The Recruitment "Department" | Vital Football

The Recruitment "Department"

Defenestrator

Defenestrator

Vital Reserves Team
Following on šŸ™„ from the Grimsby thread, it appears to me that some people misrember the chronology of who's been given the title concerning recruitment.

1. Under Neil Harris, we got Nicky Shorey from 28 March 2022 (click) until 6 December 2022 (click)

2. Then from 6 December 2022 until 5 January 2023, it was in the hands of James King. [Primarily tasked with recruitment for the January transfer window. Working with, and reporting to the Board, as well as the first-team manager.]

3. Andy Hessenthaler (and Kenny Jackett) joined on 5 January 2023 (click)

This is still open to some interpretation as to what deals may or may not have been started before the baton was handed on.

I think it's fair to say that during his tenure, Nicky Shorey had no meaningful budget to work with. Hence the recruitment of obviously cut-price players.

Brad Galinsons was confirmed as our new owner on 23 December 2022 (click) but he'd obviously already put money into the club on or by 30 November 2022 (click). So it's probably fair to say that James King had a decent bit of cash to use.

In the 23 matches after 2 January 2023, we amassed 41 points (equivalent to 82 points over a season).
 
At a guess I don't think the problem is with recruitment (except not getting a prolific striker).

If all the squad moved to new teams I reckon they would do better. So, I think the problem is more day-to-day management/motivation, rather than the ability/recruitment of the players.
 
Gills77 said:
If all the squad moved to new teams I reckon they would do better. So, I think the problem is more day-to-day management/motivation, rather than the ability/recruitment of the players.
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Not necessarily. Hawkins and Lapslie arrived from Mansfield who proceeded to finish 8th, and Nichols came from Crawley who finished 22nd. Ethan Coleman was being loaned out to Bromley and Dieng was gaining splinters on Exeter's bench.

We finished 17th but had the 3rd best form in the division from the turn of the year. That was before the 4 straight wins at the start of THIS season.
 
HullGills said:
Both Clemence and Harris have moaned about a lack of leaders and as stated lack of a goalscorer these are all down to the recruitment dept.
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Good players, leaders and goalscorers are rarely on the market, even if they were they would be looking above our level. Most clubs have problems with recruitment.(name a club who haven't signed a dud) Getting a player to move far from home, convincing him dropping a league or two will be better in the long run, the list reasons not come here have to be surmounted and then hope the player and his family settle. It must be a long and tedious process. spotting them can just be the easy part.
 
GillsBluenose said:
Interesting that Macauley Langstaff is still the top scorer in the division and Notts County's record for the last 6 games is LLLLLD.

Equal with him is Matt Smith and Salford are still 20th.
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Agree. And they arenā€™t isolated cases. Swindon have Charlie Austin. Bradford have Andy Cook.

Alfie Mayā€™s Charlton might have recovered recently. But despite him being among the top L1 goalscorers, alongside 3 or 4 other decent strikers there, they have hovered just above the bottom 4 for a long time.

A lot of these teams with a top quality striker that still struggle, obviously have other issues in midfield or defence or structure. Top goalscorers donā€™t harm a side, but not always guaranteed to get wins.

Us Gills, despite being the lowest goal scorers, are doing ok. In fact, given that lack of goals, we are doing very well. We donā€™t need to attract ā€œthe bestā€ goalscorer in the league (or bizarrely target the best strikers in the league above). We only need to score an average amount to vastly improve.

We need 2 or 3 capable strikers, who can score regular amounts and provide different aspects to each other. Between them some pace, guile, physicality, height and smarts. Plus regular enough goals and assists.

There, sorted. Get me in that recruitment team.
 
OneSirKeefy said:
Agree. And they arenā€™t isolated cases. Swindon have Charlie Austin. Bradford have Andy Cook.

Alfie Mayā€™s Charlton might have recovered recently. But despite him being among the top L1 goalscorers, alongside 3 or 4 other decent strikers there, they have hovered just above the bottom 4 for a long time.

A lot of these teams with a top quality striker that still struggle, obviously have other issues in midfield or defence or structure. Top goalscorers donā€™t harm a side, but not always guaranteed to get wins.

Us Gills, despite being the lowest goal scorers, are doing ok. In fact, given that lack of goals, we are doing very well. We donā€™t need to attract ā€œthe bestā€ goalscorer in the league (or bizarrely target the best strikers in the league above). We only need to score an average amount to vastly improve.

We need 2 or 3 capable strikers, who can score regular amounts and provide different aspects to each other. Between them some pace, guile, physicality, height and smarts. Plus regular enough goals and assists.

There, sorted. Get me in that recruitment team.
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And what do you do with Nadesan, Hawkins, Andrews, Gbode who might all still be under contract for next season? (Iā€™m assuming loanees Mahoney, Walker and Hurtado all return to their clubs).
Very well saying get 3 capable strikers in, but the squad has to be balanced and we appear to be running to a tighter budget since the January window.
 
Lark said:
And what do you do with Nadesan, Hawkins, Andrews, Gbode who might all still be under contract for next season? (Iā€™m assuming loanees Mahoney, Walker and Hurtado all return to their clubs).
Very well saying get 3 capable strikers in, but the squad has to be balanced and we appear to be running to a tighter budget since the January window.
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Didnā€™t say we can get those players out. Just saying our current squad is decent enough if we had 3 (or more) capable strikers. We might have 2 of them already in Hawk (fit and at his best) & Andrews.

Gbode doesnā€™t seem ready since none of our 3 recent managers have given him a run. Nadesan isnā€™t the player I thought heā€™d be. Walker hasnā€™t performed yet. Hurtado Iā€™d love to see back here. Heā€™s different and exciting.
 
OneSirKeefy said:
Didnā€™t say we can get those players out. Just saying our current squad is decent enough if we had 3 (or more) capable strikers. We might have 2 of them already in Hawk (fit and at his best) & Andrews.

Gbode doesnā€™t seem ready since none of our 3 recent managers have given him a run. Nadesan isnā€™t the player I thought heā€™d be. Walker hasnā€™t performed yet. Hurtado Iā€™d love to see back here. Heā€™s different and exciting.
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Sure. But 3 new strikers in means others will have to leave. Overall there will probably be fairly significant changes to the squad anyway as I doubt all those out of contract will be offered new deals.
The squad balance has been to the defensive side for the past 2 seasons, I think it will change from next season.
 
Lark said:
Sure. But 3 new strikers in means others will have to leave. Overall there will probably be fairly significant changes to the squad anyway as I doubt all those out of contract will be offered new deals.
The squad balance has been to the defensive side for the past 2 seasons, I think it will change from next season.
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Absolutely it will. And Iā€™ll be gobsmacked if we donā€™t end up with at least 3 new forwards in our lineup (maybe include Andrews in that).

Whether we can get rid or not, I donā€™t think Nadesan, Walker or Gbode will be in our first team plans next season. I donā€™t think Mahoney or Jayden Clarke will be either. If what I hear about Andrews being a younger, fitter, quicker version of Hawkins is correct, then weā€™ll have those 2 rotating as our ā€œtarget manā€ and then would need at least 2 others for difference, pace, goals, agility etc.

The defence can hopefully stay close to what it is. Although I think Masterson will be off to a higher league. Possibly Ogei too if a good offer comes in and he wants to go.

The midfield imho is too full of similar players. Mahoney, Lapslie, J Williams (and even Clarke) play similar roles. So do Dieng, Coleman and S Williams. Plus Jeffries (and McArthur?) If we play wingbacks, it negates the need for all of them, but I hope we assemble a proper 4-4-2 squad. Or 4-2-3ā€“1. Either way, I think the midfield will change, contracts allowing.

All the above will change if we now win our last 7 and romp into L1. We will then need even more ins n outs!
 
Unless the market has completely changed this summer, the idea that we could recruit 3 reasonable quality strikers is incredibly ambitious IMHO.

I know we think it was a "putting our eggs in one basket" situation with Alfie May, but don't forget how late we signed Bonne - Mid August, after most others had completed their business.

Bonne had been without a club before he started training with us in early August, so no way could he have been a prime target in the first place. Surely we would have wanted him integrated much earlier.

Maybe that is why we wanted to snap up an unfit Andrews really early. In the middle of the season, ready for the next. I have some doubts whether we can secure two more that are anything like the finished article, but we shall see.
 
GillsBluenose said:
I have some doubts whether we can secure two more that are anything like the finished article, but we shall see.
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If we donā€™t, then I canā€™t see much changing. Unless SC completely overhauls our midfield to give us some centrally dominant and creative players. Thus allowing us to play his preferred 4-3-3. That would still require us to put players like Lapslie, Mahoney, JW etc as part of a front 3 rather than part of a midfield 5.

Maybe Iā€™m reading our squad capabilities wrong tho. Maybe Andrews will be the answer to all our woes and prayers. Time will tell.
 
GillsBluenose said:
I have some doubts whether we can secure two more that are anything like the finished article, but we shall see.
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The Evening Standard tonight had an article about promising young players at the London clubs. There were quite a few strikers in the list and maybe that's an option we could explore, for the first half of the season anyway. If a young lad does well he'd probably be recalled in January, hopefully after giving us a flying start.
 
Perhaps we should be looking even more far and wide. Notts County signed a chap from Gambia in the January window and following a few weeks of conditioning he made his debut two games ago. He`s 25, 6`4", big and fast and a central forward. Played two games, scored three and assisted one. Only a couple of games but Allasanna Jatta has made quite an impression. Will be interesting to see whether Jatta continues in the same mode. This was him at Bradford a couple of days back:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1770225463849288117

Any volunteers for Head of Scouting - Africa;)
 
LancsGordoRoad said:
Perhaps we should be looking even more far and wide. Notts County signed a chap from Gambia in the January window and following a few weeks of conditioning he made his debut two games ago. He`s 25, 6`4", big and fast and a central forward. Played two games, scored three and assisted one. Only a couple of games but Allasanna Jatta has made quite an impression. Will be interesting to see whether Jatta continues in the same mode. This was him at Bradford a couple of days back:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1770225463849288117
Any volunteers for Head of Scouting - Africa;)
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Hopefully, he plays more than 4 games in the country, unlike this African:

Georges Ba - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
LancsGordoRoad said:
Perhaps we should be looking even more far and wide. Notts County signed a chap from Gambia in the January window and following a few weeks of conditioning he made his debut two games ago. He`s 25, 6`4", big and fast and a central forward. Played two games, scored three and assisted one. Only a couple of games but Allasanna Jatta has made quite an impression. Will be interesting to see whether Jatta continues in the same mode. This was him at Bradford a couple of days back:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1770225463849288117

Any volunteers for Head of Scouting - Africa;)
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He looks a unit and moves really athletically.

I can only dreeeeeam of someone like that at the Gills.
 
PhilK66 said:
Like Asaba, King or Akinbiyi? Will we ever see their like again at our Club?
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Where are the players of this quality anywhere in the football league ? I donā€™t know whether itā€™s the Premier League hoovering up all the talent and, even if they are loaned out, they get loaned out to teams in Europe. Where are the players with goal scoring pedigree in the championship or premiership coming down to Leagues 1 and 2 ? I always think itā€™s telling that when people speculate on possible signings, how difficult it is to come up with credible names.
 
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