Whites SWOOP for Tamworth ace?

Our World wide scouting team strikes again.  Another one to be developed by the master genius Doogie.

luckyPeterpiper wrote:Two questions here.

If Burnley are interested are we really in with a shout of landing this lad? 

And where does he fit into the overall picture if he does come here? Is he ready to go into the first team squad or is he (as many on here have asserted) simply going to disappear into the "Development" team never to be heard from again except when it's announced he's been loaned out to Shrewsbury? 

I do appreciate the fact that we don't have much money to go and buy a proven 20 goal a season guy but the fact is we need one NOW not in three or four years. The youth setup is important and I wouldn't dream of saying it will NEVER produce anything the first team can use but given our current shortage in the striker department the unceasing emphasis on signing "future prospects" who MIGHT come good later is getting a little bit irritating. Perhaps the club should take the gamble and spend money on a player who's READY for the Championship NOW. 

I don't expect it to happen that way though.

To answer your questions.

1. He'll go into the development squad I'd imagine, another useful addition and if he's any good he'll make the breakthrough as it looks as if Wilkinson/Kellet/Clough/Iliev are in line to this year.

2. This guy will be as well as a senior striker, not instead of. 

I don't understand why you find it irritating that we try and sign good youth players now, I think it's a brilliant thing. The entire point of signing them is that they are cheap now and won't be a financial gamble. The idea is they then develop into first team players or we sell them for a profit. It's all about being sustainable and the fact we've neglected that for so long is partly to blame for our financial mess.

bwfc1874 wrote:

luckyPeterpiper wrote:Two questions here.

If Burnley are interested are we really in with a shout of landing this lad? 

And where does he fit into the overall picture if he does come here? Is he ready to go into the first team squad or is he (as many on here have asserted) simply going to disappear into the "Development" team never to be heard from again except when it's announced he's been loaned out to Shrewsbury? 

I do appreciate the fact that we don't have much money to go and buy a proven 20 goal a season guy but the fact is we need one NOW not in three or four years. The youth setup is important and I wouldn't dream of saying it will NEVER produce anything the first team can use but given our current shortage in the striker department the unceasing emphasis on signing "future prospects" who MIGHT come good later is getting a little bit irritating. Perhaps the club should take the gamble and spend money on a player who's READY for the Championship NOW. 

I don't expect it to happen that way though.

To answer your questions.

1. He'll go into the development squad I'd imagine, another useful addition and if he's any good he'll make the breakthrough as it looks as if Wilkinson/Kellet/Clough/Iliev are in line to this year.

2. This guy will be as well as a senior striker, not instead of. 

I don't understand why you find it irritating that we try and sign good youth players now, I think it's a brilliant thing. The entire point of signing them is that they are cheap now and won't be a financial gamble. The idea is they then develop into first team players or we sell them for a profit. It's all about being sustainable and the fact we've neglected that for so long is partly to blame for our financial mess.

I find it irritating because we sign players who then completely vanish from our radar only to be released after being loaned out all over the place. It wastes resources when that happens. I don't mean that the emphasis on Youth and long term development is a bad idea at all, I simply feel we've not seen any real return from it and right now I'd say the first team is in deep trouble and we need to spend what little we have THERE to get a striker who's ready NOW. 

Of course developing young talent for future use is important but the fact is we seem to spend a lot of time trying to do that then the player concerned either disappears entirely or winds up on loan until his deal runs out then gets released. 

I'd honestly like to see this young lad go straight into the first team, at least for the next round of the LC because he seems to have a natural eye for goal already and nineteen isn't all that young in today's football world. 

I agree we need the youth setup if only as a revenue source but that only applies if we make a profit and so far it doesn't look that way does it? Signing a kid for nothing looks good on paper but how much gets spent on training, medical and other expenses while he's here? By the time we (usually) release him we've wasted multi thousands, possibly HUNDREDS of thousands of pounds on someone who's net value to BWFC becomes precisely nil. Tom Eaves is a case in point, loaned out to Shrewsbury then released but not before spending a lot of time here being trained and so on. It seems to me that the youth is COSTING us money not making it. I want it to succeed but think perhaps it's being focussed on too much as a means of distracting attention from the first team's very real and immediate problems.

bwfc1874 wrote:

luckyPeterpiper wrote:Two questions here.

If Burnley are interested are we really in with a shout of landing this lad? 

And where does he fit into the overall picture if he does come here? Is he ready to go into the first team squad or is he (as many on here have asserted) simply going to disappear into the "Development" team never to be heard from again except when it's announced he's been loaned out to Shrewsbury? 

I do appreciate the fact that we don't have much money to go and buy a proven 20 goal a season guy but the fact is we need one NOW not in three or four years. The youth setup is important and I wouldn't dream of saying it will NEVER produce anything the first team can use but given our current shortage in the striker department the unceasing emphasis on signing "future prospects" who MIGHT come good later is getting a little bit irritating. Perhaps the club should take the gamble and spend money on a player who's READY for the Championship NOW. 

I don't expect it to happen that way though.

To answer your questions.

1. He'll go into the development squad I'd imagine, another useful addition and if he's any good he'll make the breakthrough as it looks as if Wilkinson/Kellet/Clough/Iliev are in line to this year.

2. This guy will be as well as a senior striker, not instead of. 

I don't understand why you find it irritating that we try and sign good youth players now, I think it's a brilliant thing. The entire point of signing them is that they are cheap now and won't be a financial gamble. The idea is they then develop into first team players or we sell them for a profit. It's all about being sustainable and the fact we've neglected that for so long is partly to blame for our financial mess.

  

The lad was approached by both Burnley and West Brom but he decided that he wants to come. Fair play to him. I think he can do well and at any rate, it is encouraging that he had an option and chose to come here. Ten grand can hardly be considered over the odds so no worries.

Tamworth ace, aye alreet, unless Tamworth lost out on penalties to Real Madrid in the World club challenge, how is he an ace ?

MartinBWFC wrote:Tamworth ace, aye alreet, unless Tamworth lost out on penalties to Real Madrid in the World club challenge, how is he an ace ?

Because he's one of their better players.

Boggersbelief wrote:

MartinBWFC wrote:Tamworth ace, aye alreet, unless Tamworth lost out on penalties to Real Madrid in the World club challenge, how is he an ace ?

Because he's one of their better players.

You would piss mastermind, far to clever for me, so at what level do Tamworth play, and how the fuck is this ace going to bless us with his grace?

Who said he's going to "bless us"? He's one for the future, low cost, low risk that could turn out to be a great find. Oh and he chose us over two prem teams, freedman freedman!

There are a lot of talented players in the Conference and District Leagues it is picking the ones that have the drive and dedication to succeed that is the art, this is where we should be looking for future players instead of paying over the odds for journeyman. For every 10, 9 of them probably won't make it but we might find a Caldwell or McAteer, this club has been bobbins at bringing its own players through all the years I have supported them now we are skint something might be done about it.

Freedman has two games left, the kid might be off to Burnley afterall.

That's the answer, right there!

Get TC back.

I don't care how old he is now, I reckon he'd still score more than Beckford.

And we need a decent 'tache in the team.

Good call, Nick!

I've got nothing against bringing in promising talent but right now we have a very clear need for a striker who's ready NOW. I appreciate our finances make that difficult but does anyone here really believe it's not necessary to get at least one striker who knows where the net is and can find it at Championship level immediately if not sooner?

I don't doubt this lad has real talent and I hope he actually gets a go in the first team to see if he can step up immediately (assuming we actually sign him) but given our history on the issue it's very unlikely that will happen. I'd love to be wrong. 

Either way I think we can all agree that Beckford isn't the answer and Cravies hasn't got DF's confidence even if I personally think he might serve as a good foil for Mason in the way Juke did last term. 

I fear what's happening here just reinforces the view that the club isn't going to bring in the body (personally I'd prefer TWO but I don't believe in miracles anymore) we clearly need in the immediate future if at all and frankly I'm even more worried this season than I was last. Never mind thoughts of promotion, I'm afraid we're going to spend this season in a relegation fight even worse than the one we were in last season. I also think no one's luck lasts forever and that DF will not always be able to get out of his self-created jam on the back of a few loanees coming good in the last few weeks of the season. 

That's not a dig at him per se, more an observation I made back in the Megson days that still applies. As a club we appear to be standing still if not actually going backwards and clubs that do that get overtaken. If we aren't willing or able to do something about that right now we'll be in League One next August.

He's not instead of a senior striker so I think you're being overly pessimistic. Try and separate the youth team from the first team.

I can't believe you attribute good signings to luck it's laughable. He has an eye for a player, yet you write that off as luck?

How have we seen off Premier League competition for a talented 19 year old that's gonna cost us peanuts?

And don't say Freedman's personality.

Peter, we have to be patient with the signings that dougie wants for the first team, he's said that he's not going to go out and sign any striker that is available, he is waiting for quality and cannot sign his targets until their teams allow them to go out on loan or until they sign a replacement.

That is good management. If you believe anything that Nixon says then these players are top quality.

doffcocker wrote:How have we seen off Premier League competition for a talented 19 year old that's gonna cost us peanuts?

And don't say Freedman's personality.

Freedman's perso errr... luck?

doffcocker wrote:How have we seen off Premier League competition for a talented 19 year old that's gonna cost us peanuts?

And don't say Freedman's personality.

Yeah, that's what I was wondering as well.

Wonder what they've told him......

bwfc1874 wrote:He's not instead of a senior striker so I think you're being overly pessimistic. Try and separate the youth team from the first team.

I can't believe you attribute good signings to luck it's laughable. He has an eye for a player, yet you write that off as luck?

An eye for talent? Liam Trotter anybody?

More seriously though, my point is that while he may have picked some good ones he's had as many 'mares come in. Add to that his inability to get the best out of the players on anything remotely approaching a consistent basis and you have a recipe for serious trouble if not disaster. For two seasons now we've been lucky in that loanees have come in and done very well. But some have also been appalling and frankly having to RELY on loanees to get you out of a jam in the second half of the season doesn't speak well as to your ability to get the best out of your own players. 

But even leaving that aside sooner or later (and I suspect sooner, much sooner) we'll be in so deep a jam that even if the loanees do well it won't be enough. If we don't address the needs of the first team now then we'll be in League One and find it even harder to bring in prospects for the development squad anyway. No matter how nice the facilities are or how good the coaches in the youth setup might be if the club as a whole looks to be in freefall then the real talent will go elsewhere, even the previously unnoticed "hidden gems" will look at us and think they're better off not being here.

Players just want to play for dougie. Speaks volumes