Has Alan Knill got his transfer strategy wrong?

ferrarilover · Post by **ferrarilover** » 29 Jun 2013, 19:47

I see other clubs signing players, and that is fine for them, but I'm not really panicking that we aren't signing people when others are for one, very good, reason. None of them is the a player I would want to see sign for Torquay (with the possible exception of Dave Kitson at Oxford). The players who have been signed already have been signed early because they are happy to accept the first offer they get, which tells us that they consider themselves lucky to be getting an offer at all.
Despite the old bollocks which gets trotted out every time any player signs for a L2 outfit, no one is 'excited' about signing for Accrington Stanley. No one really thinks that AFC Wombles are a club with 'huge potential', it's just bog standard fare. What these players really mean is 'thank **** this bunch of mugs has signed me up. They're shit, but it saves me getting a real job.' It's just the same when players come to us, no schoolboy dreams of playing for Torquay, they simply end up here because their career never really went the way they thought it would.
Players who have been signed up already are nobodies and they know it. The real cream have a dozen offers to weigh up, a dozen managers to talk to and haggle with and a dozen training grounds to visit. This takes time.

Everybody be cool. Knill is no fool, he's got this.

Matt.

Jerry · Post by **Jerry** » 29 Jun 2013, 19:58

Matt is (as usual) spot on.

Those already signed up are those who thought they may not get anything so took pretty much the first offer they received or those who have received an offer larger than they had hoped for from a club spending over the odds. (Or those going to Pompey - let's face it, any player at this level would want to play for them.)

As we don't want to be over paying we have held our nerve and will reap the rewards in the next couple of weeks.

For all the panic on here (and we go through the same thing every single close season), none of the players we have been linked with have signed for anyone else, so we haven't missed out on anyone.

Fonda · Post by **Fonda** » 29 Jun 2013, 20:19

Fair play if you know the abilities of all the players that have already moved in League 2 this summer Matt. There are plenty of names I don't even recognise - but I wouldn't see that as reason enough to write them off so rapidly. There are however quite a few names that have moved that I would have been more than satisfied to see turn up at Plainmoor.

Everything might be under control. Perhaps we do have plenty of cash to splash, and maybe all the players we want will end up with us. It'd just be nice to see something positive happen soon.

gullintwoplaces · Post by **gullintwoplaces** » 29 Jun 2013, 20:23

x2!!

Agree with Matt and Jerry. Some sense at last on this thread. Clubs do panic to sign dross, take the Premiership as an example. Some Premership clubs have fallen over backwards to offer mad pay packets to players who then spend their time kicking their heels in the reserves. Add an "itch" or a "ski" to their name and the pay offer becomes 30% larger. Some League 2 clubs will also regret hasty decisions to sign failures, probably by the end of September.

Keep the faith, not time to panic yet.

Fonda · Post by **Fonda** » 29 Jun 2013, 20:30

So now it's turned around completely, and if we had signed some players already, half the board would actually see that as a bad thing? Because it would obviously mean those players were rubbish, and lacked options?

Jerry · Post by **Jerry** » 29 Jun 2013, 20:49

Fonda wrote:So now it's turned around completely, and if we had signed some players already, half the board would actually see that as a bad thing? Because it would obviously mean those players were rubbish, and lacked options?

That's not what I said. (Actually, looking back that is pretty much what I said. :Oops: )

The point I was trying to make was that there are plenty of decent players around who haven't signed for anyone yet, including all those we have been linked with (to general approval on this site).

If and when the players we are after start signing for other clubs is the time to worry and not before.

If history teaches us anything, it is that we usually sign players in the first week of July, so hopefully this time next week we will all be much more relaxed.

Fonda · Post by **Fonda** » 29 Jun 2013, 20:54

Yep, I'll say no more on the subject until next weekend, by which time hopefully we'll have done some business.

AustrianAndyGull · Post by **AustrianAndyGull** » 29 Jun 2013, 21:10

We do generally sign players around this time as a previous poster eluded to however I think the anxiety is due to the fact that we have nearly an entire team to assemble plus a few squad players within a few weeks. For example we have 3 defenders on the books in Downes, Nicholson and Cruise plus Kirtys MacKenzie who has appeared for the first team albeit briefly but did very well. Now given that Nico and Cruise are both left backs we basically need a partner for Downes due to the loss of Saah and McDonald and a decent back up plus a decent right back and a back up and hope to God that Downes doesn't get injured. That is 4 players needed just to ensure our defence is covered.

Midfield is not too bad, I reckon we need some creativity in there definitely so one addition to the midfield is certainly required. Billy is often played as an attacking midfielder too.

Up front we need at least 2 possibly 3 strikers as we only have Yeoman.

So by my reckoning we need at least 5 first team additions and possibly more than 3 back up players.

I can see why there is concern but I don't really know how the system works so I am more than happy to trust AK to get these players on board. It is not ideal but it's where we are at folks.

ferrarilover · Post by **ferrarilover** » 29 Jun 2013, 23:11

Fonda wrote:So now it's turned around completely, and if we had signed some players already, half the board would actually see that as a bad thing? Because it would obviously mean those players were rubbish, and lacked options?

No, I don't believe I would, but that's only because I believe that, had we signed someone already, that that someone would be someone I would really like to see in a Yellow shirt.
I feel I may have been unduly harsh about some of the played who have signed on with clubs already. I don't mean that they're all dross (although it does read that way). It's more that I feel that Knill is looking for better-than-average players, which is why things are taking so long. Had we already signed a few of these types, then I would assume that budget constraints were such that we were severely limited in what we could afford and that Knill was snapping up early bargains to keep the trapdoor of relegation at arm's length, but nothing more. As it is, and as I have written above, I view our delaying as a sign that we are chasing quality over price. We're shopping at John Lewis instead of Poundland, for a change.

Matt.

exiledgull · Post by **exiledgull** » 30 Jun 2013, 07:25

Road Runner I have heard there are 2 signings to be announced on Monday? Can you confirm this as my source isn't the most reliable but he said this is nailed on.

ROADRUNNER · Post by **ROADRUNNER** » 30 Jun 2013, 07:51

all i know exile that there will be signings next week but dont know who, hopefully benyon will be one of them.

gullno4 · Post by **gullno4** » 30 Jun 2013, 08:25

exiledgull wrote:Road Runner I have heard there are 2 signings to be announced on Monday? Can you confirm this as my source isn't the most reliable but he said this is nailed on.

surely this will be Benyon and tonge?!

exiledgull · Post by **exiledgull** » 30 Jun 2013, 09:29

Tonge and Benyon would be a very good start!

Post by **Colorado Gull** » 30 Jun 2013, 10:26

A club like ours will always have this situation, mainly due to the size of our budget and our location. I agree with what others have said above, players are just weighing up their options. I really have no clue on the financial side of the club and the players wages in league two, but just go with this example from a guy who knows nothing. Say there's a player from London and both we and Wimbledon are interested in him. We offer him £1,000 a week, while Wimbledon only offer him £750 a week (or something around actual figures). Does he stay in London, most probably were his family are and earns less money, or does he come all the way to Torquay and earn more a week? Football is a business and it takes time for decisions to be made in the grass roots of football, especially when a team is at a location like ours.

Plymouth Gull · Post by **Plymouth Gull** » 30 Jun 2013, 10:26

I doubt it will be those two, possibly one of them though. I reckon Knill has got some surprises lined up for us.

As of today they are officially free agents, so the ball will start rolling now.

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