Podcast : End of Season Review 22/23

A great watch, as usual, chaps. Sound views. You make it look very easy.
kingfisher is becoming more and more like Parkinson (the housewife hearthrob).

2 player ratings ones to come over the next 2 weeks with the three of us (Well worth a watch for Taylor Richards and Tyler Roberts alone) then we'll probably do one during the break as players come and go etc.


and thank you Rosco Bosco - I heartily recommend coming on if you ever fancy it - after the first one it's honestly very enjoyable!

Well done Bryan, Dave and James. I'm off to slit my wrists!

Now I am really worried! 

I will be asking again next season for a guest to join me to review the past few games, look ahead to the next few, and discuss a few topics. So, I will be asking singlespeed again and you too Rosco Bosco (unless you dress as an emu that is). I am sure you both will give a different slant on QPR - which is what we want!

And what do all three of these teams plus Preston largely do? Rely heavily on recruiting from lower divisions. Players are then stepping up, they appreciate and invest in the club whereas the PL academy boys see the club as nothing more than a step down that is beneath their ability.

Also had a thought whilst listening to the podcast. I think this position in the league is the natural level of this group of players. The team was going exactly the same way under Warburton until the loanees injected life, quality, and more importantly accountability to the team, and with them now either gone (Austin, de Wijs) or physically redundant (Johansen) the team has returned to that natural level, of a side scrapping to avoid relegation. To note, I include the Hugill and Wells season (19/20) in that too. Without those two that season we’d have been near the bottom, regardless of what people think about the quality of Eze, who whilst a talented player, is not the type of player to prevent slides down the table. His season under McClaren season supports this idea as does the fact we’re here this season with Willock and Chair in the team, and were fighting relegation with Taarabt in the team in 2009/10.

I personally think this diabetic dependency on loans has masqueraded the ineptitude of this team a long while, and this is exactly what we have to avoid doing again this summer. We can’t rely on loanees coming in to paper over the cracks, and I’d support what was said in the pod, a big overhaul is needed. Fortunately there is a lot of quality available for free this summer so that market has to be used effectively.

RE the comment about the transfer market being ruined by COVID, I’d contend it’s actually been killed by three other things and that the pandemic has had no impact. These are; 1) Over-inflation of transfer fees post-Neymar to PSG, 2) Moneyball strategies of teams like Brentford leading other clubs to think they can charge the same level of prices for their players and linked to this 3) the financial disparity between the PL and the EFL — if EFL clubs overcharge PL can just walk away and find more valuable business elsewhere.

Your points are all very much in line with my way of thinking jrperry1882.  The whole player recruitment thing IMO is simply about working 'smarter' than the rest which is something we don't do.   

Our transfer policy seems to be one of  a club that follows rather than leads and it doesnt help that we don't  learn from  previous mistakes.