Where do we go from here?

[Yellowblood]

With a couple more victories we should hopefully be safe for this season. But where do go from here with regards player recruitment? The last two seasons recruitment has been poor, and at the end of this season we will undoubtedly be left with a squad deplete of key players in almost every position. I am not sure who is now doing the recruitment and driving through the deals but this needs to start ASAP, before the season ends. We need to start agreeing terms with out of contract players.
We cannot rely on loan deals. We need to be signing a mix of players on permanent contracts, both those with proven records and experience and those with potential to make profit.
I would stick with Robinson and let him create a team that plays the system he wants. I think the jury is still out whether he has the tactical ability and vision to do this, but changing manager again would be going back to the start.
In summary, the club really need to sort out the recruitment strategy in the next weeks. Robinson needs to dictate the type of players he needs, and someone needs go out and start getting deals over the line.

 

[MJB]

The words are coming out all weird, where are you now?

 

[Scotchegg]

Every team will be hoping to do their business early and tie up players who are out of contract, but it rarely works out that way. Players are often told who is or isn't being released at the end of May, and most clubs go into a summer break until players return at the end of June/early July. So whilst we can identify key players, I wouldn't hold your breath that we had deals tied up any earlier than previous seasons. However, there are positions that we will clearly need to prioritise and hopefully it will be these that we fill before the pre-season starts. A big strong centre half to replace Nelson, a couple of strikers one young, quick, fox in the box type player (Sinclair?), another more experienced, hold the ball up shithousery style (Mackie mkII). Full backs, covering CB or two, replacements for Browne and Graham, experienced no.2 keeper can be added as the right players become available. But we are also likley to be bringing in players to bolster the under 23's, so this will all come down to what budget we have to work to. The arrival of the lesser spotted Erick should hopefully make things a lot more interesting!!

 

[milburn]

Every team will be hoping to do their business early and tie up players who are out of contract, but it rarely works out that way. Players are often told who is or isn't being released at the end of May, and most clubs go into a summer break until players return at the end of June/early July. So whilst we can identify key players, I wouldn't hold your breath that we had deals tied up any earlier than previous seasons. However, there are positions that we will clearly need to prioritise and hopefully it will be these that we fill before the pre-season starts. A big strong centre half to replace Nelson, a couple of strikers one young, quick, fox in the box type player (Sinclair?), another more experienced, hold the ball up shithousery style (Mackie mkII). Full backs, covering CB or two, replacements for Browne and Graham, experienced no.2 keeper can be added as the right players become available. But we are also likley to be bringing in players to bolster the under 23's, so this will all come down to what budget we have to work to. The arrival of the lesser spotted Erick should hopefully make things a lot more interesting!!

Is Erick renowned for investing in the playing staff? I don't believe he is.

 

[Scotchegg]

Is Erick renowned for investing in the playing staff? I don't believe he is.

I don't know, but we wouldn't need the 100's of millions that would have been needed at Inetr Milan for example. IF he is involved, and IF that is to fund a new stadium, then the best way to make a profit on that would be to have us sustainable in the Championship at least. Getting us up would be fairly cheap and an extra couple of million will go a long way, and would be a drop in the ocean for someone like Erick. But we've done this rumour and speculation to death so I guess we'll all have to wait and see.

 

[Big Ronaldo]

Well uncle Karl won’t be getting the sack any time soon so he will be here to oversee the summer signings. He is insistent on a certain formation of play that generally limits us to a single striker. I would like to think that we could bring in a player or two that can happily play this role, despite the fact that we have Jamie Mackie.
I was particularly impressed with Ivan Toney when he played up here. He is perhaps beyond our spending limit even if he was available (or interested) but he, or someone similar would be ideal.
Curtis Nelson should be offered big money to sign a new contract but I get the feeling that he will be off to pastures new in the summer. He will be hard to replace.
A classy youngish central defender comfortable on the ball... Hmm, over to you Karl on that one.
Another speedy, tricky winger with an eye for goal would be nice too.
We need more goals in us for next season if we have any intention about doing something next season.

 

[Upthecowboys]

Well KR is expecting next seasons budget for first team squad to be very similar / less than this season’s. He said that himself in the 5 min phone in.

It will be interesting how much of any potential sales is invested back in to the first team. There is going to be another big churn of players. We really do need them in earlier this season, if that doesn’t happen we could end up writing off the first part of the season again.

Hopefully a couple of the U23s are capable of stepping up, that may free up part of the budget.

With all the lessons learned, we surely can’t have the same shambolic start to the season.

 

[Foley]

Well KR is expecting next seasons budget for first team squad to be very similar / less than this season’s. He said that himself in the 5 min phone in.

It will be interesting how much of any potential sales is invested back in to the first team. There is going to be another big churn of players. We really do need them in earlier this season, if that doesn’t happen we could end up writing off the first part of the season again.

Hopefully a couple of the U23s are capable of stepping up, that may free up part of the budget.

With all the lessons learned, we surely can’t have the same shambolic start to the season.

Well yes. The strategy is clearly to develop our own players so hopefully some of the younger players will be ready to push hard next season. If that happens a slight reduction in the budget shouldn't be a good problem.
Agree with Bigronaldo that a Toney like striker and ball playing CB will be two of the key positions to fill with Nelsonnpresumankh going.

 

[Shropshire U]

Robinson's recruitment in the 2 windows he has supervised has been perhaps the shakiest of his shaky attributes. So it's fingers (and eyes) crossed for 3rd time lucky.
Staying in L1 remains the priority if we want to attract decent signings.

 

[Marked Ox]

Robinson's recruitment in the 2 windows he has supervised has been perhaps the shakiest of his shaky attributes. So it's fingers (and eyes) crossed for 3rd time lucky.
Staying in L1 remains the priority if we want to attract decent signings.

I'd argue his recruitment in January was pretty good based on the results and the signings impact to date.

 

[Deleted member 222]

Robinson's recruitment in the 2 windows he has supervised has been perhaps the shakiest of his shaky attributes. So it's fingers (and eyes) crossed for 3rd time lucky.
Staying in L1 remains the priority if we want to attract decent signings.

Mitchell - Temp goalkeeper cover
Hanson - not worked out yet
Sam Smith - poor
Mackie - good
McMahon - average and left due to personal reasons
Kasha - good
Jonte Smith - 1 for the future
Browne - good
Whyte - good
Sykes - still unknown but looks promising
Sinclair - good
Holmes - good but injury prone
Garrett - Starting off poorly but now a lot better playing on the wing
Caruthers - injury prone
Dai - very odd signing

Out of those players signed by KR I'd say only a few haven't worked out. The obvious one is Smith who was dreadful. McMahon couldn't settle due to family reasons which is out of the control of the manager. Hanson is ok but still has a lot of developing to do. He could turn out to be a good player but the drury is out. Holmes was excellent but age caught up on him. Caruthers is made of glass and it's just not worked out unfortunately as he was/is an excellent player. Sykes looks very promising but is still very raw. Then we have Dai who I don't think was a robinson signing some how.

So overall I'm not sure the recruitment has been as bad as some make it out to be.

 

[Millman]

My take on recruitment is slightly more harsh then DenisSmithWig viewing the players on value to the team over the length of the signing rather than how good they were when they did play:

Summer - Jan

Browne - Good
Whyte - Good
Mitchell - Ok
Mackie - Ok (not chipping in with enough goals)
Hanson - Ok signing so far (waste of fee)
Sam Smith - Poor signing
McMahon - Poor signing (average player, then gone)
Norman - Poor signing (showed potential then gone)
Holmes - Poor signing (could hardly play)
Garbutt - Poor signing (as a left back which is what he was signed for)
Carruthers - Poor signing (waste of wage)
Shearer - Poor signing (re-signed under KR)
Dai - Poor signing (agree odd signing)

Jan

Graham - good
Kashi - good
Sinclair - Ok (need more goals from him)
Jonte Smith - 1 for the future
Sykes - still unknown but looks promising

In Jan we did much better than the summer. which is a big positive. However we rely way too much on loans and a far to slow to sign players. KR needs to find a much better balance to the squad. For this he needs.
1 left back
1 right back (genuine first team players to compete for first team places)
2 central defenders (one top quality to replace Nelson)
Replacements for Browne and Graham
2 strikers (one of good quality at least, maybe the other to play a bit further back if we persist with this one up top stuff)
Plus the tying up with any other players out of contract we need to keep.

 

[Sarge]

Oufc u23s &u18s have some serious talent coming through the ranks .... if anyones not seen either squad play , get along and watch some exciting football.... some of our own developed players will be ready for the first team squad sooner rather than later....assuming KR & his bag men continue to give our younsters oppertunities

 

[ZeroTheHero]

I agree with Millman's view of the signings more than DSW's. But it's not just about the individuals that were signed - it's about the balance of the squad, and for me that has been out of whack all season. Which indicates poor planning IMO. Whether that was the manager, the owner, the 'recruitment department' or a combination of all three (if indeed they aren't actually the same thing in pactice!) it was poor. When you have a limited budget, then a hit rate (for 'decent' and above) of 50% or less is pretty desperate.
Sarge is right of course - there is talent coming through. Whether they can 'do a Shandon' and not only survive but thrive in the first team remains to be seen.

 

[iambungle]

I don't know, but we wouldn't need the 100's of millions that would have been needed at Inetr Milan for example. IF he is involved, and IF that is to fund a new stadium, then the best way to make a profit on that would be to have us sustainable in the Championship at least. Getting us up would be fairly cheap and an extra couple of million will go a long way, and would be a drop in the ocean for someone like Erick. But we've done this rumour and speculation to death so I guess we'll all have to wait and see.

By sustainable do you mean not losing more than the max £39m (or whatever the figure is) to be in breech of FFP rules? There aren't many clubs that aren't losing money hand over fist in the championship. Burton managed to turn a profit but lasted 2 seasons. Brentford maybe, but on the back of player sales, which isn't sustainable. Millwall and Rotherham perhaps but one of both of them could well get relegated this season.

 

[RyanioBirdio]

I can’t agree with most that Browne has been good. He’s flattered to deceive for the most part. Scored a few good goals and had a small handful of games where he’s looked superb but otherwise has been totally ineffective. When was the last time he had a really good game? I can’t remember him playing well at all since before Christmas. He CAN be good and you can see how he COULD go far, but he hasn’t done anywhere near enough versus what he should have.

Can’t agree about Mackie being good either. Love his commitment and nasty streak but his legs have gone. He’s been playing because we have absolutely nobody else for the most part. It isn’t solely his fault but to say he’s been good is a bit much. He’s done his best, but that’s not the same thing as performing well. Sometimes your best isn’t good enough anymore.

I think after the season we’re having it’s quite ballsy for people to suggest we’ve had quite so many players who have performed well.

 

[Paul Cannell]

Browne and Jordan are flair players and fairly ineffective, Jordan's ability to find a pass is questionable: Whyte the same. Mackie is a lovely bloke and a trier but no way a league 1 striker,;to describe Hanson ("our most expensive player" - Acting Manager) as anything other than an expensive flop is ridiculous, specially after he's been shunted into several positions to fail while the 'Manager' distances himself from responsibility for signing him. Holmes was broken when we signed him. We have no full-backs, we will have 1 OK'ish CB at the end of the season, no sign of a striker.

Unqualified success, let's give Robbo the blindfold and the darts and give him another go at assembling a squad.

 

[Millman]

RyanioBirdio as mentioned by ZeroTheHero it is about the balance in the squad as much as the players. We have got some good players (how good is indeed debatable) but most of those that are good are attacking midfielders. The strike force has been weak all season. Plus we have had the farce of midfielders in defense. Currently we have a serviceable first eleven (even if it is short of reliable goal threat). Outside of that apart from midfielders we have nothing but kids (as talented as many are few are currently league one ready, especially when consider we would need to introduce them in a relegation fight).

The budget this year was p'd away on a lot of players who contributed little. This resulted in one of the most unbalanced squads I have seen in years. This and tactical inflexibility have in my might contributed a lot to our struggles.

 

[PottersRightBoot]

Think we have a gutsy squad who are now actually beginning to gel. There is no point going back to the calamitous start to the season. Eastwood was clearly missed the most. There were some disastrous signings - possibly the worst was Holmes - because he was not fit from day 1. Even Garbutt has picked up quite well.


The January signings have in the main worked. Please can we sign Kashi permanently. He’s tough and skilful.


For me it’s Robinson’s gob that lets him down in the post match interviews ; since the new year there have been plenty of signs that we are being much better coached. I agree with OP; cut him some slack

Won’t have this Mackie knocking either He’s played more games than you would have expected and again, since Christmas has been a key player. It’s his spirit that has been important.

The biggest miss will be Nelson. Clearly not all the loan players are going to be here next year but we have a nucleus that will.

 

[Foley]

Think we have a gutsy squad who are now actually beginning to gel. There is no point going back to the calamitous start to the season. Eastwood was clearly missed the most. There were some disastrous signings - possibly the worst was Holmes - because he was not fit from day 1. Even Garbutt has picked up quite well.


The January signings have in the main worked. Please can we sign Kashi permanently. He’s tough and skilful.


For me it’s Robinson’s gob that lets him down in the post match interviews ; since the new year there have been plenty of signs that we are being much better coached. I agree with OP; cut him some slack

Won’t have this Mackie knocking either He’s played more games than you would have expected and again, since Christmas has been a key player. It’s his spirit that has been important.

The biggest miss will be Nelson. Clearly not all the loan players are going to be here next year but we have a nucleus that will.

Agree with most of that.
The worth of Mackie has been shown in the past two games.
A cracking winner, and when Robins suggested that Oxford won Saturday because we were more streetwise, this was due in no small part to Mackie.
Agree also that the mid season recruitment was far better than the pre season recruitment.
This summer's recruitment needs to be far better and equally important will be trying to keep Eastwood, Branaghan and Whyte.