Recruitment process - Adkins explains challenges

BigDiddy

Interesting article at the link below 

https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/charlton-athletic-player-recruitment-process-explained-as-nigel-adkins-makes-transfer-admission/

Nigel admits we cannot even compete with Wigan on wages. And it saddens me we cannot get decent players to give the team a fighting chance of a top half showing this season.

Obviously we all hope that we can get some players in before the deadline, but it all looks a little knee-jerk and unplanned, which is not very good given the structure in place and pledges made by TS.

Looks to me like the club is now lowering expectations through comments by TS and NA in recent days. Surely we need to raise our sights as a club and at least be competitive in the 3rd tier of league football?

What do others think? Can we finish in the top 6 with the current squad and a few last minute loans?

stoneroses19

It doesn’t sadden me that we can’t compete with Wigan, because if they’re willing to throw £7-10k at players we know and believe to be worth £3-5k then that’s us sticking to a long-term plan. It might feel frustrating now, but for the security of our club, it’s a good thing. 

We wasted so much money on some higher wages and long contracts with players under Roland and Meire, and it didn’t help us at all. 

We’ll only see at end of season if Ipswich and Wigan are easily the top 2, then there inflated wages could be said to have worked, but there’s no guarantee that short-term thinking will work. We’re well aware Sunderland have thrown money at the problem of league 1 for a couple of other seasons, yet they’re still here. 

Valiantphil

“A fighting chance of a top half finish”

There you have it. 

Lowering expectations in advance (once 9000 ST’s are sold of course). 

ValleyGary

Valiantphil said:

“A fighting chance of a top half finish”

There you have it. 

Lowering expectations in advance (once 9000 ST’s are sold of course). 

Eh? I can’t see where Nigel mentioned fighting top half finish, that was @bigdiddy comment wasn’t it?

stoneroses19

ValleyGary said:

Valiantphil said:

“A fighting chance of a top half finish”

There you have it. 

Lowering expectations in advance (once 9000 ST’s are sold of course). 

Eh? I can’t see where Nigel mentioned fighting top half finish, that was @bigdiddy comment wasn’t it?

Don’t let a fact like that stop people finding yet another way to moan about Sandgaard and Adkins. 

iainment

stoneroses19 said:

ValleyGary said:

Valiantphil said:

“A fighting chance of a top half finish”

There you have it. 

Lowering expectations in advance (once 9000 ST’s are sold of course). 

Eh? I can’t see where Nigel mentioned fighting top half finish, that was @bigdiddy comment wasn’t it?

Don’t let a fact like that stop people finding yet another way to moan about Sandgaard and Adkins. 

But so far it’s been all talk without much to show for it in terms of the first team.

barstool

I thought the article was very honest and you can either put a positive spin on it or a negative spin depending on which side of the Forum you sit. Lets face it we are in recovery mode and realistically that is the position, we need 3/4 transfer windows to build something, unless we get very lucky 

Valley11

Good article and great that Rich asked the questions. 

stoneroses19

iainment said:

stoneroses19 said:

ValleyGary said:

Valiantphil said:

“A fighting chance of a top half finish”

There you have it. 

Lowering expectations in advance (once 9000 ST’s are sold of course). 

Eh? I can’t see where Nigel mentioned fighting top half finish, that was @bigdiddy comment wasn’t it?

Don’t let a fact like that stop people finding yet another way to moan about Sandgaard and Adkins. 

But so far it’s been all talk without much to show for it in terms of the first team.

What has that got to do with a poster presuming someone from the club mentioned “fighting chance of a top half finish” and then making a dig about it being after season ticket sales? Some people here are just intent on beating down Adkins, Sandgaard etc with anything they can. 

MartinCAFC

I wonder if we have too many decision makers involved in the recruitment process.

For all Roland's flaws I actually think the process worked best when he gave Gallen and Bowyer the budget, and allowed the pair of them to pretty much run the process between them with Gallen heading up a team of scouts I believe and also doing the negotiating with other clubs.

I'd like us to return to something similar to this model, let Gallen do what he does best leading the scouting.

Who would do the negotiating as Gallen does now I'm not sure, maybe leave that with him but if it means Roddy and TS taking a back seat from the process then so be it, the 19/20 promotion season I think virtually every single signing was a positive one and worked about as well as it could do.

IAgree

Valiantphil said:

“A fighting chance of a top half finish”

There you have it. 

Lowering expectations in advance (once 9000 ST’s are sold of course). 

Actually no, there you don’t have it (after 9000 seasons sold) What you have is Big Diddy making a comment which you have attributed to the Manager / Club - misleading and mischievous.

LargeAddick

MartinCAFC said:

I wonder if we have too many decision makers involved in the recruitment process.

For all Roland's flaws I actually think the process worked best when he gave Gallen and Bowyer the budget, and allowed the pair of them to pretty much run the process between them with Gallen heading up a team of scouts I believe and also doing the negotiating with other clubs.

I'd like us to return to something similar to this model, let Gallen do what he does best leading the scouting.

Who would do the negotiating as Gallen does now I'm not sure, maybe leave that with him but if it means Roddy and TS taking a back seat from the process then so be it, the 19/20 promotion season I think virtually every single signing was a positive one and worked about as well as it could do.

I definitely think there are too many cooks involved.

carly burn

Sobering stuff that from Adkins.
Burst quite a few bubbles with it I should think.
Something's definitely changed. To stand on the pitch when Hull were celebrating and saying 'That will be us' looks well off the mark.

iainment

stoneroses19 said:

iainment said:

stoneroses19 said:

ValleyGary said:

Valiantphil said:

“A fighting chance of a top half finish”

There you have it. 

Lowering expectations in advance (once 9000 ST’s are sold of course). 

Eh? I can’t see where Nigel mentioned fighting top half finish, that was @bigdiddy comment wasn’t it?

Don’t let a fact like that stop people finding yet another way to moan about Sandgaard and Adkins. 

But so far it’s been all talk without much to show for it in terms of the first team.

What has that got to do with a poster presuming someone from the club mentioned “fighting chance of a top half finish” and then making a dig about it being after season ticket sales? Some people here are just intent on beating down Adkins, Sandgaard etc with anything they can. 

I was putting context in. We all had high hopes for this year and so far it’s not panned out has it?
it may be that it all improves and we get new, better, players in before the 31st but so far it hasn’t.
I’m not intent on beating anyone down but given recent owners of the club I’m not ready to embrace anyone just because they’re not the last guy.

Leuth

Can't believe Adkins said "we'll do our best to put senior management's children into the first-team squad as our primary development objective"

SELR_addicks

We've built better squads with less money. 

I don't buy into the 'Wigan and Ipswich are paying more feel bad for us'. The past 5-6 years we've never been the top club in terms of wages but can usually build a decent side with the funds we have. 

This year has been a mess. 

SantaClaus

Can we finish out of the bottom 4 with the current squad and a few last minute loans?

LargeAddick

carly burn said:

Sobering stuff that from Adkins.
Burst quite a few bubbles with it I should think.
Something's definitely changed. To stand on the pitch when Hull were celebrating and saying 'That will be us' looks well off the mark.

When Adkins came in he said he'd turned down other jobs because they were not right, he'd left Hull because he couldn't agree a transfer policy with the owners. I don't believe he would have joined us unless he was given assurances about budgets and about the team he could assemble, one to get us out of League One. The current one won't do that. Have things changed since then? Has the budget been reduced? If so then I doubt Nigel is happy about it. Time will tell.

ForeverAddickted

SantaClaus said:

Can we finish out of the bottom 4 with the current squad and a few last minute loans?

We wont go down, that I'm 100% confident of - We've not had the hardest of starts but we've not had the easiest either

Still a lot of dross at this level that we should... SHOULD be able to deal with

stoneroses19

SELR_addicks said:

We've built better squads with less money. 

I don't buy into the 'Wigan and Ipswich are paying more feel bad for us'. The past 5-6 years we've never been the top club in terms of wages but can usually build a decent side with the funds we have. 

This year has been a mess. 

But that’s not fully down to the recruitment team, the new rules implemented about incoming foreign players hasn’t helped the situation. 

Fanny Fanackapan

BigDiddy said:

Interesting article at the link below 

https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/charlton-athletic-player-recruitment-process-explained-as-nigel-adkins-makes-transfer-admission/

Nigel admits we cannot even compete with Wigan on wages. And it saddens me we cannot get decent players to give the team a fighting chance of a top half showing this season.

Obviously we all hope that we can get some players in before the deadline, but it all looks a little knee-jerk and unplanned, which is not very good given the structure in place and pledges made by TS.

Looks to me like the club is now lowering expectations through comments by TS and NA in recent days. Surely we need to raise our sights as a club and at least be competitive in the 3rd tier of league football?

What do others think? Can we finish in the top 6 with the current squad and a few last minute loans?

My old 'ead is telling me that a top 6 finish with the current squad won't happen.

But even worse, my heart, ingrained with our badge, is telling me the same....

OK. This IS a period of readjustment following years of angst & uncertainty, and it's clear to me that the club is indeed lowering its expectations. Perhaps we all should have kept our feet firmly on the ground & taken TS's pre season declarations with a pinch of salt. 

But we also have our dreams & hopes - we're dedicated supporters of this famous football club after all. 

However, as the OP states, at least we should be competitive in the 3rd tier otherwise the less ardent fans may well disappear and it will be more difficult to encourage others to taste the matchday experience. 

And with a further season or more at this level, I wonder how many season tickets would be sold in the forthcoming years. 

This in turn will surely increase the level of financial loss which  will become ever higher season on season.

As an astute business man & regardless of his inexperience in the footballing world, TS will be all too aware of this "black hole" but maybe the question that the faithful should be asking is, what NOW is the plan going forward in 2022 & beyond. 

IMO, this points to finding a further investor/s to make more money available and with another business head on board, to start afresh with plans for our club to prosper again.

Bearing in mind that, like many other Lifers I guess, I have zero experience of running a business of any kind, so this may be just another burst of hot air but I'm merely sharing my thoughts at this moment in time to get them off my C cup chest before the concerns I have drive me around the U bend.  

Worried of Wadhurst.

LargeAddick

^^^ and we lose around 10m a year in League One, would be a good idea to get out of it asap. Speculate to accumulate.

Lincsaddick

so the 'recruitment process' failures are down to a lack of cash investment, it's as simple as that

BigRedEvil

Akin Famewo is back on loan and we’d love to sign him permanently, if we could do.


Thought we had an option to buy? 

Ross

BigRedEvil said:

Akin Famewo is back on loan and we’d love to sign him permanently, if we could do.


Thought we had an option to buy? 

Cost of salary I'm guessing. Will only be done if we can afford his wage demands.

valleynick66

Valley11 said:

Good article and great that Rich asked the questions. 

Really? I don't read anything new here at all from what was known/stated previously. Feels like a 2 minute conversation /aside  that added nothing much.

All personal perceptions of course. But 'as you were' for me.

SOTF

LargeAddick said:

^^^ and we lose around 10m a year in League One, would be a good idea to get out of it asap. Speculate to accumulate.

That’s very easy to say when it’s someone else’s £10m+.

Growing up as a close family friend of Mark Goldberg, I know unequivocally that there a queues of people waiting to take advantage of new money in the game. It’s never been disclosed publicly how much Venables allegedly made from the two Chinese players Palace signed as an example but the rumours were it was seven figures. Mark Goldberg is a vilified by Palace fans but he was a fan first and foremost who let his heart rule his head and pissed £35m up a wall leaving himself and the club bankrupt.

This season is an anomaly because we have at least 4 new owners of league one clubs. Two have splashed the cash and two haven’t. I’d much rather enjoy a sustainably built club like we did under Murray/Varney/Curbs with a clear plan than gamble the clubs future based on one potential season of enjoyment (although expectations should have been managed better from the beginning).

ValleyGary

addick1956 said:

How does , 'We are going to blow this league next season' compare to having a low budget. 🤔
The answer is, it doesn't. 

It does compare to the Brexit bus budget on the side. Both were fantasy.

I am grateful that the footballers we signed flunked Maths .

You literally cannot help yourself!

ValleyGary

stoneroses19 said:

SELR_addicks said:

We've built better squads with less money. 

I don't buy into the 'Wigan and Ipswich are paying more feel bad for us'. The past 5-6 years we've never been the top club in terms of wages but can usually build a decent side with the funds we have. 

This year has been a mess. 

But that’s not fully down to the recruitment team, the new rules implemented about incoming foreign players hasn’t helped the situation. 

Exactly. Plus how many transfer windows we had on the back end of a pandemic? Apart from a handful of clubs, business has been very slow.

se9addick

It’s not quite the message of hope that our recruitment this window is about to yield some significant additions in the last 10 days. 

2121

As a romantic, adkins saying we cant compete with wigan in transfers clearly means we will beat them on saturday! Its meant to be.