Joe Savage and the Recruitment Team

[BackOfTheNet]

Thought I’d start a thread on the recruitment. Some are quick to criticise when things aren’t going well, but we’re not quick to praise when things are going well.

 

I don’t have a strong feeling either way about Savage or the recruitment team to be honest. But I find it a bit odd when we had times where we faltered under Neilson and at the start of this season Savage and the recruitment team were getting it in the neck for supposed bad recruitment, but now we’re unbeaten in 12 it’s all because of great management. (I should stress that I think Naismith is doing an amazing job, and although I wanted him to begin with, I had some doubts earlier on this season which have truly been quashed)

 

If we look at our starting line up yesterday, I think only Kingsley was recruited before Savage came in. (Shankland to be fair was a Neilson signing though) On the bench it was only Gordon who was signed before he came in and Tait and Denholm obviously from the youth. So most of the team delivering on the park were recruited by the current crop, and we should give kudos for that.

 

Yes there have been players that haven’t worked out, but name me one club on the planet where that’s not the case. (Hint: you can’t) And we’ve been close to signings of players like Adebayo and Silvera who are doing good things at good levels in England. Supposedly far down the line with the likes of Branthwaite and Obafemi on loan in the past too. Only reason we didn’t get these players was we were outbid by clubs with more money than us, no shame in that. Also linked with players like Lee Seung-woo and Riku Handa, which on paper at least looked like interesting/exciting signings.

 

So, while we’re riding a crest of a wave, let’s take a moment to give appreciation for all aspects of the club that have contributed towards where we are, which includes the recruitment team. 

[BackOfTheNet]

I also believe Joe Savage and the Recruitment Team are to headline the Slam Tent at T in the Park…

[Chuck Berry]

Some of the stuff chucked Savage's way was just complete nonsense, same people that wanted the Aussies and Japanese shipped back. "The Aussie Experiment" was a failure apparently.

 

There's going to be good signings, and bad signings.  The aim is to make sure the latter is kept to a minimum and it seems it's working.

[i wish jj was my dad]

Good OP. The recruitment team took a lot of stick so only fair that we doff our caps now

[HopeDiouf]

Recruitment had been poor for a couple of windows prior to summer.  Summer recruitment appears to have worked much better. Only really tagawa hasn't worked out. Always gonna be some that fail. Kent Vargas and Hoff looking like very good business. 

Edited February 18 by HopeDiouf

[OTT]

He joined us on Dec 14 2020, so it would be interesting to see a kind of review of the football department under his stewardship. 

 

A few things off the cuff -

 

Recruitment has been generally solid. I think we can say the Aussie lads have all came good and it is a market that we should continue to shop in. Would like to see more European players though, both domestic and from Eastern European leagues that financially we should be able to compete well with on wages. Although recruitment isn't his remit, as Sporting Director responsibility for better or worse I think falls on him. 

 

Academy has started to produce talent, this has obviously been aided by having a manager actually willing to play them, but I think we're seeing the academy finally start to produce talent after years of stagnation/nothingness. I'm a wee bit concerned over Websters appointment TBH because McAvoy was a very experienced coach and we've then went the other way. Hopefully nothing to worry about. Arnott producing absolutely nothing from the academy for all those years just makes me a wee bit concerned about having the right level of experience leading the academy. 

 

Womens team admittidly isn't something I'm overly interested in, but they seem to be doing well under Eva Olid. Whilst I know Savage will largely be judged on the mens team, its maybe worth noting that the womens team are plodding along well. 

 

Our participation in the Lowland league via the B-team has been a good decision I think. Gave Naismith his first real taste of management and has allowed the likes of Tait & Denholm to break into the first team. Suspect we'll see more before the season is out too. Unrelated but the B-team situation seems a wee bit uncertain in terms of continued participation, hopefully this can continue as there seems to be clear benefits. 

 

In terms of league placing promoted, 3rd, 4th and currently 3rd is pretty good and I think what we all expected Levein to achieve - so its far from a given that we can finish 3rd consistently without a lot of hard work behind the scenes. 

 

I think he is doing a good job. 

 

[BackOfTheNet]

22 minutes ago, HopeDiouf said:

Recruitment had been poor for a couple of windows prior to summer.  Summer recruitment appears to have worked much better. Only really tagawa hasn't worked out. Always gonna be some that fail. Kent Vargas and Hoff looking like very good business. 

Tagawa hasn’t worked out… yet. Could still work out.

 

How has recruitment been poor before prior to the summer? Clark, Rowles, Cochrane, Baningime, Forrest, Shankland from yesterday’s starting line up were all before last summer. As were Oda, Atkinson and Devlin who came on. McKay and Grant who’ve both contributed positively this season were before last summer.

 

Are you basing the entire recruitment process since Savage came in on players signed when we were in the Championship or just on Kiomourtzoglou? (Who didn’t work out, but was nowhere near as bad as folk make out)

Edited February 18 by BackOfTheNet

[ShedBoy]

You only have to look at our bench yesterday to see where we’re at. With Boyce Halkett and McKay to come back.

[RustyRightPeg]

I was gonna do this so glad you have. 
 

I’d love a retrospective thread because the recruitments actually been excellent this year.

[Niemi’s gloves]

Most recent permanent signings have been good, though some have taken time to get up to speed.

 

Loan signings have been mixed. Offiah not fully researched; Lowry “because he was available”; Dexter filled a short term gap but not as good as he seemed at first; yet to be convinced that Fraser adds a lot. 

 

[Sooks]

We have some really good players and now we have a manager who is getting a good tune out of them 

[jock _turd]

I rarely if ever slag off individual players they are doing there best.  What I find funny is that at the moment there are players getting rave reveiws that when we were playing not so well were being told they are not good enough to play for Hearts, that is not made up there are plenty of instances of this. Hoff , Natty and even Rowles have come into that category.

[Sooks]

1 minute ago, jock _turd said:

I rarely if ever slag off individual players they are doing there best.  What I find funny is that at the moment there are players getting rave reveiws that when we were playing not so well were being told they are not good enough to play for Hearts, that is not made up there are plenty of instances of this. Hoff , Natty and even Rowles have come into that category.

I have always maintained we have really good players . I was too quick to jump on the management team however . Both seem to have clicked now and this run of form is the result . It is nice when things are going well 

[gordon simpson]

53 minutes ago, Chuck Berry said:

Some of the stuff chucked Savage's way was just complete nonsense, same people that wanted the Aussies and Japanese shipped back. "The Aussie Experiment" was a failure apparently.

 

There's going to be good signings, and bad signings.  The aim is to make sure the latter is kept to a minimum and it seems it's working.

yup some right clueless brainless bassas in our support glad they have all mostly been shut up  

[jambo19]

It's all about balance. At the start of the season they were criticised but we had unknowns in Tagawa, Vargas, Niewenhof who are young and had to adapt to Scottish football. You then had loans from the UK in Offiah and Lowry, again young and inexperienced. 

That balance was a big gamble for us starting strong.

Kent the main exception as he was ready to slot in straight away.

 

Now we are starting to see the dividends of Cal and Vargas who are settling into the squad with others coming back from injury providing great depth and competition for places.

 

I guess the frustration and criticism at the start is our main focus was on unknowns who we think we can sell on, but that will only work if we are playing well. Maybe balance that with fewer gambles but still pursue this route and balance it with more experience as we see with January where Fraser and Dexter were brought in as opposed to someone like Kuol last season.

 

Let's enjoy the run we are on, manager, squad and recruitment doing more right than wrong and it's yielding great results. It's also a learning curve for all involved and it looks like we are learning from previous windows 

[jock _turd]

13 minutes ago, Sooks said:

I have always maintained we have really good players . I was too quick to jump on the management team however . Both seem to have clicked now and this run of form is the result . It is nice when things are going well 

 

Don't get me wrong there are times when I mutter to myself WTF with individuals but it is frustration and I just let it pass. Yesterday for example Dexter was taking pelters from some and I am watch the game thing he's a player but he is not getting the ball played to him when he is open nearly every time he had the ball played to him the defender was within touching distance. Then the other week when Oda started I am thinking this guy is humpty but yesterday he was mustard 😂 There are very few players in the team just now that are sub standard but some are more consistant than others. I just do not see the point in posting a statement like "he is not good enough to play for Hearts" because he has had an off day.

edit

I started the Naisy oot thread ... though that was supposed to have been tongue in cheek that created a right stir 😂

Edited February 18 by jock _turd

[innerjambo]

Still not given up on Tagawa, but it looks like he's struggling to settle. Can't be easy for the lad when we're obviously playing to Shankland's strengths, and his game time is limited. 

[mscjambo]

2 hours ago, BackOfTheNet said:

I also believe Joe Savage and the Recruitment Team are to headline the Slam Tent at T in the Park…

I'd heard pyramid stage at Glastonbury 

[Scott Leitch]

Good thread. I've given them pelters in the past but fair play to them. Just shows what a decent manager can do with this squad, as opposed to that clown we had last season. 

[Diadora Van Basten]

A lot of players recruited are now hitting form it’s looking really positive just now and there is a nice balance of oversea players new to Scottish football e.g. Vargas, young players e.g. Tait and players from lower Scottish football teams e.g. Forrest.

 

Also good to see players signing new contracts and hopefully Bene will be next.

Edited February 18 by Diadora Van Basten

[Go for it 1308]

2 hours ago, BackOfTheNet said:

Thought I’d start a thread on the recruitment. Some are quick to criticise when things aren’t going well, but we’re not quick to praise when things are going well.

 

I don’t have a strong feeling either way about Savage or the recruitment team to be honest. But I find it a bit odd when we had times where we faltered under Neilson and at the start of this season Savage and the recruitment team were getting it in the neck for supposed bad recruitment, but now we’re unbeaten in 12 it’s all because of great management. (I should stress that I think Naismith is doing an amazing job, and although I wanted him to begin with, I had some doubts earlier on this season which have truly been quashed)

 

If we look at our starting line up yesterday, I think only Kingsley was recruited before Savage came in. (Shankland to be fair was a Neilson signing though) On the bench it was only Gordon who was signed before he came in and Tait and Denholm obviously from the youth. So most of the team delivering on the park were recruited by the current crop, and we should give kudos for that.

 

Yes there have been players that haven’t worked out, but name me one club on the planet where that’s not the case. (Hint: you can’t) And we’ve been close to signings of players like Adebayo and Silvera who are doing good things at good levels in England. Supposedly far down the line with the likes of Branthwaite and Obafemi on loan in the past too. Only reason we didn’t get these players was we were outbid by clubs with more money than us, no shame in that. Also linked with players like Lee Seung-woo and Riku Handa, which on paper at least looked like interesting/exciting signings.

 

So, while we’re riding a crest of a wave, let’s take a moment to give appreciation for all aspects of the club that have contributed towards where we are, which includes the recruitment team. 

Yep. I've been proved wrong so fair play to the recruitment team, coaching staff and manager 👏 

[stevie1874]

When you look at the bench yesterday our squad is strong and no one just there to make up the numbers. Add in Mackay & Halkett injured at the moment I’d say the recruitment doing a good job. 

[OTT]

10 minutes ago, Diadora Van Basten said:

A lot of players recruited are now hitting form it’s looking really positive just now and there is a nice balance of oversea players new to Scottish football e.g. Vargas, young players e.g. Tait and players from lower Scottish football teams e.g. Forrest.

 

Also good to see players signing new contracts and hopefully Bene will be next.

 

Agree! 

 

I love Beni, I think he's a fantastic defensive midfielder, but he's far from what you might consider well rounded and IMO has a little further to go in his development before he should think about moving on, particularly what he does on the ball when we're trying to break a team down. You cannot break a team down by passing the ball backwards. I think Naismith, McAvoy and Forrest have shown an ability to improve players individual game and if Beni sticks around, I think there is scope for him to improve even more. 

[HopeDiouf]

1 hour ago, BackOfTheNet said:

Tagawa hasn’t worked out… yet. Could still work out.

 

How has recruitment been poor before prior to the summer? Clark, Rowles, Cochrane, Baningime, Forrest, Shankland from yesterday’s starting line up were all before last summer. As were Oda, Atkinson and Devlin who came on. McKay and Grant who’ve both contributed positively this season were before last summer.

 

Are you basing the entire recruitment process since Savage came in on players signed when we were in the Championship or just on Kiomourtzoglou? (Who didn’t work out, but was nowhere near as bad as folk make out)

It's just my take. For me,they did great initially.  Then had a couple of dodgy windows where i felt the squad got worse overall. Then have had couple of good windows again and squad looking pretty good now.

[Benny Klack]

2 hours ago, BackOfTheNet said:

Thought I’d start a thread on the recruitment. Some are quick to criticise when things aren’t going well, but we’re not quick to praise when things are going well.

 

I don’t have a strong feeling either way about Savage or the recruitment team to be honest. But I find it a bit odd when we had times where we faltered under Neilson and at the start of this season Savage and the recruitment team were getting it in the neck for supposed bad recruitment, but now we’re unbeaten in 12 it’s all because of great management. (I should stress that I think Naismith is doing an amazing job, and although I wanted him to begin with, I had some doubts earlier on this season which have truly been quashed)

 

If we look at our starting line up yesterday, I think only Kingsley was recruited before Savage came in. (Shankland to be fair was a Neilson signing though) On the bench it was only Gordon who was signed before he came in and Tait and Denholm obviously from the youth. So most of the team delivering on the park were recruited by the current crop, and we should give kudos for that.

 

Yes there have been players that haven’t worked out, but name me one club on the planet where that’s not the case. (Hint: you can’t) And we’ve been close to signings of players like Adebayo and Silvera who are doing good things at good levels in England. Supposedly far down the line with the likes of Branthwaite and Obafemi on loan in the past too. Only reason we didn’t get these players was we were outbid by clubs with more money than us, no shame in that. Also linked with players like Lee Seung-woo and Riku Handa, which on paper at least looked like interesting/exciting signings.

 

So, while we’re riding a crest of a wave, let’s take a moment to give appreciation for all aspects of the club that have contributed towards where we are, which includes the recruitment team. 

Great post.

 

Compare where we are today to the not so far back days of Whelan, Jordan Roberts and Freer.

 

Night and day. Naismith is doing a great job but Savage has made it easier for him.

[been here before]

Im sure I read on here he was just a job for the boys "fat weegie", an integral part of "the weegie mafia" that runs the club.

[BackOfTheNet]

20 minutes ago, HopeDiouf said:

It's just my take. For me,they did great initially.  Then had a couple of dodgy windows where i felt the squad got worse overall. Then have had couple of good windows again and squad looking pretty good now.

Name the players that were dodgy. I said in my OP that every recruitment team will have misses at every club, but having looked at every window since Savage arrived, particularly since promotion, I’m struggling to see any window that’s been poor overall.

[BackOfTheNet]

21 minutes ago, Benny Klack said:

Great post.

 

Compare where we are today to the not so far back days of Whelan, Jordan Roberts and Freer.

 

Night and day. Naismith is doing a great job but Savage has made it easier for him.

Let’s face it, he made it easier for Neilson and McCulloch too, but they got in the way of it

[Chaps]

Some of the abuse Savage, recruitment and board took earlier on in the season from certain folk was vile and out of order. Few of them have still gone into hiding.

 

Just goes to show you should never judge a player too quick. Not every singing is going to work out but for me we’ve signed more good than bad since Savage has come in.

 

Fair play to the board as well for no buckling under pressure and sticking with Naisy.

[RustyRightPeg]

4 minutes ago, Chaps said:

Some of the abuse Savage, recruitment and board took earlier on in the season from certain folk was vile and out of order. Few of them have still gone into hiding.

 

Just goes to show you should never judge a player too quick. Not every singing is going to work out but for me we’ve signed more good than bad since Savage has come in.

 

Fair play to the board as well for no buckling under pressure and sticking with Naisy.

🥰

[been here before]

6 minutes ago, Chaps said:

Few of them have still gone into hiding.

 

i8 when folk do that.

[indianajones]

Never had an issue with Joe to be honest. Some signings work out and some don't. 

 

I'd say we haven't had a monumental failure yet ala during John Murray and Leveins tenure. 

[boag1874]

Imo over the balance the recruitment has been pretty solid under Savage. Hof, Devlin, Vargas, Kent, Rowles, Cochrane, Atkinson & Grant are all players who were pretty much unknown to us before signing and all have played a big part since arriving (with slightly varying levels). Oda too was unknown but

he’s more one for the future imo, still contributing though just a bit inconsistent.
 

McKay, Forrest, Zander, GMS, Logan, Sibbick, Snoddy, Fraser & Shanks would all have been known to us beforehand so I’m unsure how much would be down to Savage & his people barring the negotiations. Snoddy, GMS & Sibbick are all a mixed bag, some great moments and some absolute shite. Frasers too early to say but the rest are/were all great signings.

 

Beni is one that could have been Savage or could have been a recommendation from Naisy. Regardless he’s been a top find just unfortunate with his injury.

 

The only major flops we signed permanently have been Kastaneer, Kio & Gnando, 2 of which seemed like panic buys in the Championship (Gnando only really flopped when we came up as well, was fine for championship level). Tagawa hasn’t featured enough to be considered a total flop imo.

 

Our loans have been varied but loans often are.
 

I think that’s a pretty good hit rate.

[Sub4TiddlerMurray]

13 minutes ago, been here before said:

 

i8 when folk do that.

🤣

[Weonly151]

I'd still like us to consider players who are either in our league or have experience playing in it. I do get it that you sometimes get better value for money abroad and players are maybe after less money. But I also think we should be going for the best players from other Scottish teams, which we have started with Dhanda. There are others which have bedn mentioned lots before. The likes of Danny Armstrong, Luke McCowan, Lyle Cameron, Allan Campbell, Greg Dochery and Jeando Fuchs to name a few. All players who would improve our starting eleven but would also be ready to play Scottish football and not need time to settle. I have no issues with experiments from abroad but maybe only 1 a season. It can go both ways, they can be a success or failure.

[boag1874]

1 hour ago, jambo19 said:

It's all about balance. At the start of the season they were criticised but we had unknowns in Tagawa, Vargas, Niewenhof who are young and had to adapt to Scottish football. You then had loans from the UK in Offiah and Lowry, again young and inexperienced. 

That balance was a big gamble for us starting strong.

Kent the main exception as he was ready to slot in straight away.

 

Now we are starting to see the dividends of Cal and Vargas who are settling into the squad with others coming back from injury providing great depth and competition for places.

 

I guess the frustration and criticism at the start is our main focus was on unknowns who we think we can sell on, but that will only work if we are playing well. Maybe balance that with fewer gambles but still pursue this route and balance it with more experience as we see with January where Fraser and Dexter were brought in as opposed to someone like Kuol last season.

 

Let's enjoy the run we are on, manager, squad and recruitment doing more right than wrong and it's yielding great results. It's also a learning curve for all involved and it looks like we are learning from previous windows 

Last January we got too cocky imo, the team was crying out for experience at the back but we instead went down the young exciting player route because we thought we were nailed on for third and wanted to boost our profile. It backfired and lessons have been learned.

[JamboAl]

58 minutes ago, Scott Leitch said:

Good thread. I've given them pelters in the past but fair play to them. Just shows what a decent manager can do with this squad, as opposed to that clown we had last season. 

I'm not sure it is; it totally ignores the obvious.

When we came out of admin we had barely a team and little money, so we were never going to sign enough decent players to make an above average team that could compete in the top league. Since then, with the help (in no particular order) of James Anderson, Ann Budge, FoH, the Skyline restaurant etc things have improved financially enabling us to obtain better on-field quality so it is no great surprise that things have improved

I would expect signings to get better still if the CEO's words come to pass with "millions" being ploughed into the team from future hotel profits.  That said, I don't expect every signing to be a blockbuster; it seldom works out that wat way.

[GinRummy]

It’s a strong squad that’s getting the job done. Can only praise Joe, Naisy and the recruitment team for putting it together. 

[mr fox]

The recruitment has been pretty decent overall I would say.

This current team is the best squad since Romanov era.

[HoGwash]

53 minutes ago, Chaps said:

Some of the abuse Savage, recruitment and board took earlier on in the season from certain folk was vile and out of order. Few of them have still gone into hiding.

 

Just goes to show you should never judge a player too quick. Not every singing is going to work out but for me we’ve signed more good than bad since Savage has come in.

 

Fair play to the board as well for no buckling under pressure and sticking with Naisy.

Some of the most ignorant and personal abuse was being posted from Dusk till Dawn. Not seen so much now.

[vegas-voss]

As always as a fan base we are far to quick to judge

[gordon simpson]

1 hour ago, BackOfTheNet said:

Name the players that were dodgy. I said in my OP that every recruitment team will have misses at every club, but having looked at every window since Savage arrived, particularly since promotion, I’m struggling to see any window that’s been poor overall.

this

[EH11 2NL]

Does this mean he's allowed to the boozer for a pint now 🤣

[Thunder and Lightning]

4 hours ago, Sooks said:

We have some really good players and now we have a manager who is getting a good tune out of them 

Yup, night and day some players now compared to under the previous manager. 

[BackOfTheNet]

Joe Savage was appointed December 14th 2020, when we were in the Championship, here is every window since then:

 

JANUARY 2021

 

IN

McEneff

Mackay-Steven

Gnanduillet

Logan (Loan)

Kastaneer (Loan)

 

OUT

Wighton (Loan)

Roberts (Loan)

Moore (Loan)

 

Lots of ‘supporters’ didn’t like Gnanduillet, but he had 9 goal contributions (5 goals and 4 assists) in 13 games, so was more than good enough at Championship level. Everyone else done a job except Kastaneer. So 1 ’failure’ out of 5 isn’t bad.

 

SUMMER 2021

 

IN

Baningime

Ginnelly (Permanent)

Stewart (Permanent)

Devlin

Woodburn (Loan)

T. Moore (Loan)

A. Cochrane (Loan)

McKay

 

OUT

Irving

Wighton

Lee

Berra

Frear

White

H. Cochrane

L. Moore

Doyle

Popescu (Loan)

Roberts (Loan)

Damour (Loan)

Henderson (Loan)

Naismith (Retired)

 

The incomings much better than the outgoings (Naismith aside, still think he had a season or two in him, but proving correct move for him at this time) I wouldn’t describe any of the incomings as ‘poor’ or ‘failures’. Certainly Woodburn did not live up to expectations though.

 

 

JANUARY 2022

 

IN

Atkinson

Sibbick

Simms (Loan)

 

OUT

Gnanduillet

Roberts (Permanent)

Walker (Loan)

Brandon (Loan)

Pollock (Loan)

 

Atkinson and Sibbick have their boo boys, but there’s no doubt they have been vital for the team at times since their arrivals. Simms was prolific (even though some labelled him to have a touch of an elephant after his first games)

 

 

SUMMER 2022

 

IN

Shankland

Kiomourtzoglou

Forrest

Clark

Neilson

Rowles

A. Cochrane (Permanent)

Grant

Humphrys (Loan)

Snodgrass

 

OUT

Souttar

Walker (Permanent)

Popescu (Permanent)

Damour (Permanent)

Brandon

McEneff

McGill (Loan)

 

Again, what’s come in is much better than what went out. Kiomourtzoglou the only one that hasn’t really worked out to any sort of degree, although I say he was not nearly as bad as some made out. Snodgrass didn’t end well, and although I thought he was extremely overrated by some on here, he did have enough to say he wasn’t a failure.

 

JANUARY 2023

 

IN

Oda

Hill (Loan)

Kuol (Loan)

 

OUT

Henderson (Loan)

C. Smith (Loan)

McGill (Loan)

 

Oda has proven his worth multiple times, even if some want to write him off as a ‘project’ the moment he has an off game. Hill was more than good for us and Kuol didn’t do as much as we hoped, but we were all excited by his prospect. I see no poor signings here, even Kuol.

 

 

SUMMER 2023

 

IN

McGovern

Kent

Tagawa

Nieuwenhof

Vargas (Loan)

Lowry (Loan)

Offiah (Loan)

 

OUT

Kiomourtzoglou

Ginnelly

Henderson

McGill

Neilson (Loan)

C. Smith (Loan)

Stone (Loan)

Snodgrass

Mackay-Steven

M. Smith

Stewart

 

Offiah obviously had issued we weren’t aware of (or weren’t advised by Brighton), Lowry didn’t work out - but since 75% of fans were falling over themselves for him, I’m not going to take that as a poor signing decision. McGovern was fine for what he was signed for (backup) and Tagawa hasn’t proved his worth - yet. It’s still early days. I see no failures in the summer recruitment.

 

 

JANUARY 2024

 

IN

Lembikisa (Loan)

Fraser (Loan)

 

OUT

C. Smith (Permanent)

Halliday (Loan)

McGovern (Loan)

Offiah (Loan cancelled)

 

People were disappointed by who we didn’t sign, rather than who we did. But looking at yesterday, our bench plus some who were out injured could compete for 3rd. So our squad is more than good enough. No failures or poor signings identified.

 

So, when broken down like that, I’m finishing it very difficult to spot the ‘poor’ windows given what we know now and where we are. After all, a lot of the signings had long term thinking behind them.

[BackOfTheNet]

So aye, the myth that our recruitment has been poor is just that - a myth. The recruitment was good enough, it was just how the players deployed that wasn’t good enough, as we are now seeing.

Edited February 18 by BackOfTheNet

[Jack Torrance]

Pfft.

 

Massive clear out required immediately. 

 

Imo.

[Rudy T]

I’ve been a critic and he’s still not convinced me if I’m honest. There’s positions that took too long to fill and many he covered with fairly unconvincing loans. He’s sold us a few too many lines about how he delivers recruitment only for the windows to say different. Let’s not forget we were relegated on his watch and his poor recruitment last January as good as cost us Europe. His car salesmen type approach, I think, has stalled our progress. 
 

We're not far away now but he’s got a new set of challenges ahead. We’re going to get bids for our players who’ll need replaced and we also need to keep building on what we have, that’s not going to be easy and he needs to set out a plan for that.

 

He has got very lucky with Naismith who if the stories are to be believed he didn’t want.

[BackOfTheNet]

2 minutes ago, Rudy T said:

I’ve been a critic and he’s still not convinced me if I’m honest. There’s positions that took too long to fill and many he covered with fairly unconvincing loans. He’s sold us a few too many lines about how he delivers recruitment only for the windows to say different. Let’s not forget we were relegated on his watch and his poor recruitment last January as good as cost us Europe. His car salesmen type approach, I think, has stalled our progress. 
 

We're not far away now but he’s got a new set of challenges ahead. We’re going to get bids for our players who’ll need replaced and we also need to keep building on what we have, that’s not going to be easy and he needs to set out a plan for that.

 

He has got very lucky with Naismith who if the stories are to be believed he didn’t want.

Um, anything you say is completely nullified given that you say we got relegated on his watch. We were forced into relegation at the end of the 19/20 season. Savage came in December 2020, so half way through the Championship season. To be clear, he came in AFTER we were relegated.

Savage and the recruitment team are not beyond criticism of course, but your post comes across as something else given that you’re blatantly wrong about him getting us relegated.

[Selkirkhmfc1874]

Have been critical but I'm beginning to wonder if it was Robbie not getting the best out of the players