McGrath

[NickDRFC]

I’d say the club’s ’recruitment system’ has quite a task on its hands, due to limited finances.

We seem to be working with one hand tied behind our backs, constantly. Trying to find good quality, robust players for next to nothing must be a bit of a headache, at times.

You could say the same about most clubs in League One & League Two. Our recruitment (amongst other things) has seen us tumble from League One play-off hopefuls to bottom half League Two in the space of two and a half years, it’s very difficult to argue that it hasn’t been shambolic in that period. The recruitment of the summer has shown more positive signs but if that’s solely down to McCann then there are still structural improvements that we need to make to ensure it doesn’t return to the shambles of before when he leaves (and these may already be in place, or being set up).

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Does he se McGrath and Bailey as the first choice pair then? That means Bobby is well down the pecking order. Do we need 6 centre halves!?

Do you mean we shouldn’t have signed McGrath GazLaz?
Have we made another mistake?

If he’s better than what we already have, yes we should have signed him. If not, we shouldn’t! Is there a plan to get rid of some of the other lads? Wood, Anderson, Olowu, Bobby, Bailey, Long, McGrath, that’s actually 7 sorry. No man on the planet can tell me the team 19th in the 4th division should have 7 centre halves on the payroll. Does that scream good recruitment/ planning to you? Screams one guess after another to me.

Grant must think that a fair few of the lads aren’t good enough even though Wood, Anderson, Olowu and Bailey have been given contracts in the last 12months ish and Long and Bobby within the last 18 months.

It’s impossible to be confident with any signing we make of this ilk. “Trust Grant” will be the cry, and he did bring in some good players in his previous stint, but for every Sadlier, Herbie Kane and Wilks there was a Paul Taylor, Shaun Cummings and Rian McLean.

McCann hasn’t signed the 7 centre halves though, he’s maybe signed 2 of them. So if you were manager and had the opportunity to bring in players you thought were better would you say, oh no I can’t do that as I already have 6 centre halves who are shite that the last manager signed.

And every manager on the planet makes good and bad signings, so yes of course he made bad signings even the best managers on the planet do that.

No he hasn’t signed them all but it’s certainly not a positive sign for the clubs recruitment system when you have to say “we’ve got 6 centre halves, 5 arent good enough, let’s sign another”. 

You're missing the context of how we've ended up in this position.

Looking at who signed, when and by whom, considering the injuries we had at the time, it's not difficult to understand there's some mitigating circumstances.

[BillyStubbsTears]

When the best defender at the club is a midfielder, some really pointed questions need to be asked about our recruitment strategy.

[dickos1]

Does he se McGrath and Bailey as the first choice pair then? That means Bobby is well down the pecking order. Do we need 6 centre halves!?

Do you mean we shouldn’t have signed McGrath GazLaz?
Have we made another mistake?

If he’s better than what we already have, yes we should have signed him. If not, we shouldn’t! Is there a plan to get rid of some of the other lads? Wood, Anderson, Olowu, Bobby, Bailey, Long, McGrath, that’s actually 7 sorry. No man on the planet can tell me the team 19th in the 4th division should have 7 centre halves on the payroll. Does that scream good recruitment/ planning to you? Screams one guess after another to me.

Grant must think that a fair few of the lads aren’t good enough even though Wood, Anderson, Olowu and Bailey have been given contracts in the last 12months ish and Long and Bobby within the last 18 months.

It’s impossible to be confident with any signing we make of this ilk. “Trust Grant” will be the cry, and he did bring in some good players in his previous stint, but for every Sadlier, Herbie Kane and Wilks there was a Paul Taylor, Shaun Cummings and Rian McLean.

McCann hasn’t signed the 7 centre halves though, he’s maybe signed 2 of them. So if you were manager and had the opportunity to bring in players you thought were better would you say, oh no I can’t do that as I already have 6 centre halves who are shite that the last manager signed.

And every manager on the planet makes good and bad signings, so yes of course he made bad signings even the best managers on the planet do that.

No he hasn’t signed them all but it’s certainly not a positive sign for the clubs recruitment system when you have to say “we’ve got 6 centre halves, 5 arent good enough, let’s sign another”. 

I agree
We’ve made some dreadful signings, mainly when we were shopping with no cash.
Now we’ve got some cash I don’t think it’s unreasonable to replace the poor signings we made earlier.
It’s certainly not McCanns fault, and if you or I were him you’d be doing exactly the same if you were able to do so

[GazLaz]

Does he se McGrath and Bailey as the first choice pair then? That means Bobby is well down the pecking order. Do we need 6 centre halves!?

Do you mean we shouldn’t have signed McGrath GazLaz?
Have we made another mistake?

If he’s better than what we already have, yes we should have signed him. If not, we shouldn’t! Is there a plan to get rid of some of the other lads? Wood, Anderson, Olowu, Bobby, Bailey, Long, McGrath, that’s actually 7 sorry. No man on the planet can tell me the team 19th in the 4th division should have 7 centre halves on the payroll. Does that scream good recruitment/ planning to you? Screams one guess after another to me.

Grant must think that a fair few of the lads aren’t good enough even though Wood, Anderson, Olowu and Bailey have been given contracts in the last 12months ish and Long and Bobby within the last 18 months.

It’s impossible to be confident with any signing we make of this ilk. “Trust Grant” will be the cry, and he did bring in some good players in his previous stint, but for every Sadlier, Herbie Kane and Wilks there was a Paul Taylor, Shaun Cummings and Rian McLean.

McCann hasn’t signed the 7 centre halves though, he’s maybe signed 2 of them. So if you were manager and had the opportunity to bring in players you thought were better would you say, oh no I can’t do that as I already have 6 centre halves who are shite that the last manager signed.

And every manager on the planet makes good and bad signings, so yes of course he made bad signings even the best managers on the planet do that.

No he hasn’t signed them all but it’s certainly not a positive sign for the clubs recruitment system when you have to say “we’ve got 6 centre halves, 5 arent good enough, let’s sign another”. 

I agree
We’ve made some dreadful signings, mainly when we were shopping with no cash.
Now we’ve got some cash I don’t think it’s unreasonable to replace the poor signings we made earlier.
It’s certainly not McCanns fault, and if you or I were him you’d be doing exactly the same if you were able to do so

McGrath doesn’t look like the signing of a team with cash.

[dickos1]

Does he se McGrath and Bailey as the first choice pair then? That means Bobby is well down the pecking order. Do we need 6 centre halves!?

Do you mean we shouldn’t have signed McGrath GazLaz?
Have we made another mistake?

If he’s better than what we already have, yes we should have signed him. If not, we shouldn’t! Is there a plan to get rid of some of the other lads? Wood, Anderson, Olowu, Bobby, Bailey, Long, McGrath, that’s actually 7 sorry. No man on the planet can tell me the team 19th in the 4th division should have 7 centre halves on the payroll. Does that scream good recruitment/ planning to you? Screams one guess after another to me.

Grant must think that a fair few of the lads aren’t good enough even though Wood, Anderson, Olowu and Bailey have been given contracts in the last 12months ish and Long and Bobby within the last 18 months.

It’s impossible to be confident with any signing we make of this ilk. “Trust Grant” will be the cry, and he did bring in some good players in his previous stint, but for every Sadlier, Herbie Kane and Wilks there was a Paul Taylor, Shaun Cummings and Rian McLean.

McCann hasn’t signed the 7 centre halves though, he’s maybe signed 2 of them. So if you were manager and had the opportunity to bring in players you thought were better would you say, oh no I can’t do that as I already have 6 centre halves who are shite that the last manager signed.

And every manager on the planet makes good and bad signings, so yes of course he made bad signings even the best managers on the planet do that.

No he hasn’t signed them all but it’s certainly not a positive sign for the clubs recruitment system when you have to say “we’ve got 6 centre halves, 5 arent good enough, let’s sign another”. 

I agree
We’ve made some dreadful signings, mainly when we were shopping with no cash.
Now we’ve got some cash I don’t think it’s unreasonable to replace the poor signings we made earlier.
It’s certainly not McCanns fault, and if you or I were him you’d be doing exactly the same if you were able to do so

McGrath doesn’t look like the signing of a team with cash.

Does it not?

[GazLaz]

Does he se McGrath and Bailey as the first choice pair then? That means Bobby is well down the pecking order. Do we need 6 centre halves!?

Do you mean we shouldn’t have signed McGrath GazLaz?
Have we made another mistake?

If he’s better than what we already have, yes we should have signed him. If not, we shouldn’t! Is there a plan to get rid of some of the other lads? Wood, Anderson, Olowu, Bobby, Bailey, Long, McGrath, that’s actually 7 sorry. No man on the planet can tell me the team 19th in the 4th division should have 7 centre halves on the payroll. Does that scream good recruitment/ planning to you? Screams one guess after another to me.

Grant must think that a fair few of the lads aren’t good enough even though Wood, Anderson, Olowu and Bailey have been given contracts in the last 12months ish and Long and Bobby within the last 18 months.

It’s impossible to be confident with any signing we make of this ilk. “Trust Grant” will be the cry, and he did bring in some good players in his previous stint, but for every Sadlier, Herbie Kane and Wilks there was a Paul Taylor, Shaun Cummings and Rian McLean.

McCann hasn’t signed the 7 centre halves though, he’s maybe signed 2 of them. So if you were manager and had the opportunity to bring in players you thought were better would you say, oh no I can’t do that as I already have 6 centre halves who are shite that the last manager signed.

And every manager on the planet makes good and bad signings, so yes of course he made bad signings even the best managers on the planet do that.

No he hasn’t signed them all but it’s certainly not a positive sign for the clubs recruitment system when you have to say “we’ve got 6 centre halves, 5 arent good enough, let’s sign another”. 

I agree
We’ve made some dreadful signings, mainly when we were shopping with no cash.
Now we’ve got some cash I don’t think it’s unreasonable to replace the poor signings we made earlier.
It’s certainly not McCanns fault, and if you or I were him you’d be doing exactly the same if you were able to do so

McGrath doesn’t look like the signing of a team with cash.

Does it not?

No, he will be on below average for a L2 centre half.

[dickos1]

If you have cash you can still sign players who are good that don’t cost a fortune.

[wilts rover]

Does he se McGrath and Bailey as the first choice pair then? That means Bobby is well down the pecking order. Do we need 6 centre halves!?

Do you mean we shouldn’t have signed McGrath GazLaz?
Have we made another mistake?

If he’s better than what we already have, yes we should have signed him. If not, we shouldn’t! Is there a plan to get rid of some of the other lads? Wood, Anderson, Olowu, Bobby, Bailey, Long, McGrath, that’s actually 7 sorry. No man on the planet can tell me the team 19th in the 4th division should have 7 centre halves on the payroll. Does that scream good recruitment/ planning to you? Screams one guess after another to me.

Grant must think that a fair few of the lads aren’t good enough even though Wood, Anderson, Olowu and Bailey have been given contracts in the last 12months ish and Long and Bobby within the last 18 months.

It’s impossible to be confident with any signing we make of this ilk. “Trust Grant” will be the cry, and he did bring in some good players in his previous stint, but for every Sadlier, Herbie Kane and Wilks there was a Paul Taylor, Shaun Cummings and Rian McLean.

McCann hasn’t signed the 7 centre halves though, he’s maybe signed 2 of them. So if you were manager and had the opportunity to bring in players you thought were better would you say, oh no I can’t do that as I already have 6 centre halves who are shite that the last manager signed.

And every manager on the planet makes good and bad signings, so yes of course he made bad signings even the best managers on the planet do that.

No he hasn’t signed them all but it’s certainly not a positive sign for the clubs recruitment system when you have to say “we’ve got 6 centre halves, 5 arent good enough, let’s sign another”. 

I agree
We’ve made some dreadful signings, mainly when we were shopping with no cash.
Now we’ve got some cash I don’t think it’s unreasonable to replace the poor signings we made earlier.
It’s certainly not McCanns fault, and if you or I were him you’d be doing exactly the same if you were able to do so

McGrath doesn’t look like the signing of a team with cash.

So when McCann said that the board had given him money to get the players he wanted was he lying? Or a bad judge of player? Or so poor a manager he can't see what we need?

https://www.drfc-vsc.co.uk/index.php?topic=289718.msg1279816#msg1279816

[ncRover]

Does he se McGrath and Bailey as the first choice pair then? That means Bobby is well down the pecking order. Do we need 6 centre halves!?

Do you mean we shouldn’t have signed McGrath GazLaz?
Have we made another mistake?

If he’s better than what we already have, yes we should have signed him. If not, we shouldn’t! Is there a plan to get rid of some of the other lads? Wood, Anderson, Olowu, Bobby, Bailey, Long, McGrath, that’s actually 7 sorry. No man on the planet can tell me the team 19th in the 4th division should have 7 centre halves on the payroll. Does that scream good recruitment/ planning to you? Screams one guess after another to me.

Grant must think that a fair few of the lads aren’t good enough even though Wood, Anderson, Olowu and Bailey have been given contracts in the last 12months ish and Long and Bobby within the last 18 months.

It’s impossible to be confident with any signing we make of this ilk. “Trust Grant” will be the cry, and he did bring in some good players in his previous stint, but for every Sadlier, Herbie Kane and Wilks there was a Paul Taylor, Shaun Cummings and Rian McLean.

McCann hasn’t signed the 7 centre halves though, he’s maybe signed 2 of them. So if you were manager and had the opportunity to bring in players you thought were better would you say, oh no I can’t do that as I already have 6 centre halves who are shite that the last manager signed.

And every manager on the planet makes good and bad signings, so yes of course he made bad signings even the best managers on the planet do that.

No he hasn’t signed them all but it’s certainly not a positive sign for the clubs recruitment system when you have to say “we’ve got 6 centre halves, 5 arent good enough, let’s sign another”. 

I agree
We’ve made some dreadful signings, mainly when we were shopping with no cash.
Now we’ve got some cash I don’t think it’s unreasonable to replace the poor signings we made earlier.
It’s certainly not McCanns fault, and if you or I were him you’d be doing exactly the same if you were able to do so

McGrath doesn’t look like the signing of a team with cash.

Does it not?

No, he will be on below average for a L2 centre half.

He’s 20?

[In the box]

Does he se McGrath and Bailey as the first choice pair then? That means Bobby is well down the pecking order. Do we need 6 centre halves!?

Do you mean we shouldn’t have signed McGrath GazLaz?
Have we made another mistake?

If he’s better than what we already have, yes we should have signed him. If not, we shouldn’t! Is there a plan to get rid of some of the other lads? Wood, Anderson, Olowu, Bobby, Bailey, Long, McGrath, that’s actually 7 sorry. No man on the planet can tell me the team 19th in the 4th division should have 7 centre halves on the payroll. Does that scream good recruitment/ planning to you? Screams one guess after another to me.

Grant must think that a fair few of the lads aren’t good enough even though Wood, Anderson, Olowu and Bailey have been given contracts in the last 12months ish and Long and Bobby within the last 18 months.

It’s impossible to be confident with any signing we make of this ilk. “Trust Grant” will be the cry, and he did bring in some good players in his previous stint, but for every Sadlier, Herbie Kane and Wilks there was a Paul Taylor, Shaun Cummings and Rian McLean.

McCann hasn’t signed the 7 centre halves though, he’s maybe signed 2 of them. So if you were manager and had the opportunity to bring in players you thought were better would you say, oh no I can’t do that as I already have 6 centre halves who are shite that the last manager signed.

And every manager on the planet makes good and bad signings, so yes of course he made bad signings even the best managers on the planet do that.

No he hasn’t signed them all but it’s certainly not a positive sign for the clubs recruitment system when you have to say “we’ve got 6 centre halves, 5 arent good enough, let’s sign another”. 

I agree
We’ve made some dreadful signings, mainly when we were shopping with no cash.
Now we’ve got some cash I don’t think it’s unreasonable to replace the poor signings we made earlier.
It’s certainly not McCanns fault, and if you or I were him you’d be doing exactly the same if you were able to do so

McGrath doesn’t look like the signing of a team with cash.

So when McCann said that the board had given him money to get the players he wanted was he lying? Or a bad judge of player? Or so poor a manager he can't see what we need?

https://www.drfc-vsc.co.uk/index.php?topic=289718.msg1279816#msg1279816

He was using his head and not doing a Ferguson by publicly criticising what he has available. But I very much doubt they the budged had changed by much if at all .

[dickos1]

Our wage bill must be amongst the biggest in the league. Purely on numbers, our squad is massive.
The budget isn’t the problem it’s how it’s been spent over last 3 years

[StocksArmy]

If the club wanted to turn the season around and I mean REALLY wanted to turn the season around in this window they would.

[knockers]

The best thing to spend any money on in this window is to pay off the ten players that he’s never going to pick to play.
 Let’s start next year with a squad that he actually wants.

[ncRover]

Our wage bill must be amongst the biggest in the league. Purely on numbers, our squad is massive.
The budget isn’t the problem it’s how it’s been spent over last 3 years

The budget is good this season with the size of the squad and the signings made.

But last year and especially that Wellens / McSheffrey L1 relegation squad, the budget will have been pitiful.

This team is average this year, but it would easily still beat that season’s team in a game.

[dickos1]

Our wage bill must be amongst the biggest in the league. Purely on numbers, our squad is massive.
The budget isn’t the problem it’s how it’s been spent over last 3 years

The budget is good this season with the size of the squad and the signings made.

But last year and especially that Wellens / McSheffrey L1 relegation squad, the budget will have been pitiful.

This team is average this year, but it would easily still beat that season’s team in a game.

I agree and that’s the point I was making earlier when people were saying we had a load of. Enter halves, and we should t sign anymore.
We need to sign more, if we already got a load who aren’t good enough then even more so

[sedwardsdrfc]

We must have the biggest underperformance relative to budget this season in L2. Y a long way I’d imagine.

The fact we have 7 centre halves shows we have a decent budget we’re just choosing to spend it on poor signings.

[dickos1]

McCann had to do this though, he needs the summer to get rid of all the players that aren’t his.

[sedwardsdrfc]

McCann had to do this though, he needs the summer to get rid of all the players that aren’t his.

Agree. I’m not saying it’s all his fault, although we should be more consistent.

There were comments saying how we’ve poor players because of limited budget but that’s not true we’ve just wasted it and that pre dates McCann.

Hopefully next season we hire a better medical/ fitness team and allowing a smaller and better quality squad.

[GazLaz]

McCann had to do this though, he needs the summer to get rid of all the players that aren’t his.

Getting rid of players is something we are poor at. Obvious ones will be released but we have a bad habit of giving contracts to players when we shouldn’t and struggle moving players on that are under contract.

[DearneValleyRover]

I agree with that Gaz, we are too loyal to players, I’m unsure if the club believes this endears themselves but in reality it does little to attract the right players

[sedwardsdrfc]

McCann had to do this though, he needs the summer to get rid of all the players that aren’t his.

Getting rid of players is something we are poor at. Obvious ones will be released but we have a bad habit of giving contracts to players when we shouldn’t and struggle moving players on that are under contract.

The Anderson one was just bizarre. Cops was involved then because it was before McCann. Stinks of jobs for the boys or just rose tinted glasses on a player who’s been here a while.

[Chris Black come back]

McCann had to do this though, he needs the summer to get rid of all the players that aren’t his.

Getting rid of players is something we are poor at. Obvious ones will be released but we have a bad habit of giving contracts to players when we shouldn’t and struggle moving players on that are under contract.

The Anderson one was just bizarre. Cops was involved then because it was before McCann. Stinks of jobs for the jobs or just rose tinted glasses on a player who’s been here a while.

2.5 years for Anderson. 3 years for Taylor.

[GazLaz]

McCann had to do this though, he needs the summer to get rid of all the players that aren’t his.

Getting rid of players is something we are poor at. Obvious ones will be released but we have a bad habit of giving contracts to players when we shouldn’t and struggle moving players on that are under contract.

The Anderson one was just bizarre. Cops was involved then because it was before McCann. Stinks of jobs for the jobs or just rose tinted glasses on a player who’s been here a while.

2.5 years for Anderson. 3 years for Taylor.

Sentimental decisions. McGrath didn’t need to be 2.5 years either. 18months with an option seems more realistic for this type of player. Helps if your dad is the managers: “head of recruitments” mate though I suppose.

[ncRover]

Gaz is right on sentimental decisions.

But I also think there is a strange irrational fear from the club (and sometimes supporters) that if we let a player go and that player subsequently goes on to do semi-decent somewhere else then that is really bad.

As good as he’s been for us, I doubt Cambridge fans are debating whether they should have let Joe Ironside go. Because his time with them naturally came to an end and he was ready to drop a level.

[GazLaz]

Gaz is right on sentimental decisions.

But I also think there is a strange irrational fear from the club (and sometimes supporters) that if we let a player go and that player subsequently goes on to do semi-decent somewhere else then that is really bad.

As good as he’s been for us, I doubt Cambridge fans are debating whether they should have let Joe Ironside go. Because his time with them naturally came to an end and he was ready to drop a level.

There are so many traps/ biases that you can fall into around those situations. Thats just human nature. Eliminating it would be a net long term positive for us.

[Chris Black come back]

PNE fans now fretting that Whiteman won’t sign his deal and leaves for nowt in summer.  Very bad result for us.

[mushRTID]

Solid debut. Lovely left foot on him, big unit.
Not sure if he was at fault for the goal or not but looks an upgrade on Anderson and Olowu.

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

Very good debut I thought, impressed me.

[vaya]

Distribution pretty good as well.