Tony Coton

Coeus

Coeus

Striker
Gets a large amount of stick on here, I myself was very sceptical of his appointment given his record at Aston Villa.

However, I can't help but think some of the stick is down to the remit given to him.

Given we haven't had a budget designated to actual scouting or anything what so ever abroad, he is forced to look in the UK. It isn't his job to set up a wealth of analytic data without being given the resources to achieve this.

The rush that was enforced in the first window allows for a bit of leeway, in my opinion, also any scouting network takes time to establish itself at a club, this is even truer when being skeleton staffed.

I think the picks that could be reasonably attributed to him have some good and some bad, throw into the mix that some of the players he has recommended we weren't able to get over the line and then ended up with a player out of desperation.

Personally I believe we are now being at least linked with the correct type of players in Coyle, Boyce, Docherty etc. It's not rocket science, I put up a list of the better players from this division whose contracts are running out and low and behold we have been linked with the majority. But we have seen bizarre signings for so many years now that obvious choices seem like a step up. My preference is we didn't temper these players with players for the immediate like Leadbetter & Lafferty but that is neither here nor there.

Someone far easier to judge is Richard Hill, he has a difficult job and has to live by his decisions, when to loosen the purse strings and negotiate based on foresight and when to drive a hard bargain. On the evidence so far, he has got this badly wrong with examples like Taylor and Grigg. Time will tell if he was correct on Coyle and possibly Docherty, I doubt it.

So for me, If anyone is to blame it is the person who provided the remit, the person who set the budget and the person who is in charge of leading and structuring the club. If Coton is a good scout or not is too difficult to decipher in my opinion.
 
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Coeus said:
Gets a large amount of stick on here, I myself was very sceptical of his appointment given his record at Aston Villa.

However, I can't help but think some of the stick is down to the remit given to him.

Given we haven't had a budget designated to actual scouting or anything what so ever abroad, he is forced to look in the UK. It isn't his job to set up a wealth of analytic data without being given the resources to achieve this.

The rush that was enforced in the first window allows for a bit of leeway, in my opinion, also any scouting network takes time to establish itself at a club, this is even truer when being skeleton staffed.

I think the picks that could be reasonably attributed to him have some good and some bad, throw into the mix that some of the players he has recommended we weren't able to get over the line and then ended up with a player out of desperation.

Personally I believe we are now being at least linked with the correct type of players in Coyle, Boyce, Docherty etc. It's not rocket science, I put up a list of the better players from this division whose contracts are running out and low and behold we have been linked with the majority. But we have seen bizarre signings for so many years now that obvious choices seem like a step up. My preference is we didn't temper these players with players for the immediate like Leadbetter & Lafferty but that is neither here nor there.

Someone far easier to judge is Richard Hill, he has a difficult job and has to live by his decisions, when to loosen the purse strings and negotiate based on foresight and when to drive a hard bargain. On the evidence so far, he has got this badly wrong with examples like Taylor and Grigg. Time will tell if he was correct on Coyle and possibly Docherty, I doubt it.

So for me, If anyone is to blame it is the person who provided the remit, the person who set the budget and the person who is in charge of leading the club. If Coton is a good scout or not is too difficult to decipher in my opinion.
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Ow tony lad

Self praise is nee praise at all
 
Coeus said:
Gets a large amount of stick on here, I myself was very sceptical of his appointment given his record at Aston Villa.

However, I can't help but think some of the stick is down to the remit given to him.

Given we haven't had a budget designated to actual scouting or anything what so ever abroad, he is forced to look in the UK. It isn't his job to set up a wealth of analytic data without being given the resources to achieve this.

The rush that was enforced in the first window allows for a bit of leeway, in my opinion, also any scouting network takes time to establish itself at a club, this is even truer when being skeleton staffed.

I think the picks that could be reasonably attributed to him have some good and some bad, throw into the mix that some of the players he has recommended we weren't able to get over the line and then ended up with a player out of desperation.

Personally I believe we are now being at least linked with the correct type of players in Coyle, Boyce, Docherty etc. It's not rocket science, I put up a list of the better players from this division whose contracts are running out and low and behold we have been linked with the majority. But we have seen bizarre signings for so many years now that obvious choices seem like a step up. My preference is we didn't temper these players with players for the immediate like Leadbetter & Lafferty but that is neither here nor there.

Someone far easier to judge is Richard Hill, he has a difficult job and has to live by his decisions, when to loosen the purse strings and negotiate based on foresight and when to drive a hard bargain. On the evidence so far, he has got this badly wrong with examples like Taylor and Grigg. Time will tell if he was correct on Coyle and possibly Docherty, I doubt it.

So for me, If anyone is to blame it is the person who provided the remit, the person who set the budget and the person who is in charge of leading and structuring the club. If Coton is a good scout or not is too difficult to decipher in my opinion.
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Grant Leadbitter?
 
Coeus said:
Gets a large amount of stick on here, I myself was very sceptical of his appointment given his record at Aston Villa.

However, I can't help but think some of the stick is down to the remit given to him.

Given we haven't had a budget designated to actual scouting or anything what so ever abroad, he is forced to look in the UK. It isn't his job to set up a wealth of analytic data without being given the resources to achieve this.

The rush that was enforced in the first window allows for a bit of leeway, in my opinion, also any scouting network takes time to establish itself at a club, this is even truer when being skeleton staffed.

I think the picks that could be reasonably attributed to him have some good and some bad, throw into the mix that some of the players he has recommended we weren't able to get over the line and then ended up with a player out of desperation.

Personally I believe we are now being at least linked with the correct type of players in Coyle, Boyce, Docherty etc. It's not rocket science, I put up a list of the better players from this division whose contracts are running out and low and behold we have been linked with the majority. But we have seen bizarre signings for so many years now that obvious choices seem like a step up. My preference is we didn't temper these players with players for the immediate like Leadbetter & Lafferty but that is neither here nor there.

Someone far easier to judge is Richard Hill, he has a difficult job and has to live by his decisions, when to loosen the purse strings and negotiate based on foresight and when to drive a hard bargain. On the evidence so far, he has got this badly wrong with examples like Taylor and Grigg. Time will tell if he was correct on Coyle and possibly Docherty, I doubt it.

So for me, If anyone is to blame it is the person who provided the remit, the person who set the budget and the person who is in charge of leading and structuring the club. If Coton is a good scout or not is too difficult to decipher in my opinion.
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..he is a massive problem. So stubborn.
 
Randy Savage said:
By all accounts Tony Coton was a one man band until fairly recently. Bit unfair some of the criticism imo. Look at the owner more for not supporting him.
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This, in fact this is one of the issues i have with the owner, not getting someone in to help out when he was out with his heartattack, the fact that recruitment is the most important part of all football clubs from youth to the first team is clear even to a child.
 
Coeus said:
Gets a large amount of stick on here, I myself was very sceptical of his appointment given his record at Aston Villa.

However, I can't help but think some of the stick is down to the remit given to him.

Given we haven't had a budget designated to actual scouting or anything what so ever abroad, he is forced to look in the UK. It isn't his job to set up a wealth of analytic data without being given the resources to achieve this.

The rush that was enforced in the first window allows for a bit of leeway, in my opinion, also any scouting network takes time to establish itself at a club, this is even truer when being skeleton staffed.

I think the picks that could be reasonably attributed to him have some good and some bad, throw into the mix that some of the players he has recommended we weren't able to get over the line and then ended up with a player out of desperation.

Personally I believe we are now being at least linked with the correct type of players in Coyle, Boyce, Docherty etc. It's not rocket science, I put up a list of the better players from this division whose contracts are running out and low and behold we have been linked with the majority. But we have seen bizarre signings for so many years now that obvious choices seem like a step up. My preference is we didn't temper these players with players for the immediate like Leadbetter & Lafferty but that is neither here nor there.

Someone far easier to judge is Richard Hill, he has a difficult job and has to live by his decisions, when to loosen the purse strings and negotiate based on foresight and when to drive a hard bargain. On the evidence so far, he has got this badly wrong with examples like Taylor and Grigg. Time will tell if he was correct on Coyle and possibly Docherty, I doubt it.

So for me, If anyone is to blame it is the person who provided the remit, the person who set the budget and the person who is in charge of leading and structuring the club. If Coton is a good scout or not is too difficult to decipher in my opinion.
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Very good read, mate. Adds a different slsnt to how I viewed Coton ans gave me a little 'Food for Thought.
hank williams said:
Pity he can't get shot of the new Rodwell ( mcgeady )
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I don't know if that's a little unfair on Geads, marra. He appears to be a bad apple, agreed, but he did give us some bright moments last season. However, Grigg has never put a shift in from what I've seen and is and has never given me any hope and optimism.
 
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Whoever is responsible for recruitment faces a crucial 11 days between now and the end of the window.

Pace and power have been glaringly absent from our side (squad) for far too long and as we approach every transfer window we see the same pleas from supporters - surely we’ll remedy it this time.

Before this window, at a talk in Parkinson clearly articulated what we were targeting this month. “We’ll be looking for players with pace and power”.

As we stand, more than 2/3rds into the window our incomings amount to a centre forward who hasn’t played regular football for a while and no matter how forensically you study the internet about his talents, you’d struggle to find any mention of pace amongst his attributes.

Today our second signing is to be unveiled- a defender not in the early stages of his career and again not one blessed with pace.

I realise this window is difficult to work in and that the majority of businesses is conducted at the very end of the month, but surely this time we’ve got to bring in some pace haven’t we - please !!!
 
Alfa said:
Whoever is responsible for recruitment faces a crucial 11 days between now and the end of the window.

Pace and power have been glaringly absent from our side (squad) for far too long and as we approach every transfer window we see the same pleas from supporters - surely we’ll remedy it this time.

Before this window, at a talk in Parkinson clearly articulated what we were targeting this month. “We’ll be looking for players with pace and power”.

As we stand, more than 2/3rds into the window our incomings amount to a centre forward who hasn’t played regular football for a while and no matter how forensically you study the internet about his talents, you’d struggle to find any mention of pace amongst his attributes.

Today our second signing is to be unveiled- a defender not in the early stages of his career and again not one blessed with pace.

I realise this window is difficult to work in and that the majority of businesses is conducted at the very end of the month, but surely this time we’ve got to bring in some pace haven’t we - please !!!
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Could they not be the power part he was talking about? You are in League one so fairly unlikely to be signing players with both attributes aplenty. If imagine he was talking more about balance and adding more of a presence to the squad as a whole.
 
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He’s not the whole problem - and I’d get rid of Hill first if I only had one bullet from r sure. However Coton is still a big problem. There can be no excuse for going down the tired ‘contacts’ route exclusively. It’s even worse if he was left on his own. If he’s been underresourced then it’s even more unforgivable that he didn’t adopt a data led approach. Christ this forum has found public domain data sources that indicate the sorts of players that would be worth tracking. It wasn’t beyond Coton to do the same. Indeed he does actually have an analytics department at his disposal too, apparently.

Lastly, for our clear need for pace and athleticism in the team to be left largely unaddressed across 3.5 windows and counting cannot be solely be attributed to lack of funds. Our league one rivals seem to achieve it just fine. He might not be the root cause of our pains but he’s most certainly a very painful symptom.
 

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