Recruitment Team / Scouting

[chaddyrovers]

We wanted to sign Karbgo in the summer. Maybe we should have done. He did well so far, shame his injury now

Sanderson, wasn't that Eustace one? Would I sign him next season? no, We got Wharton back next season

Woodrow, was a strange one and 3 seasons ago we should have signed him

Dennis, I suggested him during the window but with Gueye in form, he won't start up front at the minute. 

the number 1 priority is a new number 1 keeper signing

 

[chaddyrovers]

14 minutes ago, davulsukur said:

Yeah, that's pretty damned poor. Considering we needed to replace the leading goal scorer in the league last season, who kept us up almost single handedly, you'd think we'd have recruited better. 

Difficult task but it shows exactly why you need to reinvest a good chunk of the transfer money received and not just 10% (at best)

Ohashi has 5 goals in 27 games which the state doesn't say plus factoring he played since January 2024 cos of the start of the season in Japan, did anyone not think he need to rest or would get injury at some point. 

Plus add Weimann's goals. Plus we have shared the goals around more this season than last. 

[Hasta]

23 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Ohashi has 5 goals in 27 games which the state doesn't say plus factoring he played since January 2024 cos of the start of the season in Japan, did anyone not think he need to rest or would get injury at some point. 

Plus add Weimann's goals. Plus we have shared the goals around more this season than last. 

The summer recruitment was ok. January was piss poor. The season trajectory will probably back this up.

[Bohinen1983]

I've pulled these figures from around the internet so no idea how accurate they are, but gives a ball park kind of idea as to what we may be investing in the playing squad with regards to transfer fee's.. I've not put loans on, I'm sure there's been fee's involved there but god knows what. Just interested in permanent transfers..  We've sold: Wharton, Szmodics, Phillips, Raya, Gallagher in recent years..  I think we're really bloody lucky to be where we are given what's been reinvested..

Pears (Undisclosed, but must have neglible)

Brittain (1m)

Hyam (1.5m)

Carter (0)

Batth (0)

Wharton (0)

Pickering (650k) 

Travis (0)

Trondstadt (0)

JRC (0)

Buckley (0)

Dolan (0)

Hedges (0)

Kargbo (700k)

Gueye (1.8m)

Weimann (0)

Ohashi (900k)

 

 

[chaddyrovers]

So @roversfan99 here are a few questions for yourself

1. Do you accept that Eustace was behind Sanderson signing and you wanted Eustace wanted to sign his targets, so he did, so now you disagree with that?

2. I remember that during the transfer window we were linked with several players like Wallace, Bamford, McBurnie and Schlupp, who you didn't want and calling Wallace has been at the aged of 30 years old?  so do you stand by your opinion that Eustace should sign his own targets and not the players the club have scouting and research into you didn't want Eustace's targets

3. Isn't it the job of our recruitment team to scout and find players that we want that position and the have the qualities we want like a pacey left winger? do you accept them? 

4, do you accept that the head coach is there to manage the players at the club like coaching them, winning games and shouldn't be scouting players? 

[London blue]

Chaddy for the love of god. Rf99 has said multiple times that yes the manager should have final say but sometimes they get it wrong. 

[DE.]

I have a question for you actually Chaddy. If we assume Unleaded was correct about Eustace interfering with transfers in the summer, do you think it's strange that the head coach somehow had the authority to delay or change transfers? It would suggest Eustace had someone higher up on his side, as otherwise how would he be able to interfere, right? So does that suggest structurally the club is still not particularly stable?

[roversfan99]

We have scored 41 in 37 this season compared to 60 in 46 as a side struggling against relegation. So down from 1.3 goals per game to 1.1 per game.

We have failed to fill the void of goals that Szmodics leaving has caused, even between numerous players.

[chaddyrovers]

1 hour ago, DE. said:

I have a question for you actually Chaddy. If we assume Unleaded was correct about Eustace interfering with transfers in the summer, do you think it's strange that the head coach somehow had the authority to delay or change transfers? It would suggest Eustace had someone higher up on his side, as otherwise how would he be able to interfere, right? So does that suggest structurally the club is still not particularly stable?

From what read and listen(Elliott Jackson and Alan Nixon) about our recruitment in the summer, we had transfer committee to decide who to sign. Eustace wanted Dembele, others didn't. So I agree we had disagreement over targets. 

It's seems this carried on in January from what we all read from different sources. Eustace had his list of targets and Gestede/Owen had their list of targets. 

 

Edited Friday at 21:32 by chaddyrovers

[DE.]

14 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

From what read and listen(Elliott Jackson and Alan Nixon) about our recruitment in the summer, we had transfer committee to decide who to sign. Eustace wanted Dembele, others didn't. So I agree we had disagreement over targets. 

It's seems this carried on in January from what we all read from different sources. Eustace had his list of targets and Gestede/Owen had their list of targets.

The question remains - why hire Eustace as head coach, supposedly without any major input into transfers,, only to then allow him to influence transfer dealings to the point where he was allegedly holding up deals and creating major headaches for the recruitment team? That would surely only have been possible if someone in a position of power was giving Eustace the power to somehow throw a wrench into the works.

The story only makes sense to me if you assume the club is still extremely dysfunctional and lacking direction at board level. I don't think it's a stretch to believe that almost certainly is the case - but then the issues Eustace became embroiled in were just a symptom of poor leadership at the club, and that should be the focus rather than Eustace being a snake and the recruitment team's arch nemesis.

[chaddyrovers]

32 minutes ago, DE. said:

The question remains - why hire Eustace as head coach, supposedly without any major input into transfers,, only to then allow him to influence transfer dealings to the point where he was allegedly holding up deals and creating major headaches for the recruitment team? That would surely only have been possible if someone in a position of power was giving Eustace the power to somehow throw a wrench into the works.

I dont know what Eustace was promised when he took the job. I believe £5m spend promised given who has said that. 

The summer transfers were done by committee of Gestede, Park, Owen and Eustace. They all had to agree and compromise.plus trust each other. 

 

32 minutes ago, DE. said:

The story only makes sense to me if you assume the club is still extremely dysfunctional and lacking direction at board level. I don't think it's a stretch to believe that almost certainly is the case - but then the issues Eustace became embroiled in were just a symptom of poor leadership at the club, and that should be the focus rather than Eustace being a snake and the recruitment team's arch nemesis.

Gestede said in the fans forum, the recruitment team scouts the players and Eustace picks a shortlist of 3-5 players. It's seems from reports Eustace had his own targets and club had their targets. 

[DE.]

1 minute ago, chaddyrovers said:

I dont know what Eustace was promised when he took the job. I believe £5m spend promised given who has said that. 

The summer transfers were done by committee of Gestede, Park, Owen and Eustace. They all had to agree and compromise.plus trust each other.

Gestede said in the fans forum, the recruitment team scouts the players and Eustace picks a shortlist of 3-5 players. It's seems from reports Eustace had his own targets and club had their targets. 

You have referred a few times to Unleaded's posts though, and he said:

Quote

Eustace was hired to coach and at the beginning knew & agreed & signed up to the script on how the set up would be ie he would highlight the positions and strong points he needs …

He was happy at beginning but as his stock grew he started to interfere in player recruitment side of it .. 

So, do you believe this or not? There's a difference between highlighting positions he needs and being directly involved in picking shortlists of players and being part of the committee. If he was signed on to just be the head coach, and by summer was already inserted into the transfer committee and was interfering with transfer policy - who authorised that change to his role and why? Or do you not believe that to be true?

[chaddyrovers]

10 hours ago, DE. said:

You have referred a few times to Unleaded's posts though, and he said:

So, do you believe this or not? There's a difference between highlighting positions he needs and being directly involved in picking shortlists of players and being part of the committee. If he was signed on to just be the head coach, and by summer was already inserted into the transfer committee and was interfering with transfer policy - who authorised that change to his role and why? Or do you not believe that to be true?

Yes I do believe cos that's how the system should work. 

Eustace says for example he wants a target man striker then Scouting people find players present the transfer committee with list of players. Of course Eustace was on that transfer committee. He needs to have a say. But from what we been reported Eustace was suggesting his own players and targets. That's when problems started. 

The head coach needs to have a say and pick the one from the shortlist. 

It's seem Eustace wanted Championship experience signings in both window. He got some but some we didn't sign. 

I heard Jamie Carragher say not long ago that Klopp didn't want to sign Salah. He want Brandt but his recruitment staff said Salah was the one and Klopp trusted his staff here. I think you would say that was great decision by Klopp.

Being a head coach, you got to trust the director of football and your recruitment staff otherwise it won't work

[DE.]

13 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Yes I do believe cos that's how the system should work. 

Eustace says for example he wants a target man striker then Scouting people find players present the transfer committee with list of players. Of course Eustace was on that transfer committee. He needs to have a say. But from what we been reported Eustace was suggesting his own players and targets. That's when problems started. 

The head coach needs to have a say and pick the one from the shortlist. 

It's seem Eustace wanted Championship experience signings in both window. He got some but some we didn't sign. 

I heard Jamie Carragher say not long ago that Klopp didn't want to sign Salah. He want Brandt but his recruitment staff said Salah was the one and Klopp trusted his staff here. I think you would say that was great decision by Klopp.

Being a head coach, you got to trust the director of football and your recruitment staff otherwise it won't work

You keep saying what happened but not considering why. 

[DE.]

Let me break it down a little further.

Eustace is hired to be head coach, according to Unleaded he has the remit to coach the players with some input into what he would like in terms of reinforcement. There is a recruitment team put in place by the board (Owens/Gestede/Park) who are responsible for providing the head coach with players they believe will satisfy his requirements.

Somehow by the summer Eustace has already 'gained influence' to the point where he is actively causing problems with recruitment and butting heads with that team. This is strange to me as he hadn't done anything special by that point and only been with us a few months. It's not like he'd pulled off some miracle escape from certain doom - we limped to the finish line the previous season mainly thanks to a couple of shock wins at the end. Majority of the results were not particularly good at all.

It's never been answered how Eustace would have gained this influence, if we are to believe this happened. He isn't a board member so it's not like he could put his foot down and say "I'm not having this player". He wasn't a Kenny Dalglish figure with significant reputation, nor was he a Mowbray type figure with a long tenure at the club. He was a manager who had just arrived and not done a great deal beyond pull off a couple of great results at the end of what was otherwise a dismal final part of the season.

Paul Mani has suggested Eustace offered to resign in the summer. I'm inclined to believe this on the basis JDT did the same the year before, and Eustace's post-summer behaviour (if we are to accept he was applying for practically any job in the division) indicates he wanted out at any cost. Probabilities suggest he wanted to leave, and we can reasonably assume this was in large part down to his inability to see eye-to-eye with the recruitment team.

According to Unleaded, however, this wasn't a one-sided thing where Eustace was having his opinions ignored and players he didn't want forced on him. He outright says transfers were delayed and effectively fell through because of Eustace's influence. He also cites Eustace's alleged meddling as the reason John Park left in November, suggesting this nonsense was still going on far beyond the summer.

This is where we have to look at the responsibility of the board (basically Waggott and Suhail). If we are to believe there was a power struggle of sorts between Eustace and the recruitment team - it begs the question of where Eustace was getting his power from. He's ultimately just the head coach, so somebody higher up must have given him enough stroke to cause problems with recruitment.

A situation like this requires strong leadership to sort things out. Only two options exist at this point to rectify a situation which has somehow already spiraled into chaos despite Eustace barely being at the club a few months. 

One, Eustace is told he was brought in as head coach and needs to be reasonable with suggestions from the recruitment team. If he can't do this then he will be unable to participate at all in transfer selections, or his resignation will be expected/accepted.

Two, the recruitment team are told that Eustace will be giving them suggestions, and they are expected to follow up on those suggestions and bring those players to the club if at all possible. The blame will lay at Eustace's door if his signings fail to deliver.

By the sounds of it, neither happened, and so we ended up in no man's land with arguments, disagreements and frustration from both the head coach's side and the recruitment team's side, with no leadership above them willing or able to control the situation.

What happened instead, if we are to broadly accept what Unleaded says to be the case:

1) Eustace allegedly caused problems with our transfer dealings, undermining the recruitment team's efforts

2) Eustace became so annoyed by the process that he wanted to leave, but much like JDT was denied

3) Senior leadership do not intervene in any noticeable way to improve the situation

4) Eustace becomes disenchanted and decides he can't operate in this environment, and thus allegedly begins looking for opportunities elsewhere in the division

5) The situation is allowed to fester, to the point where Park, our head of recruitment, leaves the club - according to Unleaded this is because Eustace is continuing to undermine the recruitment team's efforts, although no reason is given as to why he is able to do this

6) By January nothing is resolved and the situation is deteriorating on the pitch now as well

7) Eustace leaves for Derby, a team in the relegation zone

We surely have to look at this as a whole and say it is a monumental failure of the club's leadership team to allow the situation to develop. I appreciate we don't know and it's all speculation, and that's fine. Unless one of us was there we will never know for sure, as even if we heard about it from one of the horse's mouths, you'd have to factor in that they'd be an unreliable narrator due to presenting a biased view. The point is that our leadership team designed things in a way that we would have a recruitment team and a head coach working in some kind of synergy, and yet this almost immediately fell apart and they seemingly totally failed to get a grip on the situation. Instead they simply allowed everybody involved to become undermined and ineffective.

What I'm asking you Chaddy is whether you believe that our club's leadership are responsible for allowing a severely dysfunctional setup to continue, and ultimately lead to the season becoming yet another mess? We can make educated guesses as to what happened, roughly, but looking at the bigger picture, do you think Waggott and Suhail hold ultimate accountability for what occurred?

If not, why not?

Edited yesterday at 11:09 by DE.

[chaddyrovers]

58 minutes ago, DE. said:

You keep saying what happened but not considering why. 

Do any of why, tho? But we can speculate, tho. Eustace wanted championship experience when others wanted to look at the European/world market for players. Cheaper wages and fees but similar quality. Fitting our budget better

Disagreements over players targets cos someone like A but others didn't. That's doesn't help

[DE.]

1 minute ago, chaddyrovers said:

Do any of why, tho? But we can speculate, tho. Eustace wanted championship experience when others wanted to look at the European/world market for players. Cheaper wages and fees but similar quality. Fitting our budget better

Disagreements over players targets cos someone like A but others didn't. That's doesn't help

Read my next post and please answer this question directly:

What I'm asking you Chaddy is whether you believe that our club's leadership are responsible for allowing a severely dysfunctional setup to continue, and ultimately lead to the season becoming yet another mess? We can make educated guesses as to what happened, roughly, but looking at the bigger picture, do you think Waggott and Suhail hold ultimate accountability for what occurred?

If not, why not?

[Commondore]

In this January window, Cardiff bought Salech for £3 million, a 23 year old striker from a smaller league who has now scored 5 in 12 for a struggling team and is now likely worth 2-3 times as much. We brought in an unfit Emmanuel Dennis on loan with a hefty salary, who hasn't scored once. One of these strategies is how you run a football club in 2025, the other one is how you did it in 1997. Apart from all the other problems with this club, we'll never go anywhere if we keep bringing in proven mediocrity with no resale value. 

[Gamst]

Just now, Commondore said:

In this January window, Cardiff bought Salech for £3 million, a 23 year old striker from a smaller league who has now scored 5 in 12 for a struggling team and is now likely worth 2-3 times as much. We brought in an unfit Emmanuel Dennis on loan with a hefty salary, who hasn't scored once. One of these strategies is how you run a football club in 2025, the other one is how you did it in 1997. Apart from all the other problems with this club, we'll never go anywhere if we keep bringing in proven mediocrity with no resale value. 

Nobody has resale value if you let their contract run down. 

[roversfan99]

I was told that recruitment was good though?

Its been absolutely dismal. The 2 attackers we signed have been abysmal and likely wont finish the season with a goal this season. Kargbo we dont know as he instantly got injured. Ribeiro seems to have got progressively worse and Sanderson and Forshaw have been terrible.

Of the summer ones. Baker and McFadzean were gone by January. We signed a goalkeeper not even capable of dislodging Pears. ACD is as bad a loan signing as I can ever remember and weve had some dreadful ones under these owners. Ohashi and Gueye have been no better than average. Cantwell has been appalling. Batth and Beck have been the best two but have missed large chunks of the season.

The main issue is a lack of money obviously but even allowing for that, Gestede has led a particularly dreadful recruitment push.

[chaddyrovers]

Sorry for the delay reply, I wasn't in the mood post match yesterday. my apologies 

On 15/03/2025 at 11:21, DE. said:

What I'm asking you Chaddy is whether you believe that our club's leadership are responsible for allowing a severely dysfunctional setup to continue, and ultimately lead to the season becoming yet another mess? We can make educated guesses as to what happened, roughly, but looking at the bigger picture, do you think Waggott and Suhail hold ultimate accountability for what occurred?

If not, why not?

TBH, Gestede should have step in and said I am the head of football operations and We are doing this way John. 

Yes Pasha or Waggott should have step in and sort this mess out. I know I would have done if I was the owner. 

On 15/03/2025 at 11:06, DE. said:

Eustace is hired to be head coach, according to Unleaded he has the remit to coach the players with some input into what he would like in terms of reinforcement. There is a recruitment team put in place by the board (Owens/Gestede/Park) who are responsible for providing the head coach with players they believe will satisfy his requirements.

Somehow by the summer Eustace has already 'gained influence' to the point where he is actively causing problems with recruitment and butting heads with that team. This is strange to me as he hadn't done anything special by that point and only been with us a few months.

I don't see it has gained influence but him having a say in players we should targets and him providing his own targets which he wanted. I think by the summer he wanted more control in transfers and to have a major say. I think his move to Derby has provided him with that and I wouldn't be surprise to see go after Dembele and Sanderson in the summer. 

On 15/03/2025 at 11:06, DE. said:

Paul Mani has suggested Eustace offered to resign in the summer. I'm inclined to believe

I know Paul well and he wouldn't have mentioned unless it was true. 

On 15/03/2025 at 11:06, DE. said:

He also cites Eustace's alleged meddling as the reason John Park left in November, suggesting this nonsense was still going on far beyond the summer.

I can't see Unleaded posting this unless true and it suggested its been a problem for the last 8 months of Eustace's term so why didn't our CEO or COO step in and say that we are doing this and that instead of this issue carrying on as long as it did. 

 

[chaddyrovers]

15 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

Kargbo we dont know as he instantly got injured

Shown much more than ACD ever do but you thought he was the answer to all attacking problems cos he had pace but that is wrong. He has shown nothing apart from the Luton first half. It's his first loan and first taste of Proper football, so can't expect too much from him. 

[London blue]

Considering form, availability and overall quality the transfers this season have been very poor, overall.

Strikers that don't score, wide forwards that are injured/haven't played in 2 YEARS, a veteran midfielder deemed surplus to requirements by bottom of the league and a defender who couldn't get a game in the league below.

Defend the above and your standards aren't high enough. It's simple.

[roversfan99]

13 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Shown much more than ACD ever do but you thought he was the answer to all attacking problems cos he had pace but that is wrong. He has shown nothing apart from the Luton first half. It's his first loan and first taste of Proper football, so can't expect too much from him. 

You keep saying this despite it being totally untrue. I wanted him to be given a chance earlier in the season because Hedges and Dolan have shown for years that they arent good enough.

We have seen since that the reason he wasnt given much of a chance is because he is shit.

The recruitment this season has been again crap. The main reason is our budget is not competitive. That being said, Gestede amongst that has still shown no suggestion that he is the right man to oversee our recruitment.

You are now advocating for Gestede to start basically ignoring what the head coach wants and just signing who he thinks is right. So the person who coaches the team and whose job depends on results on the pitch is potentially lumbered with players he doesnt want.

[roversfan99]

Totally agree that if you think that recruitment this season has been anything other than poor, then your standards are far too low. The main issue is the budget, but even within that budget, any club with standards would look at Gestede's work and would get shut. He should never have got the job in the first place.

Of the summer signings, Batth and Weimann (Eustace endorsed) have done well although their bodies have proven incapable of coping with more gametime than they should have needed to play. Beck has been a decent loan signing but his form had fallen off a cliff before his injury.

Beyond that, both Ohashi and Gueye have scored 6 goals each. We needed some goals, neither has stepped up to provide them really. Toth is bad enough to not even get in ahead of Pears. Cantwell has been a shocking signing and hasnt scored beside 2 penalties. McFadzean and Baker were gone by January and ACD has been a total waste of time.

In January, Dennis and Woodrow have been totally pointless signings. Sanderson and Forshaw are nowhere near good enough, they werent good enough for a League 1 side and bottom of the league. Ribeiro was ok at the start but has got progressively worse and Kargbo got injured as soon as he got in the team so impossible to judge.