Was Marcel Brands a good choice for DOF? POLL

[brieverton]

You can see a trend with Brands though, if we are judging him on signings, the trend is disappointing.

Two years is a long time in football, very long to some, and a lot of good reconstructive work can be done on a squad in that time, even with constraints.

He started off on the right foot, having had to begin work with a new manager and no time to prepare for the summer window.

But last summer's work looks poor and further looks like it may cost us in the longer-term - a missed opportunity.

Richarlison aside, I don't see evidence of the model we need to follow - signing younger, pre-peak players, who will go on to be worth multiples of what we paid for them. Perhaps Kean might fall into that category, but we'll see.

We need to be trying to sign one or two of those types per year.

I would have expected one or two unknown signings who would turn out to be gems, but the signings by and large seem to be conservative and safe, whilst not being of the required quality.

Its just more plod-along, and it's hard to see us rising up the table as a result.

 

[Toffeelover]

You can see a trend with Brands though, if we are judging him on signings, the trend is disappointing.

Two years is a long time in football, very long to some, and a lot of good reconstructive work can be done on a squad in that time, even with constraints.

He started off on the right foot, having had to begin work with a new manager and no time to prepare for the summer window.

But last summer's work looks poor and further looks like it may cost us in the longer-term - a missed opportunity.

Richarlison aside, I don't see evidence of the model we need to follow - signing younger, pre-peak players, who will go on to be worth multiples of what we paid for them. Perhaps Kean might fall into that category, but we'll see.

We need to be trying to sign one or two of those types per year.

I would have expected one or two unknown signings who would turn out to be gems, but the signings by and large seem to be conservative and safe, whilst not being of the required quality.

Its just more plod-along, and it's hard to see us rising up the table as a result.

You are not giving him the credit he deserves for moving on a quite a pile of deadwood.

We need to be trying to sign one or two of those types per year. As for this it all depends on who is available, the fee, wages, and will they come.
Considering the managers that he has had their different ideas probably messed matters up quite a bit.

 

[brieverton]

You are not giving him the credit he deserves for moving on a quite a pile of deadwood.

We need to be trying to sign one or two of those types per year. As for this it all depends on who is available, the fee, wages, and will they come.
Considering the managers that he has had their different ideas probably messed matters up quite a bit.

He has an immensely difficult job I wouldn't deny.

When he was appointed, I thought he would have to be good enough to get 90% of decisions right. It doesn't look like that so far.

I keep going back in my head to the period where it seemed Spurs could do almost no wrong in the market over a period of seasons - we need that, as difficult to replicate as it might be. That's very very difficult granted.

Eriksen was the prime example. Bought at 23 from Ajax for a modest fee. Before he was on the radar for much bigger clubs. We need to do business like that, and often. There were plenty of others, Vertonghen, Alderweireld, etc etc.

You can hope for better, but I don't particularly expect a player like Iwobi to come good. He is what he is, and wasn't good enough for Arsenals 22. He is a known quantity, and there is no enhanced scouting process needed to sign him. To me it looked like lazy work and he wasn't cheap.

We keep hearing about Brands' South American network and by definition, he should have a wealth of contacts in Europe. We need to be acting under the radar, with a much more refined transfer process. Admittedly it is so easy to write that but we won't progress unless we do.

 

[Lanolin]

You are not giving him the credit he deserves for moving on a quite a pile of deadwood.

We need to be trying to sign one or two of those types per year. As for this it all depends on who is available, the fee, wages, and will they come.
Considering the managers that he has had their different ideas probably messed matters up quite a bit.

What dead wood has he moved on though really? We’ve still got Sandro, niasse, martina, Bolasie, Besic etc, and that’s without including the likes of sigurdsson and Schneiderlin who are actually playing. Even Walsh found loan gigs for the likes of Sandro and mirallas, it’s hardly something he deserves massive credit for.

 

[Mikey_Fitzgerald]

I'm still not convinced the DoF model even works in British football to be honest