SHA Small Heath Alliance

Willum Willumsson

Bernard Sun 09:31, Wed 3 Jun

John McCarthy   0
Replying to Bagel   12:45, Wed 3 Jun
Bagel
John McCarthy
Bagel
WithamBlue
Vicente cost 3 times more than Castledine

Alright, Davis Keillor Dunn or something.

Lots of duds in League One. We should know, we walked it with Keshi Anderson and Willum Willumsson playing.

Agree and if it were so easy, and so many ripe for picking in L1, everybody's transfer policy in Championship would be solved. Doesnt matter what league, it all comes down to top quality scouting decisions.

For every Willumson there could be a Scienza, Vipotnik waiting to be unearthed.

Our best player, Klarer - from Germany.

Our top scorer last year, also from Germany, regardless of what you think of him.

Kai Wagner, one of the best left backs in the division, from abroad.

Osman was playing in France. Paik in Korea. Solis in Spain.

Most of our good players came from abroad. We can go back to signing Stephen Gleeson if people prefer, I suppose. Or Eiran Cashin.

Absolutely. The whole world is a big market where you can get potentially better value for money. The trick is of course scouting getting it right more often than not, the adaptability of targets to be able to still excel in the physicality of the Championship and Prem. If some of our acquisitions have failed its because we got that assessment wrong.

Let's not forget also top L1 young players aren't cheap nowadays either and the question mark remains as to whether they can step up in a better technical environment.
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El Mayor   2
Replying to John McCarthy   13:03, Wed 3 Jun
John McCarthy
Bagel
WithamBlue
Vicente cost 3 times more than Castledine

Alright, Davis Keillor Dunn or something.

Lots of duds in League One. We should know, we walked it with Keshi Anderson and Willum Willumsson playing.

Agree and if it were so easy, and so many ripe for picking in L1, everybody's transfer policy in Championship would be solved. Doesnt matter what league, it all comes down to top quality scouting decisions.

For every Willumson there could be a Scienza, Vipotnik waiting to be unearthed.

I think it's more than that even.

There are intangible things that will affect how a player plays that you won't know until they come to your team.

Things like a player fitting into the club, into the area; his family settling in the area. interpersonal relationships with the manager, with the coaching staff, with other players.

I really do believe that there is an element of luck in there and no matter what a team does to mitigate it, it will never totally get rid of it.

I believe that 50% as a hit rate is a good success rate, something I've seen postulated by professionals in the game. I've linked this before: [tomkinstimes.com]
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bluenosezulu   0
Replying to Buddy Mercer   13:17, Wed 3 Jun
Buddy Mercer
After transferring to NEC in Holland in January only made 6 appearances for them (0 starts). Looks like we did well to cash in when we did.

It highlights the poor recruitment policy the club has had in drafting numerous players from European leagues.

Meanwhile our Championship rivals have picked up gems such as Rudoni, Mehmetti and Azeez from EFL League 1 teams.

Hopefully that is addressed for the coming season.

same thing could be said about Poku joining QPR from LG1 (who preform poorly) and us signing Vincente, Osman & Solis (on loan), which counter that argument.
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foghorn leghorn   0
Replying to John McCarthy   13:30, Wed 3 Jun
Let's not forget also top L1 young players aren't cheap nowadays either and the question mark remains as to whether they can step up in a better technical environment.

Not cheap, but the potential profit on resale is infinitely higher. We only manage to make huge losses with these flops, from the continent. WW cost 4 mil + a huge wage in league 1.
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Phillystine   -2
Replying to foghorn leghorn   13:43, Wed 3 Jun
And we were promoted as champions on 111 points with him as a regular starter and with plenty of goal involvements. It's stupid to write him off as a flop.
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Bernard Sun   1
Replying to El Mayor   14:13, Wed 3 Jun
One who didn't fit in at Blues but finished this season strong was Yokoyama. He broke into the Genk team after an injury to their starting winger and played very well.

His attacking ability at U21s level wasn't matched by anyone:
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Phillystine   0
Replying to Bernard Sun   14:15, Wed 3 Jun
We really missed a trick there. A combination of him not settling and the situation being managed poorly, I think - ITKers can correct me if I'm wrong.
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John McCarthy   0
Replying to El Mayor   14:19, Wed 3 Jun
El Mayor
John McCarthy
Bagel
WithamBlue
Vicente cost 3 times more than Castledine

Alright, Davis Keillor Dunn or something.

Lots of duds in League One. We should know, we walked it with Keshi Anderson and Willum Willumsson playing.

Agree and if it were so easy, and so many ripe for picking in L1, everybody's transfer policy in Championship would be solved. Doesnt matter what league, it all comes down to top quality scouting decisions.

For every Willumson there could be a Scienza, Vipotnik waiting to be unearthed.

I think it's more than that even.

There are intangible things that will affect how a player plays that you won't know until they come to your team.

Things like a player fitting into the club, into the area; his family settling in the area. interpersonal relationships with the manager, with the coaching staff, with other players.

I really do believe that there is an element of luck in there and no matter what a team does to mitigate it, it will never totally get rid of it.

I believe that 50% as a hit rate is a good success rate, something I've seen postulated by professionals in the game. I've linked this before: [tomkinstimes.com]

Absolutely Mayor.
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John McCarthy   0
Replying to Bernard Sun   14:24, Wed 3 Jun
Bernard Sun
One who didn't fit in at Blues but finished this season strong was Yokoyama. He broke into the Genk team after an injury to their starting winger and played very well.

His attacking ability at U21s level wasn't matched by anyone:

And Mayor's point about the intangibles could be illustrated by Yokoyama. Always liked what I saw personally. Be interesting to see if he goes on next season to make a proper impact at senior level.
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foghorn leghorn   0
Replying to Phillystine   14:28, Wed 3 Jun
And we were promoted as champions on 111 points with him as a regular starter and with plenty of goal involvements. It's stupid to write him off as a flop.

He reached his high water mark, at Wycombe away. Then did very little after that, until Lincoln away. Two excellent performances, but not a lot of it on show, for the other 44 matches.

If you're happy with his contributions then fair enough.
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Phillystine   0
Replying to foghorn leghorn   14:43, Wed 3 Jun
His 16 goal involvements for us in 2024/25 was his highest career return. And obviously that's not counting pre-assists, which he had a few of.

Only Alfie May equalled him for assists and Willumsson was something like our fourth most dangerous player overall.

Calling him a flop is totally baseless. He was a big part in us winning League One so dominantly.
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Phillystine   -1
Replying to Phillystine   15:09, Wed 3 Jun
Phillystine
We really missed a trick there. A combination of him not settling and the situation being managed poorly, I think - ITKers can correct me if I'm wrong.

I actually had a Yokoyama song and everything.

He's Japanese, he's a winger, Yokoyama
If you give him the ball he will bend it like banana
He's Japanese, he's Ayumu Yokoyama
Hey, Yokoyama!
(All right!)
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