Thought this was interesting!!

[BanjoPie]

Attachment 18782
Sold one and bought the other!

[for*sttown63]

Local lad in second spot!!

[Woodsetts_Pie]

Should have tried harder to keep him. Stupid decision....

[durhampie]

Well, that was Ardley for you...He replaced him with Shields.....And look how crap he was..

[laddo]

Maybe we should have had a dedicated thread about this ex-magpie.

[macse15]

Maybe we should have had a dedicated thread about this ex-magpie.

I don’t know why no ones thought of that before!

[PedroTheFisherman66]

I think the majority on here knew he had made a mistake. The same with Bird , that's why his squad is unbalanced replacing positions that didn't need replacing. He could have used the budget elsewhere in the team that was deemed weak.
still old hat now we have moved on, lets hope it doesn't prove to be an expensive mistake /judgement.

[LaxtonLad]

I think the majority on here knew he had made a mistake. The same with Bird , that's why his squad is unbalanced replacing positions that didn't need replacing. He could have used the budget elsewhere in the team that was deemed weak.
still old hat now we have moved on, lets hope it doesn't prove to be an expensive mistake /judgement.

He did indeed sign players for positions already covered. Where we needed strengthening rather than filling he signed weak or unproven players and sat them on the bench, probably their best position. But to compound these mistakes he got rid of young players with promise like Bird and Osborne in order to make space for his new signings. These new ones were supposedly players "we've been watching for a while", it's a shame he was watching them and not our own.

[MAD_MAGPIE]

He did indeed sign players for positions already covered. Where we needed strengthening rather than filling he signed weak or unproven players and sat them on the bench, probably their best position. But to compound these mistakes he got rid of young players with promise like Bird and Osborne in order to make space for his new signings. These new ones were supposedly players "we've been watching for a while", it's a shame he was watching them and not our own.

In football recruitment for me is the number one factor in how successful the coming season will be and I deem it bigger than individual matchday tactics, team selection and formations as that is just polishing or tinkering with what you have. Managers live and die by the recruitment.

For me with a big dose of hindsight it was a mistake to let both Osborne and Crawford go. Certainly following the injury to Cal Roberts and Casper Sloth leaving so soon. I also think that Michael Doyle may have been utilised more sparingly had the Casper Sloth signing worked out. So with all those factors the team was on the backfoot and unbalanced in my opinion. Hence we went for Wolfe, but with him reportedly getting Covid in the early part of the season and the form of Reeves and Doyle at that time it didn't quite work out in the long run.

Both Osborne and Crawford were 21 year olds when they left the club. They had plenty of time to grow and develop over the next season or two and become football league ready. On the other hand you have to give those players credit for having the right attitude because they obviously wanted to play first team football regularly and that is perhaps something that may not have happened?

I do believe that the club and owners will learn an awful lot from this season certainly in terms of recruitment. We now have a head coach and I believe that the development of younger players will be more a focus of how the club operates, because that is one of the core principles of a moneyball type of philosophy where you create saleable assets.

There will always need to be the Michael Doyles, JOB's and Mark Ellis's in a team without a doubt. It's all about getting the blend and balance right.