Macaulay Langstaff played against us for Gateshead in the FA Cup in 2021. That was the time to get him. Now he's probably going to go to the championship for £3m+ in the summer.
Macaulay Langstaff played against us for Gateshead in the FA Cup in
someday
2021. That was the time to get him. Now he's probably going to go to the championship for £3m+ in the summer.
Except had they brought him in at the time people would’ve have complained and rightly so. The club could not afford to bring in a player from the national league north in the hopes he could step up 4 leagues in the hopes that he would be good eventually.
Macaulay Langstaff played against us for Gateshead in the FA Cup in
someday
2021. That was the time to get him. Now he's probably going to go to the championship for £3m+ in the summer.
Except had they brought him in at the time people would’ve have complained and rightly so. The club could not afford to bring in a player from the national league north in the hopes he could step up 4 leagues in the hopes that he would be good eventually.
Which is a perfect example of what’s wrong with football these days. A PL club can punt away with all and sundry and hold a stock of young players never going to be good enough for the PL but no bother they’ll just loan them out. The money is so skewed it’s obscene.
Actually the absolute idiotic insanity of ‘the Dobbo to Hungary” story, obviously put out by his agent, makes me think that maybe, just maybe, it isn’t entirely the club’s fault if they are having trouble agreeing a new deal with him.
Doubtless someone will be along to parrot the line that there are good as well as bad agents. So let me pre-empt that by asking the poster to name such a (good) agent, and what makes him/her good; and would that “good” agent think it would be good for Dobbo’s career and personal life to go off and play in Hungary?
I mean ok, I'll bite as I had a friend who was an agent to the likes of Dorian Devite, Eboue and others some years ago. He was a very decent chap and a very successful Partner in a law firm (nothing to do with football originally).
He loved his football and would have given his clients all the right advice. Doesn't mean he wouldn't move them from a club or ask for big wages for his clients as ultimately he worked for them, not the club.
I very much doubt he would have ever come up with a bullshit storey of a Hungarian club in a situation like this.
So, yes, there are decent agents who work for their customers (the players); just like every walk of life you get all sorts. I won't name my friend, it's not relevant and sadly he is not with us any more.
You ask what good things he might have done; well as a lawyer he would negotiate their contracts, read the small print, ensure the players rights were protected; ensure they got the best deal possible. He would arrange nutritionists to advice the players; he even helped one or two of them but cars and things. Always amazed me how little some of his players knew about real life and he protected them to an extent. I think clubs have generally improved in that regard in more recent years but it wasn't always like that.
I did also meet another agent, total other end of the spectrum; complete arsehole, likely on the take from his players and utterly untrustworthy. The fella had bought a Scottish title for a few quid on eBay and actually insisted on using "Lord" on business cards and the like!
I thought you were in recruitment, it's pretty similar in that you will get plenty of recruiters purely in it for themselves; of the very many headhunters I have come across; not a single one has ever said to me, "are you sure this is the right career move for you", or told me to see if I can get my existing employer to pay me the same so I don't need to move job.
Thank you for a good answer. I understand that there are ancilliary but important tasks which a good agent will do well for his client, the player.
I don't want to de-rail this thread too much but on your last sentence, there is a key difference between mainstream recruiters ("headhunting" is strictly speaking a specialist sub-sector) and football agents. Recruiters' clients are always and only the *employer*. Football agents start off being paid by the player but often as they gain influence also get paid by the employer (clubs) and anybody else in between the two. This encourages the ultra-greedy and manipulative types and makes regulation of them almost impossible.
Actually the absolute idiotic insanity of ‘the Dobbo to Hungary” story, obviously put out by his agent, makes me think that maybe, just maybe, it isn’t entirely the club’s fault if they are having trouble agreeing a new deal with him.
Doubtless someone will be along to parrot the line that there are good as well as bad agents. So let me pre-empt that by asking the poster to name such a (good) agent, and what makes him/her good; and would that “good” agent think it would be good for Dobbo’s career and personal life to go off and play in Hungary?
Eric Choupu-Moting went from Stoke, to PSG, to Bayern Munich, earning a fortune in the process, all whilst being distinctly average. Id say he has a good agent
I'll freely admit I've never heard of him, but don't you see the difference? Those two clubs are a huge step up from bloody Stoke, and any footballer in Europe aspires to play for clubs like them. Like I said earlier, if his agent came in waving *evidence* of interest from even a mid-ranking Bundesliga 2 club like, say, Hansa Rostock, who are sort of on the up and play in front of 20k crowds at home, and 60k when they go to HSV, that would be a real negotiating point, and I'd be worried. But go and take a look at the absolute state of Hungarian football. Orban's personal village team, 3.8k capacity stadium built with state money, currently sits 4th in the table. When Orban started chucking taxpayers' money at it, it was in the 4th league regional level. No footballer whose career is on the up will benefit from going there, and whatever his weaknesses, I'm sure that Charlie Methven knows enough about Hungarian football and the place overall to see through this pathetic bullshit. But he and the others on the club side still have to deal with it because the agent chooses to play that card. I pity them, having to deal with such nonsense.
Jones is struggling with being a regular CB at the moment.
He's been our only reliable CB most of the time this season tbf
I agree, but his current form is a bit worrying. Most of the time he looks ok, as he’s ’no nonsense’, but when mistakes creep in he looks very fallible. Over the last ten games Hector has been the better option, but he’s out now.
I'm hoping Gillesphey will help whoever plays alongside him to perform better. It’ll be Jones that gets the nod over Ness and Thomas in a back four I suspect, and Ness will probably get the nod over Thomas in a back three. Another injury or two and we’ll struggle. I doubt they’ll bring in another CB now, but I think they should. Zak and Deji aren’t ready imho, although if we get into a position where we’re safe they might consider playing one of them to gain some experience? Deji is back from his Bromley loan I think.
How Derby spending all of this money on transfers? Last I knew they were fucked?
"While the Rams' financial dealings have been monitored by the English Football League since they came out of their transfer embargo in May, manager Warne says he has surplus funds for January.
"Everything we do we have to get EFL approval for," he said. "So we had a budget at the start of the season that was approved, and we didn't spend everything within our budget so we have got an excess we could spend in January, which is good.
"We need players who will come in and the next day play and help us go up."
That said i doubt Derby could afford Langstaff as Notts County will want big money for him and the player himself would probably rather hold out for a championship move.
I like how Scott Fraser is about to become the best playmaker in League one again because we're having a formation change
He's played just as many games in his career as a CM as he has AM, he wasnt exactly playing in the 10 role when he had his little purple patch last season under Holden either. Nor did he spend his whole time as a 10 in the worlds greatest season at MK Dons.
Cole Stockton to Barrow on loan so rule that one out!
Excellent, hopefully I will never have to hear Charlton Life swoon over him again .
Just wait, he'll score a goal for Barrow and it will be all lamenting that it could have been a goal for us. If he does well at Barrow the summer will be spent claiming he's back at it and we should get in there. If he does badly then we probably ruined his career by not signing him when we had the chance. The only way to solve this obsession is to sign him and then become very disillusioned when he plays. We call it Frasering.
The vast majority of agents are there to protect young men from being taken advantage of by more experienced people in our game, they should get the best deal for their clients and deserve to be paid for that.
The real villains are the decision makers/owners and before I get jumped on, I don't mean ours specifically I mean in general.
A lot of good owners too in football but the percentage of villains in the board room across the sport is way higher then the percentage of villains on the pitch or in the negotiating room.
I wish more fans could separate in their minds who currently pays the bills from their love of the club as they are not one and the same.
A player & their agent are not insulting us fans or our club when they try to negotiate with very wealthy people for a better contract.
Fraser has gone backwards under Appleton. He’s a different player when he’s playing on the front foot rather than burdened with defensive duties. With better midfielders around him I still think Fraser is a very decent league one footballer.
Jones is struggling with being a regular CB at the moment.
He's been our only reliable CB most of the time this season tbf
I agree, but his current form is a bit worrying. Most of the time he looks ok, as he’s ’no nonsense’, but when mistakes creep in he looks very fallible. Over the last ten games Hector has been the better option, but he’s out now.
I'm hoping Gillesphey will help whoever plays alongside him to perform better. It’ll be Jones that gets the nod over Ness and Thomas in a back four I suspect, and Ness will probably get the nod over Thomas in a back three. Another injury or two and we’ll struggle. I doubt they’ll bring in another CB now, but I think they should. Zak and Deji aren’t ready imho, although if we get into a position where we’re safe they might consider playing one of them to gain some experience? Deji is back from his Bromley loan I think.
Hector get in the bin Portsmouth away, Oxford and Port Vale all had Hector mistakes in
Jones is struggling with being a regular CB at the moment.
He's been our only reliable CB most of the time this season tbf
I agree, but his current form is a bit worrying. Most of the time he looks ok, as he’s ’no nonsense’, but when mistakes creep in he looks very fallible. Over the last ten games Hector has been the better option, but he’s out now.
I'm hoping Gillesphey will help whoever plays alongside him to perform better. It’ll be Jones that gets the nod over Ness and Thomas in a back four I suspect, and Ness will probably get the nod over Thomas in a back three. Another injury or two and we’ll struggle. I doubt they’ll bring in another CB now, but I think they should. Zak and Deji aren’t ready imho, although if we get into a position where we’re safe they might consider playing one of them to gain some experience? Deji is back from his Bromley loan I think.
Hector get in the bin Portsmouth away, Oxford and Port Vale all had Hector mistakes in
Comments
I don't want to de-rail this thread too much but on your last sentence, there is a key difference between mainstream recruiters ("headhunting" is strictly speaking a specialist sub-sector) and football agents. Recruiters' clients are always and only the *employer*. Football agents start off being paid by the player but often as they gain influence also get paid by the employer (clubs) and anybody else in between the two. This encourages the ultra-greedy and manipulative types and makes regulation of them almost impossible.
Zak and Deji aren’t ready imho, although if we get into a position where we’re safe they might consider playing one of them to gain some experience? Deji is back from his Bromley loan I think.
Cole Stockton to Barrow on loan so rule that one out!
"While the Rams' financial dealings have been monitored by the English Football League since they came out of their transfer embargo in May, manager Warne says he has surplus funds for January.
"Everything we do we have to get EFL approval for," he said. "So we had a budget at the start of the season that was approved, and we didn't spend everything within our budget so we have got an excess we could spend in January, which is good.
"We need players who will come in and the next day play and help us go up."
That said i doubt Derby could afford Langstaff as Notts County will want big money for him and the player himself would probably rather hold out for a championship move.He's played just as many games in his career as a CM as he has AM, he wasnt exactly playing in the 10 role when he had his little purple patch last season under Holden either. Nor did he spend his whole time as a 10 in the worlds greatest season at MK Dons.
Squad player at best if he stays.
The real villains are the decision makers/owners and before I get jumped on, I don't mean ours specifically I mean in general.
A lot of good owners too in football but the percentage of villains in the board room across the sport is way higher then the percentage of villains on the pitch or in the negotiating room.
I wish more fans could separate in their minds who currently pays the bills from their love of the club as they are not one and the same.
A player & their agent are not insulting us fans or our club when they try to negotiate with very wealthy people for a better contract.