[Archived] Big Fat Sam's Shopping List

[Eddie]

No, but if we want this club to develop we can't rely on central midfielders being effective well into their 30's, it just doesn't happen normally. For a cut-priced deal like he was you obviously wouldn't want the club to pass up on something like Tugay, but the general approach should be to bring in young players.

[Amo]

I agree, but why should they be mutually exclusive? The next young Tugay isn't going to jump onto Sam's lap. In the mean time, Mendes could be a cheap replacement.

[den]

No, but if we want this club to develop we can't rely on central midfielders being effective well into their 30's, it just doesn't happen normally. For a cut-priced deal like he was you obviously wouldn't want the club to pass up on something like Tugay, but the general approach should be to bring in young players.

Oh for things to be as simple as that Eddie. That's fine if you are Crewe Alexandra or Torquay. The youngsters good enough to play at Premier League level are financially out of our reach. The way for us to currently operate is to continue to buy solid, experienced performers.

[Eddie]

Sometimes football is that simple. Plenty of youngsters a relatively safe bets, even within our price range.

[den]

Sometimes football is that simple. Plenty of youngsters a relatively safe bets, even within our price range.

Not getting into another prolonged argument Eddie, but name me three or four youngsters who are a "safe bet" [i assume you mean they are proven at Prem level] and are within our price range?

[jny]

Thing is where is the next toogs gonna come from. Mendes is good but he's not a patch on Tugay.....

[Guest benmaxwell]

Oh for things to be as simple as that Eddie. That's fine if you are Crewe Alexandra or Torquay. The youngsters good enough to play at Premier League level are financially out of our reach. The way for us to currently operate is to continue to buy solid, experienced performers.

The vast majority of our squad is in the 28-32 age bracket. I don't think it's to unreasonable to be looking for players in the 22-26 age bracket?

Steven Davis and Chris Brunt, the 2 players i have recomended are only 24 and they wouldn't cost any more then about 2-3 million each..?

[Eddie]

Not getting into another prolonged argument Eddie, but name me three or four youngsters who are a "safe bet" [i assume you mean they are proven at Prem level] and are within our price range?

Safe bet to me doesn't mean proven at Premiership level, just that they are clearly talented and have a very good chance of becoming above average Premiership players. Well, from recent times I would put Diarra in there. High wages, but he was a very talented player and was quickly sold on for a very large profit. Coming into this summer, I'm not entirely sure who would be available, but if Boro were to go down Digard would be a smart signing. Just to continue to the French theme as there are a lot of talented youngsters in Ligue 1 who wouldn't be too expensive, players like Sakho, Sessegnon or Clement would all be suited to the premiership.

[gumboots]

Not getting into another prolonged argument Eddie, but name me three or four youngsters who are a "safe bet" [i assume you mean they are proven at Prem level] and are within our price range?

I'm with you here, den. I would like to see us bring in a couple of younger players who are capable of getting up to premiership standard during their first season, but for that to happen you need experience in some key areas. A blend is what we should be looking for. It's what we used to have not too many seasons ago, but older players now predominate and that cannot be good for the ongoing team.

[American]

Oh for things to be as simple as that Eddie. That's fine if you are Crewe Alexandra or Torquay. The youngsters good enough to play at Premier League level are financially out of our reach. The way for us to currently operate is to continue to buy solid, experienced performers.

I think you're both right. For every Toogs, there is a Samba. You need a good mixture of experience and promising younger players. Don't underestimate the influence that Nelsen has had on Samba's development.

[den]

Safe bet to me doesn't mean proven at Premiership level, just that they are clearly talented and have a very good chance of becoming above average Premiership players.

That's called gambling Eddie. Youngsters aren't safe bets at all - and the best one's of those are usually snapped up by the bigger clubs. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't try for the younger players, but there's a difference between that and what you are proposing - that we make it our policy to leave the more experienced guys who may be past the mid twenty mark, alone.

Now you're going to come back and say we need a mix of ages aren't you? - which isn't the impression you've been giving. The best way for our club in the transfer market, is to sign the best quality available to us, at the best price - no matter what age. If we had unlimitted funds we could take more gambles on youngsters.

[LeChuck]

Wigan are playing Cattermole and Watson in the centre of midfield at the moment, both of them were relatively cheap and both are in their early twenties.

If you look hard enough these players are around, it just requires excellent scouting work.

[den]

Watson has made 6 starts all season LeC. I don't think that gives any credence to Eddies theory that we should change our scouting to almost exclusively targeting young players. After all, wouldn't all the managers in the prem simply sign youngsters if that was as easy as some would have us believe?

Naieve in my opinion.

[gumboots]

Watson has made 6 starts all season LeC. I don't think that gives any credence to Eddies theory that we should change our scouting to almost exclusively targeting young players. After all, wouldn't all the managers in the prem simply sign youngsters if that was as easy as some would have us believe?

Naieve in my opinion.

And even with quality youngsters like the arsenal squad you are not guaranteed to win anything. Wenger gets his pick of some of the best around but not all of them are good enough and Arsenal fans are looking for him to play a more balanced blend of the most exciting youngsters and experienced players.

[Eddie]

Watson has made 6 starts all season LeC. I don't think that gives any credence to Eddies theory that we should change our scouting to almost exclusively targeting young players. After all, wouldn't all the managers in the prem simply sign youngsters if that was as easy as some would have us believe?

Naieve in my opinion.

I didn't say that we focus exclusively on younger players, but given the current make-up of our squad I think it would be sensible to have the majority of our signings be younger players. I wouldn't have a team with everyone under the age of 26, but with the squad that we currently have we could sign plenty of youngsters and still have a mix there. I also think that the long-term plan should be to be mostly signing youngsters and save the signing of more experienced players when one becomes available who fits an immediate need in the starting line-up and is a significant improvement on what we already have. In other words, I wouldn't have signed Diouf, but I would have signed Tugay, Cole, etc. You'll get some wrong, both with the youngsters the experienced players, but that would be the case no matter what. I'm just strongly of the belief that this sort of approach is the only way the club could conceivably significantly improve in the near future and have a very good side for a few years.

[jny]

And where's the money gonna come from to buy these youngsters ?

[Eddie]

Well I'm sure we'll have a million or two to spend, we certainly seem to be planning on it at the moment. I also believe that we should sell Santa Cruz, so that would give us some money to spend as well.

[gumboots]

Well I'm sure we'll have a million or two to spend, we certainly seem to be planning on it at the moment. I also believe that we should sell Santa Cruz, so that would give us some money to spend as well.

Yes, and most of the money we make on Santa Cruz will go on replacing him. It'll have to because good strikers don't generally come cheap. We've been fortunate in recent years in being able to pick up damaged goods who have had a point to prove or needed a new start and have done well for us. It's not necessarily going to keep happening so for us we'll have to spend relatively big money on that. Samba is not going to keep on playing centre forward. If we can't afford givet's fee without selling Warnock for a pittance then where do you think the millions for everything else are coming from? We'll get one or two off the wage bill but that's about it in terms of savings we can make. We're not planning to spend as far as anyone knows because the targets will change depending on what happens in the next few weeks and we could still be looking at a Championship team. Unlikely but still perfectly possible.

[Iceman]

For a club our size, to gamble on youngsters is bound to be suicide. We need experienced players in about 9 positions with maybe 2 youngsters in there. I know you want to see players from the academy coming through, but we cant afford to take risks right now. The big 4 can take these risks, because if they should find themselves in trouble they can buy their way out. We need to be realistic, and sometimes for us an age group between 26 to 35 years accompanied by 1 or 2 21 and 23 year olds is the best option. Players like Nani and Vela are benefitting by playing with players like Giggs and Adebayor.

[Eddie]

I love how many on here are so sure they know exactly what would/wouldn't work. I bow to your superior knowledge Gumboots.

[Guest benmaxwell]

Iceman. The snag is, if we keep going for older players we are a) going to lack pace B ) not have very much money for a very long time as we will need to be replacing players when they retire on a regular basis and c) the mix of youth and experience that we had when Bentley was still at Ewood will be missing.

I still reckon our best bet is to bring in some young faces this summer. We have the older experienced players. We are badly missing pace and creativity...

[Bazzanotsogreat]

Can anyone explain to me where the money we made last summer has disappeared to?

[Iceman]

Bazza again you will hear our wage bill took a big chunk, out of any money we get in. The lack of an investor is missing and is still what we desperately need.

[Iceman]

Iceman. The snag is, if we keep going for older players we are a) going to lack pace B ) not have very much money for a very long time as we will need to be replacing players when they retire on a regular basis and c) the mix of youth and experience that we had when Bentley was still at Ewood will be missing.

I still reckon our best bet is to bring in some young faces this summer. We have the older experienced players. We are badly missing pace and creativity...

Treacy, olssen, gally, and Simpson all have been given a chance, not one has taken it with both hands and feet. Im not saying dont give youngsters a chance, but the club is more about trying to establish its self as a top 10 team again after a horrendous season. The balance of the team is wrong, and i have seen some pacey 30 year olds, so the argument that if we buy a 30 year old is going to slow the team down then we not looking in the right places for players.

[Guest benmaxwell]

Treacy, olssen, gally, and Simpson

That's a bad example as all 4 of those players have one thing in common. They are all crap...

I'm not talking about the club buying baby-faced players who haven't played at the top level. I'm suggesting we go for a player or 3 who has/have looked promising at a good level. Their are plenty about...

Treacy and Olsson haven't even had Championship experience. Gally has tried at this level and failed and Simpson is just bad...