Trial and Error

[Salopian 1]

A list of signings, loan and "permanent", made by Worthy was published recently. He has signed over 50 players, apart from our own youth players, in five years.Two questions arise:Do such frequent changes in personnel lead to instability, and patches of poor performance until the new players settle in? If the team is in a constant state of flux, and ten players a year must cause this and especially if they are foreigners unused to British football, can we point to such occasions. In fact the largest changes could have been early in the Premiership season, when apart from the wins at the end our best period may have been early on. The frequent changes may have an effect, but it seems small. The evidence may be the opposite. The arrival of Hux, first on loan and then permanently, arguably was the most important factor in our promotion year.Why do such frequent changes arise?We might be tempted to think it is partly because of injuries. How many have we had this year, Worthy, it must be at least 150 by now? If you look through the years there seem to be no differences between the years when we lucky with injuries and those when we were unlucky.Perhaps we had loan signings, 19 of them, because our squad has been too small. We have still signed over 30 on a permanent basis, a yearly average higher than for most teams, and explaining the £12m or whatever that we have spent. So there was no need for the squad to be so small, if a high number had not been disposed of quickly as well.Of the 30 plus signed over the five years, two goalkeepers. four defenders. five midfielders and five strikers are still with us. This means that approximately half of the "permanent" signings have come and gone very quickly, and possibly a few more may go at the end of the season. Some of the £12m or so has been "wasted"!The explanation must be that signings did not come up to expectation! This in turn must mean either that the management team are not good at spotting good players, or players who will fit in to their methods of playing. (Most of us could attach names here.) Alternatively, in cases where players were spotted by scouts, and signed unseen by management, either the scouts are not up to the job or management failed to spell out fully their instructions to the scouts. In the end , of cours,e management must carry the can. Do I hear cries of W...Out?