Summer rebuild

[Bedfordblue]

As much praise as we can give Thellwell, his recruitment saw the team go from a team that finished mid-table to a team that fought relegation.


/runs and waits for the net spend spam

Best take this one the Thewell thread!

 

[Dwight K Schrute]

Can’t get my head around what’s happening here to be honest. A Moyes man coming in next. They’ve really given him the free rein to run the club haven’t they? Don’t get me wrong, he’s done incredibly well since coming in to get us safe in such a short time. That’s more than any of us expected. But very few of us if we’re all being honest wanted him back in the first place. He’s only signed a 2.5 year deal, but the owners have let him basically dump the current DOF that has done an amazing job under impossible circumstances, a DOF that had a clear vision of recruiting young talented players, for his old mate at West Ham? This isn’t how i envisioned things panning out. I’ll hold fire on being too critical until we see the first couple of players through the door. But at this stage I’m concerned especially seeing the recent links. It’s supposed to be a new dawn ffs, let’s not make the same mistakes we’ve made under the previous ownership..

It's a shocker, really is. And the recruitment they have managed between them post Everton has been pretty poor, with huge sums wasted. Very worrying.

 

[Evo2901]

Hard to believe TFG are ushering in a new era by letting Moyes pick their DOF/Head of Recruitment. It just completely goes against the ‘best in class’ narrative we’ve been fed in the media these past few months.

 

[chopper6]

Everyone who’s cry arsing, just remember there literally isn’t one single DOF/ head scout that hasn’t made both good & bad signings.

Literally none.

So dry your eyes and trust the new process.

Either way we’ll no doubt find some decent players. But maybe one or two that don’t work out.

Be at peace with it would be my advice.

 

[Ming the Merciful]

For years everyone was crying "If only Moyes had money."

Well now he does and I have faith.

Looking forward to what he's got in store.

 

[polish]

One of the biggest issues we had was that our DOFs werent exactly on the same page as our managers. Why’s that a bad thing we’re now signing someone who has a proven record working with our manager?

 

[Tel001]

Shambolic, disgusting and, amateur.

What a mess.

Are those your suggestions for the stand names at BMD?

 

[bluesb1970]

Can’t get my head around what’s happening here to be honest. A Moyes man coming in next. They’ve really given him the free rein to run the club haven’t they? Don’t get me wrong, he’s done incredibly well since coming in to get us safe in such a short time. That’s more than any of us expected. But very few of us if we’re all being honest wanted him back in the first place. He’s only signed a 2.5 year deal, but the owners have let him basically dump the current DOF that has done an amazing job under impossible circumstances, a DOF that had a clear vision of recruiting young talented players, for his old mate at West Ham? This isn’t how i envisioned things panning out. I’ll hold fire on being too critical until we see the first couple of players through the door. But at this stage I’m concerned especially seeing the recent links. It’s supposed to be a new dawn ffs, let’s not make the same mistakes we’ve made under the previous ownership..

Very few of us wanted Moyes? Let’s not be revisionist here!

 

[windymiller]

Hmm not great

Not the new dawn many of us were hoping for. 61 year old manager, 61 year old DoF. Future proof. It's just all so underwhelming. What's the long term plan here?

 

[Zatara]

Newman was involved with first-team recruitment at the Etihad Stadium and worked alongside Txiki Begiristain, James Smith, Brian Marwood and Gary Worthington, all of whom are key figures in City’s extensive scouting department.

He also worked with the analytics team, and was assigned to scout young talent in Spain and France and is fluent in both languages. The former defender, who made almost 250 appearances for Norwich City in the 1990s, had some involvement in the signings of Brahim Diaz, Angelino and Pablo Maffeo between 2013-15.

During that timespan, the City Football Group wanted to bring in top talents from Europe to increase the level of competition in the academy. Newman played a key role in this and is also understood to have been involved in recruiting Aymeric Laporte from Athletic Bilbao in 2018.

Diaz, Angelino and Maffeo were signed for a combined fee of £200,000 and subsequently sold for a grand total of around £40 million to Real Madrid, PSV Eindhoven and Stuttgart respectively. West Ham manager David Moyes has stated on numerous occasions he wants to sign young players who have resale value. Newman’s impending arrival will enable the Scotsman to achieve this.

When it comes to scouting full-backs, Newman is keen for them to be big, strong and quick. For midfielders, they need to have good technique, passing ability and a tactical brain.

At City, Newman was known for being a hard worker, active, with a bulging contacts book, popular among the scouts and a people person.

This will be great news for Moyes, given the camaraderie with his backroom staff and the squad. Also, the two men were team-mates at Bristol City in the 1980s.

“Rob was really good with young players and approachable,” says Josh Simpson, who played under Newman at Cambridge. “He made us all feel welcome and was really good at telling us how we could improve our game. He brought a lot of young players to the club but he wasn’t given enough time. I can see why he went on to become a scout because he’s great at identifying talent.”



Most importantly, Newman joining West Ham will help take the pressure off Moyes and co-owner David Sullivan.

Over the past 19 months, the signings of Jarrod Bowen, Tomas Soucek, Vladimir Coufal and Said Benrahma show the club is heading in a positive direction. Yet prior to Moyes returning for a second spell in charge in December 2019, West Ham were often very reliant on agents’ recommendations, with Sullivan effectively acting as their director of football.

“I want to get us a state-of-the-art recruitment department for the future which we can look to use,” Moyes said shortly before the last winter transfer window. “We are undoubtedly behind, I would argue, probably every other club in that area. But it’s something I will fix, it’s something I want to get in place better.”

The appointment of Newman is a step in the right direction and The Athletic understands he will focus on identifying talent already in the UK. Moyes is also keen to develop a younger department packed with analysts. The long-term plan is for the club to build a European scouting system. In previous spells as manager of Preston North End, Everton and Manchester United, it was Robbie Cooke who worked alongside Moyes in senior recruitment roles.

But a quick look at West Ham’s recent history will tell you they have had a poor record with the director of football role.

Gianluca Nani worked under Gianfranco Zola and then Alan Curbishley between 2008-10 and was responsible for the signings of Savio Nsereko, Valon Behrami, Diego Tristan, Herita Ilunga, David Di Michele and Alessandro Diamanti.

Mario Husillos, who worked under Moyes’ successor (and predecessor!) Manuel Pellegrini, had also not previously worked in English football but had some involvement in the arrivals of Jack Wilshere, Sebastien Haller, Lucas Perez, Pablo Fornals, Goncalo Cardoso, Samir Nasri, Ryan Fredericks, Albian Ajeti, Roberto, David Martin, Felipe Anderson, Andriy Yarmolenko, Xande Silva, Fabian Balbuena and Carlos Sanchez.



Of the 15 players signed between 2018-19, five remain at the club, with Fornals the only first-team regular.

Having splurged £170 million on players, which yielded mixed results, Sullivan said: “Under the previous regime, the only two players I picked were (Issa) Diop and (Lukasz) Fabianski; I bullied the manager to take them because I liked both players.

“All the other players him and his director of football picked.

“I regret, in a way, not stopping some of the signings, because you have to back the manager. The fans were on my back to have a director of football, a big-name manager. We did what the fans wanted. It didn’t work.”

Newman has a proven track record and it is an added bonus that he was one of City’s key scouts in Europe.

Lessons have been learned from Pellegrini’s year and a half in charge and one of the reasons why Alphonse Areola, the goalkeeper signed on loan from Paris Saint-Germain after spending last season in the Premier League with Fulham, has been the only summer arrival for the first team is down to the emphasis on bringing in the right personnel.

Newman’s arrival will allow him and Moyes to plan ahead for the January window.

Head of recruitment is a position the manager has been keen to address for quite some time.

The signing of Newman could prove to be the club’s most astute yet.

Absolute joke.

 

[Zatara]

Everyone who’s cry arsing, just remember there literally isn’t one single DOF/ head scout that hasn’t made both good & bad signings.

Literally none.

So dry your eyes and trust the new process.

Either way we’ll no doubt find some decent players. But maybe one or two that don’t work out.

Be at peace with it would be my advice.

Look at the Wham signings and compare their success with Thelwells.

Night and day.

For years everyone was crying "If only Moyes had money."

Well now he does and I have faith.

Looking forward to what he's got in store.

He had money at Sunderland and Wham.

He failed.

One of the biggest issues we had was that our DOFs werent exactly on the same page as our managers. Why’s that a bad thing we’re now signing someone who has a proven record working with our manager?

Because the manager is on a 2year deal and the DOF is a failure with recruitment.

Neither are what "best in class" stands for.

Not the new dawn many of us were hoping for. 61 year old manager, 61 year old DoF. Future proof. It's just all so underwhelming. What's the long term plan here?

Plan? Theres clearly no plan.

 

[Mr Happy]

Look at the Wham signings and compare their success with Thelwells.

Night and day.



He had money at Sunderland and Wham.

He failed.



Because the manager is on a 2year deal and the DOF is a failure with recruitment.

Neither are what "best in class" stands for.



Plan? Theres clearly no plan.

You're a tit. When you're not going on about kids from obscure tinpot countries you're playing to the Anti Friedkin crowd for god knows what reason. Currently this club is on its best run for however many years. There's a bit of joy again on match days down in part to TFG who if I'm not mistaken recruited the manager. He might not be best in class but currently, pre BMD and the start of the actual rebuild on and off field, he's doing ok. Just get on board!

 

[hetion]

Can't make any assessments til after the window (or more likely, til after next season) but I have one eyebrow raised at this appointment in a way that would put Ancelotti to shame.

 

[toffeeblue9]

You're a tit. When you're not going on about kids from obscure tinpot countries you're playing to the Anti Friedkin crowd for god knows what reason. Currently this club is on its best run for however many years. There's a bit of joy again on match days down in part to TFG who if I'm not mistaken recruited the manager. He might not be best in class but currently, pre BMD and the start of the actual rebuild on and off field, he's doing ok. Just get on board!

Whilst I think he's going way over the top on this, I think there's a reasonable point he's making in there somewhere.

I think the vast majority of us are accepting that Moyes is a good appointment for the short to medium term in that the club is in need of rebuilding and he's done this well in the past a few times.

The concern I think I have is that the new structure appears to be one which effectively hands the keys to the castle to Moyes. It's a setup which almost all clubs have moved away from now, giving the manager significant responsibility for recruitment - that might seem a leap, but nobody's convincing me that Rob Newman isn't coming in at Moyes's behest.

Making the manager the person who is the one responsible for everything is a fairly outdated model and it's a tiny bit concerning that we seem to be moving back to it. It effectively means that when Moyes leaves, we will have to rip up the structure and start again.

The counter argument I guess is that Moyes seems to have done his best work when he's been afforded this sort of responsibility, but my concern is that the game has moved on and this model has big limitations.

 

[Charlie Sweet]

Dixon is 20 and I think would be fine as a 2nd choice (or 3rd with O'Brien playing there currently) right back.

Armstrong should be in the squad, rotating in/out.

The savings here as 'squad players' would mean we have a lower number of signings required.

If were looking purely at 3 starters: CF, RW, RB and 4 rotation players: RM, LCB, LB, GK then if we use the loan market effectively we 'may' be able to target an additional CM player.

I suspect, knowing Moyes track record we'll go for a smaller squad but hopefully TFG focus on signing youth and quality.

First post of yours I've ever agreed with!

You're a tit. When you're not going on about kids from obscure tinpot countries you're playing to the Anti Friedkin crowd for god knows what reason. Currently this club is on its best run for however many years. There's a bit of joy again on match days down in part to TFG who if I'm not mistaken recruited the manager. He might not be best in class but currently, pre BMD and the start of the actual rebuild on and off field, he's doing ok. Just get on board!

Actually he's right whihc must make you a nipple. You're getting carried away with half a dozen games.