Gerrard’s Recruitment Record & Another Summer Overhaul

We only spend money on a few players. Goldson being one. You can't say that's short termism.

We have a short, medium and long term plan. If we'd spend the entire budget on four players at Goldson levels and purely used the youth players to supplement them, we'd have been in a worse position than we are now.

You also can't use the last previous two managers are as a criticism of this one and the DoF either as they weren't in place then and started with very little.

Who is the left back you think we should use instead of Barisic from the youths? Who is the central midfielder the manager apparently just isn't playing who is starring in the reserves that's better than Arfield, Jack and Kamara?

Your point is silly.

5 loans, Davis, MacAuley and Defoe is short-termism. There is no other way to put it. It’s signings like that I have an issue with. The success rate is shite as it was under Warburton and again under Caixinha.

I use the mistakes of the previous Managers to highlight the same mistakes that are being made now.

Only thing that is silly is the money we have pissed away. Between the money spent under Caixinha and the 19 players Gerrard has brought in, we should not be in a position to need another 7/8 in the summer. Simple as that. It’s piss poor recruitment.

I’d be more than happy to give a young player a chance ahead of someone like Flanagan, Ejaria, McAuley or Sadiq all brought in by Gerrard. I’d also rather build using the likes of Katic than dross like Worrall who contribute nothing on the park or to our balance sheet.

The less said about tired signings like Lafferty, Davis and Defoe the better.
 
5 loans, Davis, MacAuley and Defoe is short-termism. There is no other way to put it. It’s signings like that I have an issue with. The success rate is shite as it was under Warburton and again under Caixinha.

I use the mistakes of the previous Managers to highlight the same mistakes that are being made now.

Only thing that is silly is the money we have pissed away. Between the money spent under Caixinha and the 19 players Gerrard has brought in, we should not be in a position to need another 7/8 in the summer. Simple as that. It’s piss poor recruitment.

I’d be more than happy to give a young player a chance ahead of someone like Flanagan, Ejaria, McAuley or Sadiq all brought in by Gerrard. I’d also rather build using the likes of Katic than dross like Worrall who contribute nothing on the park or to our balance sheet.

The less said about tired signings like Lafferty, Davis and Defoe the better.

So again, who are these young players we've got sitting there who would be better?

Bearing in mind, this place and the Ibrox stands would be in meltdown with a draw today and young players in the team with the likes of you screaming "this isn't working. We should have more experience in there"

We all know Pedro was a disaster. Again, lebelling that at Gerrard is a nonsense.


No window ever has a 100% success rate. There was no magic wand last summer. We have improved. We'll improve again this summer
 
Putting the points we’ve dropped this season due to tactical naivety and unnecessary squad rotation aside, we have to have a serious look at Gerrard’s recruitment record.

He’s signed 19 players since the summer

GK - McGregor, Firth
DF - Goldson, Worrall, Katic, McAuley, Flanagan, Polster, Barisic
MF - Arfield, Kamara, Davis, Grezda, Kent, Ejaria, Coulibaly
FW - Defoe, Lafferty, Sadiq

Only the 4 in bold have hit anything like the levels needed. You could also argue the Manager didn’t have a great deal to do with bringing in 2 of them. It’s an appalling waste of money and in many cases ignored glaring holes in the squad at centre half and in midfield.

We are back to square one yet again with significant numbers moving on and at least 8/9 players coming in on a limited budget. More if we lose Tav and Morelos. It doesn’t work and isn’t sustainable.

Harsh reality is that the level of improvement needed from Gerrard is enormous. Miles off it.
You hiding under the bed mate ? You’re being a bit harsh on a few and how you can include Kamara in this after a single game is mind numbing
 
All our loan players leave in the summer but I'd like to hope that we can maybe get Kent for another 12 months.

The players out of contracts will leave as well.

We probably sell Foderingham, Alnwick and maybe Tav.

Polster may be the replacement for Tav but we then still need two central defenders, attacking midfielders and possibly two strikers if Morelos goes.
 
I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt but we simply cannot afford signings like Grezda and Katic to be contributing so little when they cost so much.
 
Putting the points we’ve dropped this season due to tactical naivety and unnecessary squad rotation aside, we have to have a serious look at Gerrard’s recruitment record.

He’s signed 19 players since the summer

GK - McGregor, Firth
DF - Goldson, Worrall, Katic, McAuley, Flanagan, Polster, Barisic
MF - Arfield, Kamara, Davis, Grezda, Kent, Ejaria, Coulibaly
FW - Defoe, Lafferty, Sadiq

Only the 4 in bold have hit anything like the levels needed. You could also argue the Manager didn’t have a great deal to do with bringing in 2 of them. It’s an appalling waste of money and in many cases ignored glaring holes in the squad at centre half and in midfield.

We are back to square one yet again with significant numbers moving on and at least 8/9 players coming in on a limited budget. More if we lose Tav and Morelos. It doesn’t work and isn’t sustainable.

Harsh reality is that the level of improvement needed from Gerrard is enormous. Miles off it.
amazing the amount of low post newbies coming out with this crap :rolleyes:que surprise'
 
Don't think an overhaul is needed. Loan players will probably be away back to their clubs so that will trim the squad down a bit. What we need is quality not quantity Tho.
 
Go and change your tenalady.

Lots of pantie wetters on here as per usual after a shite result.
This phrase is getting beyond tedious

If people think fans moaning about underperforming and dropping points at home to the likes of st Johnstone is panty wetting then we truly are fvcked
 
On the whole very poor,anyone who has a different opion is fcking blind
 
We aren’t going to spend £12-15M on 4 players mate especially with so many going out the door.

That’s the big question.

Supposing we kept Morelos and Tav, how much are we realistically likely to net spend on players this summer?

Some may point to the £14m generated by the Europa League run, but it’s also the same sum we posted as a loss on the last set of accounts so that money is unlikely to form any bumper transfer kitty.

So the answer would therefore seem to be: sell Morelos and Tav.

Personally I think Polster has been earmarked as the latter’s replacement, but who is Alfie’s? Surely not Defoe, and yet he was given an 18 month deal?

Assuming it isn’t though, selling both players could net us around £20m, possibly even more, but how much of that will we be allowed to spend on the quality we need?

If we were able to bring in four players around the £3-4m mark each to give us greater quality middle to front, we might look a different proposition, but I have my doubts we’ll be spending that sort of money this summer.
 
Without going into too much detail about how much pish you're talking, one point stands out in Kamara - the only player to reach anywhere near an acceptable level today is already written off after his debut.

Fucking incredible. You are an idiot.

Where have I singled out Kamara? I listed the 19 signings he’s made to make the general point that his record is open to some pretty serious criticism at the moment. It’s not a difficult point to grasp.
 
So again, who are these young players we've got sitting there who would be better?

Bearing in mind, this place and the Ibrox stands would be in meltdown with a draw today and young players in the team with the likes of you screaming "this isn't working. We should have more experience in there"

We all know Pedro was a disaster. Again, lebelling that at Gerrard is a nonsense.


No window ever has a 100% success rate. There was no magic wand last summer. We have improved. We'll improve again this summer

I don’t expect a 100% success rate but we aren’t even at 50% at this stage which is why I’m completely against our current approach. It doesn’t work.

You also seem stuck on the youngsters but completely miss the point. The academy should play an important role in supplementing the squad. I’d rather see these players on the fringes than crap like Flanagan, has beens like McAuley or in place of developing players for other clubs keeping in mind that our success in the loan market has been limited to say the least. Don’t need an in-depth knowledge of our academy to make the point.

Bringing in umpteen loans in the hope that a couple work out or might stay, backed up by mid-thirty somethings trying to rekindle former glorifies isn’t exactly a solid model to build on.
 
I don’t expect a 100% success rate but we aren’t even at 50% at this stage which is why I’m completely against our current approach. It doesn’t work.

You also seem stuck on the youngsters but completely miss the point. The academy should play an important role in supplementing the squad. I’d rather see these players on the fringes than crap like Flanagan, has beens like McAuley or in place of developing players for other clubs keeping in mind that our success in the loan market has been limited to say the least. Don’t need an in-depth knowledge of our academy to make the point.

Bringing in umpteen loans in the hope that a couple work out or might stay, backed up by mid-thirty somethings trying to rekindle former glorifies isn’t exactly a solid model to build on.

You're missing the point.

Neither Flanagan or McAuley played today. They're not the reason you're on here moaning about Gerrards inability to beat St Johnstone today.

What exactly is it that you think youths supplementing the team (which I'm all for) would have improved today or generally in games we've dropped points?

And for a third time, which youths are good enough that we're not promoting already?

We do supplement the squad with youth. Middleton being a prime example. Young Dapo and Kelly given chances too.

There's promise in the youth ranks but no one who is ready is not getting a chance

You want us to sign permanent players? We've signed Grezda & Barisic who fit, exactly, the mould of mid 20s internationals with a rising potential you want and they've contributed as little as any of the players you're criticising.

Theres no one or two window fix here.

Given a better base to start with and a few more quid this summer, we'll improve again.
 
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I don’t expect a 100% success rate but we aren’t even at 50% at this stage which is why I’m completely against our current approach. It doesn’t work.

You also seem stuck on the youngsters but completely miss the point. The academy should play an important role in supplementing the squad. I’d rather see these players on the fringes than crap like Flanagan, has beens like McAuley or in place of developing players for other clubs keeping in mind that our success in the loan market has been limited to say the least. Don’t need an in-depth knowledge of our academy to make the point.

Bringing in umpteen loans in the hope that a couple work out or might stay, backed up by mid-thirty somethings trying to rekindle former glorifies isn’t exactly a solid model to build on.
Now this point I agree with.
 
Barisic and Grezda have been huge disappointments. Katic for whatever reason seems to be out of the picture so that’s a large slice of last summers transfer budget making no contribution at the minute.

Failure to address the striker problem has cost us big time as well. Lafferty and Sadiq have been awful and Defoe can’t play up front on his own.
 
Where have I singled out Kamara? I listed the 19 signings he’s made to make the general point that his record is open to some pretty serious criticism at the moment. It’s not a difficult point to grasp.

You've included Kamara, Polster and Firth. What point is that making?

Nearly all of the players have contributed positively, including the low-risk loan of Ejaria.

Ultimately, we're in a low level hit-and-miss market. That's the unfortunate reality.
 
You've included Kamara, Polster and Firth. What point is that making?

Nearly all of the players have contributed positively, including the low-risk loan of Ejaria.

Ultimately, we're in a low level hit-and-miss market. That's the unfortunate reality.

It’s a list of his signings. It goes without saying that it’s too early to judge some of them. However, anyone happy with the overall return in our investments so far has standards that will see plenty more days like today.
 
A thread on recruitment but no one has mentioned our DOF. He's the guy that identifies players that fit our ethos, philosophy and footballing strategy. The guy that brings continuity and prevents us from having to overhaul the squad every year.
 
You're missing the point.

Neither Flanagan or McAuley played today. They're not the reason you're on here moaning about Gerrards inability to beat St Johnstone today.

What exactly is it that you think youths supplementing the team (which I'm all for) would have improved today or generally in games we've dropped points?

And for a third time, which youths are good enough that we're not promoting already?

We do supplement the squad with youth. Middleton being a prime example. Young Dapo and Kelly given chances too.

There's promise in the youth ranks but no one who is ready is not getting a chance

You want us to sign permanent players? We've signed Grezda & Barisic who fit, exactly, the mould of mid 20s internationals with a rising potential you want and they've contributed as little as any of the players you're criticising.

Theres no one or two window fix here.

Given a better base to start with and a few more quid this summer, we'll improve again.

My post was about Gerrard’s poor recruitment record not today’s performance though today and many other days like today are obviously a result of that. You’re arguing for points that aren’t even being made.

I don’t have a list of academy players for you who are guaranteed successes. Plenty on first team wages costing us a load of money who are guaranteed flops that I could give you, however.

Instead of wasting money on players like that and developing players for other clubs, I’d like our recruitment to be more focused on quality over quantity and have more faith in our academy to make up the numbers over the dead wood we have lying around. You mentioned building. That’s how you build.

Not sure what’s so hard to grasp here. If you’re content with how it’s going so far, fair play to you. I feel a continuation of this approach will leave you disappointed.
 
We've improved. We're a comfortable second and have banked some Euro money that helps us strengthen again.

The manager will be a year more experienced and have learned from a few mistakes he's made.

Also, with better players, there are less likely to be mistakes.

We're getting there. It's not going to be overnight or maybe even in one season of a manager coming in against a Celtic team who have a settled run a things and a year or two left in the core of their squad.
We not comfortable second that's just it.we keep on dropping stupid points like today and at killie ECT then we may not be able to hold onto second.
 
We simply can,t go overhauling the team every season .We need a spine of the team and add to that.

Exactly my point. However, our short term approach to transfers over the last 6 windows has ensured that we are constantly overhauling. It’ll be the same in the summer again.

I fail to see how we become successful until we break that cycle.
 
People say we can't keep rebuilding every summer but what is alternative? We don't have a solid squad that just needs icing on cake.
 
McGregor, Kent and Arfield have been successful signings.

The jury’s still out on the rest or they are poor. Perhaps not had enough game time.
 
If Celtic win tomorrow the title is gone. If we lose on Wednesday night that’s our season over. Massive few days for this team.
 
I knew someone would write Kamara off after one game.

We need 3 or 4 players of Morelos' quality, we don't need a total rebuild.
 
Putting the points we’ve dropped this season due to tactical naivety and unnecessary squad rotation aside, we have to have a serious look at Gerrard’s recruitment record.

He’s signed 19 players since the summer

GK - McGregor, Firth
DF - Goldson, Worrall, Katic, McAuley, Flanagan, Polster, Barisic
MF - Arfield, Kamara, Davis, Grezda, Kent, Ejaria, Coulibaly
FW - Defoe, Lafferty, Sadiq

Only the 4 in bold have hit anything like the levels needed. You could also argue the Manager didn’t have a great deal to do with bringing in 2 of them. It’s an appalling waste of money and in many cases ignored glaring holes in the squad at centre half and in midfield.

We are back to square one yet again with significant numbers moving on and at least 8/9 players coming in on a limited budget. More if we lose Tav and Morelos. It doesn’t work and isn’t sustainable.

Harsh reality is that the level of improvement needed from Gerrard is enormous. Miles off it.

Worrall has generally been okay. Katic has been a very good signing - and was signed with the future in mind. Our centre halves are a massive upgrade on last season... unless you want to go back to Russell Martin?? Our defensive issues have been dealt with.

We qualified, against all odds, for the Europa group stages - something which is ahead of the curve.

We're building a project. There will be bumps along the way, but we will get there. 55 might not happen this season, but we'll be in a better position in the summer to build on as it won't be a rip it up and start again job.
 
People say we can't keep rebuilding every summer but what is alternative? We don't have a solid squad that just needs icing on cake.

But we only have ourselves to blame for that. We desperately need to get to the point where we only need the icing on the cake both financially and for continuity. That’s why you have to seriously question our policy. It’s designed to require wholesale changes every 12 months.
 
Worrall has generally been okay. Katic has been a very good signing - and was signed with the future in mind. Our centre halves are a massive upgrade on last season... unless you want to go back to Russell Martin?? Our defensive issues have been dealt with.

We qualified, against all odds, for the Europa group stages - something which is ahead of the curve.

We're building a project. There will be bumps along the way, but we will get there. 55 might not happen this season, but we'll be in a better position in the summer to build on as it won't be a rip it up and start again job.

Again I see building referred to. What are we building with so many short term signings?

Worrall is rank and we don’t own him. Play Katic. That’s building.
 
Again I see building referred to. What are we building with so many short term signings?

Worrall is rank and we don’t own him. Play Katic. That’s building.

It's a squad in transition - of course, we'll require short-term fixes.

Playing Katic doesn't necessarily equate to building. He's an inexperienced player and his progress could suffer by being relentless played. SG decided to take it slow with McCrorie and it's being proven correct.
 
It's a squad in transition - of course, we'll require short-term fixes.

Playing Katic doesn't necessarily equate to building. He's an inexperienced player and his progress could suffer by being relentless played. SG decided to take it slow with McCrorie and it's being proven correct.
I think his form in the summer dispels this concern in all honesty, him and Goldson looked like they'd been playing together for years.
 
I think his form in the summer dispels this concern in all honesty, him and Goldson looked like they'd been playing together for years.

Not really. That's over a short period of time. McCrorie looked impressive in spells last season and then suffered.

There was obviously something that concerned the coaching staff.
 
My post was about Gerrard’s poor recruitment record not today’s performance though today and many other days like today are obviously a result of that. You’re arguing for points that aren’t even being made.

I don’t have a list of academy players for you who are guaranteed successes. Plenty on first team wages costing us a load of money who are guaranteed flops that I could give you, however.

Instead of wasting money on players like that and developing players for other clubs, I’d like our recruitment to be more focused on quality over quantity and have more faith in our academy to make up the numbers over the dead wood we have lying around. You mentioned building. That’s how you build.

Not sure what’s so hard to grasp here. If you’re content with how it’s going so far, fair play to you. I feel a continuation of this approach will leave you disappointed.


Gerrard (and the DoF) requires more money to have better options / make better recruitment decisions

That's the be all and end of all it and it's got hee-haw to do with anything else you're saying about youth players etc..

His ratio will improve when we can sign better players.
 
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Not really. That's over a short period of time. McCrorie looked impressive in spells last season and then suffered.

There was obviously something that concerned the coaching staff.
I don't think the two situations are really comparable, McCrorie had a couple of stinkers playing out of position in big games and his confidence suffered.

Katic looked solid and started to suffer because he was dropped for seemingly no reason
 
Gerrard (and the DoF) requires more money to have better options / make better recruitment decisions

That's the be all and end of all it and it's got he-he to do with anything else you're saying about youth players etc..

His ratio will improve when we can sign better players.
We're paying at least 30k a week for Defoe and Davis, we could have got far better for that money from a long term perspective
 
Again I see building referred to. What are we building with so many short term signings?

Worrall is rank and we don’t own him. Play Katic. That’s building.

Some short term signings add depth, something every team needs. We don't own Ryan Kent, following your logic should we drop him and send him back to Liverpool?

I'd play Katic ahead of Worrall, but Worrall is nowhere near as bad as made out by some on here. Barring his %^*& up against Killie he's been fine really, and has recovered well in the games since.
 
It's a squad in transition - of course, we'll require short-term fixes.

Playing Katic doesn't necessarily equate to building. He's an inexperienced player and his progress could suffer by being relentless played. SG decided to take it slow with McCrorie and it's being proven correct.

In small doses yes but not on the scale we do it. Our player turnover proves beyond all doubt that we are getting it wrong.

McCrorie should have been in the side earlier as should Katic. I’m not proposing we run anyone into the ground. Take the semi final against Aberdeen as an example. We started that game with 5 loanees. 2 of them have already been punted.
 
I don't think the two situations are really comparable, McCrorie had a couple of stinkers playing out of position in big games and his confidence suffered.

Katic looked solid and started to suffer because he was dropped for seemingly no reason

I'm talking about the general handling of young players during their development, rather than their exact circumstances.
 
Some short term signings add depth, something every team needs. We don't own Ryan Kent, following your logic should we drop him and send him back to Liverpool?

I'd play Katic ahead of Worrall, but Worrall is nowhere near as bad as made out by some on here. Barring his %^*& up against Killie he's been fine really, and has recovered well in the games since.

Kent is an exception. I’m fine with the odd loan or two, particularly if there’s a chance we can make it permanent. 7 I have a major issue with.
 
In small doses yes but not on the scale we do it. Our player turnover proves beyond all doubt that we are getting it wrong.

McCrorie should have been in the side earlier as should Katic. I’m not proposing we run anyone into the ground. Take the semi final against Aberdeen as an example. We started that game with 5 loanees. 2 of them have already been punted.

The reason for the player turnover is the market we're in and the circumstances of the past couple of years - we can't afford or attract the requisite quality.

Warburton and Caixinha signed dross and stuck them on lengthy contracts. We've been unable to shift players and are still paying out wages. This impacts our transfer ability.

Barisic and Grezda are big outlays for us. I'd hang off making judgment for a while on both.
 
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