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Are we really building a squad?



Guinness Boy

Tofu eating wokerati
Helpful Moderator
NSC Patreon
Jul 23, 2003
33,820
Up and Coming Sunny Portslade
Some great business this week IMHO. I am truly EXCITED about a game at the Amex for the first time in months. But to what extent are we firefighting rather than building a sustainable squad?

Six loan players left by my counting and every chance that Halford will be the one to miss out tomorrow. Can people see Bent staying longer than a month or do we think he's plugging a gap that will be filled by a (different) permanent signing in January? Can people see Benno re-signing permanently (I can)? Will we make a permanent bid for Joe Bennett and succeed?

I guess what I'm asking is if we are going to see a couple of months of very exciting football followed by a return to where we were or if the loans are really the building blocks of a new squad?
 


Icy Gull

Back on the rollercoaster
Jul 5, 2003
72,015
We are marking time this season imo and will have another rebuild in the summer ( three weeks into next season :wink:) I too am very excited about tomorrow though.
 


pasty

A different kind of pasty
Jul 5, 2003
30,178
West, West, West Sussex
I don't think we are really building a squad for the future, no. All these loans smack of short termisim to me. Can't see Bent signing permanently as I think he is still (lower) Premiership class, but like the OP I think E Bennett may well do.
 


DavidinSouthampton

Well-known member
NSC Patreon
Jan 3, 2012
16,538
I don't think we are really building a squad for the future, no. All these loans smack of short termisim to me. Can't see Bent signing permanently as I think he is still (lower) Premiership class, but like the OP I think E Bennett may well do.

Maybe Mr Bent would sign for us if he saw a realistic chance of getting in to the premiership sometime in the near future. He might do for us what Jason Roberts did for reading a few seasons ago. We can but hope.
 






Stat Brother

Well-known member
NSC Patreon
Jul 11, 2003
73,371
West west west Sussex
These loans:-

Bennett - There was a lot of dicking around re Ward. Bennett is a good late replacement.
(I think Ward would have been immense in our formation)
Gardener - Covering Stephens and now Crofts as well.
T'Shearer - As above.
Benno - Quality creative player, something clearly lacking.
Not a replacement for March but in that position now.
Halford - Defensive cover for cards and injuries.
Bent - GOALS.

From that Benno and Bent are the only 2 loans that have come into the side because of our form/results.
Therefore with regular first teamers coming back you'd think the reliance on loans is just a temporary thing.

What it does do is highlight just how weak the squad is, as a whole unit.
 




KZNSeagull

Well-known member
Nov 26, 2007
19,692
Wolsingham, County Durham
Seems to be the way things go nowadays that to get PL quality players in the squad, you have to have them in on loans first. I am sure some of them will end up as permanent signings at some point, since many players that come to the Albion now enjoy their time here. It does not always follow of course, but hopefully a couple will sign up.

Also, I reckon the squad we have is way better than we have seen so far. A few wins under our belt and many of the players in it will look a lot better than they currently do. Build some confidence and things will look a lot rosier. Having Benno and Bent for December will help that enormously.

I don't really see it as firefighting - it is all part of using what we have wisely. The club seems to have a policy of waiting for the right player to come along, rather than jumping in when the resources are available. Yes, a few mistakes appear to have been made in the summer, but they were not too expensive in the great scheme of things.
 






Guinness Boy

Tofu eating wokerati
Helpful Moderator
NSC Patreon
Jul 23, 2003
33,820
Up and Coming Sunny Portslade
Al-Habsi is stil ours technically so we have 7 (seven) loanees, currently, although you would assume he's already returned to the frozen North.

http://www.northstandchat.com/content.php?258-Albion-players-contract-durations-2014-15

I thought we'd sent him back so thanks for clarifying. Yep, with two days left of the loan and no chance of being in the match day squad he'll be back oop North, unless of course he BEGGED us to use him in training so he could maximise his time in a nice city before returning to that HOLE.
 


Simster

"the man's an arse"
Jul 7, 2003
54,110
Surrey
It's hard to tell, because we never really know who is here to plug a gap or sharpen their fitness, and who is here with a view to a permanent move.

I think it's impossible to tell, and a lot will depend on where we are next season. And don't forget our own loaned out players will be keen to force their way back into the squad.
 




Mattywerewolf

Well-known member
Mar 7, 2012
894
Saff of the River
I reckon a good test bed and we will then try and convert the better loan signings to Perm. Better than rushing in loads of 3y signings that don't work. Think we showed this didn't really work in the summer
 


casbom

Well-known member
Jul 24, 2007
2,581
of course it's fire fighting at the moment, we're near the bottom of the league so definitely not building for the future just yet. As others have said, that will happen partly in the Jan window but mostly in the summer.

We're in a rebuilding phase but at the moment we need to ensure we're not relegated, hence the loans.
 


Billy the Fish

Technocrat
Oct 18, 2005
17,472
Haywards Heath
I think people underestimate how much losing managers two years in a row has affected the club's ability to plan any long term squad building.

Planning for summer transfers needs to start well before the end of the season and twice in a row now we've had managers that have left, which in turn means the incoming manager has very little input into signings because they don't know the squad. This is reflected in the two different approaches by Oscar and Sami - Oscar played the hand he was dealt and carried on Poyet's system. Sammi has tried to change things but it's pretty clear that he hasn't got the right players because he's not playing them and we're relying on loans.

Whatever happens we need to stop changing managers at the end of every season and let whoever is in charge make a long term plan and try to implement it. I don't care who it is, Sami or AN Other, as long as they've had at least 10 games before the end of the season to assess the squad. If we change manager again right at the end we'll be stuck in this endless cycle of pissing on fires and Burke having to guess what the new man needs.
 




LamieRobertson

Not awoke
Feb 3, 2008
46,487
SHOREHAM BY SEA
It's hard to tell, because we never really know who is here to plug a gap or sharpen their fitness, and who is here with a view to a permanent move.

I think it's impossible to tell, and a lot will depend on where we are next season. And don't forget our own loaned out players will be keen to force their way back into the squad.

i'd go with this..plus its not as though currently you can sign people permanently...be interesting to see what happens come January
 


Geriatric Seagull

New member
Nov 10, 2009
979
Littlehampton
After the nonsense we were spun in the summer about how all the new signings would develop into a squad capable of challenging for the play-offs, where are we? The current rush of loans suggests a realization that the summer's activity was a disaster and a waste of money (O'Grady being the prime example) and that we are now in panic mode in an attempt to avoid relegation.
 


Lethargic

Well-known member
Oct 11, 2006
3,456
Horsham
The long term squad will primarily be through the academy and Development Squad signings and loans will be seen as complimenting the core of player promoted from within so to the question yes we are when you look at the players being drafted into the Dev Squad. The likes of March, Chickesen, Rea, Walton etc are the squad of the future.

The challenge will be in the next season or 2 as we migrate to this new world order.
 


spanish flair

Well-known member
Jan 30, 2014
2,349
Brighton
After the nonsense we were spun in the summer about how all the new signings would develop into a squad capable of challenging for the play-offs, where are we? The current rush of loans suggests a realization that the summer's activity was a disaster and a waste of money (O'Grady being the prime example) and that we are now in panic mode in an attempt to avoid relegation.

Here is a stat that worries me, we have signed 26 players since Gus left and yet each week the team has a majority of Gus signings still in the side. A few of these are getting on now, but it appears we are still unable to find better who can displace these players. How much have these 26 cost the club?
 









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