He has also clearly stated certain signings werebt his (Hanson) and he has railed about his frustrations on lack of signing progress previously. I know Scotchers will try and convince us that the signing flurry of Forde, Moore etc was all well planned etc but really?!
Theres been a lot of positivity and soundbites from the club over the past few months.. In effect what Robbo is now doing is saying to the board "s**t or get off the pan"
Ok, I'll bite!
Anthony Forde was a player we were looking at, but wasn't high up the priority list. He came down to speak with Karl and had at least 2 other clubs looking at him. He spent the afternoon with us, saw the training facilities and spoke with some of the players and decided to sign there and then. So in that regard, whilst he was a player we had in mind, his eventual signing was a little unexpected.
Elliott Moore was very different. He was one of 4 or 5 centrebacks on our list at the beginning of the summer and someone who had been scouted over the last 12 months. He was very much on our radar, and I posted in early/mid July that we were looking at a highly rated CB who had flown under the radar as his name had not been mentioned prior to this. There were a few other clubs looking at Moore, and we were also looking at other players with greater experience, but some were massively over valued and others were not looking at moving. As with many transfers, this took a few weeks to bring together, and a little longer than the club was happy with. However, it was always felt that we should focus on the right players, on the right deal, rather than compromising quality or throwing money at them for the sake of a quick deal.
Jamie Hanson was a bit of a panic buy, and was pushed through by Tiger. He had been scouted by the club and was wanted by Robinson, but not at the price being asked. We got to deadline day and Tiger (I believe) wanted to make a statement of intent and thought a big (value) signing would show that we were serious about success. It is my understanding that Robinson felt that expectations would be huge for someone coming in for around £400k, and that Hanson wouldn't live up to that price tag (something that has been proved right unfortunately). When results didn't go well, and we had injuries etc, Robinson was under huge pressure. When he was then questioned over the summer recruitment, he replied that he wasn't responsible for Hanson. This was possibly true, but he should never have said it. It threw Hanson under the bus and looked to blame others for collective failings, that as manager Robinson should have been ultimately responsible for.
Transfers are complex at the best of times, and can be under the spotlight more in the summer when you are looking at building a squad for the coming season. I can understand why some were stressing about not signing a CB or a striker etc, but I think the signings of Moore and Taylor have shown that it is important to keep patient and wait for the right player. The preparation work in the last few months makes me think that this transfer window will be much smoother, but of course things change. I believe that we have missed out on our first choice right back, but will bring in the second on our list. But I think that is people knew the standard of players we were looking at then they'd be amazed that we were even within a shout of getting one or two of those on our list.
As for the soundbites coming out, firstly that's Robinson showing his passion. Love him or hate him, he speaks from the heart and is desperate to bring success to our club. He may say the odd thing that leaves him open to criticism, but I would rather have that than some of the corporate crap that many modern managers come out with. Robinson speaks with Tiger and the board daily, and doesn't need a Radio Oxford interview to make it clear that he is hoping to do quality business in the next 4 weeks. Everyone is very much focused on success, and have been talking about promotion since August (even when we were losing to Burton, Blackpool and Bristol Rovers!)
I know it's hard, we live in a 24hour information world where people want to fill every second with something new. But as with the summer, judge the club at the end of this transfer window rather than 36 hours in to it.
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