Andy Scott Appointed Technical Director - Gone Feb 2025 (p35)

Henry Irving said:

hezzla said:

vff said:

hezzla said:

vff said:

Turn around is due to Nathan Jones. Nathan Jones and Paul Hart need to control as much of the football and player decisions as possible. Under Scott the squad is unbalanced and bloated. In the next transfer window, Nathan Jones needs to be identifying the players and the characters needed to send the team upwards.

I love NJ, and I think he's overseen a massive improvement in performances in very short time... but in his most successful role to date, at Luton, he wasn't principally responsible for player identification or recruitment, so why would we give him that responsibility now?  He's already said that he has license to reject signings he doesn't want and that he could have blocked the Small and Ramsay signings - does he need more power than this?

Scott is eminently replaceable, but the idea that we just lump his responsibilities onto Jones seems like a step backwards, and likely not making the most of NJ's obvious talents.

Fair point, but there was someone else competent at Luton managing this ? Harford ? Andy Scott has not proved any particlular level of competency in his job -  Nathan Jones got hired but we had an unbalanced squad and Atherton was hired in the first place and left in place far too long. Fortunate that Nathan Jones has managed to turn things around so quickly. I want Nathan Jones able to get good characters in that will be up for giving everything for club. This was essential for Curbs and Chris Powell building winning and tough teams.

I think that's all fair, and definitely think Harford's work (and the broader analytics team at Luton) is a massive part of their success, as demonstrated by how they've kept on going with Rob Edwards. 

Ultimately we're 19th in the table and Scott himself said the buck stops with him.  I just think a lot of the issues with squad balance and recruiting for "character" have been here long before he arrived.  I also think it's important for us that the biggest "misses" in recruitment have all been on loans and short-term deals this year.  There aren't too many players we're tied to long-term that I'm worried about (and we've successfully exited a few I was), which gives us lots of options in the summer.

Think we're basing too much on a few decent performances if we're saying that now the recruitment was good.

We still have a number of senior players out on loan who will return in the summer.

The loans continue to be less than impressive, three weren't even in the squad last night.

Isted looks better than AMB at the moment but I'm yet to see a dominant championship winning keeper.  But he looks more solid.

Coventry had a very good half a game but it was only half a game.

The same applies to the other 10 starters.

The defenders, Reg, MG, are improving but Small is the pick of the bunch imho and he was a Jones signing. Jury still out on T Watson and Edun although both improving. Ramsey also a Jones signing.

The core of the team remain players brought in before Scott ie May, Aneke, Ness, Dobson and the criminally under rated Thomas plus academy products in Karoy and Danu.

Yes, it takes time, yes it was a mess and it has been for a while but we've won one of our last 19 league games and are still in a real relegation fight.

Jones is giving me and most others realistic hope that we'll avoid the drop but we have, according to our finance director, the 4th or 5th biggest budget in the division. Anything less than top six is failure  and bottom six is a disaster.

So no, the recruitment has not been good.

Too often it has been too late, in positions we didn't need at the expense of those we did and for players who weren't fit enough to impact lead by managers recruited by Scott.

J BLOCK said:

sam3110 said:

Are we that devoid of attacking threat? We've just scored 5 goals against 2 of the top teams in the division, away from home

Absolutely yes, both goals at Derby were from their mistakes. Bolton goals were largely down to mistakes. 

We dominated Lincoln without doing too much because we had no creative players in the middle or anyone that could beat a man with skill/pace (Kanu aside). 

carly burn said:

A lot is going to depend on his relationship with Jones. He will essentially be working for him imo.
If it is any way fractious and Scott doesn't like  not being able to put his own stamp on things, I'm pretty sure I know who will be asked to make way.

Henry Irving said:

J BLOCK said:

Henry Irving said:

hezzla said:

vff said:

hezzla said:

vff said:

Turn around is due to Nathan Jones. Nathan Jones and Paul Hart need to control as much of the football and player decisions as possible. Under Scott the squad is unbalanced and bloated. In the next transfer window, Nathan Jones needs to be identifying the players and the characters needed to send the team upwards.

I love NJ, and I think he's overseen a massive improvement in performances in very short time... but in his most successful role to date, at Luton, he wasn't principally responsible for player identification or recruitment, so why would we give him that responsibility now?  He's already said that he has license to reject signings he doesn't want and that he could have blocked the Small and Ramsay signings - does he need more power than this?

Scott is eminently replaceable, but the idea that we just lump his responsibilities onto Jones seems like a step backwards, and likely not making the most of NJ's obvious talents.

Fair point, but there was someone else competent at Luton managing this ? Harford ? Andy Scott has not proved any particlular level of competency in his job -  Nathan Jones got hired but we had an unbalanced squad and Atherton was hired in the first place and left in place far too long. Fortunate that Nathan Jones has managed to turn things around so quickly. I want Nathan Jones able to get good characters in that will be up for giving everything for club. This was essential for Curbs and Chris Powell building winning and tough teams.

I think that's all fair, and definitely think Harford's work (and the broader analytics team at Luton) is a massive part of their success, as demonstrated by how they've kept on going with Rob Edwards. 

Ultimately we're 19th in the table and Scott himself said the buck stops with him.  I just think a lot of the issues with squad balance and recruiting for "character" have been here long before he arrived.  I also think it's important for us that the biggest "misses" in recruitment have all been on loans and short-term deals this year.  There aren't too many players we're tied to long-term that I'm worried about (and we've successfully exited a few I was), which gives us lots of options in the summer.

Think we're basing too much on a few decent performances if we're saying that now the recruitment was good.

We still have a number of senior players out on loan who will return in the summer.

The loans continue to be less than impressive, three weren't even in the squad last night.

Isted looks better than AMB at the moment but I'm yet to see a dominant championship winning keeper.  But he looks more solid.

Coventry had a very good half a game but it was only half a game.

The same applies to the other 10 starters.

The defenders, Reg, MG, are improving but Small is the pick of the bunch imho and he was a Jones signing. Jury still out on T Watson and Edun although both improving. Ramsey also a Jones signing.

The core of the team remain players brought in before Scott ie May, Aneke, Ness, Dobson and the criminally under rated Thomas plus academy products in Karoy and Danu.

Yes, it takes time, yes it was a mess and it has been for a while but we've won one of our last 19 league games and are still in a real relegation fight.

Jones is giving me and most others realistic hope that we'll avoid the drop but we have, according to our finance director, the 4th or 5th biggest budget in the division. Anything less than top six is failure  and bottom six is a disaster.

So no, the recruitment has not been good.

Too often it has been too late, in positions we didn't need at the expense of those we did and for players who weren't fit enough to impact lead by managers recruited by Scott.

Disagree, have seen enough of them both to know they shouldn't be in a starting 11 of a Charlton team looking to get promoted next season. 

Quite possibly but other players, such as Andersen and Thomas, were being offered out on loan or classed as not good enough a week or so ago by some posters. 

TW and TE may flourish under Jones or they may just be part of that middle 8 of reliable league 1 players mentioned by the UK directors.

As I said, jury is out.

thenewbie said:

killerandflash said:

swordfish said:

Crusty54 said:

SELR_addicks said:

Honestly believe the January transfer window has sent us down. 

We desperately needed some creativity in the middle and we signed defensive midfielders instead. 

Desperately needed a winger but forcing this 3-5-2 instead which we have never shown we can perform with. 

It seems some of the January signings are working out after all.

I think I'm sensing a narrative being spun along the lines that all the footballing appointments who turn out to be rubbish are ones chosen by Scott, and those that are any good, he didn't want but was overruled on? If that's so, I find it odd that those who employ him and have overruled him, continue to keep faith with him. They got rid of a poor manager. Why not him?

Agreed

Has Scott done a great job? Clearly no, but it's wrong to not give him some credit for some of the arrivals. The vast majority of the team that played last night were signed when he was in the building, and both Anderson and Kanu have been secured on long contracts this season under his remit.

The 4 year deal with an option for another year given to Anderson last summer looks VERY good business. 

Chances are that he isn't/wasn't ever quite as bad as the very worst interpretation would have it, though even charitably you'd have to call his record "mixed."

Some things he did have been fairly good but as with a lot of things with football it's often the mistakes and the bad choices that get focused on and remembered - and picking Appleton and then sticking with him for so long were both very bad choices.

I suspect that if he was going to be moved on it would have been done already but I also suspect that he's on a fairly short rope with the money men and won't have much margin for error left - based on nothing but my own thoughts of course.

DubaiCAFC said:

Not going to defend or criticise Scott, but it was always going to take a a number of windows to get things right, we are not the only club who's recruitment isn't great.. In fact, I would say 90% clubs up and down the country will say it isn't great! For me the high turn over of players is our biggest issue, the most successful sides have players that established, look at Ipswich as an example from last year, they have 5 or 6 players that have played over 100 games for the club, we have 1 player in George Dobson.. There constant change of manager obviously leads to an upturn in players.. We just need 18 months - 2 years of minimum change in a window, and Jones working with the same set of players, rather than a number of in's and out's

J BLOCK said:

Henry Irving said:

J BLOCK said:

Henry Irving said:

hezzla said:

vff said:

hezzla said:

vff said:

Turn around is due to Nathan Jones. Nathan Jones and Paul Hart need to control as much of the football and player decisions as possible. Under Scott the squad is unbalanced and bloated. In the next transfer window, Nathan Jones needs to be identifying the players and the characters needed to send the team upwards.

I love NJ, and I think he's overseen a massive improvement in performances in very short time... but in his most successful role to date, at Luton, he wasn't principally responsible for player identification or recruitment, so why would we give him that responsibility now?  He's already said that he has license to reject signings he doesn't want and that he could have blocked the Small and Ramsay signings - does he need more power than this?

Scott is eminently replaceable, but the idea that we just lump his responsibilities onto Jones seems like a step backwards, and likely not making the most of NJ's obvious talents.

Fair point, but there was someone else competent at Luton managing this ? Harford ? Andy Scott has not proved any particlular level of competency in his job -  Nathan Jones got hired but we had an unbalanced squad and Atherton was hired in the first place and left in place far too long. Fortunate that Nathan Jones has managed to turn things around so quickly. I want Nathan Jones able to get good characters in that will be up for giving everything for club. This was essential for Curbs and Chris Powell building winning and tough teams.

I think that's all fair, and definitely think Harford's work (and the broader analytics team at Luton) is a massive part of their success, as demonstrated by how they've kept on going with Rob Edwards. 

Ultimately we're 19th in the table and Scott himself said the buck stops with him.  I just think a lot of the issues with squad balance and recruiting for "character" have been here long before he arrived.  I also think it's important for us that the biggest "misses" in recruitment have all been on loans and short-term deals this year.  There aren't too many players we're tied to long-term that I'm worried about (and we've successfully exited a few I was), which gives us lots of options in the summer.

Think we're basing too much on a few decent performances if we're saying that now the recruitment was good.

We still have a number of senior players out on loan who will return in the summer.

The loans continue to be less than impressive, three weren't even in the squad last night.

Isted looks better than AMB at the moment but I'm yet to see a dominant championship winning keeper.  But he looks more solid.

Coventry had a very good half a game but it was only half a game.

The same applies to the other 10 starters.

The defenders, Reg, MG, are improving but Small is the pick of the bunch imho and he was a Jones signing. Jury still out on T Watson and Edun although both improving. Ramsey also a Jones signing.

The core of the team remain players brought in before Scott ie May, Aneke, Ness, Dobson and the criminally under rated Thomas plus academy products in Karoy and Danu.

Yes, it takes time, yes it was a mess and it has been for a while but we've won one of our last 19 league games and are still in a real relegation fight.

Jones is giving me and most others realistic hope that we'll avoid the drop but we have, according to our finance director, the 4th or 5th biggest budget in the division. Anything less than top six is failure  and bottom six is a disaster.

So no, the recruitment has not been good.

Too often it has been too late, in positions we didn't need at the expense of those we did and for players who weren't fit enough to impact lead by managers recruited by Scott.

Disagree, have seen enough of them both to know they shouldn't be in a starting 11 of a Charlton team looking to get promoted next season. 

Quite possibly but other players, such as Andersen and Thomas, were being offered out on loan or classed as not good enough a week or so ago by some posters. 

TW and TE may flourish under Jones or they may just be part of that middle 8 of reliable league 1 players mentioned by the UK directors.

As I said, jury is out.

I wouldn't even put them there. 

DubaiCAFC said:

Not going to defend or criticise Scott, but it was always going to take a a number of windows to get things right, we are not the only club who's recruitment isn't great.. In fact, I would say 90% clubs up and down the country will say it isn't great! For me the high turn over of players is our biggest issue, the most successful sides have players that established, look at Ipswich as an example from last year, they have 5 or 6 players that have played over 100 games for the club, we have 1 player in George Dobson.. There constant change of manager obviously leads to an upturn in players.. We just need 18 months - 2 years of minimum charge in a window, and Jones working with the same set of players, rather than a number of in's and out's

carly burn said:

DubaiCAFC said:

Not going to defend or criticise Scott, but it was always going to take a a number of windows to get things right, we are not the only club who's recruitment isn't great.. In fact, I would say 90% clubs up and down the country will say it isn't great! For me the high turn over of players is our biggest issue, the most successful sides have players that established, look at Ipswich as an example from last year, they have 5 or 6 players that have played over 100 games for the club, we have 1 player in George Dobson.. There constant change of manager obviously leads to an upturn in players.. We just need 18 months - 2 years of minimum charge in a window, and Jones working with the same set of players, rather than a number of in's and out's

 I don't think his player recruitment is the main beef some have with him. Although that has been questionable at times.
That fact he went through an interview process with multiple candidates and thought Appleton was 'the one', when he clearly wasn't, is a bigger issue for many.

SELR_addicks said:

Current Charlton central midfielders: 

Coventry
Bakinson (on loan)
Taylor
Dobson
Fiorini (on loan)
Camara (on loan)
L. Watson (on loan)
Anderson


Players to come back from loan in central midfield: 

Fraser
McGrandles
Henry
Payne (contract expires)


Mess. 

carly burn said:

DubaiCAFC said:

Not going to defend or criticise Scott, but it was always going to take a a number of windows to get things right, we are not the only club who's recruitment isn't great.. In fact, I would say 90% clubs up and down the country will say it isn't great! For me the high turn over of players is our biggest issue, the most successful sides have players that established, look at Ipswich as an example from last year, they have 5 or 6 players that have played over 100 games for the club, we have 1 player in George Dobson.. There constant change of manager obviously leads to an upturn in players.. We just need 18 months - 2 years of minimum charge in a window, and Jones working with the same set of players, rather than a number of in's and out's

 I don't think his player recruitment is the main beef some have with him. Although that has been questionable at times.
That fact he went through an interview process with multiple candidates and thought Appleton was 'the one', when he clearly wasn't, is a bigger issue for many.