Swindon Pre Match Press Conference with Danny Cowley | Vital Football

Swindon Pre Match Press Conference with Danny Cowley

hulloutpost

Vital Champions League

Ahead of the Swindon game much of the press conference was taken up with talk surrounding the January transfer window:-

Everton - Imps played one of the best possession based sides in the country. Primarily the match taught so much about Lincoln's ability regarding defensive organisation without the ball setting a new bench mark for the season. Additionally having watched Everton in possession there had been much learning as to how they moved the ball plus how their players ahead of the ball made their runs.

Swindon - It was suggested by the press that with a sickness bug reported in their camp and having lost some players, now is a good time to play them. DC swiftly refuted that by saying that although it hadn't been reported he knew they had signed some more players themselves. Style wise Swindon have a 'keeper with excellent distribution so will look to play out from the back and try to get behind The Imps backline. When countering they have very pacey players to transition quickly aided by players behind them that have good passing ability to feed that tactic.

Transfer Window - Basically there is nothing to report on incoming players nor after Sam Slocombe are there any outgoing loanees. Ideally DC wants to bring people in before he releases anyone else but it doesn't always pan out like that. Imps are now in the more difficult position of bringing in players at a successful club which means the targets are invariably sought after by other clubs who often are better off financially. DC was asked about Darragh MacAnthony tweeting about a Posh player coming to Lincoln. He paused, smiled ruefully and pointed out that whilst a lot of football tweets were very bland DM always keeps it interesting, before quietly adding that a player offer had been made with as yet nothing coming of it. Generally business for L2 clubs is later in the window after the clubs higher up the leagues have done theirs. DC explained that the January window is tougher than the summer one. It happens at a very busy period; not only that - decisions change quickly as a result of matches played. For example somebody who is available one day might have a really good game and the club decide to make him unavailable the next.
DC went into some details about the process having explained that as a club we are in a far better position infrastructure wise than in Jan. 2018 as a result of having Mark Tracey, Jez George plus all the stats. and analysis boys to back them up. DC described how targets would be watched live and assessed via (video) clips. Scouting reports and statistical programs would be reviewed before moving onto references for potential targets. The research is so important because really it is all about minimizing the risk of a dodgy signing but also to be fair on the player (short careers) so they don't end up at the wrong club for them. DC then expressed his frustration at the process involving agents saying 'you would think there would only be three parties:- the buying club, the selling club and the player'. Unfortunately football agents made it a difficult and complicated business and having done so then expected to be paid! In DC world 'you' should only pay people that help you. He did note that not all agents are bad but there were some very 'average' ones out there. DC commented that is the football world having earlier mentioned that football has gone crazy. Whilst football is a brilliant sport and game he is amazed how some clubs survive with their business decisions and the finances involved.
 
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https://www.lincolnshirelive.co.uk/...-cowley-comments-transfer-speculation-2416571

Ahead of the Swindon game much of the press conference was taken up with talk surrounding the January transfer window:-

Everton - Imps played one of the best possession based sides in the country. Primarily the match taught so much about Lincoln's ability regarding defensive organisation without the ball setting a new bench mark for the season. Additionally having watched Everton in possession there had been much learning as to how they moved the ball plus how their players ahead of the ball made their runs.

Swindon - It was suggested by the press that with a sickness bug reported in their camp and having lost some players, now is a good time to play them. DC swiftly refuted that by saying that although it hadn't been reported he knew they had signed some more players themselves. Style wise Swindon have a 'keeper with excellent distribution so will look to play out from the back and try to get behind The Imps backline. When countering they have very pacey players to transition quickly aided by players behind them that have good passing ability to feed that tactic.

Transfer Window - Basically there is nothing to report on incoming players nor after Sam Slocombe are there any outgoing loanees. Ideally DC wants to bring people in before he releases anyone else but it doesn't always pan out like that. Imps are now in the more difficult position of bringing in players at a successful club which means the targets are invariably sought after by other clubs who often are better off financially. DC was asked about Darragh MacAnthony tweeting about a Posh player coming to Lincoln. He paused, smiled ruefully and pointed out that whilst a lot of football tweets were very bland DM always keeps it interesting, before quietly adding that a player offer had been made with as yet nothing coming of it. Generally business for L2 clubs is later in the window after the clubs higher up the leagues have done theirs. DC explained that the January window is tougher than the summer one. It happens at a very busy period; not only that - decisions change quickly as a result of matches played. For example somebody who is available one day might have a really good game and the club decide to make him unavailable the next.
DC went into some details about the process having explained that as a club we are in a far better position infrastructure wise than in Jan. 2018 as a result of having Mark Tracey, Jez George plus all the stats. and analysis boys to back them up. DC described how targets would be watched live and assessed via (video) clips. Scouting reports and statistical programs would be reviewed before moving onto references for potential targets. The research is so important because really it is all about minimizing the risk of a dodgy signing but also to be fair on the player (short careers) so they don't end up at the wrong club for them. DC then expressed his frustration at the process involving agents saying 'you would think there would only be three parties:- the buying club, the selling club and the player'. Unfortunately football agents made it a difficult and complicated business and having done so then expected to be paid! In DC world 'you' should only pay people that help you. He did note that not all agents are bad but there were some very 'average' ones out there. DC commented that is the football world having earlier mentioned that football has gone crazy. Whilst football is a brilliant sport and game he is amazed how some clubs survive with their business decisions and the finances involved.

Very thorough report Hull. Surprised that some of the loanees are not heading back to their parent clubs.
 
Happy to read about the loanees at this stage, although I can see some of them being the ones going out as players come in as per Danny's plans. The stability this brings is a relief!

Thanks so much, hulloutpost - another superb synopsis and so much appreciated.
 
Excellent synopsis as ever, Hull. Presumably at some point this month we will lose Gordon when his loan expires (unless extended of course).
 
Thanks for the write-up again, Hull.

The loanee situation is a curious one. Look at the current appearance records for them (league games only):

Shay McCartan 17 starts + 5 subs = 22
Scott Wharton 5+4 = 9
Kellan Gordon 0+6 = 6
Bernard Mensah 0+4 = 4
Adam Crookes 0
Sam Slocombe 0

So only two of our six loanees have actually started a league game, and two haven't appeared at all. One of those has gone, but the other five remain. As we only have league games to play and taking the uncertainty over McCartan into account, what is the likelihood of having any of them over the second half of the season?
 
Looking at the other side of the coin, a number of these have played Carabou/Checkatrade games. Main benefit from this, is actually we haven't played our key players.
Also we've been lucky* with injuries. If we'f has 3-4 injuries any one game then we would have had to dig into these, but not been the case


*well managed
 
It does highlight exactly how small a squad we have really been operating with. I reckon we have had only 15 main players for league games (Vickers, Smith, Eardley, Toffolo, Bostwick, Shackell, Frecklington, O'Connor, Pett, Anderson, Andrade, McCartan, Akinde, Green, Rhead): furthermore, two of those are goalkeepers, leaving 14; and Wilson and Chapman have hardly featured; Green has now gone, leaving 14 (13 excluding one keeper). And yet we are top by four points: that shows just how good those main players are.
 
Emphasises how reliant on them we have been or untested the others are. Also how important to get quality signings in during this window to either push for a start or to rotate for fatigue. Without checking I would say we probably have another five weeks where we are playing more than once a week including the Easter program.
 
Emphasises how reliant on them we have been or untested the others are. Also how important to get quality signings in during this window to either push for a start or to rotate for fatigue. Without checking I would say we probably have another five weeks where we are playing more than once a week including the Easter program.

Had a quick look, 4 plus Exeter to be arranged.