comment by lastapostleofvidal (U1491)
posted 17 minutes ago
You are dead right there VC. I will try to do my bit, small though it is.
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Don't put yourself down Vidal, it's not the size that matters.

I had felt for some years that DCFC failed miserably when it came to scouting talent from lower leagues. We always seemed to be looking at established players and not uncut gems. I say "always" but I'm basically agreeing with Spart for goodness' sake!

However things have changed and Vidal has hit the nail squarely on the head. And this is why there is now no room for healthy competition and the position is being made worse by Arab countries now muscling in. Surely something has to give. These crazy transfer fees and salaries are just not sustainable. I could imagine a National League club demanding two million for a 12 goal a season striker and, as Vidal says, if he has a modicum of talent he will end up languishing at Liverpool or Chelsea.

I'm sure that every club with a recruitment specialist will have dossiers on just about every kid and older who can kick a ball but the hoover-upers in the Prem will have first dibs so the rest of us scrabble around for what we can find among the scraps. In our case that means, in the main, ageing players available on a free or loans where no fee is demanded or rejects from other academies.

So that's the position and there's nowt we can do about it unless we have a youngun we can sell for at least 5 mill.

comment by lastapostleofvidal (U1491)
posted 2 hours, 9 minutes ago
In those days, all games weren't televised and managers like Clough relied on getting a whisper form a contact about a promising player. These days there are no secrets. Every player around the globe is "scouted" to within an inch of his life. There are few if any undiscovered gems that everyone doesn't already know about. Almost anyone who looks a decent prospect is hoovered up by a Premiership team and then loaned out to see how they develop. We have more chance in recruiting discards from other Academies, but those players aren't ready for the first team. And we are still under strict budgetary restrictions. It's easy to say "scout better and sign gems". Other clubs are looking just as hard for the bargains and a lot of them have more cash than we do.
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Not by us though it seems. How do you scout someone to within an inch of their life? There used to be armies of scouts touring the none league clubs back in the 1960s, mainly working on a commission basis. I can't imagine they would be watching Ilkeston or Belper on television today.

Morning y’all

MATCH DAY!!!!!!!!

Morning View and the gang!

Here's hoping for that first win.

When you said lower leagues Spart, I thought you meant Leagues 1 and 2 and maybe the one below that. As for local teams, before there were academies I think there were more players of a reasonable standard who ended up at clubs like that. I’m struggling to think of any players at local clubs in recent years that have slipped through our fingers. Aden Flint comes to mind, but not all Derby fans consider that Nigel Clough made a mistake in deciding not to pay as much as Alfreton wanted. The current England goalie also played for Alfreton of course at the very start of his career, but only as a loanee from Sunderland’s Academy, which illustrates how it tends to work now.

Not sure what level Spart alludes to - Matlock Town, Belper, Mickleover Sports, Borrowash Vics?
People I know connected to these clubs say that they’ve been ‘scouted to death’.

Live @ https://www.ja606.co.uk/articles/viewLiveArticle/456527
One match ban enabled

Some of us have a romantic notion that it is still possible to get a whisper of a good young centre half at Tranmere and that if the manager had anything about him he would go up there, sit in the living room with his parents, and refuse to leave until he had signed. That’s not how it works anymore.

What is the average size of a Prem team players list now compared to 30 years ago?

I bet it's 3x what it was, or worse?

comment by lastapostleofvidal (U1491)
posted 3 minutes ago
Some of us have a romantic notion that it is still possible to get a whisper of a good young centre half at Tranmere and that if the manager had anything about him he would go up there, sit in the living room with his parents, and refuse to leave until he had signed. That’s not how it works anymore.
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Or come to the local boozer to where a certain players dad is involved in a darts match on a Tuesday night. True story when Steve Sutton signed for Forest. His dad was in the Waterloo at Biggin, (playing for the Devonshire in Hartington).

Peter Taylor, the Newsagent.
Hard acts to follow

comment by 🏁 AnglianRam 🏁 (U17428)
posted about 3 hours ago
Peter Taylor, the Newsagent.
Hard acts to follow
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Taking acquisition responsibility from the manager by creating directors of football, and players always represented by their agents has meant a more corporate style of approaching players. Football's loss and the hangers on's gain.

To many 'hangers-on' in the west full-stop. Getting paid for doing fvckall.

Apparently the game between Arsenal and our nasty neighbours has been delayed as 35,000 are still outside the ground. The police are insisting they have to go in.

A defeat today for us won't mean the kives will be out but I suspect they will be sharpened.

Apparently the game between Arsenal and our nasty neighbours has been delayed as 35,000 are still outside the ground. The police are insisting they have to go in.

Wildsmith
Nelson Bradley Cashin
Ward Bird Smith Hourihane Forsyth
Collins NML

Waghorn on bench in place of Robinson

The rain has stopped in Burton.

Derby County: Wildsmith (GK), Forsyth, Hourihane (C), Bradley, Cashin, Bird, Collins, Mendez-Laing, Smith, Ward, Nelson.

Substitutes: Vickers (GK), Wilson, Rooney, Elder, Thompson, Waghorn, Washington.

Bit more detail Vidal

Well, it was raining for a bit and then it stopped. There are still clouds but also patches of blue sky. There is a light breeze.

Thanks.
We have chosen today to be our summer

Come on Derby, make me wish I wasn't drinking cold beer by a pool in 34° sunshine.