Redditch Blue
Robert Hopkins
Getting rid of Cook is massive short term thinking. His world wide contacts and sports marketing knowledge will deliver long term. The fact they got rid of Rooney so quickly shows their acumen.
Which players should Gardner be blamed for signing? Burke yes, but how much are we even paying for him, we might only be paying a tiny fraction of his wages which means it was worth the punt. The rest generally as individual players this season we have tended to say they are good signings.
Genuine answer. I think Cook made an utterly ridiculous decision this season. I haven’t said we should get rid of him though. So maybe you’re replying generally as opposed to me?
Regards Gardner. I don’t credit/blame him for every signing. We sign players as a club.
What I will say though is that I do not share the view of many on here who claimed, before many of these players had kicked a ball for us, that we’d had great windows. We’ve not addressed a chronic lack of ability in front of goal and it looks like we are going to pay for it. I’m not saying I have all the answers either, but that’s not my job to. Just saying what I see.
The final point would be that it’s a completely moot point to say we’ve signed players who are individually good. If they can’t perform as a team, it’s worthless.
But listen, I’m sure everyone has done their best. So I’m not complaining, I’m just saying that it’s one big mess on the pitch and I’m definitely braced for relegation. That said, I think we will be back and stronger and before anyone says it that’s not to say I think relegation is a good thing. Again, is what it is and if it happens we deal with it. KRO.
Pretty much agree with all of that. If I understand things correctly then Gardner has a number of responsibilities at the club and scouting is not the primary one. I think recruitment is not down to any one individual at any club these days and whilst I am not suggesting criticism in some part might not be justified, throwing the man under the bus is certainly not. In my book we have been hamstrung by the lengthy and generous contracts given to average players in the recent past. This issue has been done to death and there is no point going over it all again but we have had to recruit to stay with the spending limits and not to build a side capable of getting up. We have been little more than make weights in the Championship for a number of seasons now and as recently as last season were many bookies favourites to go down. Poor wages and being perennial championship strugglers are not strong recruitment selling points to get better players to come to us.
I would agree with the initial post that there is a downward momentum in place for some time which without significant investment has been difficult to reverse. That said recruitment mistakes have been made and highlighted by many fans here and elsewhere at the time they were being made. Tyler Robert signing on a four year contract with a poor scoring history and an injury record from hell is one example. What has been the outcome? He misses half a season with injury and scores no goals when he does return. Ollie Burke. Poor goal scoring history and what is the outcome? No goals and no assists. And now nowhere near the match squad let alone the team. Neither of these players should have been signed and I can only imagine costs and the hope that we could get a tune out of them was the reason. No striker signed in January remains a mystery to me and is costing us dearly now. If relegation is our fate and, it is far from settled at the moment, it will be painful, humiliating and frustrating. It will not be the end of the world although it will no doubt feel like it. It will be something we will bounce back from with our owners in charge. For me, and again assuming that it does happen, it will be the last bitter twist of the knife of our previous owners. A bit like in a horror movie when you think the monster is dead only for it to unexpectedly and briefly to spring back to life in a final moment of high drama wounding the hero before it’s final demise. I agree that we need to be more stoic in our thinking about relegation if it occurs and not as a cope or a rationalisation but because we have Knighthead in charge now and had it happened last season we would not. KRO.
