...I am more and more coming to the conclusion that recruitment (buying players in simple terms) is the key factor in the long term success of a manager.
In short you need to buy players in areas of the team that need improving and ensure that the players you buy can be sold on for a profit to allow reinvestment.
This was something Moyes was a master in given the budget he operated on.
Since his departure we seem to have regressed to a typically wasteful Premier League club. This could cause major problems in the future.
Firstly lets look at all first team signings made in the last 15 years:
My ratings as signings not as players.
Excellent- Player either played lots of games for us and/or was sold for a decent profit (doesn't mean world class player, just as a signing for the money they cost)
Good - they did OK for us and we either made our money back or small profit/loss
OK - either cheap or filled a hole in the team
Poor - didn't really do much and we lost money
Rubbish - rubbish on the pitch and sold at a loss
Unlucky - injury prevents proper judgement
Moyes era
Yobo - Excellent
Rodrigo - Unlucky
Wright - Poor
Bent - Excellent
McFadden - Excellent (tripled our money)
Kilbane - Excellent
Martyn - Excellent
Davies - Rubbish
Beattie - Good
Cahill - Excellent
Lescott - Excellent
Johnson - Good
Neville - Excellent
Arteta - Excellent
Kroldrup - Rubbish
Van der Meyde - Rubbish
Valente - Poor
Howard - Excellent
Jagielka - Excellent
Baines - Excellent
Yakubu - Excellent followed by Unlucky followed by Rubbish (hardest one to categorise!) - Poor overall
Gosling - Poor
Coleman - Excellent
Pienaar - Excellent
Fellaini - Excellent
Bilyaletdinov - Poor
Heitinga - Poor (player of the season but then didn't continue the form and free transfer)
Distin - Good
Gibson -Good (as he was cheap)
Jelavic - Good
Stones - Excellent
Oviedo - Good/Unlucky
Mirallas - Excellent
Pienaar - Ok (second time signing)
Naismith - Excellent
Moyes overall
Excellent - 18
Good - 6
OK - 1
Poor - 6
Rubbish - 3
Martinez era
McGeady - Rubbish
McCarthy - Good (Excellent first season and would have been a big profit ,now I think we'd lose money)
Robles - Good
Kone - Unlucky/Rubbish so Poor overall
Barry - Excellent
Besic - Unlucky
Lukaku - Excellent
Galloway - OK
Deulofeu - Good (easily worth the money, potential to be excellent)
Tarashaj - OK (probably make our money back)
Lennon - OK
Funes Mori - Good (probably make our money back)
Cleverly - Good (free so would get a profit)
Niasse - Rubbish
Holgate - Excellent
Excellent - 3
Good - 5
OK - 3
Poor - 1
Rubbish - 2
Koeman
Stekelenburg - Good
Gueye - Excellent
Williams - OK
Bolasie - Unlucky/OK (at that money and age no chance of a profit and every chance of all money being written off over 4 years)
Excellent - 1
Good - 1
OK - 2
In summary I think we've seen a sharp decline in the hit/miss rate since Moyes left. Hopefully Walsh/Koeman can improve it but they haven't started that well. Recruiting good players and using them to generate profits for future buys is the way every sensible club is run. We've basically written off the best part of £50m on the signings of Williams, Bolasie and Niasse in the last year. We cannot afford to screw up our buys so badly in the future.
In short you need to buy players in areas of the team that need improving and ensure that the players you buy can be sold on for a profit to allow reinvestment.
This was something Moyes was a master in given the budget he operated on.
Since his departure we seem to have regressed to a typically wasteful Premier League club. This could cause major problems in the future.
Firstly lets look at all first team signings made in the last 15 years:
My ratings as signings not as players.
Excellent- Player either played lots of games for us and/or was sold for a decent profit (doesn't mean world class player, just as a signing for the money they cost)
Good - they did OK for us and we either made our money back or small profit/loss
OK - either cheap or filled a hole in the team
Poor - didn't really do much and we lost money
Rubbish - rubbish on the pitch and sold at a loss
Unlucky - injury prevents proper judgement
Moyes era
Yobo - Excellent
Rodrigo - Unlucky
Wright - Poor
Bent - Excellent
McFadden - Excellent (tripled our money)
Kilbane - Excellent
Martyn - Excellent
Davies - Rubbish
Beattie - Good
Cahill - Excellent
Lescott - Excellent
Johnson - Good
Neville - Excellent
Arteta - Excellent
Kroldrup - Rubbish
Van der Meyde - Rubbish
Valente - Poor
Howard - Excellent
Jagielka - Excellent
Baines - Excellent
Yakubu - Excellent followed by Unlucky followed by Rubbish (hardest one to categorise!) - Poor overall
Gosling - Poor
Coleman - Excellent
Pienaar - Excellent
Fellaini - Excellent
Bilyaletdinov - Poor
Heitinga - Poor (player of the season but then didn't continue the form and free transfer)
Distin - Good
Gibson -Good (as he was cheap)
Jelavic - Good
Stones - Excellent
Oviedo - Good/Unlucky
Mirallas - Excellent
Pienaar - Ok (second time signing)
Naismith - Excellent
Moyes overall
Excellent - 18
Good - 6
OK - 1
Poor - 6
Rubbish - 3
Martinez era
McGeady - Rubbish
McCarthy - Good (Excellent first season and would have been a big profit ,now I think we'd lose money)
Robles - Good
Kone - Unlucky/Rubbish so Poor overall
Barry - Excellent
Besic - Unlucky
Lukaku - Excellent
Galloway - OK
Deulofeu - Good (easily worth the money, potential to be excellent)
Tarashaj - OK (probably make our money back)
Lennon - OK
Funes Mori - Good (probably make our money back)
Cleverly - Good (free so would get a profit)
Niasse - Rubbish
Holgate - Excellent
Excellent - 3
Good - 5
OK - 3
Poor - 1
Rubbish - 2
Koeman
Stekelenburg - Good
Gueye - Excellent
Williams - OK
Bolasie - Unlucky/OK (at that money and age no chance of a profit and every chance of all money being written off over 4 years)
Excellent - 1
Good - 1
OK - 2
In summary I think we've seen a sharp decline in the hit/miss rate since Moyes left. Hopefully Walsh/Koeman can improve it but they haven't started that well. Recruiting good players and using them to generate profits for future buys is the way every sensible club is run. We've basically written off the best part of £50m on the signings of Williams, Bolasie and Niasse in the last year. We cannot afford to screw up our buys so badly in the future.
