But on the other hand, how many Premier League clubs would've been sniffing around the players that make up the majority of the squads at Brighton, Sheffield United, Swansea, Brentford, Wolves, Bournemouth, Burnley before they went up and established themselves or at least made a real impact? Barely any. Like when Liverpool ransacked Southampton for Lallana, Lovren and Lambert and then seemed surprised when they never produced the same form or even settled(Lallana did much later, long after he'd joined).
Because they're just snapping up players without a real care about what they're going to do with them, whereas Southampton had devised a clear playing structure and identified and signed or developed players and characters to play to that system.
This is what progressive clubs are doing and it's what the Boro should be doing. There's a sense they're trying to go that way but stacking a team with half a dozen loan players is just kicking the can down the road IMO. You're back where you started in a year's time. And yes, you could've signed them all permanently and been saddled with contracts and whatnot but on the other hand you're still having to spend that money on more loans and/or signings when the time comes. Every summer will be 10, 11, 12 out and 10, 11, 12 in.
Wilder has a set way of playing and wants a specific sort of player to play it. That'll be the same next summer as well. Wilder won't change. I think maybe a 'promotion at all costs' mentality means we just end up looking for quick fixes, even after making a fuss about how we're going to go in a different or more sustainable direction. We should be developing the squad under this manager and his staff IMO and be looking to spend our money on players who will be here for the long term. The world is packed with good, hungry footballers. We might have to look further than London Colney or Parsons Green to find them.
I can't really see the point of having a state of the art recruitment department, headed up by a respected Head of Football, with a focus on developing a thread that runs right through the club - something Wilder has talked about a few times - only to then go out and sign six lads on loan deals. I don't really see how or why you'd need a whole department, the creation of a new position in the football club, to identify that the goalkeeper on Manchester City's bench is probably really good and we should sign him on loan. Or that Arsenal's youth and reserve teams are worth keeping an eye on. Surely those things are a given.
Where is the creativity, the originality, the actual scouting and unearthing? If we're going to raid Manchester City's bench or sniff around for the crumbs from other 'big' clubs then you might as well spend Kieran Scott's wages on that, surely, and just scrap the idea of creating a 'golden thread' and accept that we'll maybe go up at some point and probably come straight back down. If you're doing a dozen loans surely you don't need a Head of Football or a massive recruitment team. Just a bloke in London looking for the next Isaiah Jones.
) it's only Fulham who'll benefit.
