Plea to the yanks

[JackSomething]

This x1000.

Feel like I'm turning into a Brentford cheerleader today, but they showed that buying low and selling high is a perfectly good strategy if you're confident in your scouting and ability to judge players.

They sign Watkins for £1.8m, sell him a few years later for £25m and understand they have to spend more to replace him adequately, so they spend £5m on Toney, who scores more goals for them than Watkins did. This was a continuation of a cycle that started with Andre Gray, then Neal Maupay before Watkins.

So in one summer after losing in the Playoff final, they sold Watkins and Benrahma for around £45m, reinvested a small portion of that money and improved their team in the process.

The only time in recent history we abandoned our own attempts to buy low and sell high was the January transfer window in which we paid huge fees and wages to bring in Ayew and Bony. 2 players who were very likely to depreciate in value and we all know what that ended up doing to the club.

The Brentford module looks good dont it, difference is our owners will flog our assets for fck all last minute leaving carnage to start a season.

In complete agreement with you on that. If they're going to go, it has to be early in the window and we have to have replacements lined up. None of this selling last minute and signing Clucas for a ridiculous fee style nonsense.

 

[Nocountryforoldjack]

A cautionary tale if ever there was one. Morris spent to the limit, cheered on by the fans (and even their Trust). Investment innit. Except it isn't, it corrupts the competition and, when it's time for a margin call, they're stuffed.

Bring through talent, sell high, repeat but at a higher level each time. It's the only way.

This x1000.

Feel like I'm turning into a Brentford cheerleader today, but they showed that buying low and selling high is a perfectly good strategy if you're confident in your scouting and ability to judge players.

They sign Watkins for £1.8m, sell him a few years later for £25m and understand they have to spend more to replace him adequately, so they spend £5m on Toney, who scores more goals for them than Watkins did. This was a continuation of a cycle that started with Andre Gray, then Neal Maupay before Watkins.

So in one summer after losing in the Playoff final, they sold Watkins and Benrahma for around £45m, reinvested a small portion of that money and improved their team in the process.

The only time in recent history we abandoned our own attempts to buy low and sell high was the January transfer window in which we paid huge fees and wages to bring in Ayew and Bony. 2 players who were very likely to depreciate in value and we all know what that ended up doing to the club.

Do we have the same scouting ability as Brentfords? If it was that easy most of the other clubs would be doing it surely.

 

[JackSomething]

This x1000.

Feel like I'm turning into a Brentford cheerleader today, but they showed that buying low and selling high is a perfectly good strategy if you're confident in your scouting and ability to judge players.

They sign Watkins for £1.8m, sell him a few years later for £25m and understand they have to spend more to replace him adequately, so they spend £5m on Toney, who scores more goals for them than Watkins did. This was a continuation of a cycle that started with Andre Gray, then Neal Maupay before Watkins.

So in one summer after losing in the Playoff final, they sold Watkins and Benrahma for around £45m, reinvested a small portion of that money and improved their team in the process.

The only time in recent history we abandoned our own attempts to buy low and sell high was the January transfer window in which we paid huge fees and wages to bring in Ayew and Bony. 2 players who were very likely to depreciate in value and we all know what that ended up doing to the club.

Do we have the same scouting ability as Brentfords? If it was that easy most of the other clubs would be doing it surely.

Excellent question and one I don't know the answer to. I suppose one of the advantages of buying low and selling high is that you can improve your chances by signing more players. Kyle Joseph cost £500k plus add-ons apparently, but no worries if he doesn't work out, we also signed Piroe for £1m.

Our last two windows have been encouraging, with Piroe, Paterson, Downes, Obafemi and Christie being undoubted successes. Wolf, Ntcham, Laird have had their moments, while the jury is still out on Joseph, Fisher, Ogbeta, Burns for various reasons. The only real misses were Walsh and Rhys Williams, although I feel Fisher will join this category.

Looking at that list of incomings, that's a hell of a lot of new faces to bed in over the course of a season. Hopefully this summer window is more about quality than quantity.

Saying all that though, hasn't our recruitment team changed during the season?

 

[Dr. Winston]

Do we have the same scouting ability as Brentfords? If it was that easy most of the other clubs would be doing it surely.

We did have a guy who was an integral part of the Brentford scouting setup but he left. Remains to be seen how much knowledge was retained within the club.

 

[Uxy]

We couldn't replicate Brentford's model here. It relies on being close to other London clubs, the biggest conurbation on these isles. It also relied on freedom of movement across the EU.

We do seem to be moving away from purely developing locally though, with more and more youngsters coming from outside. Double edged sword IMO as we should be focusing more on developing local talent.

It's going to be a different world when it comes to recruitment going forward, post Brexit.

 

[SgorioFruit]

i have said it time and time again, we're not getting out of this league without a Pukki, Mitrovic, Toney, Scott Sinclair 2011,
or go find a hidden gem like another Michu, who is playing in the lower divisons in Poland or something.

Players i have seen this season that stand right out, Harry Wilson, Neco Williams, Mitrovic. Ok all Fulham, but unless we have them kind of players in the team then we're not going up.
Yes the championship is shite this season, so with a few of these additions, who knows what we could have done.
You might think im on cloud cuckoo land. Come and speak to me this time next year and we will be in the same position.

 

[Uxy]

Do we have the same scouting ability as Brentfords? If it was that easy most of the other clubs would be doing it surely.

Excellent question and one I don't know the answer to. I suppose one of the advantages of buying low and selling high is that you can improve your chances by signing more players. Kyle Joseph cost £500k plus add-ons apparently, but no worries if he doesn't work out, we also signed Piroe for £1m.

Our last two windows have been encouraging, with Piroe, Paterson, Downes, Obafemi and Christie being undoubted successes. Wolf, Ntcham, Laird have had their moments, while the jury is still out on Joseph, Fisher, Ogbeta, Burns for various reasons. The only real misses were Walsh and Rhys Williams, although I feel Fisher will join this category.

Looking at that list of incomings, that's a hell of a lot of new faces to bed in over the course of a season. Hopefully this summer window is more about quality than quantity.

Saying all that though, hasn't our recruitment team changed during the season?

That mindset re. £500k on Joseph will need to change IMO. Our turnover is something like £15m now. We could take that sort of punt a couple of years ago, but not now, unless we had a real idea that he could contribute immediately.

 

[Vetchfielder]

We couldn't replicate Brentford's model here. It relies on being close to other London clubs, the biggest conurbation on these isles. It also relied on freedom of movement across the EU.

We do seem to be moving away from purely developing locally though, with more and more youngsters coming from outside. Double edged sword IMO as we should be focusing more on developing local talent.

It's going to be a different world when it comes to recruitment going forward, post Brexit.

Hi Uxy -

Could you elaborate on the effect of Brexit and the removal of freedom of movement on football clubs when signing EU based players ?

What are the practical issues in signing them, either permanently or on loan? We've done one of each since Brexit - Piroe and Wolf so these transfers can happen.

(For the avoidance of doubt, I'm not challenging your opinion here - my question is posed due to lack of knowledge on the issue regarding football transfers. And, while I'm at it, Brexit is the worst thing that's happened to the UK since WWII.)

 

[Uxy]

We couldn't replicate Brentford's model here. It relies on being close to other London clubs, the biggest conurbation on these isles. It also relied on freedom of movement across the EU.

We do seem to be moving away from purely developing locally though, with more and more youngsters coming from outside. Double edged sword IMO as we should be focusing more on developing local talent.

It's going to be a different world when it comes to recruitment going forward, post Brexit.

Hi Uxy -

Could you elaborate on the effect of Brexit and the removal of freedom of movement on football clubs when signing EU based players ?

What are the practical issues in signing them, either permanently or on loan? We've done one of each since Brexit - Piroe and Wolf so these transfers can happen.

(For the avoidance of doubt, I'm not challenging your opinion here - my question is posed due to lack of knowledge on the issue regarding football transfers. And, while I'm at it, Brexit is the worst thing that's happened to the UK since WWII.)

Google is your friend ;-) Here's the first link I saw https://www.onsidelaw.co.uk/news-update/football-transfers-in-the-post-brexit-era/. I'm sure there are better out there but covers the main points.

Basically, it's gone from freedom of movement to the same rules that governed non-EU players prior to that, which is on a points based basis (international level, quality of league, number of appearances etc).

Just another Brexit benefit eh! But it does have real implications due to the hoovering up of young talent at big clubs and Category 1 academies (in fact, the rules are specifically designed to aim for that situation.

 

[JackSomething]

Excellent question and one I don't know the answer to. I suppose one of the advantages of buying low and selling high is that you can improve your chances by signing more players. Kyle Joseph cost £500k plus add-ons apparently, but no worries if he doesn't work out, we also signed Piroe for £1m.

Our last two windows have been encouraging, with Piroe, Paterson, Downes, Obafemi and Christie being undoubted successes. Wolf, Ntcham, Laird have had their moments, while the jury is still out on Joseph, Fisher, Ogbeta, Burns for various reasons. The only real misses were Walsh and Rhys Williams, although I feel Fisher will join this category.

Looking at that list of incomings, that's a hell of a lot of new faces to bed in over the course of a season. Hopefully this summer window is more about quality than quantity.

Saying all that though, hasn't our recruitment team changed during the season?

That mindset re. £500k on Joseph will need to change IMO. Our turnover is something like £15m now. We could take that sort of punt a couple of years ago, but not now, unless we had a real idea that he could contribute immediately.

Sorry, I meant employing that strategy when selling at least one player for a lot of money to balance the books and provide the money for incoming transfers.

I'd rather sign a Piroe and a Joseph for £1.5m than a Ryan Woods for £6m for example, even considering you need to pay 2 wages rather than one.

I appreciate this is all easier said than done however and that this isn't Football Manager. These things are more complicated than I'm making them sound I'm sure.

 

[Uxy]

That mindset re. £500k on Joseph will need to change IMO. Our turnover is something like £15m now. We could take that sort of punt a couple of years ago, but not now, unless we had a real idea that he could contribute immediately.

Sorry, I meant employing that strategy when selling at least one player for a lot of money to balance the books and provide the money for incoming transfers.

I'd rather sign a Piroe and a Joseph for £1.5m than a Ryan Woods for £6m for example, even considering you need to pay 2 wages rather than one.

I appreciate this is all easier said than done however and that this isn't Football Manager. These things are more complicated than I'm making them sound I'm sure.

I'd expect the days of us spending 6m on anyone is long gone, unless we get triple that in.

No issue with reinvesting a portion back in fees though. Makes sense. Although, as it stands, I expect we will need to make a profit in trading just to plug the hole in our finances after wages.

 

[EagleEye]

Last year we had the crippling wages of Ayew like a millstone around our neck. We shifted a lot of our high earners either off the books completely or loaned out this season as well as wrapped up the Cat 1 youth system

I would hope we are not in the red to anywhere the magnitude of last season.

Our income is half what it was last year. I'm not convinced our costs are.

How is our income down half ? … are you referring to parachute payments ? We have had crowds back which will have been an increase on last season.

Our costs will also be down, getting rid of high earners (Ayew) & having one of the smallest squads of seasoned pros in the league

 

[Uxy]

Our income is half what it was last year. I'm not convinced our costs are.

How is our income down half ? … are you referring to parachute payments ? We have had crowds back which will have been an increase on last season.

Our costs will also be down, getting rid of high earners (Ayew) & having one of the smallest squads of seasoned pros in the league

PP was £10m or so last year. This year is the one with the cheap season tickets, and most didn't take a refund last year. So yeah, I don't think it's far off the mark.

Ayew is a big one of course, but I'm not convinced out wage bill is massively different. We've spent far more this season than I expected, not just wages but several £1m+ fees.

 

[Swansea93]

Rumours on the other site & social media have come up again that they are actively looking for a buyer asap

 

[Swanjaxs]

From day one it was always the intention tell sell and move on after a few years, with a profit...
That's how hedge funds make dollars.