8+8+8

carly burn

A strange concept. Wouldn't a question from any new recruits be "Which group of 8 am I in?"
Could cause a bit of friction if you thought you were elite but turns out your a bit of a David Batty type!

Anyway,I digress.  If nothing else, I suppose It is a way of assessing what we've got now and what we'll have as our recruitment progresses.
So come on. Out of our squad as it stands at this minute.,what would you say the current ratio is?
No naming names. Just numbers.
Remember, Elite first. Keith Jones types second. Kids last
I'll go first.

 2:6:3
 13 DNQ!

Will revisit on Feb 1

superclive98

= League 1 mediocrity for the foreseeable future (at best).

Karim_myBagheri

5 I guess out of our current squad that are elite in the sense you would always play them if fit. If you are going by promotion players then probably only 3. 
6 middle of the road lot
and about 3 youngsters. 

Paddy Powell

Elite League 1 players: These would be Championship calibre players. We don't have many.

Keith Jones types? Keith Jones played Premier League football. We don't have anyone who can do that.

Kids: We've got some of them. 

2-0-6

carly burn

Karim_myBagheri said:

5 I guess out of our current squad that are elite in the sense you would always play them if fit. 
6 middle of the road lot
and about 3 youngsters. 

 Remember, the Elite have be consistent performers.
Not available for two weeks out for 10!

carly burn

Paddy Powell said:

Elite League 1 players: These would be Championship calibre players. We don't have many.

Keith Jones types? Keith Jones played Premier League football. We don't have anyone who can do that.

Kids: We've got some of them. 

2-0-6

I don't think Keith would've blow the socks of league one if I'm honest. He was what he was and good at it.

Steven81

They did well got everyone talking about some made up philosophy.

Callumcafc

2-8-7 with 8 other bodies floating around.

Of the players that are contracted to the club (ie not loans) and I've seen enough of to properly categorise:

Elite (senior player that every club in L1 would want, could step up to the Championship):

- 2 (Alfie May, Corey Blackett-Taylor)

Solid (senior player that will perform to a decent to middling level in L1 but question marks over whether they can step up to the next level):

- 8 (Dobson, Fraser, McGrandles, Hector, Edun, Jones, Thomas, Tennai W)

Academy:

- 7 (Leaburn, Kanu, Tyreece, Anderson, Ness, Asiimwe, Maynard-Brewer)

Others that I don't feel comfortable placing into a category (they should probably be in the "solid" category until proven otherwise, either due to lacking in ability or availability):
- 6 (Aneke, Camara, Chem, Louie W, Taylor, Isted)

New signings who haven't made an appearance yet so can't be categorised by anyone:
- 2 (Fiorini, Bakinson)

SouthWest_Addicks

4:7:3 - 4 players, when fit, who I think can play an important part for a promotion winning side. 35+ starts a season for them.

7 - Squad players for promotion winning sides who can be relied on to be cover when needed.

3 - Academy graduates who can be relied on to be cover for promotion winning side. 

The rest are unknown because of not seeing them play enough due to injury, academy boys who aren’t ready for senior men’s football or just don’t fit in any category because they are rubbish.

fenaddick

Tried to break it down how the owners would view it, not necessarily my opinion before anyone shouts me down!

Elite: Fraser, Bakinson, Dobson, Fiorini, Aneke, CBT, May, 

Solid: Isted, Jones, Hector, Edun, T Watson, McGrandles, Taylor, L Watson, C Campbell

Academy: AMB, Elerewe, Ness, Thomas (I know, it's a stretch but fits the bill), Asiimwe, Anderson, T Campbell, Leaburn, Kanu

Academy fringes (I've added this group): Mbick, Rylah, Kedwell


So in reality we may already have their 8+8+8. I personally wouldn't put Fraser in the elite but that's how he's always discussed, the 2 new loans are a guess and Aneke isn't available enough to properly count.

Hartleypete

what a load of bollocks.

Chizz

24.

Close the thread.

carly burn

fenaddick said:

Tried to break it down how the owners would view it, not necessarily my opinion before anyone shouts me down!

Elite: Fraser, Dobson, Bakinson, Dobson, Fiorini, Aneke, CBT, May, 

Solid: Isted, Jones, Hector, Edun, T Watson, McGrandles, Taylor, L Watson, C Campbell

Academy: AMB, Elerewe, Ness, Thomas (I know, it's a stretch but fits the bill), Asiimwe, Anderson, T Campbell, Leaburn, Kanu

Academy fringes (I've added this group): Mbick, Rylah, Kedwell


So in reality we may already have their 8+8+8. I personally wouldn't put Fraser in the elite but that's how he's always discussed, the 2 new loans are a guess and Aneke isn't available enough to properly count.

  Dobson's so Elite they've stuck him in twice!
Sounds about right

Callumcafc

The litmus test for the elite category is:

- if signed by a team currently challenging for automatics, does someone else get dropped so that our player would go straight into their team? OR

- if signed by a team in the Championship, could they hold their own as part of that squad?

IMO we have only two players definitely fit either of those tests: Alfie May and Corey Blackett-Taylor.

Dobson and Jones are the next closest candidates.

NabySarr

At the end of the summer, I would imagine the club would probably have had it something like this, based on players reputations, where they were signed from and how much they are being paid: 

Isted Hector Fraser Dobson CBT May Camara Tedic (if rumours of our wage contribution are accurate) 

T.Watson, Edun, T. Taylor, Jones, McGrandles, Thomas, L.Watson, C.Campbell, Abankwah, Aneke, Kirk 

Leaburn T. Campbell Ness AMB Kanu Anderson Assimwe Elerewe 

Too many in the middle group, but not sure they would have counted Aneke and Kirk in their plans. 

(THIS IS NOT MY OPINION! I’d only put Dobson, May and CBT in elite, maybe Jones at a push just trying to guess where the club would have placed everyone in the summer) 

fenaddick

carly burn said:

fenaddick said:

Tried to break it down how the owners would view it, not necessarily my opinion before anyone shouts me down!

Elite: Fraser, Dobson, Bakinson, Dobson, Fiorini, Aneke, CBT, May, 

Solid: Isted, Jones, Hector, Edun, T Watson, McGrandles, Taylor, L Watson, C Campbell

Academy: AMB, Elerewe, Ness, Thomas (I know, it's a stretch but fits the bill), Asiimwe, Anderson, T Campbell, Leaburn, Kanu

Academy fringes (I've added this group): Mbick, Rylah, Kedwell


So in reality we may already have their 8+8+8. I personally wouldn't put Fraser in the elite but that's how he's always discussed, the 2 new loans are a guess and Aneke isn't available enough to properly count.

  Dobson's so Elite they've stuck him in twice!
Sounds about right

Good spot, edited!

fenaddick

Callumcafc said:

The litmus test for the elite category is:

- if signed by a team currently challenging for automatics, does someone else get dropped so that our player would go straight into their team? OR

- if signed by a team in the Championship, could they hold their own as part of that squad?

IMO we have only two players definitely fit either of those tests: Alfie May and Corey Blackett-Taylor.

Dobson and Jones are the next closest candidates.

Think a fit Aneke covers both those categories, it's staying fit that's the issue

sam3110

Basing it on what they reckoned at the start of the season/end of the summer window, before we realised a lot of them weren't up to snuff or got injured, or both.

Elite: Dobson, Camara, Blackett-Taylor, May, Fraser, Taylor, Jones, Hector

Solid: McGrandles, Thomas, Edun, T.Watson, L Watson, C.Campbell, Tedic, Isted

Academy: T.Campbell, Elerewe, Ness, Asiimwe, Kanu, Anderson, Maynard-Brewer, Leaburn

Wildcards/surplus: Aneke, Kirk. 

Callumcafc

fenaddick said:

Callumcafc said:

The litmus test for the elite category is:

- if signed by a team currently challenging for automatics, does someone else get dropped so that our player would go straight into their team? OR

- if signed by a team in the Championship, could they hold their own as part of that squad?

IMO we have only two players definitely fit either of those tests: Alfie May and Corey Blackett-Taylor.

Dobson and Jones are the next closest candidates.

Think a fit Aneke covers both those categories, it's staying fit that's the issue

Yeah in my original post I put Aneke in "uncategorised" but if we're being truly honest with ourselves, he's a better fit for the solid category because he can't stay fit and available. No good being the best player in the league if you only play 10-20% of the games.

This isn't an exercise in trying to figure out how talented the footballers are at our club - they all have some level of ability as professionals. It's instead about building a squad that can get promoted and then survive at the next level (ie not come straight back down like we did in 2019-20). I don't think we can realistically say that Aneke should be a part of that.

Return of the SE7

888. Think they're all about 2 short, but then the devil's in the detail. 

BR7_addick

Elite: 
May
CBT

Consistent:
Dobbo
Jones
T Watson
Fraser 
Edun

Academy players ready to contribute:
T Campbell
Kanu
Leaburn
Ness

Thats all I’ve got.  It’s actually quite a useful means of accessing how far off it we are.  

Macronate

It's a great diversion tactic.

They are relying upon the majority of our fanbase spending the next 20 days trying to work out the answer, completely ignoring that fact that, in that time, we've signed Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (JFH) on a four year contract (who our recruitment team confused with JCH), Gary Doherty on a six year contract (who our recruitment team confused with Greg Docherty), Lewis Hamilton on a rolling, per race contract (who our recruitment team confused with Lewis Bate), Conor Washington on a six month loan deal (who our recruitment team confused with Conor Coventry) and Mr Humphries from Are You Being Served on a zero hours contract (who our recruitment team confused with Stephen Humphrys)

swordfish

The emergence of this thread is why I think it was a mistake of them to share the strategy. Fans will look to reference our existing squad and potential signings with where they fit on the template, so the SMT have given fans a rod to beat them with if it goes tits up or if the recruits don't appear to fit. They could have just said we're aiming for mix of elite, proven L1, and academy players and left it at that.

Scoham

I was thinking how our previous promotion squads would compare.

Some are debatable of course, the way I see it the elite are intended to be the bulk of our starting XI with a few from the other groups making up the rest of it.

From the academy group you ideally have a few standouts who get plenty of game time, with the rest on the fringes.

All going well you should have a core for the longer term but with the top elite and academy players occasionally being sold for a profit.

Bowyer - broadly fits

Elite: Cullen, Bielik, Taylor, Bauer, Williams, Pratley, Pearce/Sarr (depending on your preference, we didn’t have a clear first choice), Steer

Solid: Solly, Vetokele, Page/Purrington, Pearce/Sarr (as above), Fosu, Reeves, Marshall, Ajose/Parker, Ward

Academy: Grant, Aribo, Dijksteel, Morgan, Phillips, Lapslie, Hackett-Fairchild


Powell - we had more solid players than academy players. Good example of a season in which we didn’t have many breaking through, so instead we had a bigger group of solid players. That’s something that the board can’t force - if there aren’t 8 of the right standard we shouldn’t push players into the first team when they aren’t ready.

Elite: BWP, Jackson, Kermorgant, Morrison, Wiggins, Stephens, Hamer

Solid: Taylor, Hollands, Cort, Hughes, Pritchard, Hayes, Haynes, Green, Evina, Benson/Euell/Clarke, Doherty, Sullivan, various loanees and Alonso

Academy: Solly, Wagstaff, Elliot (briefly), others such as Mambo were on the fringes but rarely featured if at all

MuttleyCAFC

Keith Jones was well above League One. 

BR7_addick

Macronate said:

It's a great diversion tactic.

They are relying upon the majority of our thicko fanbase spending the next 20 days trying to work out the answer, completely ignoring that fact that, in that time, we've signed Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (JFH) on a four year contract (who our recruitment team confused with JCH), Gary Doherty on a six year contract (who our recruitment team confused with Greg Docherty), Lewis Hamilton on a rolling, per race contract (who our recruitment team confused with Lewis Bate), Conor Washington on a six month loan deal (who our recruitment team confused with Conor Coventry) and Mr Humphries from Are You Being Served on a zero hours contract (who our recruitment team confused with Stephen Humphrys)

What the lol.  Even if fans did spend the next 20 days doing just that I think they’d notice the signings.  

Scoham

MuttleyCAFC said:

Keith Jones was well above League One. 

Played in the Championship for us, I assume the plan at that level would be similar but with the divisions moving up a level. You’d eventually aim for elite to be top Championship players who could step up to the Prem. I guess there’d be a step or two in between as you progress.

Karim_myBagheri

I've counted Leaburn as elite but most have him in as a youngster. 
Not sure about Blackett but at a guess I think most promotion challenging teams would have him. 
Then there's may. 
After those three you got Dobson.
 then after him the rest of the squad plus the youngsters. 

fenaddick

Karim_myBagheri said:

I've counted Leaburn as elite but most have him in as a youngster. 
Not sure about Blackett but at a guess I think most promotion challenging teams would have him. 
Then there's may. 
After those three you got Dobson.
 then after him the rest of the squad plus the youngsters. 

Think the idea is anyone who came through the academy goes into that category. In theory, if your academy produces 3 elite players you've either got 11 elite players or you can recalibrate your numbers to have less elite. Academy players = 0 transfer fee and less wages which lets face it is why we have these categories. 

Gribbo

3 fat ladies

carly burn

Callumcafc said:

fenaddick said:

Callumcafc said:

The litmus test for the elite category is:

- if signed by a team currently challenging for automatics, does someone else get dropped so that our player would go straight into their team? OR

- if signed by a team in the Championship, could they hold their own as part of that squad?

IMO we have only two players definitely fit either of those tests: Alfie May and Corey Blackett-Taylor.

Dobson and Jones are the next closest candidates.

Think a fit Aneke covers both those categories, it's staying fit that's the issue

Yeah in my original post I put Aneke in "uncategorised" but if we're being truly honest with ourselves, he's a better fit for the solid category because he can't stay fit and available. No good being the best player in the league if you only play 10-20% of the games.

This isn't an exercise in trying to figure out how talented the footballers are at our club - they all have some level of ability as professionals. It's instead about building a squad that can get promoted and then survive at the next level (ie not come straight back down like we did in 2019-20). I don't think we can realistically say that Aneke should be a part of that.

 And I would agree with that. He's a talent but He really can't be included in the Elite. Ask yourself how many other clubs are banging down the door to sign him. I'd say next to nobody purely on his fitness issues.
A shame ,but true