Recruitment Dept

Interesting debate I think to be had here, and possibly a slight shift change away from the planned, to the more flexible?

First a couple of quotes:

Ralph Krueger, 28.05.14 (Source: OS)

“We have 20 people working full-time on scouting and recruitment. We have seven people all over Europe, seven domestic and four to six in the office. These people are not playing cards, they are out there collecting data, statistics, profiles etc. and not just on players.

Les Reed, 25.04.14 (Source: Soton Echo)

We have our targets, we want to improve the squad, these are things we are discussing on a daily basis and we intend to produce a squad that is capable of not just maintaining the position we are in at the moment but improving next season.

Now, whilst we will never know for certain, a player like Pelle doesn't strike me as a typical Saints signing, mostly due to his age - I wouldn't think he was someone we had as a target in April, and if Koeman hadnt joined I doubt he would have (not saying there is much wrong with that).

Tadic - possibly, seems to fit our profile, but again somewhat of a coincidence that Koeman loves him (certainly not a problem).

Bertrand - possibly, but we have never really gone in for loans before, and were clearly interested to some degree in Kolo from Nice and Robertson who just joined Hull.

Then, if reports are to be believed, we are likely to sign someone on loan from Inter as part of the Osvaldo deal. Is it a coincidence that one of our targets plays for Inter? Or, is it more likely that we have recently checked their squad list and thought we might as well take one of their players if they are offered about (which presumably keeps the loan fee down for Inter and gets a player who they don't want off their wage bill.)

This seems a different approach to last summer, where we had three targets and got them all, and in the case of Wanyama and Lovren, got them early, and had obviously been working on them since at least May.

Will be interesting to see who we sign from now, and although we will probably never know, it would be interesting to find out how much of the scouting team's work leads to signings, versus how many are opportunistic or decided by the Manager.

Will be interesting to see who we sign from now, and although we will probably never know, it would be interesting to find out how much of the scouting team's work leads to signings, versus how many are opportunistic or decided by the Manager.

Would also be interesting know how much of an assessment comes from actually having thre player watched and how much is Opta stats based.

Cortese had the final say when he was at the club. Reed has it now. That is the difference. The underlying process is still the same.

Would also be interesting know how much of an assessment comes from actually having thre player watched and how much is Opta stats based.

Would guess they gets lots of stats and video and then from that narrow down to players that are then watched live.

Would guess they gets lots of stats and video and then from that narrow down to players that are then watched live.

Previous insider comments (eg Monk) have spotted DVDs of players we've been linked with in the analysis room, you'd still have to be daft not to have them watched in person at least a few times, and we've always ( until Osvaldo anyway) tried to sign players with the right attitude.

Interesting debate I think to be had here, and possibly a slight shift change away from the planned, to the more flexible?

 

First a couple of quotes:

 

 

Ralph Krueger, 28.05.14 (Source: OS)

 

 

 

Les Reed, 25.04.14 (Source: Soton Echo)

 

 

 

Now, whilst we will never know for certain, a player like Pelle doesn't strike me as a typical Saints signing, mostly due to his age - I wouldn't think he was someone we had as a target in April, and if Koeman hadnt joined I doubt he would have (not saying there is much wrong with that).

 

Tadic - possibly, seems to fit our profile, but again somewhat of a coincidence that Koeman loves him (certainly not a problem).

 

Bertrand - possibly, but we have never really gone in for loans before, and were clearly interested to some degree in Kolo from Nice and Robertson who just joined Hull.

 

Then, if reports are to be believed, we are likely to sign someone on loan from Inter as part of the Osvaldo deal. Is it a coincidence that one of our targets plays for Inter? Or, is it more likely that we have recently checked their squad list and thought we might as well take one of their players if they are offered about (which presumably keeps the loan fee down for Inter and gets a player who they don't want off their wage bill.)

 

This seems a different approach to last summer, where we had three targets and got them all, and in the case of Wanyama and Lovren, got them early, and had obviously been working on them since at least May.

 

Will be interesting to see who we sign from now, and although we will probably never know, it would be interesting to find out how much of the scouting team's work leads to signings, versus how many are opportunistic or decided by the Manager.

I would guarantee the player we are bringing in from Inter won't be on our scouting list, and it is a factbthat we're just looking at their squared and old scouting reports, but that's to just try and extract some value from the loan. Inter will not pay for the loan, we need to get rid. This way we pad out the squad and can purchase someone when Osvaldo finally leaves, whether that be next season or not.

I think we had our strategy and focus when NC/MP were here, and that carried on until MP left. Now Koeman is wanting us to look at a different kind of target and that's why it's taking time to bring players in.

Cortese had the final say when he was at the club. Reed has it now. That is the difference. The underlying process is still the same.

I thought it was the Manager... ?

I gather one player agent has recently sarcastically remarked that the Southampton scouting team think they re-invented the wheel

I thought it was the Manager... ?

Has input, no player is signed unless Manager is satisfied with him, but Reed is the man with the power.

Would guess they gets lots of stats and video and then from that narrow down to players that are then watched live.

FIFA, FUT Head, Football Manager and the like. In this case, Koeman sits down with FIFA 14 for a good 3 hours, gets the desired players onto a team and runs the desired formation. Once he gets an idea on how much pace the desired player has and whether they have enough finish to bend one into the net, he tells Reed to pull the trigger. Sometimes he'll even play a season and if he gets one of those players that "wants to go home" he knows that guy will be a bear do deal with, catastrophe averted, he doesn't sign them. True story.

I gather one player agent has recently sarcastically remarked that the Southampton scouting team think they re-invented the wheel

I'm not sure anyone would claim that having a network of scouts and analysts is anything revolutionary - unless that person is Neil Ashton at the Mail or Ben Smith at the BBC - and I would assume that an agent might be a bit disparaging of it on account of the club having the resources to actually watch a player he tries to hawk to us rather than signing them on the strength of a YouTube compilation video. It's not so easy for him to get his players through our door as a result, so of course he's ****ed off

I'm not sure anyone would claim that having a network of scouts and analysts is anything revolutionary - unless that person is Neil Ashton at the Mail or Ben Smith at the BBC - and I would assume that an agent might be a bit disparaging of it on account of the club having the resources to actually watch a player he tries to hawk to us rather than signing them on the strength of a YouTube compilation video. It's not so easy for him to get his players through our door as a result, so of course he's ****ed off

Love it, wish we could know who the player and agent was, but realise that is never gonna happen.

I'm not sure anyone would claim that having a network of scouts and analysts is anything revolutionary - unless that person is Neil Ashton at the Mail or Ben Smith at the BBC - and I would assume that an agent might be a bit disparaging of it on account of the club having the resources to actually watch a player he tries to hawk to us rather than signing them on the strength of a YouTube compilation video. It's not so easy for him to get his players through our door as a result, so of course he's ****ed off

No Steve, he was referring to their methods of judging a player and he wasn't particularly hacked off either as far as I am aware.

No Steve, he was referring to their methods of judging a player and he wasn't particularly hacked off either as far as I am aware.

Seems a bit of a strange comment to make then - if the club were going round and bragging about how they'd reinvented the scouting 'wheel' then fair enough... but they haven't done that... so why did he make that comment?

Cortese had the final say when he was at the club. Reed has it now. That is the PROBLEM. The underlying process is still the same.

There fixed for ya

So, if we get Long and Gardos that would be quite a substantial sum spent, yet only really the GK position sorted long term.

Next summer with Maya and Jos coming to the end of their contract we would need 2 x CB, a RB and a LB (either Bertrand or another).

Striker we have spent 20m on a 29 and 27 year old, so hardly a long term view.

Certainly feels like a policy shift from previous years.

Of all the signings, the only one that stands out as being a result of good scouting is probably Gardos. The rest are a collection of known players who are available, or Koeman identified players.

Might as well fire half the scouts as their reccomendations are onviously either crap or being ignored.

Might as well fire half the scouts as their reccomendations are onviously either crap or being ignored.

Perhaps the recommendations didn't want to come here or we couldn't get them over the line.

Perhaps the recommendations didn't want to come here or we couldn't get them over the line.

Indeed, we dont pay huge wages and you would expect agents to hang out for the best deals (look at Rojo). All the team can do it to recommend players - the rest is up to whether they want to come or not.

Indeed, we dont pay huge wages and you would expect agents to hang out for the best deals (look at Rojo). All the team can do it to recommend players - the rest is up to whether they want to come or not.

No- the recommendations or targets have to be realistic. Was Rojo ever a realistic target?

No- the recommendations or targets have to be realistic. Was Rojo ever a realistic target?

I assume so as Reed went to Portugal to try and tie up the deal. It probably was until MU became interested -that is why the club try and keep their deals quiet I expect.

Over the past few years we have picked up some good deals. Lambert and Schneiderlin were both bargains. Fonte has paid his fee back several times over. Clyne was a very good buy. Lovren too at the time. Not all bad news.

Not convinced about the new approach. Time will tell how bad or good signings turn out to be but have very high standard to live up to compared to previous 2 seasons imo.

Not convinced about the new approach. Time will tell how bad or good signings turn out to be but have very high standard to live up to compared to previous 2 seasons imo.

Don't think there is a new approach.

Don't think there is a new approach.

Agreed. I dont think they have said anything is new, just that we have a good scouting operation in place.

http://vimeo.com/55279662

This video was on the Redsio Southampton FC blog. If you are interested in how clubs go about finding players then this will help

http://www.sigames.com/news/14353/Football+Manager+gets+real

Not sure if this means MLG will lose his job?

Previous insider comments (eg Monk) have spotted DVDs of players we've been linked with in the analysis room, you'd still have to be daft not to have them watched in person at least a few times, and we've always ( until Osvaldo anyway) tried to sign players with the right attitude.

My mate is a scout for Watford. He said that they usually watch a few dvds on a player that they either get sent speculatively by agents or ones they compile themselves when they have specific targets in mind, and then he'll get sent out to watch them in the flesh for a game during the week. I would imagine that our set up is similar although with far more able staff than my mate. Who texts me from time to time opions on saints players (they did look at taking Tadanari Lee on loan last year )

I gather one player agent has recently sarcastically remarked that the Southampton scouting team think they re-invented the wheel

I depends who you choose to believe. Dietmar Hamman was praising our scouting yesterday, saying he had no fears for us as we'll cleverly replace the departed stars.

Arsene Wenger also said this only last week:""It will be interesting to see how they get over what happened to them because they got a lot of income and they have shown in the past they are very clever in scouting. It will be very interesting next season to see how they manage what happened to them,".

I agree with the op though that some signings look quite obvious ie the dutch league players. The romanian CB will be from the scouting team I would imagine though. We'll find out who is right soon enough!

I depends who you choose to believe. Dietmar Hamman was praising our scouting yesterday, saying he had no fears for us as we'll cleverly replace the departed stars.

Hamman was also telling all and sundry, in May, that Germany had no chance of winning the world cup. He's the german Pele of punditry.