AWOL - Where is Sir David Murray?

[Totti 0]

I agree generally that our scouting network could do with improvement.

Understatement of the century

So you have to wonder, given the significant investment that would be required in scouting, administration, ongoing management, wages, signing on fees, agents fees, etc; to bring in some undoubtedly talented players but with high levels of risk attached, is it really worth it? I think I'd rather we focussed on developing home grown talent.

Of course it's bloody worth it. It doesn't have to just be South America etc, but more other EU countries. And in case you haven't noticed the general standard of players in Scotland is appalling - look at our national team. The standards of fitness, technique and attitude are all vastly superior abroad

 

There's many Cuellars and Papac's out there who are much better than your McCulloch's and Laffertys

Edited January 26, 2011 by Totti

[juffery 0]

I would hardly class Wigan as Europes elite. I'm not talking about swooping in and picking up Hernandez for �£14 million, but what profit did they make on selling Valencia and Palacios? A pretty penny and they will again when Rodallega and Figueroa move on.

[Totti 0]

People bury their heads in the sand and are afraid of progressive change.

 

Why should we focus on homegrown talent when its proven there is vastly superior and often cheaper players abroad.

 

The old firm both spent big on two average UK players - Lafferty and Brown. That money could have bought terrific players abroad.

 

Obviously continue to work hard on homegrown youth but when you consider the fact that Scotland has really struggled to produce more than a handful of particularly good players in the past 10-15 years....foreigners are clearly vital to our future.

[juffery 0]

It's the whole speculate to accumulate thing. Identify young players abroad, bring them in, they contribute and then move on. Gattuso and van Bronckhorst are both examples of this, but we should be doing this far more often. I'm, not saying we'll get every young protege out there, but we should at least be trying.

[stewarty 1,876]

Understatement of the century

 

Of course it's bloody worth it. It doesn't have to just be South America etc, but more other EU countries. And in case you haven't noticed the general standard of players in Scotland is appalling - look at our national team. The standards of fitness, technique and attitude are all vastly superior abroad

 

There's many Cuellars and Papac's out there who are much better than your McCulloch's and Laffertys

 

But my point was to suggest that investing heavily in scouting networks in places far flung such as South America is no panacea.

 

I'd prefer we focus on developing home grown talent and if we can pick up a few gems along the way then so be it. But I would contend that the frequency at which we find those will depend more on our management team than anything else.

[stewarty 1,876]

I would hardly class Wigan as Europes elite. I'm not talking about swooping in and picking up Hernandez for �£14 million, but what profit did they make on selling Valencia and Palacios? A pretty penny and they will again when Rodallega and Figueroa move on.

 

Financially, Wigan are in the elite league and can pay far higher wages than we can.

[stewarty 1,876]

People bury their heads in the sand and are afraid of progressive change.

 

Why should we focus on homegrown talent when its proven there is vastly superior and often cheaper players abroad.

 

The old firm both spent big on two average UK players - Lafferty and Brown. That money could have bought terrific players abroad.

 

Obviously continue to work hard on homegrown youth but when you consider the fact that Scotland has really struggled to produce more than a handful of particularly good players in the past 10-15 years....foreigners are clearly vital to our future.

 

I'm struggling with your line of thought here. First you say why bother, then you say "obviously continue to work on homegrown youth".

 

Whether we like it or not, squads of expensively assembled foreign players are not likely to feature much in McCoists 3 year plan for the club. I think it is you that needs to see the doctor about the old ostrich syndrome.

[juffery 0]

What gems????? There's a whole big wide world out there, filled with players who would love to move to Scotland on their way to the riches of the EPL, La Liga, Serie A etc. Set up the scouting network, bring in 3 players a year through it, sell 2 on for a, say �£5 million profit and tehn we can build a team. Not a scrape-together team made up by journeymen and pensioners, but a proper comeptitive team. Be smart when you sell these players on, insist on clauses for percentages of future transfers and the likes. Harking back to Wigan, they made around �£20 million profit on the transfer fees of both Palacios and Valencia - although after further research, Valencia was signed from a Spanish club - but the theory still stands.

[calscot 0]

Due to work permit rules, we can't sign South Americans unless they are playing 75% of international games for their country. That makes the ones we can have, an elite bunch and with our finances we can't afford them.

 

If you're going to do that sort of thing you'd be better looking to the new EC countries from Eastern Europe. Even, then it's all very well to talk about having a great scouting system, but aren't all the other teams doing exactly the same thing? What would make our scouting system system different and better than everyone else's?

 

As in all competitive circles, trying to be the best of the best is more than just doing anything well.

[juffery 0]

Financially, Wigan are in the elite league and can pay far higher wages than we can.

 

Indeed tehy can, but can they offer the Champions League as a shop window? Can they offer the chance of winning trophies? As I said, we won't get every target, but if we're not in the game, then we won't get any. And anyway, look at our scouting network in Scotland - Hamilton have sold Brian Easton, James McCarthy and James McCarthur to the EPL for relatively big money in the last 18 months or so - we punted Charlie Adam for buttons, so we're missing out here as well.