Paul F, while I agree in principle, football is a business today, whether we like it or not, and unfortunately we are at the wrong end of that spectrum. A degree of ambivalence from me, as I think the stupid and immoral fees and salaries are a cruel joke. Considering our situation, I expect further recruitment will be based on, quality, but dictated by price, and availability.

Thanks for the article Paul. A step in the right direction but hopefully the strategy is not just based on British players. If we use analytics effectively it will allow us to cast our net wider and allow us draw up a shortlist of players to investigate further. Since Koeman it looks like we’ve recruited data analysts but they appear to be focussed on the squad and academy rather than recruitment. If this is the case then hopefully it changes.

It has to be that way doesn’t it Paul? We’ve had a succession of managers and directors of football who have spent money on has beens or on players who don’t blend in with what we have got. Thank goodness Moyes didn’t go for Batshui and waste money like we did with Maupay, Tosun etc. The way forward is the likes of Alcaraz, Tim,Garner/ young lads with a lot to prove, supplementing good youngsters like Armstrong.
Our youth policy has been awful- how, with Baines and Coleman at the club, and previously Ashley Cole can Roman Dixon be thought too naive defensively to play in the first team. How come those three have not coached the lad and taught him how to play?
There is so much that has gone wrong at our club and it is a scandal how money has been wasted on poor players and our youth development has been neglected.
Moyes will sort it out and provide a solid base but it will take time with ups and downs to come.
How Bournemouth with a stadium holding less than 12000 can beat us three times in one season beggars belief and our entire staff on the playing side should be ashamed.

Peter and Dave W, there are reasonably priced players out there, look at Brighton and Bournemouth, and to a degree Southampton, they seem to unearth players, that no-one has ever heard of, then they turn out to be gems, and are either sold on for a huge profit, or their value rises astronomically. We must get a better scouting network, and although very difficult these days, keep any deal or interest, under wraps till the player has signed.

This sort of thing has been talked about on here for what seems ages. It has to be the way forward because the market prices for skilled players is, like everything else in the football world, just crazy.

However, patience is the key. None of it will appear on a plate overnight. There will also be failures. Unfortunately this is unavoidable but mustn't cause a change of direction. It will happen so we have to get over it once it does.

Just think a new Rooney ever few years. To see that sort of talent at first hand at BMD and to get the benefit in our bank account as we develop the next rising star. By now some will be thinking I'm suggesting something that won't happen and they will be right IF we don't try. If we try however just think about what may be possible.

As a lifelong Blue, and I'm now over 80, I probably won't be around to see the benefits of adopting such a policy but I hope that the powers that be adopt such a policy as it is the way to go.

Thanks Paul for posting the article and getting us talking.

I reckon the idea of a new Rooney every few years is a bit fanciful. The lad was a once in a generation talent. I'd settle for a setup like we had in the late 90's/early 2000's with a few quality PL standard players coming through and actually staying put.

A new Michael Ball would be a good start..

Mark @ 6
By adopting this sort of strategy we would get what you are looking for PLUS the odd Rooney. It won't be a factory where you know month by month what to expect. That would be too easy wouldn't it and everybody would be doing it.

As I said, we would have to have patience because nothing would happen overnight. It is a case of if we don't try we will never know and most importantly we will never have the opportunities it might bring.

I’ve got memories of reading a couple of articles from Moyes V1 about how advanced we were using analytics. I’m sure at the time we had some link up with the FIFA 20xx or Football manager games developers and had access to their players database. Hopefully we can get back to a leading position under Moyes V2.
On a related note Kieran Maguire has published a series of tables on X showing clubs net spend in the transfer market over the last few years. In the last 10 years, I.e. the Moshiri era, our spend is £305m, behind Wolves, Brentford, Bournemouth, Villa, West Ham Newcastle before you get to the “Big Six”. Over the last 5 years our spend is a grand total of -£26m, unsurprisingly less than any other club that has appeared in the premiership over that period. Just to give some perspective Brentford have spent £112m in that period.
No surprise we have had such a struggle over the last few years!

Robert Tressel has for a long while advocated a currently "realistic" transfer strategy of hunting in the 5/20 million range with a focus on lower league and tried but almost there young players, if you see what I mean.

Tom Fellows seems to be emblematic of this sort of wheeling and dealing. I would not be surprised if he joined us in the summer. I bet that Robert has a bunch of suggestions from the Championship.

Other teams raid others academies for loans for the most part, I know, but also purchases. As Derek says, this should never exclude European and overseas leagues, and let's hope that Charly (1) stays with us, and (2) is a sign of Brighton things to come, shopping in South America in the sub-20 million market.

The names we were linked to in the last window - including that list that Mike Gaynes posted from a source I forget after the window shut - suggests that there is are very interesting cheaper players in positions we need to fill.

I do like the idea of buying British and young. There are gems there and if in the order of things someone moves on, smart negotiating - good fee, longer-term contracts, renegotiating contracts on a regular basis, and wages (the sort of player I am thinking about might surely be in the 50K area) - would hike up resale value.

Also, a given, any Asian who plays for Celtic.

Interesting article. I had not seen elsewhere that we had actually agreed personal terms with Fellows, which means the deal was close. Hope that gives us the inside track in the summer.

Dave #3, coaching a player up takes time. Remember, it took Seamus a loan at Blackpool and two full seasons at right mid before he could play right back at the defensive level Moyes demanded. He finally made the position his own at age 23. Dixon just turned 20.

And remember Niels Nkounkou? For all his talents, he never got it defensively. At 24 he now rides the bench at Eintracht Frankfurt, and when he does play, it's mostly on the wing, not the backline.

Fair points Mike! It’s just so frustrating seeing the athleticism of young Dixon being kept out of the team by a centre half or a 40year old convert from midfield.
I recall a few years ago when England won the World youth cup and we supplied five of that squad- DCL, Walsh, Dowell, Kenny and a lad whose name I can’t remember. Surely more than just DCL should have made it with us?

Dave, you can look at great youth players and never know who's going to make it at the top level. It takes so much more than athleticism -- it takes quality and fire and brains. And the top level finds you out if you're missing just one of those elements. Dowell, for example, was beautifully skilled, but to my eyes he always lacked the fire. He's made a fine living in the Championship.

I remember watching the U-20 World Cup many years ago. The two most dominant players were the two youngest and smallest, both left-footed wizards, unbelievable pace and skill. One was a mop-top from Argentina. The other was a Ghana-born American. They both went on to break through into their senior national sides while still teenagers.

You know the mop-top.

The Yank, Freddy Adu, didn't like to train or listen to people. He was dumped by MLS, Benfica and Monaco, and by 20 was already fading into the mists of lower leagues all over the world. It ended at a third-division club in Sweden when he was 31. He's now a youth club coach in Maryland.

Yet at 17 you couldn't have separated the two.

Moyes’ strength the first time round was doing the research and only signing the right characters. That’s something we need right now.

As well as the idea mentioned above of buying British and young, can’t we be the club that gives chances to those 18-year-olds who leave City and Chelsea in search of first team football? Why watch them go to Germany and become valued at £50-70M and out of our range when we could put a couple in the squad and guarantee them game time, even if initially from the bench.

The English academy system is as good as any at the moment due to the work done in this country in the last 15-20 years on producing more ‘technical’ players. We have gains to make in exploiting this.