[Dexy]

£4m outlay was very respectable for what we got in return. Football players are expensive. I very much doubt he was paid £50k a week in the championship. But regardless of that, without him we would not have got promoted which earned the club several hundred million pounds so yes it was a success.

The other point I find amusing in this debate about success / failures of signings is that nobody wants to mention Pereira, you know that guy who has lit up the league recently and is worth a fortune. Presumably posters who like to blame Luke Dowling for all of the signings not working and relegation will say that was down to Bilic. Yet many of those same posters wanted Bilic gone after like Big Sam he couldn't work a miracle and who appointed Bilic in the first place? Step forward Luke Dowling. The same guy who also appointed Sam Allarydyce.

The criticism of Dowling is massively overblown IMV. Nobody can reasonably say the club has underperformed over the last two seasons. We did brilliant to get automatic promotion and had little to no chance of survival with our budget.

The trouble with the Austin deal was the short sighted side to it , he didn't truly fit how Bilic wanted to play for a start . He was huffing and puffing pretty much early on in his Albion career , I wouldn't say he was finished as such but signs were there . You then get to promotion and he got a few goals in fairness , clearly at this point he wouldn't be starting games in the Premier yet with our limited budget he got a decent raise for us to go up meaning it was even harder to get him out the door .
Its all so short sighted , Grosiki I think was the same sort of  deal . Those are two typical Dowling deals , I think he's had his go and it's time for a fresh approach .

[baggiejohn]

I'm surprised you can't work this out for yourself.  The reason we couldn't get the signing over the line sooner was because Huddersfield wanted more money upfront and we wanted to stagger it as far out as possible, doesn't that tell you something? It's also the same reason that most people get a mortgage on a house.

Huddersfield would have to pay interest on any loan taken out, diluting their income. By paying the fee off over six years we were able to spread our meagre resources around. Had we paid the fee off sooner it would have blown a massive hole in our tiny budget and restricted other players coming in, both last summer and this summer.

Think you're missing the point.

You said

Staggering the fee over six years is good for us and bad for Huddersfield.

Struggling to understand the logic to be honest

[Dexy]

Read a old article on him earlier , said his best buys were Glen Murray and Ben Watson .
Out of interest I asked 4 Forest fans I know ( 2 of them STHs) if they knew of Dowling , not one did .
I know Forest are a basket case of a club especially back then but I find that worrying .

[LiamTheBaggie]

These are his signings during his time at this football club

2018/2019

Stefan Johansen - loan - meh
Jefferson Montero - loan - failure
Mason Holgate - loan - success
Jacob Murphy - loan - failure
Bakery Sako - short term deal - failure

2019/20

Kenneth Zohore - £8m - failure
Charlie Austin - £4m - meh
Romaine Sawyers - £3m - meh
Darnel Furlong - £1.5m - meh
Semi Ajayi - £1.5m - meh
Matheus Pereira - loan - success
Ali Al Habsi- short term deal
Filip Krovinovic- meh
Grady Diangana - loan - success
Chris Willock - loan - failure
Kamil Grosicki - £750k - failure
Lee Peltier - free - failure
Callum Robinson - loan - meh

2020/21

Karlan Grant - £15m - failure
Grady Diangana - £14m - failure
Matheus Pereira - £8m - success
David Button - £1m - meh
Cedric Kipre - £1m - failure
Bran Ivanovic - free - failure
Callum Robinson - swap - failure
Conor Gallagher - success
Filip Krovinovic - loan - failure
Mbaye Diange - loan - meh
Robert Snodgrass - £1m - failure
Maitland Niles - loan - success
Andy Lonergsn - free - meh
Okay Yokuslu - loan - success

That is 32 signings under his stewardship - there are 7 successes and you can argue that Pereira (x2) Diangana, Yokuslu and AMN were heavily manager influenced.

What a thoroughly uninspiring piece of recruitment.

[gazberg]

What an awful transfer record. Not just the fees but the absurd wages too.

[caravanc58]

These are his signings during his time at this football club

2018/2019

Stefan Johansen - loan - meh
Jefferson Montero - loan - failure
Mason Holgate - loan - success
Jacob Murphy - loan - failure
Bakery Sako - short term deal - failure

2019/20

Kenneth Zohore - £8m - failure
Charlie Austin - £4m - meh
Romaine Sawyers - £3m - meh
Darnel Furlong - £1.5m - meh
Semi Ajayi - £1.5m - meh
Matheus Pereira - loan - success
Ali Al Habsi- short term deal
Filip Krovinovic- meh
Grady Diangana - loan - success
Chris Willock - loan - failure
Kamil Grosicki - £750k - failure
Lee Peltier - free - failure
Callum Robinson - loan - meh

2020/21

Karlan Grant - £15m - failure
Grady Diangana - £14m - failure
Matheus Pereira - £8m - success
David Button - £1m - meh
Cedric Kipre - £1m - failure
Bran Ivanovic - free - failure
Callum Robinson - swap - failure
Conor Gallagher - success
Filip Krovinovic - loan - failure
Mbaye Diange - loan - meh
Robert Snodgrass - £1m - failure
Maitland Niles - loan - success
Andy Lonergsn - free - meh
Okay Yokuslu - loan - success

That is 32 signings under his stewardship - there are 7 successes and you can argue that Pereira (x2) Diangana, Yokuslu and AMN were heavily manager influenced.

What a thoroughly uninspiring piece of recruitment.

I'd
For the money involved Liam Grosicki wasn't a failure for me, put in some good displays and underused.

[LiamTheBaggie]

I'd
For the money involved Liam Grosicki wasn't a failure for me, put in some good displays and underused.

That’s partly why I added him as a failure - rarely used for someone who came on such massive wages. That constitutes a failure for me.

I did consider Ajayi and Furlong as successes given their minimal outlay.

[caravanc58]

That’s partly why I added him as a failure - rarely used for someone who came on such massive wages. That constitutes a failure for me.

I did consider Ajayi and Furlong as successes given their minimal outlay.

Is the French striker Diaby still at the club?
There was high expectations when signed

[LiamTheBaggie]

Is the French striker Diaby still at the club?
There was high expectations when signed

I didn’t know we had a french striker called Diaby 

He can’t be much cop if he can’t even get a look in this season given our options 

[TheJacko2000]

I didn’t know we had a french striker called Diaby 

He can’t be much cop if he can’t even get a look in this season given our options 

In the u23s. Misses a lot of games though.

Out of contract at the end of June.

[Dexy]

These are his signings during his time at this football club

2018/2019

Stefan Johansen - loan - meh
Jefferson Montero - loan - failure
Mason Holgate - loan - success
Jacob Murphy - loan - failure
Bakery Sako - short term deal - failure

2019/20

Kenneth Zohore - £8m - failure
Charlie Austin - £4m - meh
Romaine Sawyers - £3m - meh
Darnel Furlong - £1.5m - meh
Semi Ajayi - £1.5m - meh
Matheus Pereira - loan - success
Ali Al Habsi- short term deal
Filip Krovinovic- meh
Grady Diangana - loan - success
Chris Willock - loan - failure
Kamil Grosicki - £750k - failure
Lee Peltier - free - failure
Callum Robinson - loan - meh

2020/21

Karlan Grant - £15m - failure
Grady Diangana - £14m - failure
Matheus Pereira - £8m - success
David Button - £1m - meh
Cedric Kipre - £1m - failure
Bran Ivanovic - free - failure
Callum Robinson - swap - failure
Conor Gallagher - success
Filip Krovinovic - loan - failure
Mbaye Diange - loan - meh
Robert Snodgrass - £1m - failure
Maitland Niles - loan - success
Andy Lonergsn - free - meh
Okay Yokuslu - loan - success

That is 32 signings under his stewardship - there are 7 successes and you can argue that Pereira (x2) Diangana, Yokuslu and AMN were heavily manager influenced.

What a thoroughly uninspiring piece of recruitment.

Dear me , thats even poorer than I thought .
Some good money gone there too , very little return on that lot .

[WorcsWBA]

For the money involved Liam Grosicki wasn't a failure for me, put in some good displays and underused.

I agree. His lack of appearances under both Bilic and Allardyce is shameful given the rubbish served up by those who were preferred to him.

I'm sure it won't happen but, assuming suitable wages could be negotiated, I'd offer Grosicki a further 12 month contract now that Allardyce has gone. I think he'd be able to make a much more telling contribution in the Championship than the likes of Phillips, Robson-Kanu and Snodgrass. After the appalling way he's been treated though, even in the unlikely event that we wanted him to stay, I'm sure he just wants to get as far away from the club as possible now. Being frozen out at Albion will have greatly probably diminished his chances of appearing at the Euros for the last time in his career.

[BaggieNick]

These are his signings during his time at this football club

2018/2019

Stefan Johansen - loan - meh
Jefferson Montero - loan - failure
Mason Holgate - loan - success
Jacob Murphy - loan - failure
Bakery Sako - short term deal - failure

2019/20

Kenneth Zohore - £8m - failure
Charlie Austin - £4m - meh
Romaine Sawyers - £3m - meh
Darnel Furlong - £1.5m - meh
Semi Ajayi - £1.5m - meh
Matheus Pereira - loan - success
Ali Al Habsi- short term deal
Filip Krovinovic- meh
Grady Diangana - loan - success
Chris Willock - loan - failure
Kamil Grosicki - £750k - failure
Lee Peltier - free - failure
Callum Robinson - loan - meh

2020/21

Karlan Grant - £15m - failure
Grady Diangana - £14m - failure
Matheus Pereira - £8m - success
David Button - £1m - meh
Cedric Kipre - £1m - failure
Bran Ivanovic - free - failure
Callum Robinson - swap - failure
Conor Gallagher - success
Filip Krovinovic - loan - failure
Mbaye Diange - loan - meh
Robert Snodgrass - £1m - failure
Maitland Niles - loan - success
Andy Lonergsn - free - meh
Okay Yokuslu - loan - success

That is 32 signings under his stewardship - there are 7 successes and you can argue that Pereira (x2) Diangana, Yokuslu and AMN were heavily manager influenced.

What a thoroughly uninspiring piece of recruitment.

What a post and thanks for the ti.e to do.it!

The idiot has to go.

[LiamTheBaggie]

I agree. His lack of appearances under both Bilic and Allardyce is shameful given the rubbish served up by those who were preferred to him.

I'm sure it won't happen but, assuming suitable wages could be negotiated, I'd offer Grosicki a further 12 month contract now that Allardyce has gone. I think he'd be able to make a much more telling contribution in the Championship than the likes of Phillips, Robson-Kanu and Snodgrass. After the appalling way he's been treated though, even in the unlikely event that we wanted him to stay, I'm sure he just wants to get as far away from the club as possible now. Being frozen out at Albion will have greatly probably diminished his chances of appearing at the Euros for the last time in his career.

Signing Grosicki on a new contract would be the worst decision we could make if our intentions are to appoint Wilder. It would largely make him and our fellow wide men pretty redundant.

[alex1]

100 times more important than any player he's signed, will be his choice as next manager. A bit revealing that he's asked Allardyce what characteristics his successor should have.  First time I've ever heard of a boss asking a departing employee who his replacement should be.

[paulosull]

Unrelated to next manager but was watching west ham game and they panned to Luke in a nice Albion suite. Noticed what I thought was tats protruding from under cuff of shirt, does Dowling have Baggies Tattoos?

[skyclad99]

I wont copy it again but thank you Liam for taking the time to collate the list of 'Dowling's dealings'

That makes for depressing reading really doesn't it.

[baggieboy79]

These are his signings during his time at this football club

2018/2019

Stefan Johansen - loan - meh
Jefferson Montero - loan - failure
Mason Holgate - loan - success
Jacob Murphy - loan - failure
Bakery Sako - short term deal - failure

2019/20

Kenneth Zohore - £8m - failure
Charlie Austin - £4m - meh
Romaine Sawyers - £3m - meh
Darnel Furlong - £1.5m - meh
Semi Ajayi - £1.5m - meh
Matheus Pereira - loan - success
Ali Al Habsi- short term deal
Filip Krovinovic- meh
Grady Diangana - loan - success
Chris Willock - loan - failure
Kamil Grosicki - £750k - failure
Lee Peltier - free - failure
Callum Robinson - loan - meh

2020/21

Karlan Grant - £15m - failure
Grady Diangana - £14m - failure
Matheus Pereira - £8m - success
David Button - £1m - meh
Cedric Kipre - £1m - failure
Bran Ivanovic - free - failure
Callum Robinson - swap - failure
Conor Gallagher - success
Filip Krovinovic - loan - failure
Mbaye Diange - loan - meh
Robert Snodgrass - £1m - failure
Maitland Niles - loan - success
Andy Lonergsn - free - meh
Okay Yokuslu - loan - success

That is 32 signings under his stewardship - there are 7 successes and you can argue that Pereira (x2) Diangana, Yokuslu and AMN were heavily manager influenced.

What a thoroughly uninspiring piece of recruitment.

This just shows what's happened to the club since Ashworth left.  A thoroughly depressing list of failures with a few lucky successes in there.  The trouble with being a club at our level and financial setup is the ones who are a success will inevitably leave, so we need the person who is in charge of recruitment to be a lot better at finding the good ones.

[baggiejohn]

These are his signings during his time at this football club

2018/2019

Stefan Johansen - loan - meh
Jefferson Montero - loan - failure
Mason Holgate - loan - success
Jacob Murphy - loan - failure
Bakery Sako - short term deal - failure

2019/20

Kenneth Zohore - £8m - failure
Charlie Austin - £4m - meh
Romaine Sawyers - £3m - meh
Darnel Furlong - £1.5m - meh
Semi Ajayi - £1.5m - meh
Matheus Pereira - loan - success
Ali Al Habsi- short term deal
Filip Krovinovic- meh
Grady Diangana - loan - success
Chris Willock - loan - failure
Kamil Grosicki - £750k - failure
Lee Peltier - free - failure
Callum Robinson - loan - meh

2020/21

Karlan Grant - £15m - failure
Grady Diangana - £14m - failure
Matheus Pereira - £8m - success
David Button - £1m - meh
Cedric Kipre - £1m - failure
Bran Ivanovic - free - failure
Callum Robinson - swap - failure
Conor Gallagher - success
Filip Krovinovic - loan - failure
Mbaye Diange - loan - meh
Robert Snodgrass - £1m - failure
Maitland Niles - loan - success
Andy Lonergsn - free - meh
Okay Yokuslu - loan - success

That is 32 signings under his stewardship - there are 7 successes and you can argue that Pereira (x2) Diangana, Yokuslu and AMN were heavily manager influenced.

What a thoroughly uninspiring piece of recruitment.

Thank you for taking the time to put this together Liam.

Just one observation, it might have been better without your opinions on the players.

For example, Jacob Murphy was a decent player when he came to us, & has had a terrific season back at Newcastle. Was his performance with us down to Dowling or our coaches?

Over 2 seasons, only £19 million was spent on transfer fees, & that included a promotion season.

This season, we spent £40 million on transfer fees, £29 million of that on two players who can't get into the team.

Interestingly our improvement began after spending £1 million in transfer fees in January.

I believe there has to be a question marks against Dowling & Bilic on the £29 million spent on Diangana & Grant.

IMO, the fundamental mistake was spending a limited budget on transfer fees, we could have brought in some pretty decent players on frees & loans for that money, as was shown in January.

[SmethDan]

These are his signings during his time at this football club.....

I've been reading through this thread wondering if some of the criticisms directed towards him have been a little harsh given circumstances faced along the way, but when you put it like that......  several things stuck in my mind following a supporters do and an audience with Luke Dowling.

One of which was a comment he made about how Darren Moore's squad retention and summer recruitment was perhaps geared with the Premier League in mind as opposed to one needing to gain promotion from the grind of the Championship.

That we needed to recruit with the here and now in mind. Whatever else we can say about Luke if he's got a long term plan he's keeping it very close to his chest  .

[PartisanBaggie]

Thank you for taking the time to put this together Liam.

Just one observation, it might have been better without your opinions on the players.

For example, Jacob Murphy was a decent player when he came to us, & has had a terrific season back at Newcastle. Was his performance with us down to Dowling or our coaches?

Jacob Murphy’s loan period with us was not a particularly successful one. I saw every single game he played in for the Albion and I can back up Liam’s summary of his time with us.

Out of the loan signings that joined us in January 2019 (Johansen, Murphy and Montero) it was Johansen who turned out to be the better loan signing overall. It was a shame it took him so many games to get his match sharpness up after spending his season on the bench for Fulham. He peaked a little too late.

In true Albion fashion though, it had to be Murphy crossing the ball in to Gayle at St. James for the Magpies to grab their winner earlier this season. Typical Albion 😏

[skyclad99]

Thank you for taking the time to put this together Liam.

Just one observation, it might have been better without your opinions on the players.

For example, Jacob Murphy was a decent player when he came to us, & has had a terrific season back at Newcastle. Was his performance with us down to Dowling or our coaches?

Over 2 seasons, only £19 million was spent on transfer fees, & that included a promotion season.

This season, we spent £40 million on transfer fees, £29 million of that on two players who can't get into the team.

Interestingly our improvement began after spending £1 million in transfer fees in January.

I believe there has to be a question marks against Dowling & Bilic on the £29 million spent on Diangana & Grant.

IMO, the fundamental mistake was spending a limited budget on transfer fees, we could have brought in some pretty decent players on frees & loans for that money, as was shown in January.

There are a few players on there that have done good elsewhere, I think that Liam has graded them about right. From memory Murphy had big boots to fill as Barnes had just returned to Leicester, so perhaps some saw him as Barnes replacement. I don't think he did any good at all with us at all so for me was a failure. He has looked much better in the Newcastle side and you do have to wonder whether it is us.......

I agree with you about the Grant & Grady deals. Not sure about anyone else but when we bought those I was under the misguided impression that there were more quality players to follow, but I was wrong. So to blow the majority of your budget on two untested PL players is remarkably stupid.

If you were to grade the list as 'have they been good at other clubs' it would look a lot different, so it does make you think.

[Maresca Was A Baggie]

These are his signings during his time at this football club

2018/2019

Stefan Johansen - loan - meh
Jefferson Montero - loan - failure
Mason Holgate - loan - success
Jacob Murphy - loan - failure
Bakery Sako - short term deal - failure

2019/20

Kenneth Zohore - £8m - failure
Charlie Austin - £4m - meh
Romaine Sawyers - £3m - meh
Darnel Furlong - £1.5m - meh
Semi Ajayi - £1.5m - meh
Matheus Pereira - loan - success
Ali Al Habsi- short term deal
Filip Krovinovic- meh
Grady Diangana - loan - success
Chris Willock - loan - failure
Kamil Grosicki - £750k - failure
Lee Peltier - free - failure
Callum Robinson - loan - meh

2020/21

Karlan Grant - £15m - failure
Grady Diangana - £14m - failure
Matheus Pereira - £8m - success
David Button - £1m - meh
Cedric Kipre - £1m - failure
Bran Ivanovic - free - failure
Callum Robinson - swap - failure
Conor Gallagher - success
Filip Krovinovic - loan - failure
Mbaye Diange - loan - meh
Robert Snodgrass - £1m - failure
Maitland Niles - loan - success
Andy Lonergsn - free - meh
Okay Yokuslu - loan - success

That is 32 signings under his stewardship - there are 7 successes and you can argue that Pereira (x2) Diangana, Yokuslu and AMN were heavily manager influenced.

What a thoroughly uninspiring piece of recruitment.

I wouldn't class Robinson as a failure. When given a chance he has done alright. Don't know why Sam didn't use him more. Same goes for Grosicki in my opinion.
Diangana was a sensible purchase based on his loan spell. This year has been a disaster for the lad for whatever reason.

[Albionic]

I've been reading through this thread wondering if some of the criticisms directed towards him have been a little harsh given circumstances faced along the way, but when you put it like that......  several things stuck in my mind following a supporters do and an audience with Luke Dowling.

One of which was a comment he made about how Darren Moore's squad retention and summer recruitment was perhaps geared with the Premier League in mind as opposed to one needing to gain promotion from the grind of the Championship.

That we needed to recruit with the here and now in mind. Whatever else we can say about Luke if he's got a long term plan he's keeping it very close to his chest  .

Thats just crazy talk, how can that be reconciled with 3 year contracts or 6 year payment terms. For this idiocy alone he should get sacked.

[smethwickw]

I'd say that Sawyers, Ajayi, Furlong and Krov were all successes. All signed for minimal outlay and for the purpose of getting us out of the Champ which was achieved. The failure was not replacing them with better quality once we went up.