Graham Carr

[Guest neesy111]

He can 'spot a player' my left nut, like. f***ing Stifler from here could've recommended Cabaye and Ben Arfa. Every time his scouting abilities have actually been put to the test we've signed utter rubbish or players not right for the PL.

 

Except hardly any of us knew who Cabaye was when we signed him and don't lie.

 

 

Fuck off.

 

He'd been suggested on here before we signed him, man.

 

French international, captain of the team that went to win the double that season.  Hardly plucked from obscurtiy.

[STM]

Most players are "known" these days. You have to go quite far from Europe to find players who haven't been scouted these days.

 

Cabaye, Sissoko (for the money) and Ben Arfa were brilliant signings and if he was involved in them, then he deserves credit.

 

Spotting talent is probably not all that difficult but spotting attainable talent is quite tricky I would have thought. Especially when we leave ourselves such little scope in terms of resources.

[Ronaldo]

Spotting a price/contractual vulnerability and spotting a player are two completely different things. Anyone giving him credit for 'spotting' those three needs a fucking slap. I don't even like French football but I knew all 3 would be very good signings before we got them.

[Foluwashola]

I knew next to nothing about Sissoko like, didn't have a clue how that would turn out. Turned out shit. Carr out.

[Guest neesy111]

He just knew about getting good deals for players and how to launder money through that agency in france.

[Guest neesy111]

I knew next to nothing about Sissoko like, didn't have a clue how that would turn out. Turned out shit. Carr out.

 

For the price we paid, he's still been a very good signing tbh.

[STM]

I suppose alot depends on how his job was defined. Either way, he's Rafa's bitch now, perhaps he's being fazed out.

[r0cafella]

I knew next to nothing about Sissoko like, didn't have a clue how that would turn out. Turned out shit. Carr out.

 

For the price we paid, he's still been a very good signing tbh.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I didn't know anything about Sissoko except he was supposed to be one of the most sought-after midfielders at the time. Still think he would have had a great career as a CM if we hadn't messed with him.

[TRon]

FWIW I think he will be phased out, if only because Rafa will want his own scouts that he trusts in place. But it might be he quite likes the look of some of the players like Ayoze, Wijnaldum and Sissoko. You have to bear in mind that Carr's remit was to buy players under 25 and usually coming to the end of their contract. That policy in itself was going to tie one hand behind his back.

 

Can't say I was a fan of buying midget central defenders or defensive midfielders, but again a lot of those players were bought with a mind to making a profit rather than buying the players we needed.

[Segun Oluwaniyi]

Spotting a price/contractual vulnerability and spotting a player are two completely different things. Anyone giving him credit for 'spotting' those three needs a f***ing slap. I don't even like French football but I knew all 3 would be very good signings before we got them.

A litany of other clubs could have signed them for the same fees and wages we paid. None of them did. They were fine signings. Even the likes Debuchy and Gouffran were relatively good signings. Debuchy was very good after a period of adjustment and for what he cost, Gouffran played a fairly important role in keeping this team up three years ago (obviously there has been a sharp decline since then). A demotion seems a just reward for him, given the small amount of information we are privy to about his position in the football club. He seems useful, but was given too much responsibility, a situation that has been common in the Ashley regime. What about his qualification or history lends itself to near total control over a club's player staff?

He wants to f***ing retire simply for putting forward his mate McClaren for the job.

Eh...in my mind, the main reason for this relegation is the poor recruitment/general transfer activity (along with the extremely poor management of the recruits) of the past two seasons and the reluctance of the club to sack McClaren. I had no real issues with his initial hire. While not particularly exciting or ambitious, he was certainly qualified, willing to come, an improvement on Carver, and seemed a steady enough hand to rebuild after the genuine disaster that marked Newcastle in the first five months of 2015. It didn't work, but managerial appointments across the world fail constantly. If you look at the rate managers are sacked in football, it is a position in which failure is normal. What is also normal is for clubs to cut out the personnel that is failing and continue to work to change and improve. For a club of Newcastle's stature to respond to a season spent almost entirely in the relegation zone with no change until March is madness. The level of complacency and lack of care at the top is what has ruined them once again.

[Ronaldo]

Words fail me.

[TRon]

Words fail me.

 

Words would help for the rest of us though.

[Ronaldo]

The thing I've questioned, repeatedly, is Carr's ability to find players - ie seeing things on the pitch that you average bloke couldn't, then bringing the right players to the club for our purposes. Nobody would argue the 3 players mentioned don't represent good business. It obvious his 'skill' lies in discovering when players are sometimes going for less than they're worth. That isn't scouting, it's networking. He's a shit scout with decent contacts, basically.

 

[DJ_NUFC]

Aside from his (in)ability as Lord Scout around the club, my concern with him staying on with Rafa lies in a potential power struggle or an undercurrent of awkwardness that may result from him being stripped of his throne and being made to work just as a regular scout, sharing bus rides with Rod Stewart's sister. I think we desperately need to get rid of the stench of failure around this club, and Rafa signals a new beginning, and relegation a chance for us to chuck out the old and just sanitize the fucking place top to bottom.

 

Is Derek Wright still around? If so, fuck me.

[Toondave]

The thing I've questioned, repeatedly, is Carr's ability to find players - ie seeing things on the pitch that you average bloke couldn't, then bringing the right players to the club for our purposes. Nobody would argue the 3 players mentioned don't represent good business. It obvious his 'skill' lies in discovering when players are sometimes going for less than they're worth. That isn't scouting, it's networking. He's a shit scout with decent contacts, basically.

 

 

Which I'm sure is quite an important part of the scouting business. As long as he doesn't have any more power than he deserves/is qualified for then it's unlikely he's going to do much harm; especially if Rafa is bringing in that McParland fella as well.

 

If Carr thinks he's worthy of whatever jumped up position he's currently holding then we might have a problem.

[Scotty66]

His criteria has been to find players that can be signed and have a high chance of being sold for more.

 

This is why we are so lop sided as a squad because the players that were brought in didn't arrive to strengthen the squad,just to make money.

 

Thauvin and Cabella have been massive flops but everyone was pretty hyped when we signed those two because of their "potential"

 

I think now for the first time in a long time,Rafa will be telling him exactly the player type he wants. Not just one that "can make us some money in a few years"

 

Carr isn't a bad scout,I think he'll be a lot happier working for Rafa.

[Ronaldo]

We've just been relegated after signing his players/managers for the past half-decade, man. Of course he's a shit scout.

[TRon]

The thing I've questioned, repeatedly, is Carr's ability to find players - ie seeing things on the pitch that you average bloke couldn't, then bringing the right players to the club for our purposes. Nobody would argue the 3 players mentioned don't represent good business. It obvious his 'skill' lies in discovering when players are sometimes going for less than they're worth. That isn't scouting, it's networking. He's a shit scout with decent contacts, basically.

 

 

But that's what he was paid to do. If he was asked to scout for 28 year old 6'5 defenders he could probably deliver.

[toon25]

He'll retire soon enough imo. I don't think he'll hang around once Rafa starts to bring his own players.

[Ronaldo]

Oh, he was being paid to spend the past 4 years signing players not fit for PL football, then? Ok.

[Scotty66]

We've just been relegated after signing his players/managers for the past half-decade, man. Of course he's a s*** scout.

 

But players and managers that Ashley wanted him to find. Players with re-sale value and managers who are yes men.

 

Carr is just doing what he's told. I'm pretty certain the players on his list at 1/2/3 would be amazing signings for us. Lacazette,Aubameyang etc

[Hanshithispantz]

The thing I've questioned, repeatedly, is Carr's ability to find players - ie seeing things on the pitch that you average bloke couldn't, then bringing the right players to the club for our purposes. Nobody would argue the 3 players mentioned don't represent good business. It obvious his 'skill' lies in discovering when players are sometimes going for less than they're worth. That isn't scouting, it's networking. He's a shit scout with decent contacts, basically.

 

 

But that's what he was paid to do. If he was asked to scout for 28 year old 6'5 defenders he could probably deliver.

So could anyone with access to Wikipedia.

 

Not sure Carr's shown any evidence at all of being a good scout whilst here like (Abeid maybe?), Ron's spot on in that he's just a bloke with good contacts. He's done this for a long time.

[Hanshithispantz]

We've just been relegated after signing his players/managers for the past half-decade, man. Of course he's a s*** scout.

 

But players and managers that Ashley wanted him to find. Players with re-sale value and managers who are yes men.

 

Carr is just doing what he's told. I'm pretty certain the players on his list at 1/2/3 would be amazing signings for us. Lacazette,Aubameyang etc

His paper might as well read "Neymar... Pogba... Vidal." His job was obviously to find good young players we could sell for a profit (best way to fo this is by virtue of them turning out to be a 'hidden gem') and he failed spectacularly.

[Nobody]

We've just been relegated after signing his players/managers for the past half-decade, man. Of course he's a s*** scout.

 

But players and managers that Ashley wanted him to find. Players with re-sale value and managers who are yes men.

 

Carr is just doing what he's told. I'm pretty certain the players on his list at 1/2/3 would be amazing signings for us. Lacazette,Aubameyang etc

If that's the case, why the massive lob on for the likes of Thauvin then? He knocked us back and knocked us back, wasn't until he basically had any other choice but to come here that he finally signed. Turned out to be completely unfit for the squad and manager* and was on the first plane back to France. That is some truly shocking scouting, and it's all on him. Clearly not far down his list either.

 

*Speaking of the manager, his situation was actually eerily similar to Thauvin's, yet Carr kept his stiffy for him and that basically relegated us.