Right, this.
I’ve said this dozens of times before and I’m glad somebody else has flagged this at long last. He’s constantly trying to retrain people and change their position, and banging on about how they need to learn to play a different way. Clare turned up in the summer with no idea as to how to play right back - he openly said he was having to study right backs to learn the role, watching videos and the like because he’s learning it from scratch - and then has to learn on the job against established League One players. And people wonder why he looked poor and stood out as part of another bad start to the season? He was an attacking midfielder at Hearts and even wore the number 9 shirt for a time, but of course we know he plays somewhere else really. There’s just no way he can’t be improved and moulded by our incredible coaching that sees things nobody else does, including the players themselves. If only we had Clare now, eh, given everybody is saying we need an attacking midfielder who can carry the ball forward with a bit of pace. Well, we signed one on a three year deal, but then we lobbed him at right back, moved him further forward after a while where he was instantly better, and then loaned him out.
We see this obsession with ‘improving’ players fairly often. Agyei can be a winger, Mackie can become a striker as his legs have gone, Hanson can go in at right back, same for Forde, Clare’s another, Woodburn can play four different roles, Sykes can go... well, all over the bloody place it seems. We’re regularly being told there are players who need to learn to play somewhere else or who can do a job. Here’s a thought... sign players who play in the position you want improving and just make them better at it? Sign a right back and improve them? Sign a winger and improve them? Sign a midfielder and improve them? Worst case scenario they’re a bit average and hopefully get better over time, best case scenario they’re decent to begin with and soon become very good. Maybe we would actually start a season fairly well if we weren’t always shuffling players around and trying to retrain some of them, and if on top of that we didn’t seem to regularly be bringing in players who aren’t fit or are carrying knocks that then turn into injuries. It’s always about potential. “They’ll be better when they learn a new role. They’ll be great once they get fit. They’re a real asset if we can get to the bottom of the injury.”
I would love to just sign players who play the roles we want them to play, and who are fit and ready. But maybe that just isn’t sexy enough.
EDIT: I’ve seen the squad cap cited as a reason why you need players moving all over the place. Even with a 20-man limit of players over 21 that’s basically two players for every role. You can have two keepers, four full backs, three centre backs, five centre midfielders, four wingers and two centre forwards who are all over 21, and that’s fine. That’s without anybody genuinely being able to play two roles or including anybody under 21.
