I wonder why some players that come in then end up going out on loan so quickly. Take Robbins for example, here is what Dennis Greene said upon signing him:
"He's like a bigger version of Ricky Miller. He's got a hammer of a left and he can score goals out of nothing," said Greene.
"He's not really a poacher of a centre forward, he tends to score more individual goals.
"He's a really good addition and he's ready for this level. He should be playing higher in my opinion."
So what's gone wrong ? Is DG just a bad judge of character ?
TEP
Looks like DG got that one wrong on the face of it , but since signing Robins the return of fitness of Felix and other signings have speeded his departure . Good to see a manager always trying to improve the team .
Got him loaned out so no big financial loss , unlike some managers in the past who gave long contracts to poor signings .
Is DG a bad judge ? Miller ,Southwell, Pidge , Garner ,Marrs, Felix , Mills , Roberts etc . maybe goes a way to answering your question TEP .
Add loanees Dixon , Max Agnew, Jordan Richards, McEvoy etc .
....on the other hand....deacey, Sheridan (twice), dean-conteh, stone, walker (twice), sarpong, lavell moore, Gledhill, Doran, meadows, Hollingsworth, barlow, Reynolds, macdonald, njie, dongo, clunan...maybe these throw the answer to your question more open to debate than first thought???
CORRECT WKP, lets debate it . The 17 names above are spread over 3 seasons , that is 6 a season on average . You will find most Con NORTH teams turn over more n/c players and trialsts than this . Even some Nat Prem sides match these figures .(Imps!)
Now we are looking at P/T non-league football wkp , not the Man U,s etc that you watch on Sky . These Prem teams have squads of 40+ players which makes life easy on the training ground 4 hours a day .
If you was team manager at BUFC how would you set up pre-season training ,
a . Practice moves and set pieces with 11 men v 7 men and 4 cones , or
b, Give trialist who turn up for nothing a chance and practise 11 v 11 .?
How would you organise training sessions?
One thing I do think we have right is time spent on set pieces, as we regularly create a lot of good chances from them. Sure, we don't always score, but obviously a lot of time is spent on them, it shows.
're:trials...pre-season is the right time to both scout and invite younger players to come and show what they've got, not in the middle of February during league matches. If he wants to do it mid season, then do it in the u-21's and then put the better lads on the bench, but not 4 at once because you have no-one else, other than loan players who aren't recalled!
Thirdly, one thing I think we struggle with is some teams play bully boy tactics deliberately to knock us over. Other than Garns and Pidge, we don't really seem to have anyone with a bit of edge, to stand up to the physical stuff, and that's something I think needs working on. And no, I wouldn't want a team of 6' lumps, just a little more physical prescience of our own.
And last but not least, I hate ManU and am so pleased they are struggling, but I avoid watching their 40+ squad, as I think they're cr*p!