[mini gaardsoe]

I disagree and fully blame Garlick,

Our scouting for oversees players seems to work, but you can't tell me we will have fully scouted local players like Anichebe, Sinclair, Anelka and Vydra, they are all well known players who Garlick should have questioned signing.

Anichebe is so injury prone there is just no point in having him, Sinclair the same, Anelka past it and Vydra did it in the Championship. A 'football man' would have known to question this more and not panic buy, Garlick did.

Add Popov to the mix and the renewals of Reid/Gera deals and he has had a nightmare.

[baggiecarl]

I disagree and fully blame Garlick,

Our scouting for oversees players seems to work, but you can't tell me we will have fully scouted local players like Anichebe, Sinclair, Anelka and Vydra, they are all well known players who Garlick should have questioned signing.

Anichebe is so injury prone there is just no point in having him, Sinclair the same, Anelka past it and Vydra did it in the Championship. A 'football man' would have known to question this more and not panic buy, Garlick did.

Add Popov to the mix and the renewals of Reid/Gera deals and he has had a nightmare.

your right , however there are some on this forum that will not criticise .or castigate anything Garlick does, no matter how inept or ineffective the players are that have been brought in

[Albion79]

Garlick has to take his share of the blame no doubt about it, but i think the 10-15 or so players in the squad who have hit no form for the last 16 x months would be more to blame and were here long before Garlick was.

Garlick could go, Downing could go, Kiely could go, Clarke went, they all get the blame, yet that group of players, the ones who can do something about results on the pitch will still be here picking up there big fat wages packets whatever happens and yet they have played well below par for 16 x months! I think its somewhere between them not being good enough and also not really being committed, ever since we got 3rd in the league in November 2012, they knew they had done the job for the season and since then they havent been able to pick it up again.

[mini gaardsoe]

But the players aren't good enough, that's one of the problems. Every team seems to get better each year, our Summer signings should be team improvements, not squad improvements, and new signings should be the first name on the team sheets. Instead we've got injured players and benchwarmers despite losing all of our attacking threat. Garlick is in charge of this and he has let the club down, simple as that.

Free transfers are fine for squad players, but not the wages of Lugano and Anelka, and instead of wasting 12 million on SS and VA to not be first team regulars, 10 million should have been spent on a striker and 2 million on an overseas squad player with potential.

[Albion79]

As i say i think Garlick does have to take some blame, but before in the summer, if somebody said we would sign Sinclair, Sessegnon and Vydra, how many fans would of complained? I think we would of been over the moon, two of those okay are on loan but they are young (ish) and hungry and Sessegnon has been Sunderlands best player the last two years, who would of known 6 months down the line they would of barely contributed, hindsight is a wonderful thing but i doubt many of our fans would of turned their nose up at those three.

Anelka was always going to be 50/50 and a risk i personally would of took, if he had come off then he is a class above anything we have, sadly at the moment it dont look the case. Amilfitano had the right pedigree and again when we signed him this forum seemed quite exciting and i think most fans were, again hindsight he hasnt done much so far except for first few games.

I think the signings of Lugano, Popov,Gera and Reid were expensive squad fillers we didnt need and i would of preferred us to use those combined wages to get some younger blood into the team, however i am pretty sure wasnt Clarke behind the Gera and Reid resignings certainly? I dont know about Popov and Lugano, if they were Garlicks then he messed up.

Same with Anichebe, at the moment he is looking an expensive mistake, he only plays 2 in every 4, 1 of those he is good, 1 he is poor and the other 2 he is injured so again at this stage, he looks a poor signing and based on, if thats Garlicks doing he deserves some stick, so yes he has made some mistakes it would seem but some of those signings i think we all would of signed too.

I still go back to the point i made previous, there are another 15 players in the squad aside from the summer signings and have all of a sudden with the exception of about 4 played well below their best, most of those below their best also got rewarded with nice new contracts prior to Xmas 2012 too, i wonder if they still have the same motivation.

[GrGr]

But the players aren't good enough, that's one of the problems. Every team seems to get better each year, our Summer signings should be team improvements, not squad improvements, and new signings should be the first name on the team sheets. Instead we've got injured players and benchwarmers despite losing all of our attacking threat. Garlick is in charge of this and he has let the club down, simple as that.

Free transfers are fine for squad players, but not the wages of Lugano and Anelka, and instead of wasting 12 million on SS and VA to not be first team regulars, 10 million should have been spent on a striker and 2 million on an overseas squad player with potential.

I agree with the emphasis on cutting edge over numbers. But as a new Director of Football do you listen to your experienced head coach, who wants a large squad, or do you go with your own vision against the wishes and objections of a coach who has won the league twice as a number 2?

It's easy to blame Garlick, but to me already in the summer our targets looked Clarke 'inspired'.

It's hard to know exactly what happened within the club, but to me when we signed Anelka the alarm bells started ringing. 

[smethwickw]

For me the squad is now weaker than last seasons. It has just been padded out with more average bodies where we really needed players to go straight into the starting 11. Of all the signings we made only Sessegnon and Sinclair was I really happy with. Sess did well early on and can still play a part as can Sinclair if he ever gets fit. Lugano, Popov, Anelka, Gera, Reid were awful signings at the time and that has proved the case. Whoever was responsible for these should be dealt with. Vydra was unproven at this level so I would have left alone. Amalfitano a reasonable success but looks way off the pace now.

We can talk about our defence all night but for me it hasn't been that great for years anyhow. Where we have done well over the last 3 seasons was up front. Pete and Lukaku's goals have basically kept us in this division. For the money we spent on Sess and Anichebe we could have got Bony who has delivered goals. Failure to replace them has been criminal. Bolton did exactly the same thing when Sturridge, Elmander and Klasnic left them and it cost them the following year. I can see the same happening here. To make matters worse we leave our top scorer and only real goal threat on the bench every week.

[Baggies]

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/west-brom-podcast-west-broms-6648399

Worth having a listen to this 8 minute podcast. Gregg Evans, Chris Lepkowski and Mat Kendrick discussing last nights game.

Lepkowski is brutally honest about his feeling on the summer transfer window "The summer business made no sense at all" and "I have no faith in the club getting it right this January either".

I said it at the start of September when the window closed and nothing has changed my mind since.

[Ross]

What do we pay him for?

Last transfer window had an air of last gasp desperation about it and this seems a carbon copy.

He has had nearly 5 months to come up with a sound strategy for this window, and as of yet, we have signed no-one, with more smacks of desperation going in for a few more midfielders (Gardner and Hollahan) when that isn't gre issue!

We are crying out for a goal scoring forward,  yet at the moment we are only linked with a young kid who's record is less than flattering!

We don't play Berahino so why are we in for another young prospect,  if we don't play our own!

We lack pace defensively and are light upfront - even more so since Long's departure!

I just hope we have a proven forward lined up under the radar, or we really need to question his position!

[B_H_Baggie]

Proven forwards cost big money that we don't appear to have and also aren't usually available during the January window. Our problems go back to last summer where they got some key decisions wrong and ended up panic buying on the last day even though I still think Sessegnon will turn out to be a good buy in the long run. When it comes to Garlick his main problem is that he has no real background in football other than the legal side of things, Ashworth was a football man who had built up plenty of contacts and played a major role in setting up the scouting system.

[graka]

garlick was another terrible free signing. we looked around at others like warburton but they wouldn't have been jeremys favourite combination of free and cheap.

[swad35]

Agree totally "free and cheap" our new club moto.

[hardtobeat]

The 2 transfer windows on his watch have been an unmitigated disaster,the search for a new manager took way too long. He has failed with 2 of his 3 main tasks,whether totally off his own bat or because of words from above we shall probably as fans never know. The buck has to stop somewhere and guessing that those avbove will not be doing any can carrying he should be replaced with somebody with some serious football knowledge asap!!

[mansell100]

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/west-broms-player-recruitment-scouting-6741845?

West Bromwich Albion set for shock shake-up

25 Feb 2014 07:25

Doubts over future roles of scouts and Richard Garlick as Baggies consider restructuring of club's recruitment and scouting department

West Bromwich Albion are considering an overhaul of their player recruitment and scouting unit – the same department which has been one of the foundations of the club’s progress over the last decade.

In news that will surprise many supporters, the Baggies are set to restructure the department which has served the club so successfully over the last few years, complementing a succession of head coaches.

It also casts a major doubt over the future of several long-serving Albion scouts and potentially alters the role of sporting and technical director Richard Garlick.

The department was set up many years ago and was fine-tuned by former technical director Dan Ashworth – a project he is said to remain very proud of, even though he has since moved to become the Football Association’s director of elite development.

Its efficiency and attention to due diligence helped source the likes of Claudio Yacob, Youssouf Mulumbu, Gareth McAuley, Peter Odemwingie, Billy Jones and Jonas Olsson for relatively low fees (or Bosman-free transfers) during recent years, becoming the envy of many similar-sized Premier League and overseas clubs.

But there has been unease behind the scenes since Ashworth’s departure last year, not least over the growing influence of Albion’s director of technical performance and scouting, Dave McDonough – resulting in blur and confusion as to who is actually responsible for the recruitment of players and staff.

Despite the perception that Garlick is in charge of the recruitment department, some of the more recent arrivals were driven by McDonough, who was also instrumental in the club’s pursuit of Steve Clarke’s successor and championed several overseas’ candidates, including current boss Pepe Mel.

[kris_boing]

I'm not surprised in the slightest.  Our recruitment this season has been pathetic. Heads will roll at the end of the season whether we stay up or go down.  Garlick is a dead man walking IMO.  McDonough will either be promoted to Technical Director or booted as well.  If he is as responsible for us signing our group of duds this season no doubt he'll be booted as well.

[miggybaggy]

Whats needed now is a steady ship with ONE person in complete control. Too many Chiefs and not enough Indians at the Albion right now. Pepe MUST be handed more authority over future decisions....including who HE wants as his immediate staff. All these 'Sporting Directors' who have probably never played football in their lives, and who are just in it to get their snouts in the premiership trough, should not be allowed to be competing amongst themselves for status within the club. Its creating an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty with the senior players....and its showing on the pitch.

[Adder]

I'm not surprised in the slightest.  Our recruitment this season has been pathetic. Heads will roll at the end of the season whether we stay up or go down.  Garlick is a dead man walking IMO.  McDonough will either be promoted to Technical Director or booted as well.  If he is as responsible for us signing our group of duds this season no doubt he'll be booted as well.

Group of duds - Sinclair injured and hasn't had run of games......The two biggest signings ...... Anichebe is currently playing well and is looking our best forward.....Sess is the most individually talented player we have and under Mel's philosophy will hopefully prosper.

[beechyboy90]

Think we need to get rid of McDonough or whatever his name is we have been on a downward spiral since he joined.

[Pelsall_Baggie]

I disagree and fully blame Garlick,

Our scouting for oversees players seems to work, but you can't tell me we will have fully scouted local players like Anichebe, Sinclair, Anelka and Vydra, they are all well known players who Garlick should have questioned signing.

Anichebe is so injury prone there is just no point in having him, Sinclair the same, Anelka past it and Vydra did it in the Championship. A 'football man' would have known to question this more and not panic buy, Garlick did.

Add Popov to the mix and the renewals of Reid/Gera deals and he has had a nightmare.

Can’t see why you should blame Garlick for any of that. He didn’t scout the players you mention, he leaves that to the Director of Technical Performance and Scouting to come up with suitable players.

Garlick has no idea what makes a good player any more than you do, so he leaves it to the experts.

Again, with the renewals of Popov, Reid and Gera, did the scouting department come up with any viable alternatives? If not, and the Head Coach felt they were good enough quality and wanted them re-signed, why would Garlick argue?

[Adder]

It's really difficult to know where the blame lies.

The biggest errors for me have been ...

relying on Reid and Popov as backups

failure to sign Mbokani or similar - I feel we always wait and wait and hope to get players on the cheap, whereas Swansea (who I view as similar size and financial status) go out and buy Bony....who they could no doubt sell at a profit now if they wanted to.

[kris_boing]

Group of duds - Sinclair injured and hasn't had run of games......The two biggest signings ...... Anichebe is currently playing well and is looking our best forward.....Sess is the most individually talented player we have and under Mel's philosophy will hopefully prosper.

Yes the biggest group of dud new signings I can honestly recall whilst supporting Albion.   The only player to come out with any credit whatsoever this season is Amalfitano.  I'll reserve judgement on Anichebe after playing well in what equates to about 90 minutes of football.

[PsalmXXIII]

 

Yes the biggest group of dud new signings I can honestly recall whilst supporting Albion.   The only player to come out with any credit whatsoever this season is Amalfitano.  I'll reserve judgement on Anichebe after playing well in what equates to about 90 minutes of football.

If you're going to judge Anichebe on 90 mins of football do it on his performance at Old Trafford. Played all game, most with an injury and was absolutely fantastic. Ok he's injury prone but I'm struggling to find a game where he's played badly. He's not going to score loads of goals, but he offers something different and so far pretty effective. Been involved in our last 4 goals too.

[Standaman]

The problem I have discussing this is I am not sure who does what in the recruitment process.

In my mind the process should work like this

1. The Board

Sets the overall objective for what the club wants to achieve, general operating principles and budgets.

2. Sporting and Technical Director

Co-ordinates and manages the club's resources to achieve the short and long term aims set by the board within the budget. If a signing is outside the parameters set by the board then they should refer to the board but otherwise should have the autonomy to buy and sell players to meet the objectives.

3. Head of Scouting & Recruitment

Is responsible for identifying players within the likely operating budget and maintaining an up to date database of scouted players across all positions.

4. Head Coach

Is responsible for the day to day management of the first team squad  and as such is the person that drives how it should evolve and will be responsible for identifying areas that need to be strengthened. In point of fact by playing or not playing a player a Head Coach really does set the agenda.

 For arguments sake let us imagine Pepe Mel identifies that he wants to strengthen at left back. Neither Ridgewell nor Popov are good enough going forward as first choice. In terms of decision making this relatively straight forward and obvious decision creates a number of ripples.

Do we take up the option on Ridgewell's contract with a view to him being a back up or in the hope of getting a fee for him? Popov might not be quite good enough as first choice but then again how much do you want to spend on a second choice left back? How close is Garmaston to being ready for first team action? All these issues need some sort of answer before we go into the market.

Assuming that we just need a new first choice left back. The Head Coach is responsible for articulating what he wants from the player and it is the role of the Head of Recruitment to generate a list of potential recruits. From that list it is up to the Technical Director to close a deal for the best recruit within the budget.

So in 12 months time who to blame when we still have a problem at left back? It rather depends on where things have gone wrong. If no action was taken we must assume that Mel had no problem with his current options or that he had other priorities which were evident because of the signings the club made in the interim.

If we sign someone who turns out to be no better than Ridgewell. Well it could be recruitment department, it could be Garlick, who might have failed to deliver a better option or it could be we simply did not have the budget to do much better. Equally just dumb luck might play a part, a replacement was bought in but was injured and here is Liam in the last few months of his contract. Although it might not be just down to misfortune because the player concerned might have had a history of injury problems which was why he was available in the first place.

However this is just one signing and this process will be multiplied by seven or eight times through the next window. Juggling the priorities will be a real challenge . It requires real clarity of thinking from the Head Coach detailed preparation from the Head of Recruitment and incisive negotiating from the Technical Director.

Garlick is not handicapped in this process by not having had a hand's on coaching role except that if the TD does not champion the cause of academy players with some authority they are quite likely to be overlooked when it comes to decisions concerning the first team squad.

 The TD is not a super scout, he is the guy who juggles the resources and gets the deals done the "football people" are the ones that identify the areas to strengthen and the targets. If the Head of Recruitment identifies Leighton Baines as a replacement for Liam Ridgewell sack the Head of Recruitment not because he cannot spot a good player but because he does not understand the operating parameters of his employers.     

[PsalmXXIII]

So in theory, if the club isn't meeting it's targets, who loses their jobs?

The players don't win enough games. Is that because they're not good enough? Or the coach isn't good enough? Or the scouting wasn't good enough? Or the technical and sporting director isn't good enough? Or the board isn't good enough?

It's a combination of the lot, and everyone has their own ideas. Unfortunately the higher up the 'food chain' you look for blame the less likely you'll find someone willing to take blame because of the people below them.

[BB74]

So in theory, if the club isn't meeting it's targets, who loses their jobs?

The players don't win enough games. Is that because they're not good enough? Or the coach isn't good enough? Or the scouting wasn't good enough? Or the technical and sporting director isn't good enough? Or the board isn't good enough?

It's a combination of the lot, and everyone has their own ideas. Unfortunately the higher up the 'food chain' you look for blame the less likely you'll find someone willing to take blame because of the people below them.

Sadly, the Head Coach is might likely to get the chop.