Our Player Targets

[doozer]

It would be interesting to know how many of our first choice transfer targets actually turn us down! I imagine quite a lot making it very difficult to actually get a team capable of taking us up the league.
Ryan Lowe is probably a bit taken aback on how difficult is is with his budget and our location!
So we are offering longer term contracts to get players in to compensate for above reasons!
This is a huge gamble if things don’t work out!
Hence would anybody be screaming to sign Hardie given what we’ve seen this season!
Same goes for Cooper, ok he’s got a bad injury but he wasn’t the same player start of this season that finished last season!
Very difficult for a rookie manager to deal with!

I don’t buy this old location chestnut. Are we any more inconveniently located than Hull, Norwich or Swansea? RL has regularly stated the benefits of our location, and I believe he meant it. We also know he has no qualms with the budget, a subject that’s been done to death on here, so I won’t repeat it. I therefore can’t believe he’s forced into giving long term contracts as a consequence.

He has hasn't he. Do you know if he's moved his family down here yet or is this another example of him saying what you want to hear and hoping you'll believe it....which it seems you have. As far as I'm aware he still hasn't moved them down which is surprising considering what he says about the place.

Anyway, its irrelevant what Ryan Lowe thinks about the location when it comes to recruitment. What is important is what the players and their families think of the location or more importantly can we pay the big bucks. If the players and families dont fancy the South West or we cant pay big bucks then I don't think the better players will come here. Look at Danny Mayor. If the stories about his salary are anywhere near to being correct then I'm pretty sure he didn't come down here for the location and show such real commitment by opting for one year Contracts.

I don’t understand this obsession of whether or not lowes wife and children are living in Plymouth , I couldn’t care less.....the only thing I’m interested in are results and performances .
What’s the average time a manager stays in a job ? 2 years.? ...would you want to disrupt your child’s education by moving schools every couple of years ? I know I wouldn’t...

Then perhaps he shouldn't say that he is moving his family down here. Its just another example of him just saying what we want to hear. At best its disingenuous, at worst its a bleddy lie and an insult to all those he says it too including our Chairman. It also says a lot about his credibility or rather, lack of. He is full of sound bytes.

Thankfully you seem more bothered by it than our chairman does

 

[Larry David]

It would be interesting to know how many of our first choice transfer targets actually turn us down! I imagine quite a lot making it very difficult to actually get a team capable of taking us up the league.
Ryan Lowe is probably a bit taken aback on how difficult is is with his budget and our location!
So we are offering longer term contracts to get players in to compensate for above reasons!
This is a huge gamble if things don’t work out!
Hence would anybody be screaming to sign Hardie given what we’ve seen this season!
Same goes for Cooper, ok he’s got a bad injury but he wasn’t the same player start of this season that finished last season!
Very difficult for a rookie manager to deal with!

I don’t buy this old location chestnut. Are we any more inconveniently located than Hull, Norwich or Swansea? RL has regularly stated the benefits of our location, and I believe he meant it. We also know he has no qualms with the budget, a subject that’s been done to death on here, so I won’t repeat it. I therefore can’t believe he’s forced into giving long term contracts as a consequence.

It's not an old chestnut.

Or do you think there's some other reason why we're (apparently) the largest city in Europe never to have had a top-flight club?

It’s absolutely the reason. Think about how much it costs to move house uproot your family take kids away from schools and friends partners away from friends and family. Then if it doesn’t work out after say a year it’s all change again. How many league clubs are commutable from Plymouth? One! Then there’s the hideous amount of travelling with virtually every away game an overnight stay. It’s going to take some radical outside the box thinking to overcome it. How about a training base at Bristol?

 

[mutley marvel]

The way some people are talking Plymouth might as well be Australia, Africa,America. Footballers when they start their career know it is nomadic,know job security is hit & miss , know they have to move every couple of years - it is what they signed up to.

Fans dont know the personal situations of every single player that signs on the dotted line & personally i am not interested

Normal working people have to move away from home for jobs & take there family with them- what makes footballers a special case - it is a job

Maybe we have to pay to move said player & family & house them but that is speculation- we dont know the ins & out of the contracts

Whoever rocks up & signs i hope they are fully committed to the cause- yes travelling around the country is a bind but it is part & parcel of playing for Argyle & these players will know this before they choose to sign on the dotted line

Maybe im a green tint- but i am a proud janner currently in exile & i personally cant wait to move back home

 

[Lousy Pint]

Well said Mutley!

If my, shall we say, reasonably well paid job involved sitting on a coach for a few hours every other week, I don't think I would complain.

We have managed to attract some of our best players in recent times from Hungary and France, so I don't see the problem with players from, say, that London or oop north.

Surely Plymouth and its surroundings is easy enough to 'sell', both to single lads and players with young families?

 

[EyeOpener]

Well said Mutley!

If my, shall we say, reasonably well paid job involved sitting on a coach for a few hours every other week, I don't think I would complain.

We have managed to attract some of our best players in recent times from Hungary and France, so I don't see the problem with players from, say, that London or oop north.

Surely Plymouth and its surroundings is easy enough to 'sell', both to single lads and players with young families?

I'm sure the majority of people would be exactly the same but we're talking about the football community here and in the main they are a fairly egotistical bunch of people. Argyle need to come up with something different that will appeal to their ego's, something that no other club really does. I've often thought that we should explore air travel more be that from Newquay or that place up the road. Maybe Argyle should have its own little turbo prop for the away games? A pilot on a retainer or maybe someone who will fly it voluntarily so they can keep their flying hours up. I'm pretty sure the fuel will be tax deductible as well. Can also sell any surplus seating on to the fans to help keep costs down and allow the players/staff to use it for private purposes as long as they cover the costs for their personal trips.

As far as attracting players from Hungary, France etc, I would suggest that the reason those players came was because they wanted to come to England in the first place and Argyle were the only club that showed an interest. Having said that, I've mentioned before that we should perhaps look overseas for players but I'm not sure the data/stats we use to recruit cover players outside of the UK. If that is the case then there's another good reason for ditching the use of data/stats for recruiting as far as I'm concerned.

 

[mervyn]

At the risk of irritating some posters, can I respectfully suggest that the view that we’re considered an isolated part of the country might mostly held by born and bred Devonians who don’t get about much.

When I moved down here from London in the eighties I was genuinely shocked at my neighbours and work colleagues attitude to distances away from Devon. My company was in Exeter, and many colleagues regarded a journey to Bristol or even nearby Plymouth as something you only did rarely, and only for a very special reason.

Thirty years later much has changed. My old company has doubled in size, and 75% of employees are incomers like me. Chudleigh now has more incomers than Devonians. I’m pretty sure if a poll were conducted that few would view our region as an outpost in connection with any business, football or otherwise. Surely that would also be the attitude of most young, intelligent, ambitious footballers.

 

[HC Green]

At the risk of irritating some posters, can I respectfully suggest that the view that we’re considered an isolated part of the country might mostly held by born and bred Devonians who don’t get about much.

When I moved down here from London in the eighties I was genuinely shocked at my neighbours and work colleagues attitude to distances away from Devon. My company was in Exeter, and many colleagues regarded a journey to Bristol or even nearby Plymouth as something you only did rarely, and only for a very special reason.

Thirty years later much has changed. My old company has doubled in size, and 75% of employees are incomers like me. Chudleigh now has more incomers than Devonians. I’m pretty sure if a poll were conducted that few would view our region as an outpost in connection with any business, football or otherwise. Surely that would also be the attitude of most young, intelligent, ambitious footballers.

But would you have moved and up rooted your family if you were only given a 1 or 2 year fixed term contract with limited prospects of a job within commuting distance after that unless you were offered a life changing salary for that 1 or 2 years or at the end of your career looking for a place to retire to?

 

[greenpilled]

It would be interesting to know how many of our first choice transfer targets actually turn us down! I imagine quite a lot making it very difficult to actually get a team capable of taking us up the league.
Ryan Lowe is probably a bit taken aback on how difficult is is with his budget and our location!
So we are offering longer term contracts to get players in to compensate for above reasons!
This is a huge gamble if things don’t work out!
Hence would anybody be screaming to sign Hardie given what we’ve seen this season!
Same goes for Cooper, ok he’s got a bad injury but he wasn’t the same player start of this season that finished last season!
Very difficult for a rookie manager to deal with!

I don’t buy this old location chestnut. Are we any more inconveniently located than Hull, Norwich or Swansea? RL has regularly stated the benefits of our location, and I believe he meant it. We also know he has no qualms with the budget, a subject that’s been done to death on here, so I won’t repeat it. I therefore can’t believe he’s forced into giving long term contracts as a consequence.

It's not an old chestnut.

Or do you think there's some other reason why we're (apparently) the largest city in Europe never to have had a top-flight club?

It’s absolutely the reason. Think about how much it costs to move house uproot your family take kids away from schools and friends partners away from friends and family. Then if it doesn’t work out after say a year it’s all change again. How many league clubs are commutable from Plymouth? One! Then there’s the hideous amount of travelling with virtually every away game an overnight stay. It’s going to take some radical outside the box thinking to overcome it. How about a training base at Bristol?

You've also got to put yourself in the mind of young men in their 20s, who will want to be in big cities with top restaurants, vibrant nightlife etc.

Devon and Cornwall are brilliant places to live, but 25 year old footballers (particularly those who are single and/or child free) possibly don't value long walks on Dartmoor or family days out at the beach as much as other demographics might.

Young people more generally are concentrating in bigger cities, and this is a bit of an economic disadvantage for the South West.

That said, I still think our location is a net positive. There are close to 1.4 million people in Devon and Cornwall, a big enough population to produce more than enough good footballers to support a top Championship side. We're the biggest club in the region, and shouldn't have any problem getting the best young players to sign with us.

If we can address our underperformance in this area, the challenge of persuading players from outside the region to relocate will become increasingly redundant.

 

[greenpilled]

It would be interesting to know how many of our first choice transfer targets actually turn us down! I imagine quite a lot making it very difficult to actually get a team capable of taking us up the league.
Ryan Lowe is probably a bit taken aback on how difficult is is with his budget and our location!
So we are offering longer term contracts to get players in to compensate for above reasons!
This is a huge gamble if things don’t work out!
Hence would anybody be screaming to sign Hardie given what we’ve seen this season!
Same goes for Cooper, ok he’s got a bad injury but he wasn’t the same player start of this season that finished last season!
Very difficult for a rookie manager to deal with!

I don’t buy this old location chestnut. Are we any more inconveniently located than Hull, Norwich or Swansea? RL has regularly stated the benefits of our location, and I believe he meant it. We also know he has no qualms with the budget, a subject that’s been done to death on here, so I won’t repeat it. I therefore can’t believe he’s forced into giving long term contracts as a consequence.

It's not an old chestnut.

Or do you think there's some other reason why we're (apparently) the largest city in Europe never to have had a top-flight club?

It’s absolutely the reason. Think about how much it costs to move house uproot your family take kids away from schools and friends partners away from friends and family. Then if it doesn’t work out after say a year it’s all change again. How many league clubs are commutable from Plymouth? One! Then there’s the hideous amount of travelling with virtually every away game an overnight stay. It’s going to take some radical outside the box thinking to overcome it. How about a training base at Bristol?

You've also got to put yourself in the mind of young men in their 20s, who will want to be in big cities with top restaurants, vibrant nightlife etc.

Devon and Cornwall are brilliant places to live, but 25 year old footballers (particularly those who are single and/or child free) possibly don't value long walks on Dartmoor or family days out at the beach as much as other demographics might.

Young people more generally are concentrating in bigger cities, and this is a bit of an economic disadvantage for the South West.

That said, I still think our location is a net positive. There are close to 1.4 million people in Devon and Cornwall, a big enough population to produce more than enough good footballers to support a top Championship side. We're the biggest club in the region, and shouldn't have any problem getting the best young players to sign with us.

If we can address our underperformance in this area, the challenge of persuading players from outside the region to relocate will become increasingly redundant.

 

[mervyn]

At the risk of irritating some posters, can I respectfully suggest that the view that we’re considered an isolated part of the country might mostly held by born and bred Devonians who don’t get about much.

When I moved down here from London in the eighties I was genuinely shocked at my neighbours and work colleagues attitude to distances away from Devon. My company was in Exeter, and many colleagues regarded a journey to Bristol or even nearby Plymouth as something you only did rarely, and only for a very special reason.

Thirty years later much has changed. My old company has doubled in size, and 75% of employees are incomers like me. Chudleigh now has more incomers than Devonians. I’m pretty sure if a poll were conducted that few would view our region as an outpost in connection with any business, football or otherwise. Surely that would also be the attitude of most young, intelligent, ambitious footballers.

But would you have moved and up rooted your family if you were only given a 1 or 2 year fixed term contract with limited prospects of a job within commuting distance after that unless you were offered a life changing salary for that 1 or 2 years or at the end of your career looking for a place to retire to?

Yes I would. If the alternative was to only be interested in playing for clubs within commuting distance, that would leave me a fairly unambitious player. However your point about a senior player spending their last couple of years here is a good one. If we could get a couple of hardened pros of the Steve McCall, John Matthews type to give us some backbone, that would do nicely imo.

 

[oldage]

At the risk of irritating some posters, can I respectfully suggest that the view that we’re considered an isolated part of the country might mostly held by born and bred Devonians who don’t get about much.

When I moved down here from London in the eighties I was genuinely shocked at my neighbours and work colleagues attitude to distances away from Devon. My company was in Exeter, and many colleagues regarded a journey to Bristol or even nearby Plymouth as something you only did rarely, and only for a very special reason.

Thirty years later much has changed. My old company has doubled in size, and 75% of employees are incomers like me. Chudleigh now has more incomers than Devonians. I’m pretty sure if a poll were conducted that few would view our region as an outpost in connection with any business, football or otherwise. Surely that would also be the attitude of most young, intelligent, ambitious footballers.

But would you have moved and up rooted your family if you were only given a 1 or 2 year fixed term contract with limited prospects of a job within commuting distance after that unless you were offered a life changing salary for that 1 or 2 years or at the end of your career looking for a place to retire to?

Yes I would. If the alternative was to only be interested in playing for clubs within commuting distance, that would leave me a fairly unambitious player. However your point about a senior player spending their last couple of years here is a good one. If we could get a couple of hardened pros of the Steve McCall, John Matthews type to give us some backbone, that would do nicely imo.

:thumbs:

 

[Biggs]

You've also got to put yourself in the mind of young men in their 20s, who will want to be in big cities with top restaurants, vibrant nightlife etc.

Devon and Cornwall are brilliant places to live, but 25 year old footballers (particularly those who are single and/or child free) possibly don't value long walks on Dartmoor or family days out at the beach as much as other demographics might.

Young people more generally are concentrating in bigger cities, and this is a bit of an economic disadvantage for the South West.

That said, I still think our location is a net positive. There are close to 1.4 million people in Devon and Cornwall, a big enough population to produce more than enough good footballers to support a top Championship side. We're the biggest club in the region, and shouldn't have any problem getting the best young players to sign with us.

If we can address our underperformance in this area, the challenge of persuading players from outside the region to relocate will become increasingly redundant.

Yep, agree with all that. The only thing with the population point is that it's no good having 1.4 million people on your doorstep if it's largely rural and there isn't the infrastructure in which young players can easily move around, play high-level football and be spotted (and potential supporters get to Home Park, too).

The positives are that my sense is Plymouth itself is becoming and will become a more exciting place for young people and more of the 'big city' you mention, especially as it could be poised to benefit from more remote working and people being able to move away from London and other GNSs. Or not have to move away from the area in the first place, especially having had a great time at the university. That's all another conversation though.

 

[Mark58]

I stand to be corrected but I think it may have been Graham Little who told the story of how to attract players to Plymouth in the 60s and 70s.

The scheme was to invite the prospective transfer target down to visit the city with his wife/girlfriend. While the player was being shown around Home Park and wooed with facilities and contract terms the lady would be taken up to The Hoe, with a prayer having been said for a sunny day. Many a deal was apparently struck based on the impression made upon 'the lady of the house'.

If it was Graham who came up with that plan it was certainly one that produced dividends in the days when London and the large conurbations in the Midlands and 'oop North were grim and smoky by comparison to leafy Devon. :scarf:

 

[JannerinCardiff]

It would be interesting to know how many of our first choice transfer targets actually turn us down! I imagine quite a lot making it very difficult to actually get a team capable of taking us up the league.
Ryan Lowe is probably a bit taken aback on how difficult is is with his budget and our location!
So we are offering longer term contracts to get players in to compensate for above reasons!
This is a huge gamble if things don’t work out!
Hence would anybody be screaming to sign Hardie given what we’ve seen this season!
Same goes for Cooper, ok he’s got a bad injury but he wasn’t the same player start of this season that finished last season!
Very difficult for a rookie manager to deal with!

I agree it's a tough job and don't envy Lowe, however it's his judgement and contacts that PAFC are paying for so I hope things improve.

As for Hardie I didn't really understand the fanfare about signing him earlier this year. I've not see anything that tells me he's better than Ennis or Jephcott over the course of a season. Indeed he's had a few iffy games where his positioning and shooting have left a lot to be desired.

I'm really hoping for some decent signings in the summer, starting with defenders but also CDM and possibly another creative midfielder if/when Mayor gets injured or goes off the boil.

That's what I want, but realistically I think it will be more from the loan lottery with perhaps one or two genuine signings.

I’m hoping that a creative midfielder might already at the club in George Cooper... I’d like to see him tried out at RM with Mayor the other side at some point next season.

 

[Quintrell Green]

It would be interesting to know how many of our first choice transfer targets actually turn us down! I imagine quite a lot making it very difficult to actually get a team capable of taking us up the league.
Ryan Lowe is probably a bit taken aback on how difficult is is with his budget and our location!
So we are offering longer term contracts to get players in to compensate for above reasons!
This is a huge gamble if things don’t work out!
Hence would anybody be screaming to sign Hardie given what we’ve seen this season!
Same goes for Cooper, ok he’s got a bad injury but he wasn’t the same player start of this season that finished last season!
Very difficult for a rookie manager to deal with!

I agree it's a tough job and don't envy Lowe, however it's his judgement and contacts that PAFC are paying for so I hope things improve.

As for Hardie I didn't really understand the fanfare about signing him earlier this year. I've not see anything that tells me he's better than Ennis or Jephcott over the course of a season. Indeed he's had a few iffy games where his positioning and shooting have left a lot to be desired.

I'm really hoping for some decent signings in the summer, starting with defenders but also CDM and possibly another creative midfielder if/when Mayor gets injured or goes off the boil.

That's what I want, but realistically I think it will be more from the loan lottery with perhaps one or two genuine signings.

I’m hoping that a creative midfielder might already at the club in George Cooper... I’d like to see him tried out at RM with Mayor the other side at some point next season.

It is a nice thought but I rather fear the players in Argyle's back line would need to be more effective and less error prone than we have witnessed this season.