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Seems to be right in the sweet spot of experience and age for us, and either as a deliberate policy or as a function of the markets the club is shopping in, a lot of these players don’t have a lot of miles on the clock either;

  • Colak        - 28 - 320 appearances
  • Lawrence - 28 - 300
  • Souttar     - 25 - 230 
  • Fulgini*       - 25 - 300
  • Matondo  - 21 - 80
  • Tillman     - 20 - 30

Fulgini seems to be the major purchase this season, wonder if Tillman is seen as the plan b if it doesn’t go through. 

Alongside the Academy and B sides going on a bit of a spending spree. We bought in Vos and Gio to do the ‘bring through youth’ model, and Lowry, King and McCann all proved last season they could be called on. Be nice to see our average starting XI age drop down a couple of years. 

  • Young (17 | Hibs)
  • Willox (16 | Caley Thistle)
  • Cooper (16 | Partick Thistle)
  • Lovelace (16 | Millwall)
  • Bell (16 | Everton)
  • Stevens (16 | AFC Wimbledon)
  • Pollard (15 | Aberdeen)
  • Rice (15 | Motherwell)

 

*though reports of him in Germany seem to be that he’s all but signed for Mainz

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1 hour ago, G51 said:

Rabbi Matondo due to sign today. Rumours that he is "jetting in" as we speak.

Instantly becomes the fastest player in the league. Very excited for this one.

Looks like he's just passed his medical.

 

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4 minutes ago, Orbix said:

Seems to be right in the sweet spot of experience and age for us, and either as a deliberate policy or as a function of the markets the club is shopping in, a lot of these players don’t have a lot of miles on the clock either;

  • Colak        - 28 - 320 appearances
  • Lawrence - 28 - 300
  • Souttar     - 25 - 230 
  • Fulgini*       - 25 - 300
  • Matondo  - 21 - 80
  • Tillman     - 20 - 30

Fulgini seems to be the major purchase this season, wonder if Tillman is seen as the plan b if it doesn’t go through. 

Alongside the Academy and B sides going on a bit of a spending spree. We bought in Vos and Gio to do the ‘bring through youth’ model, and Lowry, King and McCann all proved last season they could be called on. Be nice to see our average starting XI age drop down a couple of years. 

  • Young (17 | Hibs)
  • Willox (16 | Caley Thistle)
  • Cooper (16 | Partick Thistle)
  • Lovelace (16 | Millwall)
  • Bell (16 | Everton)
  • Stevens (16 | AFC Wimbledon)
  • Pollard (15 | Aberdeen)
  • Rice (15 | Motherwell)

 

*though reports of him in Germany seem to be that he’s all but signed for Mainz

 

The player trading model that we only really just kicked into gear is going to have to change. While the overall spending levels in the top five leagues is roughly the same (or even increasing), the profile of those transfers are very different. The days of mid-table sides in those leagues spending £20 - 25m on players is coming to an end.

Therefore, we need to change to reflect that. The size of transfer fee we're going to receive is likely to decrease, or at best remain stable. So we have to shrink our cost base. The best way to do that is through a strong Academy, because it's the most efficient way of spending resources, alongside Bosmans. Both are going to be fundamental to how we trade going forward. Amassing the best talent we can from Scotland and London is our best bet for the moment. We only really need one of them to come good to make the investment worthwhile.

Seems to be a given that Fulgini is off to Mainz I think.

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Absolutely. Aribo, Bassey, and Kamara have both shown youngsters coming through the London academies that we offer a route to big games, European football, and increased exposure to international teams (for those first/second gen players not going the England youth route)

If the Academy has had £1m of the Patterson money for investment and recruitment I’d be pretty happy.

Edited by Orbix
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10 minutes ago, Orbix said:

Absolutely. Aribo and Kamara have both shown youngsters coming through the London academies that we offer a route to big games, European football, and increased exposure to international teams (for those first/second gen players not going the England youth route)

If the Academy has had £1m of the Patterson money for investment and recruitment I’d be pretty happy.

Some of the kids are exciting. I could see Lovelace making the leap this year. Pollard and Rice might not play Lowland League this year, will be interesting to see what happens with them.

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I’d be interested to see what level Lovelace comes in at - the direct comparison is to Weston who came up having started for Blackpool but who hasn’t made a squad yet afaik, need to get players bridging that gap between B and bench. 

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1 minute ago, Orbix said:

I’d be interested to see what level Lovelace comes in at - the direct comparison is to Weston who came up having started for Blackpool but who hasn’t made a squad yet afaik, need to get players bridging that gap between B and bench. 

Think the difference between Lovelace and Weston is physical. Weston just hasn't developed physically yet, he's not tall or strong enough.

Lovelace is already tall enough and has the frame to pack on more muscle and strength. It won't take us long to do that - look what we did with Zukowski. Once that happens, the kid is ready.

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2 minutes ago, G51 said:

Think the difference between Lovelace and Weston is physical. Weston just hasn't developed physically yet, he's not tall or strong enough.

Lovelace is already tall enough and has the frame to pack on more muscle and strength. It won't take us long to do that - look what we did with Zukowski. Once that happens, the kid is ready.

I’m of two minds about it, there’s definitely a minimum bar of not getting booted off the ball, but there have been plenty of wirey strikers who score without being able to deadlift a car - Vardy, Berbatov, Torres etc were never massive. 

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2 minutes ago, Grangemouth Bairn said:

8 sensible posts in a row - da f**k is aw that aboot!!

It's good though, because when they hoard ever more and more young players who might make it elsewhere or benefit themselves (plus the clubs they go to) on loan, they'll be put in the B Team which will fucking ruin the "competitiveness" we have even more, not to mention totally undermine the integrity of the pyramid be pure gid fur all o' Scoattish fitba' 'n' that.

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2 minutes ago, Orbix said:

I’m of two minds about it, there’s definitely a minimum bar of not getting booted off the ball, but there have been plenty of wirey strikers who score without being able to deadlift a car - Vardy, Berbatov, Torres etc were never massive. 

True, but for a lot of those cases the strikers still had elite physical traits - Vardy for example had incredible burst and top-end speed.

In any case, as you mention, the issue is less about making it a cornerstone of your play, but negating a weakness. Weston is just too weak and can be bullied off the ball easily. He's still only 18 so he might bulk up and go on a growth spurt, but if he can't then it probably limits his ceiling pretty severely.

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2 minutes ago, Ranaldo Bairn said:

It's good though, because when they hoard ever more and more young players who might make it elsewhere or benefit themselves (plus the clubs they go to) on loan, they'll be put in the B Team which will fucking ruin the "competitiveness" we have even more, not to mention totally undermine the integrity of the pyramid be pure gid fur all o' Scoattish fitba' 'n' that.

That's the nature of the game pal. Man City and Chelsea nick our youngsters, we nick them from Hibs and Motherwell, Hibs and Motherwell nick them from somewhere else.

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True. Just don’t want to see them all go the way of Katic and overtrain. Doubt they’d be allowed too. 
 

Lol that its only July and Twitter is doing the ‘who’s on the plane’ tracking thing.

6 minutes ago, Ranaldo Bairn said:

It's good though, because when they hoard ever more and more young players who might make it elsewhere or benefit themselves (plus the clubs they go to) on loan, they'll be put in the B Team which will fucking ruin the "competitiveness" we have even more, not to mention totally undermine the integrity of the pyramid be pure gid fur all o' Scoattish fitba' 'n' that.

The restrictions on loans coming in  mean that Academies are going to have to move earlier to bring in youth from everything I’ve read. 

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26 minutes ago, G51 said:

Some of the kids are exciting. I could see Lovelace making the leap this year. Pollard and Rice might not play Lowland League this year, will be interesting to see what happens with them.

Pollard is going to take a while. Technically superb but he's on the short side at his own age group.

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1 minute ago, Merkland Red said:

Pollard is going to take a while. Technically superb but he's on the short side at his own age group.

Aye should have been clearer, I meant he was more likely to play Under 18's rather than the Lowland League, not that he was likely to break into the first team.

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2 hours ago, G51 said:

Rabbi Matondo due to sign today. Rumours that he is "jetting in" as we speak.

Instantly becomes the fastest player in the league. Very excited for this one.

Aye but how are his elite level metrics looking?

25 minutes ago, Grangemouth Bairn said:

8 sensible posts in a row - da f**k is aw that aboot!!

There you go ;) 

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