Signing strategy over the years

[GreenOnions]

IMHO we've been on a slow downward spiral since Mowbray left. JC won a trophy and Yogi got us into Europe but how much of that was down to their own team and how much was TM's legacy?

Mowbray is said to have been lucky that he inherited so many good youngsters - and that's true. However, altho he bought some duds like everyone else, he added more quality in his short time here than any other recent manager. Gradually these guys and the youngsters have all left - with Fletcher being the last one.

He bought Murphy, Jones, Beuzelin, Stewart, Sproule, Shiels, Zemmama, Beuzelin, Benjelloun and Killen in two and a half years. Each subsequent manager apart from CC has inherited fewer of these players than his predecessor.

It's not rocket science but, for me, the single biggest problem is that subsequent managers have not been able to identlfy players in the way Mowbray did. How many of the dozens brought in over the last five years can match Mowbray's signings in terms of quality? Stokes, Bamba and maybe Miller. Any more?

I don't want to judge recent signings too early but the board has to understand this pattern. I do believe that JC, Paatelainen, Yogi and CC have all been given funds but have not used them wisely. What is it about our managerial appointments that is causing this? They need to identify the recurring themes and the consistent flaws in their managerial recruitment strategy that causes them. Otherwise we will continue to waste one of the bigger budgets in the SPL.

I don't believe the board starve our managers of funds. Clearly they also provide excellent facilities in which to work and to help entice potential signings. However, are they failing to make proper use of all the investment they've made by failing to understand the type of man they need to put their plans into practice?

[RIP]

Way too much reliance at Hibs on constantly signing players.

That's the problem at ER - not the solution

There's a lot of talent at the club just now and we should be doing better than we are

That's the real issue

[GreenOnions]

Way too much reliance at Hibs on constantly signing players.

That's the problem at ER - not the solution

There's a lot of talent at the club just now and we should be doing better than we are

That's the real issue

The point I was trying to make is that, in the post-Bosman era, unless you're Man Utd or Barcelona, you're not going to hold onto quality players for that long and the relative importance of being able to "pick a player" is maybe much greater than it was in the past.

Most clubs have high player turnover rates these days as a result. Clubs who change their managers a lot have even highr rates tho!

My point tho was - have we appointed managers who have been able to pick a player - and iff not - do we need to re-draw our "person spec" for the HFC manager's position in future?

[SkintHibby]

The revolving door of rubbish footballers at Easter Road over the last 5 years at Easter Road has been nothing short of scandalous. There does not seem to be any strategy there. Why not have a small squad of well paid players?

Hibs have been disgracefully mismanaged for years now and it's time for a certain Mr Petrie and others to step aside and let new people in. It's completely stale at Easter Road and we need a fresh start to rejuvanate our ailing football club.:agree:

[The Sea-gull]

CC's signing strategy is really questionable as he seems to have no idea about ensuring we have cover and quality in each department. He has overloaded the midfield with the same type of players, not signed anywhere near enough defenders and we actually now maybe have one striker too many.

We are actually ok for GKs as I'd say Stack and Brown are good enough in comparison with most average SPL keepers.

Look at the defence though. For a start we are woefully short in numbers. OK, Michael Hart was a Yogi signing but everyone seems to agree he's not a player any more. Towell is ok but is he really even a RB? We need at least one more centre half purely just to make up the numbers as a minimum ut really CC has neglected this area as if O'Hanlon (jury is out on how good he is just now) is injured we are left with two 20 year olds. We don't really have decent cover at LB as Booth is getting exposed but who else do we play there? Still convinced Booth will be a top player but might be better further up the field for now. Murray and Stevenson could player there but only as emergencies as neither is good enough for a game there week in, week out.

In midfield CC's eye for a player has seen him sign the same player four times in Scott, Thornhill, Palsson and Osbourne. None look like they have creativity in them and all can be annoymous at times. Then theres the aforementioned Murray and Stevenson who really should only be in the team in an emergency.

Out wide we have potential talent but it is not used properly. Galbraith is never played, Wotherspoon is played on the "wrong" side and Sproule appears to be asked to just run around all over the place with no purpose unless he just does that anyway as I suspect he might. Booth is a great outlet but he is being asked to bomb up and down the touchline which is too big ask for a young lad unless they are absolutely top class.

Up front G O'C has been doing the business, hopefully LG will offer something too. Going on last season Sodje is functional if not spectacular. Got a feeling Agogo will be poor but if he is 4th choice then that won't matter too much. Airey now looks like a pointless signing with the arrival of LG and the money spent on Airey would have been better spent on a creative midfielder or a defender or two as fowards will only do so much but if the defense is a shambles and no creation coming from midfield they really are feeding off scraps.

CC has been backed in the transfer market but just hasn't made the right moves which shows a lack of judgement on his part and for him to come out and say the squad is "perfect" is laughable expect it is not funny for us fans.

[Iain G]

Ok some well put together posts already on this thread, I'd like to disagree to a certain extent however :greengrin

Tony Mowbray signed a lot of players who were needing to relight or step up their careers, young players who had stalled and were hungry for success and eager for first team football having fallen out of favour at various clubs (Hogg, Murphy, Shiels and the likes) or the likes of Ivan who had his one chance at the big step up. Hungry players who owed the manager their chance so wanted to play for him and were keen to play the swashbuckling football that he wanted and we all enjoyed.

JC inherited a chunk of this team and in his first season managed to galvanise them to win a trophy we will always remember with great fondness and gratitude. Alas we know the story of what happened next with the mutiny and the type of player and basic quality of his players not managing to replace those that left, even though he probably had more cash to spend than Mowbray did.

Mixu and Yogi signed a mixed bag of players, Hughes managed to sign well known faces in Miller and Stokes and was backed well by the club again, and for a while it worked, alas the players and manager proved not good enough and a fairly disasterous collapse followed.

Now IMHO the mindset of the players had changed since McLeish and Mowrbay were at the club, players perhaps with less to prove and less hungry than those who went before and perhaps managers who showed their limitations when faced with things not going well? I suspect there is no coincidence that Hughes and Hibs allowed so many to be out of contract this summer, would have been interesteing to see what Yogi did with the squad if he had the chance to do what Calderwood has been allowed to do.

CC came in and worked out quickly that the majority of the squad had lost their mojo, drive and desire and resilience and self belief. He is going down a similar track in some ways to Mowbray and bringing in younger players with a point to prove, which has sometimes worked and sometimes our lack of experience and fight has gone against us. This summer he has tried to combine this youthfull desire with some good experience players (Agogo, O'Hanlon), some old Hibs heads in Garry and Ivan to add desire to win to the squad, and some further good reputation younger players from the actual English Premiership (Osbourne, Griffiths etc). He is trying to get the blend right, and I agree with him as we all do that the team SHOULD be better than they are performing. I think they and he need to find their feet quickly and perhaps with one more experienced defender into the squad and enough time to allow them to blend together then the team will get better.

I think he has an eye for a player and hope he has the ability to blend all of the elements together. I'd like him to settle on his first choice team and keep playing them together, McLeish knew his best team in what was probably our best season in the last however many years and stuck with it.

Fingers crossed he and the players get it together quickly and prove that they are good enough to propell us back up the league. :agree: