What's your view on Paul Faulkner now?

[silhillvilla]

When I did that interview with him a couple of years ago he spoke about how we were putting in place a scouting network/database that basically meant whatever type of player we were after, we could check and find them. Maybe that's what's coming to fruition now.

Dave do you have any knowledge who our scouts are ? Since Henke left I've heard very little. Do we have directly employed scouts or do we rely on consultants / agents ?

No idea, but they're obviously doing some work.

I'd imagine this is almost entirely to do with Lambert and his team.

At Norwich, Karsa was the one who did all the work on scouting and preparing dossiers on upcoming opponents, and Norwich fans seemed to think he was absolutely key to Lambert's success there.

Had we been developing some sort of gigantic scouting software system (which you don't actually need to develop yourself, these days, you can get them off the shelf), then the season before last wouldn't have happened. The transition from McLeish's transfer acquisitions to the ones the last year is enormous.

If it is Karsa how come he didn't deliver at Norwich? Instead they signed the likes of Snodgrass ? Hardly an unearthed gem ?

[pauliewalnuts]

When I did that interview with him a couple of years ago he spoke about how we were putting in place a scouting network/database that basically meant whatever type of player we were after, we could check and find them. Maybe that's what's coming to fruition now.

Dave do you have any knowledge who our scouts are ? Since Henke left I've heard very little. Do we have directly employed scouts or do we rely on consultants / agents ?

No idea, but they're obviously doing some work.

I'd imagine this is almost entirely to do with Lambert and his team.

At Norwich, Karsa was the one who did all the work on scouting and preparing dossiers on upcoming opponents, and Norwich fans seemed to think he was absolutely key to Lambert's success there.

Had we been developing some sort of gigantic scouting software system (which you don't actually need to develop yourself, these days, you can get them off the shelf), then the season before last wouldn't have happened. The transition from McLeish's transfer acquisitions to the ones the last year is enormous.

If it is Karsa how come he didn't deliver at Norwich? Instead they signed the likes of Snodgrass ? Hardly an unearthed gem ?

Norwich went from League 1 to the Premier League and stayed there easily in their first season. That suggests he did a pretty good job.

NB - as I said, it wasn't just about signings, it was also about the preparation they did on opponents prior to matches. I read the main Norwich forum in the run up to Lambert coming here and the importance of Karsa was agreed by pretty much everybody.

Snodgrass signed for Norwich after Lambert had left, too.

[Jimbo]

I think we have to give the vast majority of credit to Lambert for what's happening at the moment. We don't know how effective it's going to be yet, but the signs are good. Let's see what happens.

It appears Faulkner is making it possible for us to get the players that Lambert wants - mainly young players who are not very well known, for relatively low transfer fees - with a minimum of fuss. That's great. That's what he's supposed to do. Easier to do that, I'd have thought, than negotiating with arsehole agents for big time Charlies.

As for giving him credit for not sacking Lambert at Christmas, does anyone think we could afford to sack yet another manager whether we wanted to or not? More likely that we understood we'd made our bed and we were prepared to lie in it come what may. And if we'd gone down, we'd still have stuck with him. And rightly so, in my opinion.

Rather than some great master plan on Faulkner's part, I think it's more likely that he is responding to necessity and the direction of the manager - just like he was probably responding to the direction of the chairman when McCatastrophe was brought in.

[pauliewalnuts]

As for giving him credit for not sacking Lambert at Christmas, does anyone think we could afford to sack yet another manager whether we wanted to or not? More likely that we understood we'd made our bed and we were prepared to lie in it come what may. And if we'd gone down, we'd still have stuck with him. And rightly so, in my opinion.

That's a good point.

I genuinely don't think there was ever a chance Lambert would have been sacked, given the events of the last few years. I don't think he'd have been sacked had we gone down, either, and rightly so.

At some point, the club had to make a stand, and decide to do something with a more long term view.

[silhillvilla]

When I did that interview with him a couple of years ago he spoke about how we were putting in place a scouting network/database that basically meant whatever type of player we were after, we could check and find them. Maybe that's what's coming to fruition now.

Dave do you have any knowledge who our scouts are ? Since Henke left I've heard very little. Do we have directly employed scouts or do we rely on consultants / agents ?

No idea, but they're obviously doing some work.

I'd imagine this is almost entirely to do with Lambert and his team.

At Norwich, Karsa was the one who did all the work on scouting and preparing dossiers on upcoming opponents, and Norwich fans seemed to think he was absolutely key to Lambert's success there.

Had we been developing some sort of gigantic scouting software system (which you don't actually need to develop yourself, these days, you can get them off the shelf), then the season before last wouldn't have happened. The transition from McLeish's transfer acquisitions to the ones the last year is enormous.

If it is Karsa how come he didn't deliver at Norwich? Instead they signed the likes of Snodgrass ? Hardly an unearthed gem ?

Norwich went from League 1 to the Premier League and stayed there easily in their first season. That suggests he did a pretty good job.

NB - as I said, it wasn't just about signings, it was also about the preparation they did on opponents prior to matches. I read the main Norwich forum in the run up to Lambert coming here and the importance of Karsa was agreed by pretty much everybody.

Snodgrass signed for Norwich after Lambert had left, too.

Sorry pal, fair enough. Didn't realise that .
Was just trying to work out if Karsa had a track record at Norwich.
Was it Karsa who found Benteke Sylla Westwood Lowton ?
I'm intrigued who is digging this talent out ??

[maidstonevillain]

As for giving him credit for not sacking Lambert at Christmas, does anyone think we could afford to sack yet another manager whether we wanted to or not? More likely that we understood we'd made our bed and we were prepared to lie in it come what may. And if we'd gone down, we'd still have stuck with him. And rightly so, in my opinion.

That's a good point.

I genuinely don't think there was ever a chance Lambert would have been sacked, given the events of the last few years. I don't think he'd have been sacked had we gone down, either, and rightly so.

At some point, the club had to make a stand, and decide to do something with a more long term view.

It may even be that the worst case scenario of us being relegated was factored in, and that Lambert was favoured because he had experience of promotions, and putting together promotion teams on a limited budget. I think Lambert would probably have been most vulnerable if we had just survived relegation with no signs of potential improvement or direction, i.e TSM Mk. 2.

[TheSandman]

Sorry pal, fair enough. Didn't realise that .
Was just trying to work out if Karsa had a track record at Norwich.
Was it Karsa who found Benteke Sylla Westwood Lowton ?
I'm intrigued who is digging this talent out ??

My guess is that it is a little from collumn a and a little from collumn b. The scouting network that the club has cultivated will be watching players for Karsa and pointing players out for him too. The Crewe manager said we had a thirty game dossier on Westwood and the players we've signed subsequently will, I'd imagine, be similarly well researched and to do that we need to have a big scouting network as I wouldn't expect Karsa to do that kind of thing for every player we sign (and probably even more that we don't) all by himself. It's a far cry from the days of MON where we'd sign someone like Salifou because he vaguely remembered watching him play at the World Cup.

[KevinGage]

When I did that interview with him a couple of years ago he spoke about how we were putting in place a scouting network/database that basically meant whatever type of player we were after, we could check and find them. Maybe that's what's coming to fruition now.

Dave do you have any knowledge who our scouts are ? Since Henke left I've heard very little. Do we have directly employed scouts or do we rely on consultants / agents ?

No idea, but they're obviously doing some work.

I'd imagine this is almost entirely to do with Lambert and his team.

At Norwich, Karsa was the one who did all the work on scouting and preparing dossiers on upcoming opponents, and Norwich fans seemed to think he was absolutely key to Lambert's success there.

Had we been developing some sort of gigantic scouting software system (which you don't actually need to develop yourself, these days, you can get them off the shelf), then the season before last wouldn't have happened. The transition from McLeish's transfer acquisitions to the ones the last year is enormous.

Tend to agree. 

In that regard, Lambert has surprised me. 

Looking at his Norwich team, there seemed to be a lot of journeyman pros.  He didn't strike me as someone who would give youth it's chance, or would purposely target young players from home and abroad. 

I thought he'd be similar to MON. Predictable football, crosses in the box for the big man, older players. But tactically a bit more flexible than Magic Martin.

I guess at Norwich it was a case of needs must, and he wouldn't have had the freedom and resources to build a team exactly as he wanted.

[pauliewalnuts]

Was it Karsa who found Benteke Sylla Westwood Lowton ?
I'm intrigued who is digging this talent out ??

I don't know, but the thing i like most is that compared to the MON era when all the signings were obvious, no-scouting required and expensive, we have moved to a system where we are genuinely looking for promising value all over Europe.

Lambert and team at the very least deserve massive credit on that - anything like this has got to come from the football management team.

The Crewe manager said that they didn't even know we were interested in Westwood until the last few days of the window, and it turned out we had a dossier on him built up over 30 games. That's really impressive stuff.

[silhillvilla]

Amazing difference in detail. What a refreshing change. A Mangement structure that seems to care about ££ and the longer term health of the club rather than just their own pay packet .
I'm trying not to get too carried away here but it's difficult following the last 3 or 4 years of shite.

[pauliewalnuts]

I guess at Norwich it was a case of needs must, and he wouldn't have had the freedom and resources to build a team exactly as he wanted.

I think that's an important point, in the sense that at Norwich, he was at a league one club when he started, then the championship, and then the top flight, so the realistic targets and the sort of players he'd have needed would have been different at each level.

I think the biggest achievement was surviving so comfortably in the top flight that first year.

I think the difference for him now that he's our manager is that he can go to Europe and sign the likes of Okore or Vlaar, because he's getting them to play for Aston Villa, a club they've all heard of and are familiar with, whereas doing it for Norwich City would have been much, much tougher.

It's not so much as just making the money talk, but recognising he's running a bigger club, and that gives you more pulling power, just as the extra cash does.

[silhillvilla]

Totally agree with that. We shouldn't forget we genuinely are one of the biggest clubs / names in the UK. No disrespect to Norwich but they'll never be as big as us. Neither will plenty more.
In fact, if this club is running on all pistons full tilt I'd say we are as big if not bigger than Arsenal and Man Ci£y

[Sexual Ealing]

I admire your chutzpah, and maybe 20 years ago that was the case (obviously it definitely was in regard to City) but there's no way that's the case now.

[PeterWithesShin]

City may be richer and more successful right now. But there is no way in a million years they are a bigger club than us.

[silhillvilla]

Yes agree. I was coming more from a Local fanbase and pedigree angle rather than "new money"