Crowley Sold to MK Dons

[Carlton_Pie]

Losing Crowley is of course a blow as he has talent you don't usually find at this level but it's not a terminal blow to our promotion chances. For all his star qualities DC has other limitations which were easily exposed by Walsall when they stuck it on us, he can't press, tackle or track back. It's no coincidence that SM has been reluctant to play DC in the no.10 as he won't/can't press, as of now we can press from the front and attack with more pace. For me, it's obvious SM wants us to attack with more pace and get balls into the box quicker, 2 attributes DC isn't great at.

I'm not knocking DC, he's a fantastically gifted player with abilities that should be higher up the football pyramid but his departure offers SM an opportunity to further stamp is philosophy on this team.

[CamPie]

Maybe a little more

Definitely should take it then, we’ll miss Crowley’s creativity but that sort of money in L2 for a player nearing end of contract shouldn’t be missed.

[Carlton_Pie]

Exactly. Fans will moan about it, but this is what it looks like when our strategy is working.

And I agree about our recruitment on the whole. The fact that Crowley was brought in as a replacement for Ruben tells you everything you need to know. Two memorable match-winners brought in for nothing. We went decades without signing players of that quality before the bros came in.

DC was effectively on the football scrap heap when he was released by Morecambe.

Notts recruitment strategy saw it differently and 64 games, 19 goals and 17 assists later Nott sell him for 6 figures! There's absolutely nothing for fans to be upset about here, I can only see positives

[Carlton_Pie]

Raised it before and I will continue to ask the question; I see the sense in Radar, and it has produced some quality, but I only hope that the Bros will at some stage put the brakes on the selling side and get serious about promotion.

hasn't selling Langstaff funded us to have a better squad and a better chance of getting promoted? The yare very serious about getting promotion

[Mapperleypie]

The truth is we don't know how much we are going to miss Crowley until we have played 46 games (plus a potential further 3).

It's clear the radar is working and we may need to get used to this over the next few years, hopefully we will climb a couple of divisions in the meantime, but it's much better than the scattergun approach we have witnessed all too often from various owners at ML.

If Crowley does go today I very much doubt we will ever truly know the fee received.

[Carlton_Pie]

You dont sell a key player to a rival at this stage of the season. 300K is less than what we could expect to earn from being promoted with bigger crowds, more tv money etc and with Crowley in the side admittedly there is no guarantee of promotion we stand a far greater chance.
Our results were poor to say the least when he was out injured in October and November and yes I know so were others at this same time.
We dont have a player that offers what Crowley does if SM plays him in the correct position in terms of goals and assists. The two new lads have very little experience to tell what they can offer, Edwards is 31 and had never played EFL before this season and the jury must be out still on what he can offer after a lengthy injury hampering his season, Grant to me is a poor player, a Kairo Mitchell type signing.
We would have to pay decent money to replace Crowley and hope whoever it is can hit the ground running.

Where do you start here? If Crowley wants to go, he goes.

Messi has never played in the EFL but you wouldn't say that's a negative? Edwards has played most his career in top level Sweden so he's obviously a very good player.

Comparing Grant to Mitchell doesn't even deserve a response.

We've just splashed out for a Championship player from Hull for decent money.

[SmiffyPie]

hasn't selling Langstaff funded us to have a better squad and a better chance of getting promoted? The yare very serious about getting promotion

Yes and if it's a piece of the jigsaw at a time then so be it.

[ForeignLegion]

He?s having a medical at MK as we speak ?..you heard it first, live from Brisbane.

[i961pie]

Definitely not a rare one, the rare ones are those who think recruitment has not been good and use the few failures to highlight their point, ignoring the many and profitable successes.

Anyone particular in mind?😋

[SaltySeaDog]

Having a medical at MK today apparently

https://x.com/SportsPeteO/status/1879097657916018984


Shame to see him go, and I've enjoyed watching him play

But this is the 'pain' we feel from the model in place to help us grow as a club, and the club again have been very proactive in lining up potential replacements.

Selling to a rival obviously has it's drawbacks, but if the money is good, and he wants to jump ship, then what can we do? Maybe Ruben & Woots were completely committed to the club for the remainder of their contracts, and that made it easier for the club to make the decision to keep them??