2022/23 Kevin Thelwell

[KaiserEFC]

There’s 2 positivity camps with Thelwell.

On one side you have the Zats of the world; overly confident that buying young players like Garner, Onana and McNeil resolve all issues. The thought process is that will develop as one and become an all conquering outfit, even though they are, at best, average footballers. The hope is they develop

On the side, you have the wannabe edge lords. The forum clown is a perfect example of this

Personally I don’t agree with either. I think all of them are bang average and that will become obvious *should* the club begin to improve. I think you’d sell Onana for a mint in the next couple of seasons based on previous reputation and that’s definitely the smart move.

I also don’t think the club could develop a young player unless they were a generational talent like Rooney and it was going to happen anyway.

 

[allen]

It doesn't matter what policy you choose to follow (DoF or manager + head of recruitment) neither is going to work when you have a guy like Kenwright in the background who wants the final say on transfers, and even more so when you have a chancer like Joorabchian hovering in the background.

Exactly so. Until the organisation is run correctly, with the proper chain of command and clearly defined roles and responsibilities that everyone accepts, it won't work.

That's why I think rejecting the DoF model out of hand is wrong. It's not the model, it's the execution.

 

[JLW]

It doesn't matter what policy you choose to follow (DoF or manager + head of recruitment) neither is going to work when you have a guy like Kenwright in the background who wants the final say on transfers, and even more so when you have a chancer like Joorabchian hovering in the background.

It’s amazing our owner is so ‘kin blind to it!

 

[Bob Elstone]

Make all the excuses for him, he didn’t get a centre forward in and we were a pube hair away from oblivion

 

[Zatara]

There’s 2 positivity camps with Thelwell.

On one side you have the Zats of the world; overly confident that buying young players like Garner, Onana and McNeil resolve all issues. The thought process is that will develop as one and become an all conquering outfit, even though they are, at best, average footballers. The hope is they develop

On the side, you have the wannabe edge lords. The forum clown is a perfect example of this

What sorcery is this

I thought you were the forum clown

 

[Martin Alvito]

The people saying that he made some good signings last season are aware the club were nearly relegated for the second time in two years on the last day of the season aren’t they?

IMO, without those signings we were down by April.

I stick by what I've said all along - the club decided Richarlison's goals were too expensive to replace given the needs throughout the squad, and shored up the defense instead. It worked. This summer, the gaping wound in attack needs sutures, at whatever cost. We also need to plug the hole next to Tarkowski, whether that's with Branthwaite or a purchase.

Don't judge a DoF on the situation they inherit. Judge them on what they did with the funds available, and the alternative options given the funds.

 

[nsno-chris]

What sorcery is this

I thought you were the forum clown

Oh, zinger

 

[KaiserEFC]

IMO, without those signings we were down by April.

I stick by what I've said all along - the club decided Richarlison's goals were too expensive to replace given the needs throughout the squad, and shored up the defense instead. It worked. This summer, the gaping wound in attack needs sutures, at whatever cost. We also need to plug the hole next to Tarkowski, whether that's with Branthwaite or a purchase.

Don't judge a DoF on the situation they inherit. Judge them on what they did with the funds available, and the alternative options given the funds.

Richarlison scored 17 league goals in his final two seasons with the club. That’s 8.5 goals per season. Plenty of other clubs can find midfielders with that kind of production let alone Strikers.

McAllister formerly of Brighton £8m, Awoniyi (CF) Forest £20m, Wissa of Brentford, Mbuemo of Brentford are some players nobody had ever heard of signed in the past few years with similar numbers.

This bloke signs Maupay Tarkowski and Coady and the club actually end up hanging on more than they did the season before yet people think he’s done a good job? Nah not for me.

 

[Terrarian]

We still need forwards Thelwell, it is important and a priority, you cannot drag your feet again, get it sorted. Not that he reads this but I'm disgusted by what is happening to our club.

 

[Paul Rideout]

Richarlison scored 17 league goals in his final two seasons with the club. That’s 8.5 goals per season. Plenty of other clubs can find midfielders with that kind of production let alone Strikers.

McAllister formerly of Brighton £8m, Awoniyi (CF) Forest £20m, Wissa of Brentford, Mbuemo of Brentford are some players nobody had ever heard of signed in the past few years with similar numbers.

This bloke signs Maupay Tarkowski and Coady and the club actually end up hanging on more than they did the season before yet people think he’s done a good job? Nah not for me.

Weird that you missed off McNeil who scored 7 last season.

 

[Martin Alvito]

Richarlison scored 17 league goals in his final two seasons with the club. That’s 8.5 goals per season. Plenty of other clubs can find midfielders with that kind of production let alone Strikers.

McAllister formerly of Brighton £8m, Awoniyi (CF) Forest £20m, Wissa of Brentford, Mbuemo of Brentford are some players nobody had ever heard of signed in the past few years with similar numbers.

This bloke signs Maupay Tarkowski and Coady and the club actually end up hanging on more than they did the season before yet people think he’s done a good job? Nah not for me.

I think those of you that demand a DoF find and sign the best-value talents from across the league, which you cherry-pick after the fact, are dramatically underestimating the complexity of the process. First, we have to scout them. Then, we have to convince them to come here. Then, we have to convince the agent and selling club to move the player at a price we can afford. It's a high-risk process that frequently doesn't work out, after a signing.

If you look at top clubs' signings, they brick as often as they hit, while throwing bags of cash at top talents who want to go there for CL football. I don't know if Brighton is truly doing things right, or if they're just on a hot streak with signings. Walsh's results here suggest he was just on a hot streak at Leicester, in no uncertain terms.

6 hits and two misses, which appear to have increased the value of the club's asset base and also fulfilled the minimum pitch requirement, seems like a good summer's work to me. The big mission this summer is getting the forward signing(s) right. If we add the goals and keep the improved defense, we'll be comfortably mid-table and able to sell some players to buy some more young talents, which should sort our depth problems.

 

[windymiller]

6 hits and two misses, which appear to have increased the value of the club's asset base and also fulfilled the minimum pitch requirement, seems like a good summer's work to me. The big mission this summer is getting the forward signing(s) right. If we add the goals and keep the improved defense, we'll be comfortably mid-table and able to sell some players to buy some more young talents, which should sort our depth problems.

Your definition of a hit is very loose. Coady was a hit, for example.

Also "minimum pitch requirement" being 17th place, a position even three years ago that would have seemed incomprehensible, and a position lower than we finished the season before, touted that as some sort of validation of Thelwell's work is disingenuous at best.

Finally, how exactly is the club's asset base value increased? Onana has gone up in value, other than that who else?

This is Kev's third crack at securing a serviceable forward for the club, he has failed horrifically in his first two cracks at it, if he gets it wrong a third time we'll go down.

 

[Martin Alvito]

Your definition of a hit is very loose. Coady was a hit, for example.

Also "minimum pitch requirement" being 17th place, a position even three years ago that would have seemed incomprehensible, and a position lower than we finished the season before, touted that as some sort of validation of Thelwell's work is disingenuous at best.

Finally, how exactly is the club's asset base value increased? Onana has gone up in value, other than that who else?

This is Kev's third crack at securing a serviceable forward for the club, he has failed horrifically in his first two cracks at it, if he gets it wrong a third time we'll go down.

I suspect McNeil is worth a bit more than he was at signing, at this point. Garner's value probably also increases this season if he stays healthy. We got quite the price, on that deal. Coady is a hit in the sense that we solved an immediate problem at low cost.

My approach is not disingenuous at all. There's more to this turnaround than the club's immediate-term performance on the pitch. That's the lesson Moshiri needed to learn. Instead, he went 'win-now' the way Boehly did, just not as hard. That only seems to work out when the club is only missing a key piece or two, and buys just those things. Otherwise, only the largest clubs by revenue can get away with it. I think Chelsea is also in for a rough ride, despite their revenue.

Many posters seem to think this is as easy as 'just go buy the cheap players other clubs succeeded with,' but it isn't. That demands, in an odds-based game, that the DoF hit a straight flush. It probably won't happen, no matter how good the DoF is. If you look at the data, a large percentage of transfers do not work out across all clubs. Most of the rest are not bargains. The most likely explanation for the result is that certain clubs get a little lucky for a while. Some clubs do a better job than others of putting themselves in position to get lucky.

Where I will agree with you is that the club simply must spend to secure a center forward that contributes goals, to keep us out of the relegation zone.

 

[Paul Rideout]

Your definition of a hit is very loose. Coady was a hit, for example.

Also "minimum pitch requirement" being 17th place, a position even three years ago that would have seemed incomprehensible, and a position lower than we finished the season before, touted that as some sort of validation of Thelwell's work is disingenuous at best.

Finally, how exactly is the club's asset base value increased? Onana has gone up in value, other than that who else?

This is Kev's third crack at securing a serviceable forward for the club, he has failed horrifically in his first two cracks at it, if he gets it wrong a third time we'll go down.

Dom will be like a new signing for the first X games (I refuse to jinx it with actual numbers because I fear we will end up relying on his broken body) before he breaks down... would that count as a serviceable forward? lol

 

[Hinchcliffe's Corner]

And I've given one more piece of evidence than anyone else has given back therefore the debate has been won (once again) by FB92.

(Insults & middle fingers are not considered factual evidence m'lord).

We've been through this in a few posts now, you haven't.