is of course another matter.
Signings like Gunter, Henderson, Souare, Arter, Watson, Leko, Aneke etc scream of a club signing players known to them. Gallen had a link to CM via his brother at Pompey. Lee was known from our promotion season and being Rob’s son. Fraser we had been after for a couple of years.
I have my doubts but hopefully we’ll see the benefit of the new recruitment setup being in place for over a year this summer. Need more like Dobson, CBT and Clare, and fewer like those in the group above.
Hopefully the likes of Gavin, Kanu, Leaburn, Anderson, Campbell, Henry and Ness can fill the squad and 2-3 of these can come through to make meaningful contributions.
All areas need 1-2 serious first team contenders to be bought in though imo.
AMB
Lavelle
Matthews
Aneke