| Review of transfer policy needed this summer 20:22 - Feb 3 with 6920 views | Blue_Heath |
Sorry to be negative but in the main it appears we overpay on top end Championship players who are not good enough for the premier or fixate on positions that are not needed or where previous recruitment was poor. Other than that it is relegated players from the previous season. We have a seriously imbalanced squad and Delap aside who apparently has a low buy back clause none of the others have added value for re-sale which I can only assume is our strategy?
Fair play to gamechanger for splashing the cash but if we get back to the premier league let's do the eye test rather than data and buy in the positions where it is actually needed for the first 11. We have a dearth of very similar players with little to choose between most of them.
In January we get Godfrey and Philogene both totally unnecessary and not needed. The keeper is a panic buy albeit probably an upgrade on what we have already.
In addition our scouting network needs to look further afield, we could have got much better value shopping abroad although appreciate it's more of a risk.
I feel squad harmony will be difficult to maintain next year and we'll be moving many on at a loss. |  | | |  |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 21:33 - Feb 3 with 1466 views | Guthrum |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 21:14 - Feb 3 by Horsham |
I think in all honesty the policy has worked well if we either stay up or go up next season. Ultimately as long as the FFP stays under control (and I think it comfortably is) we shouldn’t be in a fire sale scenario so have a strong hand. That will help keep the club moving forward. I agree a major misstep not getting a striker and we’ll be back needing one in the summer regardless of what division we’re in. The foreign markets hold potential for us and simply by not using them we’re at a disadvantage to those that do it effectively.
The club has come a long way and it’s got a long way to go to catch the Brighton’s of this world. |
People forget we've only had three or four years to re-grow our scouting network (starting at a low level, too). It takes time to find the people, discover the places to look, build connections and relationships. Such things do not come "off the peg". |  |
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| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 21:35 - Feb 3 with 1466 views | Bellevue_Blue |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 21:31 - Feb 3 by textbackup |
I really like Cajuste, but that he can’t complete 90mins, I can’t have that as put in the good bracket.
O’Shea yes.
The rest are all championship players, and look it.
Hopefully they’ll still have fire in the belly when back in the champ next year, and we can make the most of them and look for a top 6 finish. |
Cajuste is continually one of our best players wether he plays 70 or 90? You honestly don't believe that was a good signing? | | | |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 21:35 - Feb 3 with 1468 views | Guthrum |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 21:31 - Feb 3 by textbackup |
I really like Cajuste, but that he can’t complete 90mins, I can’t have that as put in the good bracket.
O’Shea yes.
The rest are all championship players, and look it.
Hopefully they’ll still have fire in the belly when back in the champ next year, and we can make the most of them and look for a top 6 finish. |
I'd expect a top two finish back in the Champ, even if we lose a few.
Edit: ... a few players. [Post edited 3 Feb 21:36]
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| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 21:36 - Feb 3 with 1460 views | USA |
Where has this certainty of a buy back clause come from?? | |
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| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 21:37 - Feb 3 with 1452 views | olimar |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 21:26 - Feb 3 by Bellevue_Blue |
Honestly ....
The club shot the lights out for back to back seasons and because a few this season haven't worked out, we need to review the policy.
Ashton/ McKenna have more than enough credit in the bank.
It's not a seriously unbalanced squad we have 4 GK's, 2 LB's, 4 CB's. 3 RB's, 5 CM's, 7 to play the three behind the striker and 2 CF's. We have too many playing inside left but to call it 'seriously imbalanced' is just nonsense.
Of course our scouting network needs to improve, however we spent most of the last six years in League One. It's obviously not going to suddenly be PL standard ... that comes with resource and time.
We won't be moving many on for a loss (Muric the exception), they will be the foundation of our team next season because almost all of them have proven more than good enough for that division.
I know you're frustrated but please just tweak your expectations to align with where we are as a club and how far we have come. We have really talented young British players who will hopefully come good and be a part of our club for a long long time to come. [Post edited 3 Feb 21:36]
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Well said. And the imbalance on the left is only more evident because certain players (Szmodics) have fitted into that role better than other positions and we have lost both of our right sided options too. | | | |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 21:44 - Feb 3 with 1410 views | tractordownsouth |
It doesn't make sense to berate the recruitment team for signing Championship players and those not good enough for the level while also criticising the signing of Ben Godfrey, who has 112 PL appearances by the age of 27 as "totally uneccesary."
He's excellent cover for Tuanzebe, our most important defender and a player we had no like-for-like replacement for, despite his patchy injury record. |  |
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| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 21:50 - Feb 3 with 1378 views | pointofblue |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 21:44 - Feb 3 by tractordownsouth |
It doesn't make sense to berate the recruitment team for signing Championship players and those not good enough for the level while also criticising the signing of Ben Godfrey, who has 112 PL appearances by the age of 27 as "totally uneccesary."
He's excellent cover for Tuanzebe, our most important defender and a player we had no like-for-like replacement for, despite his patchy injury record. |
It's more the finances behind it which could have been used elsewhere if he's going to be a bench option, if a lack of cash played a part in no CM or striker. As said, I'd understand more if we let Woolfenden go out on loan, but we seem to have a lot of depth on the right of defence but not enough in the centre of midfield (considering the way we play) or up front. | |
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| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 21:58 - Feb 3 with 1363 views | Blue_Heath |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 20:55 - Feb 3 by textbackup |
And LCFC and Soton will go down too. Not sure the point you are trying to make? |
Not sure how much they spent since we were all promoted but my guess is we have probably spent more than Saints/Foxes combined? | | | |
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| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 22:01 - Feb 3 with 1354 views | Blue_Heath |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 21:23 - Feb 3 by Swansea_Blue |
Why do you assume nobody at the club has seen the players we sign? |
Interviews in the summer talked about it being data driven. | | | |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 22:02 - Feb 3 with 1338 views | itfcsuth |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 20:37 - Feb 3 by Guthrum |
Thing is, we can't just produce a list of the positions we need to strengthen, then go out and procure players at will to fill them.
The individuals need to be available, of suitable standard, at clubs open to being persuaded to sell, within our price range and willing to come to Ipswich*. That's a lot of variables which need to line up.
People say "well, other clubs can do it", but those are more established Prem teams. Leicester and Southampton haven't done any more business than us this window.
Do we perhaps get better value for money by hiring top Championship players than taking those on the fringes of less-good Prem teams?
* Particularly where it may involve moving countries and perhaps language barriers. |
Isn’t that the job of a recruitment department though?
The scope, scout, background check personality, availability & quality and then provide options.
We have failed horrendously, so the OP is correct, it needs to be reviewed. |  | | |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 22:03 - Feb 3 with 1321 views | Blue_Heath |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 21:26 - Feb 3 by Bellevue_Blue |
Honestly ....
The club shot the lights out for back to back seasons and because a few this season haven't worked out, we need to review the policy.
Ashton/ McKenna have more than enough credit in the bank.
It's not a seriously unbalanced squad we have 4 GK's, 2 LB's, 4 CB's. 3 RB's, 5 CM's, 7 to play the three behind the striker and 2 CF's. We have too many playing inside left but to call it 'seriously imbalanced' is just nonsense.
Of course our scouting network needs to improve, however we spent most of the last six years in League One. It's obviously not going to suddenly be PL standard ... that comes with resource and time.
We won't be moving many on for a loss (Muric the exception), they will be the foundation of our team next season because almost all of them have proven more than good enough for that division.
I know you're frustrated but please just tweak your expectations to align with where we are as a club and how far we have come. We have really talented young British players who will hopefully come good and be a part of our club for a long long time to come. [Post edited 3 Feb 21:36]
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As I said fair play to game changer but just feel we haven't got it right and hope we tweak this moving forward. BTW we have 3 CM's that are ours 2 ageing and 1 couldn't get in our championship team. 4 GK's too many and 2 strikers not enough! | | | |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 22:05 - Feb 3 with 1307 views | Blue_Heath |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 21:35 - Feb 3 by Bellevue_Blue |
Cajuste is continually one of our best players wether he plays 70 or 90? You honestly don't believe that was a good signing? |
You have to ask why are we buying a player that even 2/3 into season cannot play more than 60 mins.
I agree he's looked good but there is clearly an underlying issue. | | | |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 22:06 - Feb 3 with 1302 views | itfcjoe |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 21:05 - Feb 3 by ITFCSG |
Ditto Tuanzebe before he joined us, but at £1.2 million definitely worth the risk for a proven PL player and Polish international |
He started 32 games across 4 seasons for Brighton, is that really a proven PL player? |  |
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| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 22:23 - Feb 3 with 1243 views | Horsham |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 21:33 - Feb 3 by Guthrum |
People forget we've only had three or four years to re-grow our scouting network (starting at a low level, too). It takes time to find the people, discover the places to look, build connections and relationships. Such things do not come "off the peg". |
I’m not so sure scouting networks don’t come off the peg or at least not as complicated to set up as you’d imagine. Everyone and everything is for sale. Just got to make the right investment. In another post I floated the idea of a Director of Football. Someone with pre-existing contacts. Someone able to rapidly build the network we need. I wonder if the current management simply don’t have the bandwidth to do this. I think with stuff like cat 1 mooted too you can see the football side of the business growing exponentially. I think it probably needs another senior figure at the club. |  | | |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 22:39 - Feb 3 with 1210 views | Bellevue_Blue |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 22:23 - Feb 3 by Horsham |
I’m not so sure scouting networks don’t come off the peg or at least not as complicated to set up as you’d imagine. Everyone and everything is for sale. Just got to make the right investment. In another post I floated the idea of a Director of Football. Someone with pre-existing contacts. Someone able to rapidly build the network we need. I wonder if the current management simply don’t have the bandwidth to do this. I think with stuff like cat 1 mooted too you can see the football side of the business growing exponentially. I think it probably needs another senior figure at the club. |
This is the highest level of elite professional football in the world.
Do you seriously believe that Mark Ashton, a man who has been managing Football Clubs for 20 years is not doing everything he possibly can to build a network capable of sustaining us.
For 4 years this club has done everything in it's power to grow as fast as it possibly can. That will also be happening in the recruiting department.
It does not happen overnight and I can assure you they don't come 'off the peg'. I read Hearts paid 10M to access Tony Bloom's (Brighton owners) data/ analytics business last summer.
This is a very very expensive business. [Post edited 3 Feb 22:43]
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| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 22:52 - Feb 3 with 1176 views | Horsham |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 22:39 - Feb 3 by Bellevue_Blue |
This is the highest level of elite professional football in the world.
Do you seriously believe that Mark Ashton, a man who has been managing Football Clubs for 20 years is not doing everything he possibly can to build a network capable of sustaining us.
For 4 years this club has done everything in it's power to grow as fast as it possibly can. That will also be happening in the recruiting department.
It does not happen overnight and I can assure you they don't come 'off the peg'. I read Hearts paid 10M to access Tony Bloom's (Brighton owners) data/ analytics business last summer.
This is a very very expensive business. [Post edited 3 Feb 22:43]
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I don’t know if Ashton has done everything possible to build the recruitment process to where it needs to be. I’d suggest given the workload with infrastructure required over the summer his bandwidth for progressing might have been limited. But you’d know far better from your condescending response. | | | |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 23:08 - Feb 3 with 1127 views | itfcsuth |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 22:06 - Feb 3 by itfcjoe |
He started 32 games across 4 seasons for Brighton, is that really a proven PL player? |
Featured 61 times in the PL, Europa League, Domestic cups and a well capped international.
Above all else and most importantly he’s a very good player who would have improved the quality in that area.
For £1.5m, fantastic piece of business for Feyenoord, the smart sort of business I personally love to see in the foolish world of football transfers. | | | |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 23:12 - Feb 3 with 1124 views | Bellevue_Blue |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 22:52 - Feb 3 by Horsham |
I don’t know if Ashton has done everything possible to build the recruitment process to where it needs to be. I’d suggest given the workload with infrastructure required over the summer his bandwidth for progressing might have been limited. But you’d know far better from your condescending response. |
No but you can be pretty sure given the work ethic he's demonstrated in just about every other aspect of the club. He's hardly going to ease off for the most important aspect which is the first team.
Re transfers, Gary Probert is Director Of Football Operations. He is a very senior member of the Football club who will have a big say in the network that we use. We had Sam Williams who was Head Of Recruitment for the Football Club from 2022 until June of last year who will have also lent on his significant network. Then there will be a whole host of outside consultation used on the data side of things (eg goalkeeper.com).
It's not condescending, you're comment makes it seem like we aren't doing something blatantly obvious. All I'm saying is I don't think you realise the scale of the work that is constantly ongoing. Ashton might be responsible for the negotiations but there is clearly a whole host of resource and infrastructure already in place. [Post edited 3 Feb 23:15]
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| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 23:16 - Feb 3 with 1113 views | Guthrum |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 22:23 - Feb 3 by Horsham |
I’m not so sure scouting networks don’t come off the peg or at least not as complicated to set up as you’d imagine. Everyone and everything is for sale. Just got to make the right investment. In another post I floated the idea of a Director of Football. Someone with pre-existing contacts. Someone able to rapidly build the network we need. I wonder if the current management simply don’t have the bandwidth to do this. I think with stuff like cat 1 mooted too you can see the football side of the business growing exponentially. I think it probably needs another senior figure at the club. |
It's more an issue of short supply at the very top level. The really good people would need to be enticed away from clubs higher up the Prem ladder than us.
Who would we go for as a DoF, that would actually improve our recruitment and who might come to Ipswich? | |
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| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 23:37 - Feb 3 with 1066 views | itfcsuth |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 22:39 - Feb 3 by Bellevue_Blue |
This is the highest level of elite professional football in the world.
Do you seriously believe that Mark Ashton, a man who has been managing Football Clubs for 20 years is not doing everything he possibly can to build a network capable of sustaining us.
For 4 years this club has done everything in it's power to grow as fast as it possibly can. That will also be happening in the recruiting department.
It does not happen overnight and I can assure you they don't come 'off the peg'. I read Hearts paid 10M to access Tony Bloom's (Brighton owners) data/ analytics business last summer.
This is a very very expensive business. [Post edited 3 Feb 22:43]
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If I’m not mistaken, didn’t we have the analytical tool you are referring to from Tony Blooms company, Jamestown Analytics, but we had to remove after becoming direct competition with Brighton. | | | |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 00:00 - Feb 4 with 1030 views | joepublic |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 23:37 - Feb 3 by itfcsuth |
If I’m not mistaken, didn’t we have the analytical tool you are referring to from Tony Blooms company, Jamestown Analytics, but we had to remove after becoming direct competition with Brighton. |
I hope someone pressed Control C before we posted the floppy disc back. |  |
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| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 00:16 - Feb 4 with 1018 views | textbackup |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 21:35 - Feb 3 by Bellevue_Blue |
Cajuste is continually one of our best players wether he plays 70 or 90? You honestly don't believe that was a good signing? |
Unsure if you see the post, I really like Cajuste, looks a class above. But IMO you sign a player that can’t complete 90mins, and it’s more desperate than good.
Screams ‘we ran out of ideas so grabbed a good unfit guy’
Now, of course, if he goes on the play 90mins in the next 10 games he likely goes in the Delap category of signing. |  |
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| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 00:38 - Feb 4 with 1001 views | itfctilidie |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 20:40 - Feb 3 by Blooos |
We absolutely must start recruiting abroad, I’m slightly baffled by our lack of it since promotion. We will look at Brentford, Brighton, Bournemouth etc and want to be the next club like them, those clubs all tend to recruit from overseas. I can’t help but feel that someone like Philogene for example, you could get someone with the same ability and potential for half the price if you look abroad. |
Marcus Edwards from sporting Lisbon is a prime example, signed for more than half phillogenes price with bags more experience. Good enough for a burnley side going up. |  | | |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 06:47 - Feb 4 with 884 views | mikeybloo88 |
The transfer policy, or recruitment process, clearly wasn’t good enough or we wouldn’t be sitting where we are. I’d give it 6/10 and lessons learned for the future hopefully. No signing can ever be guaranteed to be a success but in some cases, particularly one, the evidence was there in advance that it might not be a good signing. |  | | |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 07:47 - Feb 4 with 807 views | Horsham |
| Review of transfer policy needed this summer on 23:12 - Feb 3 by Bellevue_Blue |
No but you can be pretty sure given the work ethic he's demonstrated in just about every other aspect of the club. He's hardly going to ease off for the most important aspect which is the first team.
Re transfers, Gary Probert is Director Of Football Operations. He is a very senior member of the Football club who will have a big say in the network that we use. We had Sam Williams who was Head Of Recruitment for the Football Club from 2022 until June of last year who will have also lent on his significant network. Then there will be a whole host of outside consultation used on the data side of things (eg goalkeeper.com).
It's not condescending, you're comment makes it seem like we aren't doing something blatantly obvious. All I'm saying is I don't think you realise the scale of the work that is constantly ongoing. Ashton might be responsible for the negotiations but there is clearly a whole host of resource and infrastructure already in place. [Post edited 3 Feb 23:15]
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‘Do you honestly believe’ is always an opening for a condescending argument…so perhaps that’s where I got from as well when you pointed out that there is serious money involved…I mean do you seriously believe (sorry!) I don’t get that.
In terms of the other stuff. If you think we’ve succeeded in our recruitment goals that’s fine, but do you seriously believe Ashton and McKenna share the same view. If you accept that they don’t then it’s also logical that we what we do in this space should be reviewed and the gaps and shortcomings identified and a plan to fix them established. In terms of not doing something obvious to do it better, I don’t think that can be discounted but I’m not jumping to the conclusion that is the case.
The fact there’s an infrastructure of football people at the club such as Probert is good, and from where we were with poor old Lee O’Neil spinning every job at once we are in a much better place. The question is for me is whether the management structure has the bandwidth, experience, talent and if the internal and external accountability is attributed to the right people and roles within it he organisation. The fact that our recruitment budget on fees alone increased by circa x100 this season and the size and shape of the management structure is still roughly the same as it was after promotion from league one suggests that might be an area to review, hence my DoF suggestion. I don’t think any of this is unreasonable or stupid to think of.
In terms of off the shelf solutions to analaytics - we literally did buy Bloom’s system off the shelf and had to give it back after promotion. I could be completely wrong but is Bloom’s system unique? Could we do something with a club like Atalanta in Italy who also seem very proficient. Could we hire their people? Unless we have the expertise in the building now then how do we build our own model? So for me it’s very much about people and structure. Maybe I was flippant about off the shelf - it’s hard to achieve but if I were Ashton I’d be very mindful that success in this area has the potential to redefine his legacy….again! | | | |
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