Who Signed The Players Then?

[Shaun Rice]

Very interesting comments on Radio Oxford during the build up to the game yesterday.

They were suggesting some of the players signed in the summer were not ones KR had selected?

Could it be that Tiger sees himself as a back seat manager and wants to sign the players he wants? This sort of arrangement never seems to end well.

 

[Yellow River]

I’ve written about this a couple of times before.

KR said in one of his post match interviews that Hanson is not his signing. Which I’ve always thought (even if true) was a strange thing to say publicly.

It begs the question “Karl, if you didn’t sign Hanson then who did?”

Clearly our preseason recruitment was poorly planned. I just hope lessons have been learnt.

Regarding Hanson, I think he’s a steady enough player at League 1 level. It’s unfair to beat him with a stick just because we paid a fee for him.

 

[Sarge]

Its tigers turn on rad ox 5 min Fans forum this thurs... question of who got players in could be asked? ...though itd need to get through the rad ox Q filter

 

[warksox]

Very interesting comments on Radio Oxford during the build up to the game yesterday.

They were suggesting some of the players signed in the summer were not ones KR had selected?

Could it be that Tiger sees himself as a back seat manager and wants to sign the players he wants? This sort of arrangement never seems to end well.

Indeed. In fact I think Jerome went even further saying the striker who came in (didn't name him but obviously Sam Smith) was signed by the owner, not KR.

 

[Common Villager]

I think a bit too much is being made of this. I'm pretty sure that comments from Robinson in the past have been along the lines of he's not the only one who decides which players we sign, instead it's more of a group decision. This is pretty much the same at every club nowadays, and makes sense given how frequently managers come and go.

 

[RyanioBirdio]

The players who don’t work out are rarely his, and the ones that do always are. That’s never going to change either - that’s just how KR rolls in terms of publicity, and always has done. I spent time with the guy only a week after Hanson signed, and he was very enthusiastic about him indeed. Said he would be one of the best midfielders in the division, if not the best. In fact, you can go back to when he first signed Hanson and see / hear him saying that sort of thing publicly as well. Not a peep came out of him until it looked like Hanson was a duffer, nor was there a word about him being a full back for months. The whole thing was one enormous, panicked mess, but it was wrong of him to previously say he had nothing to do with it. It’s poor management and poor form in general to say things like “I didn’t sign them” or “he’s not my player”. If any manager ever tried to disassociate themselves with me I’d lose all respect for them and all motivation to boot. That’s a betrayal, and no manager in any industry should ever, ever say things like that publicly. It’s shocking.

I’m not denying that there might have been some ‘strong input’ on one or two occasions regarding transfers, and I do think that’s worth noting, but I’m not having it on Hanson what so ever. He was part of the team who made that call and was very, very happy with it at the time.

 

[unification]

My view is that Tiger et al are still trying to use a recruitment model utilised by DE, MAsh and MApp but evidently have fewer resources to do it and have compromised it in places. Certain targets have been missed which has resulted in a squad of loanees. Regardless of where we finish (as we’re not out of the woods yet and with the league as tight as it is even a couple of wins could see us still involved in a dogfight), we’ve got a rebuilding job.

I can see the logic in signing Hanson (whoever suggested and signed him!) but a decision needs to be made in the summer in terms of his development. Do we make him a RB? Or do we have him mentored by Mousinho in the fine art of defensive midfield play? Regardless, we’ve got to have a plan for him to make him a better player. At present there’s no hope of recouping even a quarter of what we paid for him.

For a club of our size and with the restrictions in growth that we have under FK’s landlordship, the buy cheap/develop/sell with sell on clauses works well. It keeps the coffers full, sees exciting young players turn out for us which keeps crowds coming back (the football under KR isn’t bad - just hard to play due to an imbalanced squad) and has potential future rewards too. However, it has to be done properly and through considerable scouting. If we don’t have that, we’re going to end up with some duds.

 

[Scotchegg]

Robinson said that Marcus Browne was the best player in the league after a handful of games. Hanson best midfielder, Holmes a class above, Whyte will play at the very highest level etc etc. He has also said that pretty much everyone has been rubbish at one point or another. That's just the way he is, and whether we like it or not, that's the way he'll remain.

But that has nothing to do with who signs, or how much people push to get their man. Sam Smith had the Reading links with Tiger, so you can see how that came about. Holmes and Mackie had previous with Robinson and Derry, so again the links are more obvious. Hanson is a difficult one. He was probably one of a number of names put forward by the recruitment team, but we panicked into paying too much once the deadline countdown was on. Robinson would have been aware, and more than likely rated the player, but probably not at the money we paid. If Tiger approved the deal against Robinson's judgement (on cost) then it is arguably Tiger's call. That doesn't mean that the recruitment is dodgy, or Robinson is lying, but just the way it goes when you recruit by committee.

Having said that, we seem to have made a much better fist of things in January with Kashi, Graham, Sykes and Sinclair generally doing pretty well so far. Plenty more is needed in the summer, but if we've learnt from the mistakes and bring in the ever elusive 20 goaler then we won't be far away.

 

[yellowbow]

Robinson said that Marcus Browne was the best player in the league after a handful of games. Hanson best midfielder, Holmes a class above, Whyte will play at the very highest level etc etc. He has also said that pretty much everyone has been rubbish at one point or another. That's just the way he is, and whether we like it or not, that's the way he'll remain.

But that has nothing to do with who signs, or how much people push to get their man. Sam Smith had the Reading links with Tiger, so you can see how that came about. Holmes and Mackie had previous with Robinson and Derry, so again the links are more obvious. Hanson is a difficult one. He was probably one of a number of names put forward by the recruitment team, but we panicked into paying too much once the deadline countdown was on. Robinson would have been aware, and more than likely rated the player, but probably not at the money we paid. If Tiger approved the deal against Robinson's judgement (on cost) then it is arguably Tiger's call. That doesn't mean that the recruitment is dodgy, or Robinson is lying, but just the way it goes when you recruit by committee.

Having said that, we seem to have made a much better fist of things in January with Kashi, Graham, Sykes and Sinclair generally doing pretty well so far. Plenty more is needed in the summer, but if we've learnt from the mistakes and bring in the ever elusive 20 goaler then we won't be far away.

It will be interesting to see where Doidge ends up next season after the Bolton fiasco. I can’t see him staying at FGR. I know he’s going to be way out of our budget but he would go a long way to solving our issues up front.

 

[Gary Baldi]

It was talked about often at Reading how much Tiger enjoyed back seat driving various footballing aspects in his time there, even if his knowledge was a little patchy. So I can well imagine scenarios where certain players were pushed or signed.

If I recall, the club did acknowledge recruitment last summer was a disaster and would change from now onwards.

 

[Marked Ox]

It will be interesting to see where Doidge ends up next season after the Bolton fiasco. I can’t see him staying at FGR. I know he’s going to be way out of our budget but he would go a long way to solving our issues up front.

I think Doidge could end up staying at FGR if they were to get promoted.

 

[Leysboy]

Depends if Erick is going give us a small injection of cash to push us on. I doubt it, but still wondering to myself why they are on the board. Surely you don’t just take up a seat to offer advice. I guess all will be revealed eventually, to see what these wealthy people are here for. It would be nice to speak to them, and ask what there plans and vision are for this football club.

 

[Sarge]

Depends if Erick is going give us a small injection of cash to push us on. I doubt it, but still wondering to myself why they are on the board. Surely you don’t just take up a seat to offer advice. I guess all will be revealed eventually, to see what these wealthy people are here for. It would be nice to speak to them, and ask what there plans and vision are for this football club.

proper fans forum .... not 'online' or on radio , where questions get filtered ... proper, face to face fans and those from OUFC in the position to answer questions - whether questions get the answers, of course, is subjective .... and hopefully the next proper fans forum wont be limited to an hour , 45 mins with our bowtied owners time keeping, shoehorned in before a home game too, preferably a fans forum where theres a couple of hours set aside to fully & (hopefully honestly)responded to questions from supporters

proper and open communication would go a long way imo

 

[MarkG]

My view is that Tiger et al are still trying to use a recruitment model utilised by DE, MAsh and MApp but evidently have fewer resources to do it and have compromised it in places. Certain targets have been missed which has resulted in a squad of loanees. Regardless of where we finish (as we’re not out of the woods yet and with the league as tight as it is even a couple of wins could see us still involved in a dogfight), we’ve got a rebuilding job.

I can see the logic in signing Hanson (whoever suggested and signed him!) but a decision needs to be made in the summer in terms of his development. Do we make him a RB? Or do we have him mentored by Mousinho in the fine art of defensive midfield play? Regardless, we’ve got to have a plan for him to make him a better player. At present there’s no hope of recouping even a quarter of what we paid for him.

For a club of our size and with the restrictions in growth that we have under FK’s landlordship, the buy cheap/develop/sell with sell on clauses works well. It keeps the coffers full, sees exciting young players turn out for us which keeps crowds coming back (the football under KR isn’t bad - just hard to play due to an imbalanced squad) and has potential future rewards too. However, it has to be done properly and through considerable scouting. If we don’t have that, we’re going to end up with some duds.

The player trading model works well if we can consistently find players to sell on for a large fee , which means goalscorers or players to create goalscoring opportunities. We’ve had four exceptional fees in two years for O’Dowda, Johnson , Roofe and Ledson.
Can’t see that happening again anytime soon. Which means the coffers aren’t full but are drained by a million at least just to run the club each year.

 

[RCYellowRC]

I don't believe Robinson wanted Tsun Dai.

 

[Sarge]

I don't believe Robinson wanted Tsun Dai.

I heard KR likes Tsun Dai's off

 

[Oxymoron]

Whereas, Bob Geldof doesn't like his brother, Mun Dai.........

 

[Witneyoldfella]

Tell me why???