pi_D Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 Finally the club is in a position to realise its potential. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ponsaelius Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 Surely even the most passionate of Ashley haters, must now agree that the club is in an infinitely better shape than the one he bought? Aye. The weird bit for me, or at least one of them, is that of all the players we're linked with bringing in this summer i fully expect them to be a success. Whether it's left back A or left back B, the guy coming in will actually want to be here. He won't be coming here because we offered more than his first choice club. Dead simple approach to signing players, i'm just amazed it didn't happen years ago. Must be cos us delusional geordies demand big names? It's actually quite ridiculous how much we've fucked up player recruitment in the past, tbf. There's players in this country and abroad that would queue up to play for us. That's not being arrogant either, it's a fact. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tyson Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 As I understand it, in the American Moneyball someone identified a particular statistical indicator of a player's value, that conventional wisdom had ignored or dismissed. By correctly realising that the stat was key, Oakland gained an advantage, for a while at least. That's exactly right. Oakland is perennially one of the lowest-attended, lowest-spending teams in baseball, so their General Manager Billy Beane tried to identify weaknesses in the market that would allow them to find undervalued players. Slight baseball aside - they used on-base percentage and walks to help figure out players who were more productive than their stats would have indicated, and they signed college players as opposed to high school prospects because they were more of a sure thing. What Ashley is doing isn't Moneyball in any sense other than finding players whose perceived value by Carr and the scouting staff exceeds their market value. That's not Moneyball, that's just smart buying. I suppose there is an element of Moneyball in focusing on leagues which continue to produce talent that's undervalued in the market, but that's not nearly the same thing. Incidentally, Oakland's strategy was found out, other teams started doing the same things they did, and they're back in the s***. If you have a scouting staff you believe in and an ability to sniff out bargains, that's all you need for Ashley's approach. Most teams have one but not the other - or neither at all. ..... and team's armed with more money, and clout in the player market. The perfect example being Boston (traditionally big-spenders, whose commercial market is shaded only by the Yankees iirc) when they attempted to poach him with a big money offer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndonesianToon Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 Everyones here are extremely cautious not to give Ashley more credits than he should get. It's a bit ridiculous to read. Just let loose FFS. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyeDubbleYoo Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 The key element in Moneyball for me is having the courage to think for yourself and not follow the herd. At first, before he got to know the business, that part of Ashley's approach was a problem - now it's a big asset. I'm sure I said something like that months ago! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyeDubbleYoo Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 It's actually quite ridiculous how much we've fucked up player recruitment in the past, tbf. There's players in this country and abroad that would queue up to play for us. That's not being arrogant either, it's a fact. I always thought it was mental how the transfer market and wages had been allowed to get so far out of control. It's like supply and demand in reverse - there are thousands of lads who would kill to be a professional footballer but we still have to keep paying them more and more. And there are hundreds of players in other leagues who would kill for a shot at the Premiership. It hasn't been like we've been giving them a brilliant opportunity in the past, it's been like we've given them a lottery win. I guess paying more attention to character is also important, which we seem to be doing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylor Swift Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 We have the infrastructure to act like a big club. I'm glad our finances look much better now. If we can consistently get into Europe then that'll improve matchday revenue and open up commercial opportunities, enabling us to compete with Spurs and Liverpool financially. We have the advantage of SJP, a stadium whose size is only dwarfed by Old Trafford and the Emirates. Because of this, we should eventually be able to compete with every team in the league but those two, crazy Arab owners notwithstanding. That means that if we continue down this path, we should be perennial contenders for a CL spot, and we should have more room financially to push on. The future is looking very bright. And I say we should be contenders for a CL spot because only two teams can consistently lose money - Chelsea and Man City. Every other team has to break even eventually, which means that the extra revenue that SJP brings us can be used to outmuscle other teams. In the end, we'll be acting like the big boys, except we'll be smart and not reckless like we were before. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyeDubbleYoo Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 The strength of the scouting/contract sniffing side of the club is absolutely essential to our success now. I hope there's a proper succession plan in place for Graham Carr and he is taking younger scouts with him on trips and helping them get started. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
STM Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 I was wondering, what would we do if Carr left? Would we have a replacement of the same quality? I'm not trying to claim he is some sort of superhero but he is bloody good at his job. As Ian W says, we should looking to nurture new scouts at the club, to work alongside Carr. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NEEJ Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 I was wondering, what would we do if Carr left? Would we have a replacement of the same quality? I'm not trying to claim he is some sort of superhero but he is bloody good at his job. As Ian W says, we should looking to nurture new scouts at the club, to work alongside Carr. OCK said we've been expanding the scouting network a while back didn't he? Good news if true. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbandit Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 Same thing's been on my mind. If we're so fastidious in player recruitment I can see it being in all parts of the club. We will be thinking about this I reckon, we have to Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ObiChrisKenobi Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 Academy scouting has certainly changed (for the better too). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
OzzieMandias Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 I was wondering, what would we do if Carr left? Would we have a replacement of the same quality? We need a really good scout to scout for new scouts. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
loki679 Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 Carr will find us some new scouts that nobody else knows about and who want peanuts for wages. French bien sûr. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mole_Toonfan Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 I was wondering, what would we do if Carr left? Would we have a replacement of the same quality? I'm not trying to claim he is some sort of superhero but he is bloody good at his job. As Ian W says, we should looking to nurture new scouts at the club, to work alongside Carr. Cabaye isnt doing a bad job getting his french mates to join Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ_NUFC Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 If we clinch 4th (or even 5th or 6th), are we going to have a chanted apology for the fat man? Or just a positive chant of some sort? Something along the lines of, "Fat Cockney B4stard you've done okay, like." It's about time we start extending a hand to the pudgy one. Still a c--- of course. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
loki679 Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 I like the 'slim cockney bastard, you can stay at our club' one. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leazes1986 Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 Why do we owe him an apology? Its not like we were wrong all along and relegation, Kinnear, KK saga was all part of a masterplan ( sorry ), he made huge mistakes and deserved the stick he got, just as he deserves credit for the way he's went about business these last couple of years (mostly anyway). He certainly doesnt deserve an apology, his responsibility is to keep running the club like he is now, we'll turn up, everybodys happy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGuv Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 Why do we owe him an apology? Its not like we were wrong all along and relegation, Kinnear, KK saga was all part of a masterplan ( sorry ), he made huge mistakes and deserved the stick he got, just as he deserves credit for the way he's went about business these last couple of years (mostly anyway). He certainly doesnt deserve an apology, his responsibility is to keep running the club like he is now, we'll turn up, everybodys happy. That, and he's a complete and utter cunt. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ_NUFC Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 I think apology was probably the wrong word, as I agree with you that he deserved what he got from the fans. However, I think something along the lines of a reconciliation of sorts, making him feel somewhat welcome again, may actually be in the interest of the club. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Optimistic Nut Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 I don't think any will and necessarily should forgive him, but I'm sure people are acknowledging the fact that (stadium name aside), he's turned it around. Fair play to him. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
henke Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 See where we're at when the next transfer window closes. If we get through that in good shape he can come round mine for sunday dinner. Mind the fat cunt better bring a decent bottle of wine. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wormy Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 Fuck that. Hand him an olive branch and he'll piss on it and shove it up our arses. Keep the fucker on his toes. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sicko2ndbest Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 The guys a genius! Pisses on anything we've had before Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BooBoo Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 Still think his biggest blunder was bringing KK back. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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