Quote Originally Posted by Zippity View Post
It seems that lots of teams have at least a couple of players who they paid buttons for (relatively speaking) who were way off then radar but who have come into the Prem and done really well. Players who could have performed a very useful role herem for example,

Who was the last players we had like that? The last one I can think of was Schar for 3 million. Beyodn him, though, I'm struggling to think of a player we took a chance on and didn't pay a huge anount forand it worked out.

You think of all our recent first-team buys and they're all around 40 million plus.

Surely, as well as trying to buy 'top' players, we need to also be looking to pick up players like Brighton, Brentford and Bournemouth have done, who cost very little but are really good Premier League players.
Yakubu Minteh. 7m quid. Sporting Director in position.

Eddie Signed Bruno, Tripz, Burn, Pope Et al when he first came in.

He scored big on the targets due to having time to go to Europe scout the players and build a dossier. All of them, every signing has been a success. Even Wood weakened Burnley & Targett did a great job when needed.

The recent signings have been mixed due to not having a dedicated director of recruitment and sporting matters. The Strategic steering committee has been absent since Ashworth defected to the swamp & Eales did a 13 month swan song. Eddie has been on his own once again.

Mitchell turned up, sank pints around the toon, nightly and did nothing much else.

With Eddie being 7-7 at the training ground when exactly has he had the time to invest in the recruitment with the head of recruitment Steve Nickson?

Who's doing the negotiations?

The targets brought in last summer, Elanga, Wissa & Ramsey all Prem players, assumed to be 'Safe Bets' - easy recruitment.

We all know now that injuries, time of signing and adaption to the tactics has lead the 3 to underwhelming performances thus far.

In my opinion, the one thing that the club owes Eddie Howe is one full stable season, inclusive of -

Full uninterrupted training camp in Europe with football, not commercial focused Pre-Season
Fully funded and supported recruitment with early transfer made in an aggressive, direct & intentional manner
&
Patience enable Eddie to get on with the job next season

The man deserves that, for the progress and success he's brought to the club in the 4 odd years.