Left out of the squad yet again, for a 2nd or 3rd time in a row I think?

 

I thought he was maybe injured, but he's played in the last 2 or 3 reserve fixtures, so clearly not injured, I am reluctant to say that he's finished already, as we paid a decent fee by our standards, for him. But there is clearly something amiss with him. I'll revert back to a post I made a few weeks back, people at one of our reserve games that he featured in, along with Gleeson, said that he looked utterly disinterested.

 

Is it just a case of giving him more time to settle and adapt or is he just simply not good enough?, or is the manager putting a rocket up his arse?

He was back on the bench today, which I found surprising, even more surprising that we were shyte in the middle of the park and offering nothing going forward, but still Gleeson and Forrester were left on the bench.

 

It's hard to think anything other than they are both finished for us.

Forrester just totally shyte. Recent bereavement no excuse.....it was a sudden death and he was shyte long before that. Finished with us I think, however I can envisage us being stuck with him long term unless we write off his transfer fee and heavily subsidise his wages at an Irish club.......cannot see even an English Conference club being interested.

 

Gleeson has decent footballing ability but he runs out of petrol after 60-70 minutes and about as mobile as a battleship with it's rudder missing. Similar to Stewart last season in that he looks like he is carrying at least an extra stone in weight even at this stage of the season. Don't think we would have resigned Ball on loan but management team realised he was going to be a liability virtually as soon as he arrived. Think he thought after being at Ipswich he would stroll it up here in a diddy league and has found out to his horror that the quality and intensity is miles higher than he surmised. Possibly could be a useful sub next season if as expected Shinnie fecks off in the summer but suspect if he can line up a free transfer to a lower league English club he would be allowed to leave in January.

mcinnes signed them he is the problem they are the symptom

Released.

Stewart beat me to it.

 

https://www.afc.co.uk/2019/01/22/chris-forrester/

up there, no in fact worse than Tommy Wright .... must be 300k spunked away for zero , very very strange/bad/inept

Glad our finances or so vast that we can pay around £200k on a player, only to go and rip up his contract a few months later 

Glad our finances or so vast that we can pay around £200k on a player, only to go and rip up his contract a few months later 

 

I don't think we paid £200K with the intention of releasing him in the window.....

 

I'm not sure what your solution is? Stop paying money for players in case it doesn't work out?

 

I think it's good that we have the ability to admit our mistakes and get rid. Far better that, than feeling obliged to give him a 20 minute run out here and there in order to keep him happy.

 

Would a £100K (half our Forrester fee) increase in the recruitment staff budget result in a better return on our scouting? Signings like this, Tansey etc would certainly suggest some investment wouldn't be wasted. Although, I have no idea what additional scouting could be bought for that type of money.

 

I'm going to claim that I had first call on here suggesting that Forrester wasn't up to it (and Gleeson). From the minute I saw him, I could tell that there was a huge part of his game missing to play in the current AFC team. I also called out Tansey before he signed, and Storey. I think I could get a better return on our investments if the club were willing to pay me £100K

so what are you seeing that our scouts arent ? it appears he was going through the motions at peterborough its a strange one and an expensive one if you factor in wages

I don't think we paid £200K with the intention of releasing him in the window.....

 

I'm not sure what your solution is? Stop paying money for players in case it doesn't work out?

 

I think it's good that we have the ability to admit our mistakes and get rid. Far better that, than feeling obliged to give him a 20 minute run out here and there in order to keep him happy.

 

Would a £100K (half our Forrester fee) increase in the recruitment staff budget result in a better return on our scouting? Signings like this, Tansey etc would certainly suggest some investment wouldn't be wasted. Although, I have no idea what additional scouting could be bought for that type of money.

 

I'm going to claim that I had first call on here suggesting that Forrester wasn't up to it (and Gleeson). From the minute I saw him, I could tell that there was a huge part of his game missing to play in the current AFC team. I also called out Tansey before he signed, and Storey. I think I could get a better return on our investments if the club were willing to pay me £100K

 

I am sure some sort of deal to get him back to Ireland could have been sorted, whether it was a loan or permanent transfer.

I am sure some sort of deal to get him back to Ireland could have been sorted, whether it was a loan or permanent transfer.

 

Ahhh, I see fit yer saying, apologies. I suspect he's effectively been given a small pay-off with a gardening leave style agreement whereby if he gets a new contract within the life of his contract with us then we stop paying him. Would seem standard.

so what are you seeing that our scouts arent ? it appears he was going through the motions at peterborough its a strange one and an expensive one if you factor in wages

 

Fuck knows. I suspect they looked at him and saw a guy that is capable on the ball and pretty capable of doing the range of passing in a similar fashion to Tansey at ICT. Perhaps there is a dearth of statistics (or they are inaccurate) on a player's coverage during a game and the scouts were drawn into the trap of associating balls-skills with running and effort. If a player makes a number of good passes, or nice touches then I suspect they can appear significantly better than they actually are, or be seen to be doing more than they are - just my theory like, probably pish. For Tansey, I suspect that if - as I assume it was him - McInnes saw him in games against us then he was just too close to the action in the dugout. From further back and in the ends (I sit in RDL) it was clear his movement was pap, but he had good quality when on the ball in his days with ICT (again, my theory). In terms of "going through the motions" at Peterborough, I suppose that can be seen in two ways. One is that there is a good player with a bad attitude and the other is that there is a good player with a good attitude that isn't happy in their current environment. You have to assume that AFC saw the latter and saw the huge possibilities for improvements in his game that could turn a cheap investment into a good one. That isn't a ridiculous position to take when it comes to the lowe English leagues. They're a totally different kettle of fish to up here. It was obvious that he didn't have the physical attributes to play in the hoofer divisions, but not unfeasable that he'd have the physique to play in our league. Turned out he was just an absolute fanny as well as not being capable of the additional effort and that became apparent on day one (to me anyway) for us. It was clear almost immediately that, even with huge improvements in the required aspects of his game he wouldn't reach the required level.

 

In short, fuck knows, I think it's probably just quite a hard job and a lot of it is down to luck!

I don't think we paid £200K with the intention of releasing him in the window.....

 

I'm not sure what your solution is? Stop paying money for players in case it doesn't work out?

 

I think it's good that we have the ability to admit our mistakes and get rid. Far better that, than feeling obliged to give him a 20 minute run out here and there in order to keep him happy.

 

Would a £100K (half our Forrester fee) increase in the recruitment staff budget result in a better return on our scouting? Signings like this, Tansey etc would certainly suggest some investment wouldn't be wasted. Although, I have no idea what additional scouting could be bought for that type of money.

 

I'm also going to lay claim to writing him off first.....I did so mid August. And laid a doubler with saying Gleeson wouldn''t make it either. Did think both would survive till the summer before leaving in some way or another. I'm now waiting for DM to call with the inevitable offer of making me Head of Scouting. In turn I might offer Rico the new position of Eastern European scout.....

 

I'm going to claim that I had first call on here suggesting that Forrester wasn't up to it (and Gleeson). From the minute I saw him, I could tell that there was a huge part of his game missing to play in the current AFC team. I also called out Tansey before he signed, and Storey. I think I could get a better return on our investments if the club were willing to pay me £100K

You've got nae hope, you can't even quote properly...

Using a tablet as I killed the lappy last night with a half pint of ginger beer strategically spilt into the inner gubbins.....will get the hang of it by season 2022/23

Ahh, fuck, nae luck.

 

Anyway, just to prove my worth as a scout (and take first place in the Gleeson and Forrester are pish race):

 

Aye, it was a good game, close to a very good game. We were probably unlucky as they didn't create that much, but then neither did we I suppose. At least I can justify going down to the away leg, even though we don't stand much chance. Top marks to Devlin, Ball, Logan, GMS, McGinn and Cosgrove. Thought Gleeson was poor when he came on, but a difficult game to come into in that position. McInnes was right to make the early sub too, with Ferguson a little niaive at times in positioning and possession, but he looks a find. Worrying that Forrester wasn't deemed good/fit enough tonight. From the Red TV viewing of the WBA game my impression was that he wasn't going to provide the coverage that we require of our midfielders, but perhaps that will just rule him out of games like these where we need to sit deeper.

 

I like to call things early as it's a fitba forum, with the obvious caveat that I'd be delighted to be proved wrong. His coverage yesterday was poor, and he let the game pass him by in large spells. He had a couple of nice passes. He was weak though, and did pull out of a few challenges, most notably one near the tunnel where he had a good half a second advantage on their player yet was second to the ball. We needed a dominant midfielder, and he looks like a Rob Milsom. Put another way: he's nae as good as Dom Ball. Our best midfield at the moment is Ball, Shinnie and Ferguson. I don't think Ball's passing ability is good enough for him to start every week, so I think we need someone that's better. Early days etc, but Gleeson looks like a player that doesn't have the attributes we need.

 

Forrester will also need to up his game as he's very much a poor version of Christie.

 

 

I'm actually impressed that the club have held their hands up and done the right thing here. Yes it's cost us money, but i'd rather it be this way than persisting on giving game time to a waste of space.

I'm actually impressed that the club have held their hands up and done the right thing here. Yes it's cost us money, but i'd rather it be this way than persisting on giving game time to a waste of space.

 

Reads as though contract was terminated at his request. Not sure how strong a bargaining position that puts him in? There’s a possibility we might have given him something to protect ourselves against him turning up tomorrow having signed for Scunthorpe but would hope that original contract and subsequent termination agreement would leave us well protected against that. So not beyond the realms that it was just essentially ripped up.

Reads as though contract was terminated at his request. Not sure how strong a bargaining position that puts him in? There’s a possibility we might have given him something to protect ourselves against him turning up tomorrow having signed for Scunthorpe but would hope that original contract and subsequent termination agreement would leave us well protected against that. So not beyond the realms that it was just essentially ripped up.

 

I had similar thoughts.

Would the club not have some insurance policy in regards things like this happening?

Would the club not have some insurance policy in regards things like this happening?

 

I hope Cardiff were insured against THAT happening.

Was thinking about that earlier, surely something like that would have been in place?

Announced as having signed a three year contract back at St Pats this morning.

Announced as having signed a three year contract back at St Pats this morning.

 

Worth a look?

Shame for the lad considering his personal circumstances, but it is the best solution for both parties, just a pity it was an expensive one ( in relative terms ) and also Tansey, we've forked out a few quid on releasing players from their contracts. I'd also imagine we are contributing more towards Greg Stewarts wages than Killie did, bringing Lowe back as well, is there anything left to add another Forward, perhaps another Central Midfielder, fuck, even a Winger? We could do a lot worse than allowing Scott Wright to go out on loan for the remainder of the season and bring in another experienced Winger ( Similar to McGinn & GMS ) Just my thoughts.