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Defectors Watch


adrian lord

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Not really sure Tadic deserves to be in the defectors thread...

 

Does anyone? The club's famous policy, which they happily basked in the light of, was discovering talented young footballers and selling them on for profit (usually to Liverpool).

 

The problem is that the man who discovered the cheap talent, our Head of Recruitment, Paul 'The Black Box' Mitchell, is no longer here. So, now, under his replacement, Ross Wilson, we are faced with the problem of buying expensive players and then finding a way to offload them for free to anyone desperate enough to take them off our hands.

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Does anyone? The club's famous policy, which they happily basked in the light of, was discovering talented young footballers and selling them on for profit (usually to Liverpool).

 

The problem is that the man who discovered the cheap talent, our Head of Recruitment, Paul 'The Black Box' Mitchell, is no longer here. So, now, under his replacement, Ross Wilson, we are faced with the problem of buying expensive players and then finding a way to offload them for free to anyone desperate enough to take them off our hands.

 

Not entirely true though. I can't recall when Mitchell joined us but he would not have been responsible for bringing through the first wave of sales, Lallana, Lambert, Schneiderlin & Shaw for example.

 

Apart from that though I agree with your point; recruitment has been poor and Mitchell was a league above the Reed/Wilson fiasco.

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Does anyone? The club's famous policy, which they happily basked in the light of, was discovering talented young footballers and selling them on for profit (usually to Liverpool).

 

The problem is that the man who discovered the cheap talent, our Head of Recruitment, Paul 'The Black Box' Mitchell, is no longer here. So, now, under his replacement, Ross Wilson, we are faced with the problem of buying expensive players and then finding a way to offload them for free to anyone desperate enough to take them off our hands.

 

I would disagree about Mitchell, the managers we had at that time utilised the talent to display them at the peak potential.

Perhaps the struggles of some since hey left has demonstrated this?

The managers since Keoman have made good players look average (Puel TBF had some players looking better in his system but others underperforming) but I think that's the biggest impact on selling on fees rather than poor recruitment.

In addition if he was so "on the pulse" with super signings, why did RKs team come from his old team/old league/players his teams had played against rather than random signings Mitchell found with the black box?

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Mitchell is the hipsters man. No better way to show your deep knowledge and understanding of the game than to praise him. At one time the bloke at Leicester was on a par, but since it went tits up at Everton he’s slipped off the radar, I wouldn’t be surprised if the same thing happened to Mitchell.

 

 

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In addition if he was so "on the pulse" with super signings, why did RKs team come from his old team/old league/players his teams had played against rather than random signings Mitchell found with the black box?

 

Not sure what your evidence of that is:

Here are our 2014/15 signings (Koeman arrived June 2014, Mitchell left Nov 2014 so could theoretically be responsible for anything up until summer 2015) - I've flagged the ones with obvious Koeman links.

 

Dusan Tadic FC Twente £10,900,000 08 Jul, 2014 - signed from Dutch team - could be a Koeman call?

Graziano Pelle Feyenoord £8,000,000 12 Jul, 2014 - signed from Dutch team - could be a Koeman call?

Fraser Forster Celtic £10,000,000 09 Aug, 2014 - Black Box

Shane Long Hull £12,000,000 14 Aug, 2014 - Black Box

Florin Gardos Steaua £4,000,000 14 Aug, 2014 - Black Box

Sadio Mane RB Salzburg £11,800,000 01 Sep, 2014 Black Box

Toby Alderweireld Loan 01 Sep, 2014 Black Box

Eljero Elia Loan Jan 2015 - Koeman

Filip Djuricic Loan Jan 2015 - Koeman

Ryan Bertrand Chelsea £10,000,000 02 Feb, 2015 Black Box

Juanmi Malaga £5,000,000 16 Jun, 2015 Black Box

Cedric Soares Sporting £4,700,000 18 Jun, 2015 Black Box

Harry Lewis Shrewsbury Signed 01 Jul, 2015

 

From the timescales it looks like Mitchell gave it a few months to see if Koeman was as good to work with as Pochettino, and then went when he decided he wasn't. The signings of Djuricic and Elia on loans 2 months after Mitchell left pretty much summed up Koeman's position on our academy route to the first team (for which the club panned him when he left).

 

Just for the record, here are the signings for the season after Mitchell left Saints - still a couple of "not obviously Koeman's choice" buys - but a significantly larger proportion of Dutch links.

 

Players in

PLAYER FROM FEE DATE

Cuco Martina FC Twente £1,000,000 07 Jul, 2015 - Koeman

Jordy Clasie Feyenoord £8,000,000 15 Jul, 2015 - Koeman

Oriol Romeu Chelsea £5,000,000 12 Aug, 2015 - Black Box

Virgil van Dijk Celtic £11,500,000 01 Sep, 2015 - Koeman (probably)

Charlie Austin QPR £4,000,000 16 Jan, 2016 - Black Box

 

There's also the point that Mitchell probably took a couple of key potential signings to Spurs (plus Alderweireld and Wanyama both joined Spurs after Mitchell left to go there).

 

Aside from those two Spurs' transfer deals in Summer 2015 were Clinton N'Jie from Lyon for £8.3m and Son for Leverkusen for £18m - both of which look like viable Saints targets and the type of player we were signing at the time. In 2016 they signed

 

Vincent Janssen AZ Alkmaar £17,000,000 12 Jul, 2016

Georges-Kevin Nkoudou Mbida Marseille £11,000,000 31 Aug, 2016

Moussa Sissoko Newcastle £30,000,000 31 Aug, 2016 - though I can't see us ever having been in for that one!

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Not sure what your evidence of that is:

Here are our 2014/15 signings (Koeman arrived June 2014, Mitchell left Nov 2014 so could theoretically be responsible for anything up until summer 2015) - I've flagged the ones with obvious Koeman links.

 

Dusan Tadic FC Twente £10,900,000 08 Jul, 2014 - signed from Dutch team - could be a Koeman call?

Graziano Pelle Feyenoord £8,000,000 12 Jul, 2014 - signed from Dutch team - could be a Koeman call?

Fraser Forster Celtic £10,000,000 09 Aug, 2014 - Black Box

Shane Long Hull £12,000,000 14 Aug, 2014 - Black Box

Florin Gardos Steaua £4,000,000 14 Aug, 2014 - Black Box

Sadio Mane RB Salzburg £11,800,000 01 Sep, 2014 Black Box

Toby Alderweireld Loan 01 Sep, 2014 Black Box

Eljero Elia Loan Jan 2015 - Koeman

Filip Djuricic Loan Jan 2015 - Koeman

Ryan Bertrand Chelsea £10,000,000 02 Feb, 2015 Black Box

Juanmi Malaga £5,000,000 16 Jun, 2015 Black Box

Cedric Soares Sporting £4,700,000 18 Jun, 2015 Black Box

Harry Lewis Shrewsbury Signed 01 Jul, 2015

 

From the timescales it looks like Mitchell gave it a few months to see if Koeman was as good to work with as Pochettino, and then went when he decided he wasn't. The signings of Djuricic and Elia on loans 2 months after Mitchell left pretty much summed up Koeman's position on our academy route to the first team (for which the club panned him when he left).

 

Just for the record, here are the signings for the season after Mitchell left Saints - still a couple of "not obviously Koeman's choice" buys - but a significantly larger proportion of Dutch links.

 

Players in

PLAYER FROM FEE DATE

Cuco Martina FC Twente £1,000,000 07 Jul, 2015 - Koeman

Jordy Clasie Feyenoord £8,000,000 15 Jul, 2015 - Koeman

Oriol Romeu Chelsea £5,000,000 12 Aug, 2015 - Black Box

Virgil van Dijk Celtic £11,500,000 01 Sep, 2015 - Koeman (probably)

Charlie Austin QPR £4,000,000 16 Jan, 2016 - Black Box

 

There's also the point that Mitchell probably took a couple of key potential signings to Spurs (plus Alderweireld and Wanyama both joined Spurs after Mitchell left to go there).

 

Aside from those two Spurs' transfer deals in Summer 2015 were Clinton N'Jie from Lyon for £8.3m and Son for Leverkusen for £18m - both of which look like viable Saints targets and the type of player we were signing at the time. In 2016 they signed

 

Vincent Janssen AZ Alkmaar £17,000,000 12 Jul, 2016

Georges-Kevin Nkoudou Mbida Marseille £11,000,000 31 Aug, 2016

Moussa Sissoko Newcastle £30,000,000 31 Aug, 2016 - though I can't see us ever having been in for that one!

 

An old boss of mine used tp say you can never win an arguement against someone with time and a typrewriter.

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Not sure what your evidence of that is:

Here are our 2014/15 signings (Koeman arrived June 2014, Mitchell left Nov 2014 so could theoretically be responsible for anything up until summer 2015) - I've flagged the ones with obvious Koeman links.

 

Dusan Tadic FC Twente £10,900,000 08 Jul, 2014 - signed from Dutch team - could be a Koeman call?

Graziano Pelle Feyenoord £8,000,000 12 Jul, 2014 - signed from Dutch team - could be a Koeman call?

Fraser Forster Celtic £10,000,000 09 Aug, 2014 - Black Box

Shane Long Hull £12,000,000 14 Aug, 2014 - Black Box

Florin Gardos Steaua £4,000,000 14 Aug, 2014 - Black Box

Sadio Mane RB Salzburg £11,800,000 01 Sep, 2014 Black Box

Toby Alderweireld Loan 01 Sep, 2014 Black Box

Eljero Elia Loan Jan 2015 - Koeman

Filip Djuricic Loan Jan 2015 - Koeman

Ryan Bertrand Chelsea £10,000,000 02 Feb, 2015 Black Box

Juanmi Malaga £5,000,000 16 Jun, 2015 Black Box

Cedric Soares Sporting £4,700,000 18 Jun, 2015 Black Box

Harry Lewis Shrewsbury Signed 01 Jul, 2015

 

From the timescales it looks like Mitchell gave it a few months to see if Koeman was as good to work with as Pochettino, and then went when he decided he wasn't. The signings of Djuricic and Elia on loans 2 months after Mitchell left pretty much summed up Koeman's position on our academy route to the first team (for which the club panned him when he left).

 

Just for the record, here are the signings for the season after Mitchell left Saints - still a couple of "not obviously Koeman's choice" buys - but a significantly larger proportion of Dutch links.

 

Players in

PLAYER FROM FEE DATE

Cuco Martina FC Twente £1,000,000 07 Jul, 2015 - Koeman

Jordy Clasie Feyenoord £8,000,000 15 Jul, 2015 - Koeman

Oriol Romeu Chelsea £5,000,000 12 Aug, 2015 - Black Box

Virgil van Dijk Celtic £11,500,000 01 Sep, 2015 - Koeman (probably)

Charlie Austin QPR £4,000,000 16 Jan, 2016 - Black Box

 

There's also the point that Mitchell probably took a couple of key potential signings to Spurs (plus Alderweireld and Wanyama both joined Spurs after Mitchell left to go there).

 

Aside from those two Spurs' transfer deals in Summer 2015 were Clinton N'Jie from Lyon for £8.3m and Son for Leverkusen for £18m - both of which look like viable Saints targets and the type of player we were signing at the time. In 2016 they signed

 

Vincent Janssen AZ Alkmaar £17,000,000 12 Jul, 2016

Georges-Kevin Nkoudou Mbida Marseille £11,000,000 31 Aug, 2016

Moussa Sissoko Newcastle £30,000,000 31 Aug, 2016 - though I can't see us ever having been in for that one!

 

I think you proved my point...not many good signings on the black box side?

Wasn't Mane arecommended by RK after seeing him in Europe previously and Toby came because of RK.

 

I don't think it's the players signed anyway it's how the managers have utilised them.

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Jose Fonte's Lille side won today and are now 2nd in the French League. His brother Rui Fonte played up front but Pied has yet to make an appearance.

 

Jose gave away a penalty that was saved. Also Pepe scored a hat trick to win the game for Lille and according to the Manchester Evening News turned down a move to us in the summer. Sounds like United are after him.

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I wonder why Tadic fancied Ajax?

 

 

we could never match that for a great atmosphere...weve only got one song, the awful port****e one, gets aired every game boring as sh!t.really it is .....but we as supporters do need to see encouragement on the field to generate any noise level,

 

theres an air of envitability about us at the moment....

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we could never match that for a great atmosphere...weve only got one song, the awful port****e one, gets aired every game boring as sh!t.really it is .....but we as supporters do need to see encouragement on the field to generate any noise level,

 

theres an air of envitability about us at the moment....

 

First half of the last 2 home games the atmosphere has been decent imo, Like the players performances it peatered out second half !

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Fonte scored and and assist today

 

His Lille team are 2nd in the French League with only PSG ahead of them now. What a fantastic end to his career it will be if he adds a French League winner's medal to his European Championship winner's medal and goes on to play in the Champions League. He was an absolute legend for us and the best captain and leader our team has had this century. He deserves this success.

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