Gronbaek, Lallana, Taylor, Cornet, BBD, Wood, Sugawara, Fraser, Archer or Edwards

[ApprenticeBillionaire]

The criteria for SportsRepublic is:

"Can you kick a ball mate?"

[Midfield_General]

8 minutes ago, ApprenticeBillionaire said:

The criteria for SportsRepublic is:

"Can you kick a ball mate?"

If it was, then that would have disqualified Sugawara. 

Incredibly, the bar is actually lower than that. 

[Whitey Grandad]

2 hours ago, Turkish said:

We’ve done it for years.. our transfers since about 2016 have been a who’s who of how not to buy players. Dozens of average players brought cheaply in the same position costing more when you look at total costs inc wages than buying 2 or 3 decent ones. 
 

I don’t get why we never learn. 5 players for £15m earning £50k a week and hope one or two of them come good or 2 decent players for £35-£40m earning £100k a week. Simple maths tell you which is the better deal along with the fact they’re going to contribute more on the pitch too

But you mustn’t upset the wage structure.

[Gloucester Saint]

I opted for McCarthy extension as that was the most stupid and obviously wasteful of all, any other year it would have been Lallana or Fraser. If the poll had been multiple choice, I’d have ticked every single option. BBD I’ve some empathy for though, he’s never a fucking winger, what a stupid twat that manager was. 

Nathan Wood was 100% Russell Martin’s doing, the club tried signing him the previous year for around double the fee we paid last summer. Clearly, he wasn’t paying attention to Nathan’s abject performance in Swansea’s 5-0 defeat. He’s a Stephens style ball-watcher, albeit with a bit more pace. Might be ok as back up next season given the sheer volume of transfers required but loan him out if promoted with a very modest option to buy.

Edited April 6 by Gloucester Saint

[Gloucester Saint]

1 hour ago, SaintNewForest said:

Wasn't the Smallbone extension a year before? 

Yes, my apologies, new 3 year deal until 2026. So at least only a year left.

[Whitey Grandad]

22 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

I opted for McCarthy extension as that was the most stupid and obviously wasteful of all, any other year it would have been Lallana or Fraser. If the poll had been multiple choice, I’d have ticked every single option. BBD I’ve some empathy for though, he’s never a fucking winger, what a stupid twat that manager was. 

Nathan Wood was 100% Russell Martin’s doing, the club tried signing him the previous year for around double the fee we paid last summer. Clearly, he wasn’t paying attention to Nathan’s abject performance in Swansea’s 5-0 defeat. He’s a Stephens style ball-watcher, albeit with a bit more pace. Might be ok as back up next season given the sheer volume of transfers required but loan him out if promoted with a very modest option to buy.

A lot of these sorts of transactions is a case of rewarding one’s mates financially.

[Oisin]

I’ve voted for Taylor as I couldn’t see any logic in signing a left back given the full back options we already had - at least for some of the others we in theory had a requirement for the position.

That said I could have voted for almost any of them, and the equal spread of votes suggest many feel the same.

Which kind of supports the overall assessment that this was an unmitigated fucking disaster. I mean, it couldn’t feasibly have been any worse. I hope everyone associated with this year’s recruitment has gone because they clearly have their head up their arses. 
I’m not a scout but five minutes told me Fraser and BBD didn’t have the legs for this league, Wood didn’t have the ability, Sugawara the defensive capabilities and almost all of the others didn’t manage the five minutes necessary to allow any opinion. Given how bad the players selected ahead of them are, these guys must be truly awful.

I don’t blame the players themselves; the recruitment team and (one has to conclude RM had a say in some of these) the previous manager, however, totally fucked our already slim chances last summer. 
We’re the worst team ever mainly because we’ve combined the worst transfer window ever with two of the worst tactical set-ups I’ve ever seen.

Sport Republic are horrific.

Spors may end up being the long-dreamed of messiah but he needs to be because we need a miracle right now to sort this club out.

[Turkish]

2 minutes ago, Oisin said:

I’ve voted for Taylor as I couldn’t see any logic in signing a left back given the full back options we already had - at least for some of the others we in theory had a requirement for the position.

That said I could have voted for almost any of them, and the equal spread of votes suggest many feel the same.

Which kind of supports the overall assessment that this was an unmitigated fucking disaster. I mean, it couldn’t feasibly have been any worse. I hope everyone associated with this year’s recruitment has gone because they clearly have their head up their arses. 
I’m not a scout but five minutes told me Fraser and BBD didn’t have the legs for this league, Wood didn’t have the ability, Sugawara the defensive capabilities and almost all of the others didn’t manage the five minutes necessary to allow any opinion. Given how bad the players selected ahead of them are, these guys must be truly awful.

I don’t blame the players themselves; the recruitment team and (one has to conclude RM had a say in some of these) the previous manager, however, totally fucked our already slim chances last summer. 
We’re the worst team ever mainly because we’ve combined the worst transfer window ever with two of the worst tactical set-ups I’ve ever seen.

Sport Republic are horrific.

Spors may end up being the long-dreamed of messiah but he needs to be because we need a miracle right now to sort this club out.

Again though there is logic to it. Taylor is an experienced premier league player. He played 150 times in the premier league for Burnley, most of the time in a relegation battle and was available for nothing. It made sense on paper, what doesn't make sense is to never play him. When he signed i thought it was a decent bit of business as he's player who'd been there and done it unlike a lot of the others we brought in. Maybe at 31 now he was way past his best, but we dont know because we barely saw him play. What we do know is those that play in the same position are no where near the level needed either.

[Baird of the land]

tremendously tough decision. Do you judge it on money spent (Archer / BBD), awful old players we're likely stuck with (Taylor,fraser etc) or epicly bad loans(Cornet)

 

 

[tdmickey3]

Why can`t I vote for all of them ?

Edited April 7 by tdmickey3

[S-Clarke]

An absolute mess of a summer, it doesn't help when the recruitment was spearheaded without any DoF - that was always a massive concern for me, why they didn't feel the need to replace is beyond me. 

They let Martin run riot with his mates, and we managed to build a Championship team for the PL. 

When you look at it last season we had Stu Armstrong, Adams, Brooks, Edozie, Charly - Somehow I think we managed to end this season with a weaker side than we got promoted with, that takes some serious going. Well done to everyone.

[Gloucester Saint]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

Again though there is logic to it. Taylor is an experienced premier league player. He played 150 times in the premier league for Burnley, most of the time in a relegation battle and was available for nothing. It made sense on paper, what doesn't make sense is to never play him. When he signed i thought it was a decent bit of business as he's player who'd been there and done it unlike a lot of the others we brought in. Maybe at 31 now he was way past his best, but we dont know because we barely saw him play. What we do know is those that play in the same position are no where near the level needed either.

It’s a bizarre one, I assumed they had signed him because they were concerned about Manning defensively in the PL as he hadn’t looked that secure in the Champ. And then they hardly play him despite of all his PL appearances and he’s not that old. Then they sign Wellington in January and Larios suddenly gets fit again playing for the u23s. What an incoherent mess.

[sambosa75]

Voted for Lallana.  Thought when we signed him there may have been a bit left in his legs and his experience may prove to be a master stroke.  How completely and utterly wrong I was.  Total waste of time.

[Badger]

On 06/04/2025 at 11:23, Gloucester Saint said:

Yes, my apologies, new 3 year deal until 2026. So at least only a year left.

Must be due a new one this summer then.

[Galway saint]

Gronbaek

We managed to sign someone who wasn't able to get into one of the worst sides in PL history. 

Who on earth chooses these players 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

12 players that if none of them ever returned to the ground, you'd not notice they were gone.

I take that back. After a couple of games, you'd wonder why we weren't conceding penalties from handballs, to cover Sugawara's absence.

[chivvy]

Probably easier to tell you who wasn't 

 

Edwards and Wellington at least have some potential

The waste of loan slots is criminal. We needed a second target striker not another Inside forward/wide man

 

And 45k per week for lallana awful waste 

The rest have just been shit

Terribly put together squad. Juric inherited absolute shit show squad wise but did make numerous selection errors .

Martin was just deluded style of play

 

 

Edited April 8 by chivvy

[Lord Duckhunter]

According to Blackmore, Frasier & Taylor were Lego signings….

[SNSUN]

Sugawara for me. We already had KWP and Breezy, we needed strength in other areas of the pitch more. Fully agree with others about Lallana though. That was a signing along the lines of Walcott.

Pretty much all the signings we made seem to have been with one eye on us going back to the Championship. Sugawara must have been signed with one eye on losing KWP at the end of the contract. Punts that did not pay off bar Fernandes. 

I still think Archer might cook next season if we keep him. Edwards and Wood will play parts too. Probably Welington too. Not sure about the rest.

[Willo of Whiteley]

You could argue they’ve all been terrible, and equally as bad.

 

[coalman]

On 05/04/2025 at 14:36, Midfield_General said:

Which one wins the award for the most utterly pointless signing of the season? 

Or are there any more deserving nominations? 

The only rule is that it has to be someone who was brought in this season, who the geniuses who run the club scouted and identified as someone who they specifically thought would be a good signing to help us in the Premier League (so Stewart doesn't count as he was here already). 

Please change the poll so I can select multiple options. 

[Midfield_General]

8 minutes ago, coalman said:

Please change the poll so I can select multiple options. 

You'll need @Lighthouse for that, I don't set the polls up

[coalman]

17 minutes ago, Midfield_General said:

You'll need @Lighthouse for that, I don't set the polls up

It's ok... it was more a comment that I find it impossible to choose between BBD and Fraser and Cornet and Gronbaek for example.

[suewhistle]

I hate you Midfield_General, you're trying to make me depressed, aren't you?! 😉

Just to save me more typing I thought these statements were worth noting:

On 07/04/2025 at 09:41, S-Clarke said:

When you look at it last season we had Stu Armstrong, Adams, Brooks, Edozie, Charly - Somehow I think we managed to end this season with a weaker side than we got promoted with, that takes some serious going. Well done to everyone.

 

23 hours ago, SNSUN said:

I still think Archer might cook next season if we keep him. Edwards and Wood will play parts too. Probably Welington too. Not sure about the rest.

Archer needs to get motivated, Welington certainly has a bit of pace about him, Lallana has been kicked upstairs but of the rest,... I don't even know what they look like!

[Midfield_General]

2 hours ago, suewhistle said:

I hate you Midfield_General, you're trying to make me depressed, aren't you?! 😉

Just to save me more typing I thought these statements were worth noting:

Martin also said in that interview (that @Nottssaint1 kindly posted and that I was wanging on about in the other thread) that he thought we had a weaker squad in the prem than we did in the championship. Which is a pretty odd thing to admit to, given he presumably had a fairly big hand in identifying and bringing in most of them. 

Don’t want to depress anyone though so let’s focus on reasons to be cheerful - at least we’re about to see the back of that horrific pink kit 

[chivvy]

The loan slots are criminal really.. ugochukwo only got a run once Martin had gone... Gronbaek and cornet barely played. Loans are Cheaper options just wasted opportunities. 

Edited April 11 by chivvy

[chivvy]

Fraser wood bbd archer Taylor 

 

Just unreal shit show

 

Archer might be ok in a two front line or wide left inside forward but he can't lead a line

To much loyalty showed to promoted squad.. commendable but in hindsight not the right thing. Some weren't good enough 1st time round.

Edited April 11 by chivvy

[Saint Fan CaM]

As someone else said above, it’s easier to identify those who were worth some element of value….e.g. Welington. The vast majority of that list were a disastrous waste of time, effort and money.

[Ambsaint]

I've gone with Fraser. 

Was pleased when he signed, not because he was going to set the Prem alight but I figured he would be an older head, looked proud as anything at Wembley, seemed to suit Saints and would do the club good for low cost. His stats this year? 8 Prem games and contributed 1 red card. 

Thanks.

[Tamesaint]

On 08/04/2025 at 18:18, Lord Duckhunter said:

According to Blackmore, Frasier & Taylor were Lego signings….

At least we didn't buy Niles or Daphne. Have you seen how Niles runs? 😁😁😁

[Lord Duckhunter]

5 hours ago, Tamesaint said:

At least we didn't buy Niles or Daphne. Have you seen how Niles runs? 😁😁😁

Yes, like Djenepo 

[Patrick Bateman]

Where is this Gronbaek guy?? Is he injured? 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

8 minutes ago, Patrick Bateman said:

Where is this Gronbaek guy?? Is he injured? 

Maybe Gronbaek has gone back. 🙂

[Gloucester Saint]

2 hours ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

Maybe Gronbaek has gone back. 🙂

If he’d ever played let alone scored, that would have been an obvious chant 🎵 Gronbaek, baby Gronbaek 🎵 to the tune of Baby Come Back by Eddy Grant.

But he didn’t, another of Rasmus’s fuck-ups. At least we aren’t stuck with this one.

[Chez]

can't get my head around Taylor signing. we didn't need an other cb and he was never suited to our passing game.

can someone explain how Wood, a guy that was poor at Swansea for two seasons, was ever going to make the step up in class? 

likewise, how does Fraser, a guy that couldn't get in our championship side, be seen as god enough for the PL?

the others i can understand to a degree, even if i didnt like some of them, but those three above baffle me.

[Gloucester Saint]

13 minutes ago, Chez said:

can't get my head around Taylor signing. we didn't need an other cb and he was never suited to our passing game.

can someone explain how Wood, a guy that was poor at Swansea for two seasons, was ever going to make the step up in class? 

likewise, how does Fraser, a guy that couldn't get in our championship side, be seen as god enough for the PL?

the others i can understand to a degree, even if i didnt like some of them, but those three above baffle me.

Wood and Fraser are examples of the lack of oversight and management Martin had last summer. It reminds me of when Bally was manager, wanted to sign all manner of players from the lower leagues that he knew. Lawrie stopped most of them but the one that allegedly slipped through whilst he was on holiday was Peter Whiston from Exeter.

A good, experienced top flight DoF simply says ‘no, they’re not up to it Russell’. 

Taylor is an odd one all-round I agree. Clearly not an RM type player, not an SR sell-on algorithm special either. I can only assume Rasmus wanted to upgrade Manning but Martin didn’t want to be away from his Swansea buddy. Then again, he sanctioned the signing of Wellington for January! I guess Taylor was the short-term option, Wellington easing past him this summer onwards with Manning loaned out in Rasmus’s mind? He must have assumed Larios was finished but he’s started playing for the u23s. 

Edited Tuesday at 17:50 by Gloucester Saint