Transfer Rumours Summer 2021 Transfer Rumours

Are we not allowed to criticise him then?

 

Think you've misunderstood. Our most successful manager since Chris Nichol was absolutely savaged when reports came out of him not knowing who Sims was. I'm curious to see if Ralph gets the same treatment.

 

Yes and no. I mean, it does read pretty poorly, and doesn’t reflect too well on Ralph. But saying that, is he going to remember every one of fifty odd players, early on in the role, and when he’s been out on loan. I dunno.

The difference between this and our most overrated manager since Chris Nichol, is that Koeman was widely reported as not giving a toss about anything bar the first team. It wasn't just an isolated incident with Sims (which again, would be more understandable).

 

Barely been mentioned from what I can see - probably be used as a stick to beat him with when he's gone . Personally, I'm pretty critical of them both for it!!

 

This is the transfer rumours thread isn't it? Anyone been signed up yet? Tea lady may have some tips.

 

If she does I hope they are not X rated, and are PG.

 

Have we milked this one to the full? Manager bashing's gone to pot.

 

Any manager who isn’t aware of the whole range of players at his disposal is not doing his job as well as he should. Simple as that. Both Koeman and Ralph are guilty of this.

My particular grievance with Ralph is that he has come out and shifted the blame for our poor performances onto the players. All the while he is loaning out, selling, and ignoring other players who potentially could have contributed.

But it isn’t just on the manager. Surely other members of staff should give assistance and reports regarding things like loaned-out players.

 

Hasnt Ronald been partly proved correct though - he said the kids were pretty everage, and they have been, well pretty average!

 

Another player we let go this season, centre-back Alfie Jones (who was captain for the B team for a while), has just played 39 games for League One Champions Hull City. The Tigers lost 11 games all season, but only 2 in games where Jones was playing. That's quite a stat. Also, he received just one yellow card all season!

Not saying this was another mistake, as I've never seen the lad play, but at least it does give an indication that the youth set-up IS developing decent players, despite what a lot of people think.

Will be interesting to see how well Hull City do in the Championship next season.

Also, we let Christoph Klarer go, which I remember at the time felt strange as he was tipped as a very bright prospect, and he's still only 20.

 

Easy to say they're average when you don't watch them play, or actually take time to coach and improve them.

 

Bingo.

 

I think this is a fundamental Premier League issue. Clubs will rarely give youth players a chance to bed in to the first XI as the financial risks are too big. They want ready to go players.

Do you think Tottenham are complaining the same about Walker-Peters?!

 

Not so sure. I mean people can't be everywhere all the time. If there is a particular talent coming through, or players are particularly average, you'd imagine that the coaches and managers of the youth teams would be reporting that upwards? They're not going to be saying "Alfie Jones is the best defender since Maldini" and Ralph is turning round saying "yeah, whatevs. Sell him".

 

Football is a ruthless results business. If a player isn’t showing enough progress, for whatever reason, you don’t take time to “coach them up” when you have to be winning games to ensure what ever your goals are. You send them out on loan or get rid of them to a level which they are suited to. If they end up having a great career then fair play to them, it doesn’t mean that getting rid of them at that moment was necessarily the wrong decision

 

Exactly. I'm not going to haul a manager over the coals because according to a single report (where the teller isn't at all bitter, by the way, it's a bit of headline clickbait) where he doesn't immediately recognise an identikit young player that he hasn't seen for two years. I'm not that much younger than Ralph, and I barely recognise people I met two weeks ago.

And I'm certainly not going to worry too much about letting players go that more than likely have a League One/Championship ceiling. We actually got a bit of cash for Klarer too (£325k).

Bit of a fuss about nothing, in all honesty.

 

I know you're talking about Ronald in your statement, but I'm cutting him a bit of slack there too. Difference being, Ralph does watch the junior teams, and as has been widely reported, has written the playbook etc etc.

 

The financial risks are big for certain clubs perhaps, but for mid-table clubs like ours, the youth system is a very good potential money-spinner. Someone like Tella, three months ago was a nobody, now we could probably get 10-12m for him, and double that if he has a good season next.

Walker-Peters is good for a mid-table team, but probably not good enough for a top 4 team, of which Spurs have realistic ambitions. And they earned a decent sum when they sold him.

 

I'd expect you to if it was your job and I was paying you millions of pounds.

 

I agree, but I also assume that Tella was showing good progress which the coaching staff were aware of, hence why he has had his opportunities in first team. I’m not against giving these players a go if they are performing well behind the scenes to the point where they make the first team squad, then perform well in the first team.

I was all for giving Tella the last 10 games of the season to help his development. I wouldn’t have said the same about N’Lundulu