I’ve seen (on here and New 606) quite a lot of clamour for MegaSon to go after young, raw talent, especially when the alternative is 30+ journeymen looking for 1 last pay day. Fair enough view - we’ve tried that it, it doesn’t work.
Unfortunately, as with all (English) football these days, the immediate short term far outweighs any medium to long term goals and that unfortunately is the reason we will continue to sign the likes of Prutton (who I actually reckon could be a bit of a gem – if we’re gonna play that way we need VOCAL, committed players) rather than, arguably more hungry, younger players with something to prove.
When Mandaric signed GM as manager, it was with a short term goal in mind. Get out of this league (upwards!) and get challenging for a championship play off spot, and sell up for large profit. As quickly as possible. Everything Mandaric does is with this in mind and the longer we stay in league 1, the smaller his potential profit becomes. He doesn’t care about leaving a legacy. I can’t blame him.
The other fairly big factor in this is Megson’s ‘coaching’ ability. Mandaric saw in Megson a results man, one who could help him achieve his goal regardless of quality of football. He isn’t going to bring in raw talent and develop it into the finished article. If Irvine had been good enough he could have been that man, with the youthful signings made in January, but Father Ted had already come up way too short.
So, in the immediate future, this is what we can expect. For example, if it comes down to a choice of, say, Jason Scotland or a younger, rawer, perhaps unproven at this level forward, M&M will plump for those approaching the hill, if not quite over it, every time. You can point to Madine, Reynolds, Morrison as contradictions to this point of view, but I think Mandaric quickly decided this wasn’t going to work for him.
This is not intended as a dig at either M or M (or Prutton). I think Mandaric is a legend and we will always be in his debt as a club for saving us from extinction, and for now I’m behind Megson if he gets results, and we are up there pushing for promotion.
Sorry if I've ended up waffling but its good to get going on here after having a bit of trouble registering (but the JA guys were very quick to help when I got in touch). Seems to be quite a few regulars from the old 606 and I bet that will increase when the season rolls around. Reckon I'll be mainly here with perhaps a quick browse on New606 now and again, but my internet at work won't let me register on that anyway.
Raw, Unproven Talent?
posted on 21/6/11
"Fookin 'ell" said Barnsley Mick
"Whats that fat lady symbol doing between Fox and Duck ont' wall o' pub"
posted on 21/6/11
Good Article, In the past Ive said that we need rawer younger and hungrier players but like you say, for now we need experienced big players who can outmuscle players but also can play too. Mandaric's priority is to get us out of this League as soon as possible and to do that he feels that tough, hard working and honest players that will put in 200% will get us to where we want to be but I just hope that once we do get up to the championship that we look to the future and I agree that Megson is possibly seen as a short term solution to get us out of L1 and once we get tto the Championship and if results dont go our way once we get there then he'll look to make a change.
posted on 21/6/11
oh its from me
posted on 21/6/11
A well reasoned article and worthy of five stars even though I don't agree with the main thrust of it.
Players peak between 25 and 30 so to achieve our "short term goal," we should be signing players in that age group or approaching it. Last summer we bought experienced players - Morrison, Sedgwick, Teale, Weaver and Otsemobor. Only Weaver can be rated as a success. That could be because keepers peak in their early 30s.
I read most comments regarding who we should buy with a wry smile because they are either ill advised or just plain ridiculous.
As it stands, we have added Jones, who we know adds something and Prutton, who was a promising player who has lost it over the last three seasons. I presume GM thinks that he can get him back on track.
We need a striker to partner Madine. We have Morrison as back up so our fourth striker should be a young improving player who will not expect to be picked every week. Ashley Grimes would have been ideal but he signed for Rochdale today. Tom Bradshaw at Shrewsbury fits the bill.
We also need a decent midfield. At the moment we only have JJ who is worthy of being in a promotion chasing side and even then he is inconsistent. I see Prutton as being similar in standard (and pace) to JOC, Potter and Sedgwick.
We need a "Carlton Palmer" and a "John Sheridan." Danny Green would be a perfect addition as probably the best midfielder in League One last season.
Either way, it needs balance. You need experience but you also need young legs.
posted on 21/6/11
semedo would be perfect!
posted on 21/6/11
I agree, Semedo would fill one of those midfield roles.
posted on 21/6/11
Sounds a good fit, but we'd need to put the right players around him.
Combining him and JoC sounds like it might be NONSENSE NONSENSE NONSENSE!!!
posted on 22/6/11
Morning all,
I reckon we go for AFC Wimbledons captain, he is on the transfer list and banged them in over the last 2 seasons. Cant think of his name off the top of my head though.
posted on 22/6/11
Danny Kedwell.
Would be a gamble.....could turn out like Mackail-Smith/Morison or could turn out like 90% of the players stepping up from non-league!
posted on 22/6/11
Kedwell is a gamble & could be our fourth striker. The big one is finding a first choice striker.